The 2021 Giants were left for dead after an off-season when the Dodgers and Padres seemed poised to spend the season chasing 100 wins while the Giants waited another year to get a bunch of big contracts off the books. It hasn't worked out that way, and the Giants' FO has a tough call to make at the trade deadline.
They are currently 62-37 despite a number of stomach-punch bullpen meltdowns, Kevin Gausman having a couple of tough outings post-ASB, and losing Longoria, Crawford and Belt (the latter may have been addition by subtraction) to injury for substantial periods. They are 2 games ahead of LA and 5.5 ahead of the Padres as action starts tonight.
After this season, the following players are potential free agents: Posey (team option), Cueto (team option), Crawford, Belt, Gausman, DeSclafani, Wood, Solano, and Flores (team option). That is a TON of money potentially coming off the books, but it's also the starting catcher, 2b and SS along with 4/5 of the rotation.
So do they GFIN, knowing that any close-to-MLB prospects they send away are guys that they might need next year? Or do they just make small adjustments (acquiring a bullpen arm or 2) and hope this annus mirabilis continues without adding new players to the mix? I think the latter is much more likely, but SF keeps getting mentioned in Scherzer rumors, so it should be an interesting next few days...
They are currently 62-37 despite a number of stomach-punch bullpen meltdowns, Kevin Gausman having a couple of tough outings post-ASB, and losing Longoria, Crawford and Belt (the latter may have been addition by subtraction) to injury for substantial periods. They are 2 games ahead of LA and 5.5 ahead of the Padres as action starts tonight.
After this season, the following players are potential free agents: Posey (team option), Cueto (team option), Crawford, Belt, Gausman, DeSclafani, Wood, Solano, and Flores (team option). That is a TON of money potentially coming off the books, but it's also the starting catcher, 2b and SS along with 4/5 of the rotation.
So do they GFIN, knowing that any close-to-MLB prospects they send away are guys that they might need next year? Or do they just make small adjustments (acquiring a bullpen arm or 2) and hope this annus mirabilis continues without adding new players to the mix? I think the latter is much more likely, but SF keeps getting mentioned in Scherzer rumors, so it should be an interesting next few days...