© Kelley L Cox | 2019 Jul 18
This year’s MLB trade deadline was supposed to revolve around the San Francisco Giants trading away all their assets while undergoing a full-fledged rebuild. Madison Bumgarner was supposed to be leading a new team on a march to the World Series, Will Smith was supposed to be finishing games for a contender, and Farhan Zaidi was supposed to completely re-stock a barren farm system.
Well, like many of the best-laid plans of mice and men, this plan went awry.
The San Francisco Giants got hot, scorching hot. They got so hot that they have launched themselves right into contention for a Wild Card spot in the National League. They went from 22-34 to 52-51 in less than two months, which is a remarkable feat that has also seemingly spoiled the trade deadline plans for many teams across Major League Baseball.
Jeff Passan, an MLB insider for ESPN, stopped by the Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks show on Thursday to discuss the Giants’ plans at the trade deadline and if they could both buy and sell some of their tradeable assets.
“Yeah I think so, and I think those might even be separate deals if the Giants go down that path,” Passan said. “Whether it’s trading a Will Smith or a Tony Watson or Sam Dyson to get a prospect then turning around and trading a lower-level prospect to go and get some help right now. I think to buy and sell simultaneously is a very difficult needle to thread, but one that the Giants have the ability to do at this point, and probably is the likeliest outcome here.”
Passan then gave his prediction for Madison Bumgarner’s fate at the trade deadline.
“I don’t think Madison Bumgarner is gonna be moving right now unless they get absolutely blown away,” Passan said.
When it comes to buying or selling at the trade deadline though, many fans have their concerns about trading away prospects because of how the farm system has been turned around this season. In the most recent rankings from Baseball America, the Giants farm system has jumped from being the 28th-ranked in all of baseball prior to the season to the 15th-best farm system in all of baseball. Passan alleviated those concerns later in the interview.
“Joey Bart is not going is not going anywhere. Marco Luciano is not going anywhere. Heliot Ramos is not going anywhere,” Passan continued. “I’m fairly confident in saying that, and look, there’s always the possibility that with Noah Syndergaard on the market right now if the Giants feel like they can add somebody who’s gonna be around for a couple years, that maybe they would put one of those players on the table, but it’s very, very unlikely considering where they are in their rebuild.”
Listen to the full interview with Jeff Passan below. To hear him discuss the Giants plans at the trade deadline, start from 2:00.