Giant's Trade Deadline

The San Francisco Giants trade deadline was interesting to say the least. One word to describe it is “Farhan.” Giants President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi definitely had the final word on these trades, which is exactly why these were terribly executed. 

The first move the Giants made was trading away their Designated Hitter (DH), Jorge Soler to the Atlanta Braves. This past offseason the Giants signed Soler to a 3-year $42 million contract. Soler is known for his power, hitting 36 home runs the year prior. In 2021 Soler was the World Series MVP with Atlanta, which Soler can now call home again. 

Soler was struggling to begin the year for San Francisco, on June 28th he was batting .202 with a .685 OPS, both well below league average. However, Giants manager Bob Melvin has made a change since then, making Soler the leadoff hitter. Since making that change, Soler is batting .286 with a .912 OPS. He’s also getting on base 40% of the time. The Giants finally found their leadoff hitter they have been searching for since the injury to Jung-Hoo-Lee, but Farhan had other plans, as per usual. 

Also going to Atlanta with Soler is Giants veteran relief pitcher Luke Jackson. Jackson has been very poor this year, posting a 5.40 ERA in just 35 innings. The Giants were happy to get his horrific contract off their payroll, as he’s making $11 million over the next two years. 

In return for Soler and Jackson the Giants must've got back some contributing pieces, right? Wrong. In return, the Giants got 33-year-old reliever Tyler Matzek, who has a 9.90 ERA in 2024 and is currently on the 60-day injured list (IL). Matzek will likely not come off the IL this year and is done for 2024. But that's not all they got, Atlanta also shipped over 22-year-old Infielder Sabin Ceballos, who is currently batting .250 in the low minor leagues, great pickup Farhan. 

The only positive outlook on this trade is the DH spot will probably now be awarded to Giants top prospect Marco Luciano. Luciano was playing in the majors this year after being called up on May 14th. He hit very well during that time, in 10 games he had a .375 batting average and was running the bases well. He had to be sent down back to the minors on June 14th due to his poor defense in clutch situations. Luckily, he can be the teams DH and put defense behind him. 

A small trade the Giants made on the final day of the trade deadline was dealing veteran pitcher Alex Cobb to the Cleveland Guardians. Cobb, an All-Star last year, has yet to pitch in 2024 due to a left hip injury he suffered in October of 2023. This move makes sense for San Francisco, their starting rotation is getting healthy with the return of Robbie Ray and Kyle Harrison, Cobb did not have a role with this team.

The Giants also want to give more opportunities to their young pitcher Hayden Birdsong, who has been excellent this year in six starts. In those six starts Birdsong has posted a 2.97 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 30 innings. The Giants did not want Cobb taking his place. 

In return for Cobb, Cleveland sent over minor leaguer Jacob Bresnahan, who is currently in single A, and has a 2.54 ERA in 11 starts. Bresnahan is 19 years old with lots of potential, the Giants have to be happy to get a young and promising pitcher in return for a veteran like Alex Cobb. 

The last move Farhan and this front office made was acquiring outfielder Mark Canha from the Detroit Tigers. Canha, a Bay Area native who played with the Oakland A’s from 2015-2021 is ecstatic to be coming back home. He told Giants beat writer Susan Slusser “I’m coming home! I’m over the moon about this. I got lucky.” (via X) Going to the Tigers is Giants right-handed pitcher (RHP) Eric Silva. Silva, a 21-year-old career minor leaguer with a 5.47 ERA. Safe to say the Giants did not give up much for the veteran outfielder. 

Canha will most likely be platooned with Michael Conforto. I’m sure the fans can’t wait to see two below league average hitters play left field, it should be fun. 

Overall, this trade deadline was no surprise to anyone familiar with the Farhan regime. He did not fully sell his best players or trade for anyone that would make a positive impact, he went right to the middle. Luckily the Giants will handle the trade deadline better next year when Farhan is fired this winter.