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- Most analysts praised the Giants for acquiring pitching prospects and MLB-ready talent.
- Three pitching prospects (Marquez, Lalane, Mendez) ranked inside the Giants’ top 14.
- Some outlets still judged specific trades mixed, with Mahle and Ray trades debated.
Monday was certainly a busy day for the San Francisco Giants, who sold six major contributors to their big league roster in a series of five moves within 24 hours of the MLB trade deadline.
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And, according to many experts, it was a good day for the club’s future, too.
It is unlikely that most of the eight players that the struggling Giants (47-65 entering Tuesday) acquired at the deadline will make an impact for the big-league club in the short term, with most being prospects expected to be years away from the MLB.
However, experts predicted that the mix of top prospects — including three notable pitchers with top-of-the-rotation upside — and MLB-ready players, headlined by former top prospect and No. 4 overall draft pick Marcelo Mayer, will make the Giants better over the long run.
Though Monday’s sell-off would not qualify as a traditional rebuild — the Giants still have over $100 million committed to Willy Adames, Rafael Devers and Matt Chapman — it was certainly a step toward a new future for the club that currently sits 12 games out of a wild card playoff spot.
Some, like San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ann Killion, would call it a rebuild anyway.
“But with the franchise steaming toward its ninth non-winning season out of the past 10, and with this season’s disaster perhaps the most demoralizing of them all, there is no escaping reality,” Killon wrote. “What happened ahead of Monday’s trade deadline — when the Giants dealt almost a quarter of their active roster — is a rebuild.”
So, with the dust a bit more settled, here is a look at what analysts are saying about the Giants’ crazy deadline.
The Athletic: ‘Crushed’ and ‘exceeded all expectations’
Jim Bowden, a national baseball reporter for the Athletic and former top executive for the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals, gave perhaps the most glowing assessment of the Giants’ deadline in an article grading each team’s total performance at the deadline.
“The Giants crushed this trade deadline and exceeded all expectations with their returns,” Bowden wrote.
In his A- assessment, Bowden noted the obvious. That is, the three top pitching prospects — with one acquired in each of the Luis Arraez trade to the Philadelphia Phillies, Robbie Ray trade to the San Diego Padres and Heliot Ramos trade to the New York Yankees.
Per MLB Pipeline, the trio are all already ranked among the Giants’ top 14 prospects: Ramon Marquez (via Phillies) at No. 7 as the club’s highest-ranked pitching prospect, Henry Lalane (via Yankees) at No. 9 and Miguel Mendez (via Padres) at No. 14.
Though those three are the only acquisitions ranked in the Giants’ top 20 prospects, Bowden had a different key standout: 17-year-old shortstop Joniel Hernandez, who was acquired from the Padres in the Ray trade.
Hernandez, MLB Pipeline’s No. 21-ranked Giants prospect, has only played in the Dominican Summer League thus far in his professional career, but is renowned for his speed, defensive play and strong offensive numbers so far.
Yahoo Sports: Giants get prospect with ‘phenomenal’ upside
Senior Yahoo Sports baseball writer Jacob Mintz concurred with Bowden’s praise of the farm system reinforcements acquired at the deadline.
Mintz gave the team a B+ overall, though he did not list the Ramos trade for Lalane and infielder Kaeden Kent (Giants No. 22 prospect), the son of former Giants star and Hall of Famer Jeff Kent.
While the pitchers have received a majority of the praise, Mintz highlighted one of the MLB-ready players in his grade: Mayer.
Mayer, 23, was acquired in what might’ve been the Giants’ lowest-profile trade of the deadline, which sent back of the bullpen left-handed reliever Erik Miller and minor-league outfielder Carlos Gutierrez to the Boston Red Sox.
A former consensus top prospect, Mayer has struggled offensively with a .594 on-base plus slugging percentage in 70 games this season after also struggling in a 40-game stint last year. Mayer has been on the injured list since June, but has appeared excited for a change of scenery as he hopes to reset his career with the Giants upon a return from injury.
“Injuries and offensive stagnation have cratered Mayer’s once-lofty status,” Mintz wrote, “but he’s a phenomenal buy-low candidate who hasn’t gotten the runway to prove himself at the big-league level.”
ESPN staff: Giants mostly on winning end of trades
A trade-by-trade grade by multiple ESPN staffers had the Giants winning three of their trades, and narrowly losing the trade of starter Tyler Mahle and the Ray blockbuster.
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Here are the highlights from ESPN’s analysis.
Erik Miller trade
Giants grade: C+
Red Sox grade: D
Quotable: “I don’t really think Mayer is that good,” David Schoenfield wrote in his analysis. “Even with all that … this is a no-brainer for the Giants. If you can turn a relief pitcher into a starting middle infielder, you do it 100 times out of 100.”
Heliot Ramos trade
Giants grade: B+
Yankees grade: C-
Quotable: “Like his father, Kaeden (Kent) is an infielder with solid across-the-board tools, though none particularly stand out,” Bradford Doolittle wrote in his analysis. “Now, he’s joining the organization his father chose to represent on his Hall plaque.”
Robbie Ray trade
Giants grade: B
Padres grade: B+
Quotable: “The Giants get the Padres’ No. 7 and No. 11 prospects via Kiley McDaniel’s postdraft update,” Schoenfield wrote. “That sounds impressive until factoring in the lack of depth in the San Diego system.”
Luis Arraez trade
Giants grade: A
Phillies grade: B+
Quotable: “Arraez was on an expiring deal, and while Kilian was a useful performer in the Giants’ lackluster bullpen, folding him into the trade is more than worth it for a prospect of Marquez’s caliber,” Doolittle wrote. “Marquez’s ceiling will be determined by how well he develops a quality breaking pitch that right now his arsenal lacks.”
Tyler Mahle trade
Giants grade: C
Phillies grade: C+
Quotable: “The Giants weren’t likely to get much of a prospect for Mahle, but they could have gotten more on the upside front,” Doolittle wrote.
The Athletic staff
Overall, the Athletic’s trade-by-trade grades were mostly similar to ESPN’s, including giving the Mahle trade the exact same grade. The outlet also did not rate the Red Sox trade involving Miller and Mayer.
National MLB reporter Sam Blum gave the Giants an A- for the Ramos trade, while slapping the Yankees with a C for paying what he called “almost too steep a price for Ramos.”
The Athletic reporters also pushed the Giants up to an A for the Ray trade, and down to a B for the Arraez deal.
Giants reporter Grant Bisbee called Hernandez a “teenage shortstop bonus baby” for the club, which already has three under-20 shortstops comprising its top three prospect ranking spots, in his analysis of the Ray deal.
Senior baseball writer Andy McCullough noted Arraez’s fit for the Phillies as a positive, giving them the edge in this trade with an A vs. a B for the Giants.
USA Today staff
A conglomerate of USA Today reporters were much harsher on the Giants compared to the Athletic and ESPN, saying that they either lost or tied all three of their major deadline deals of Arraez, Ray and Ramos.
The outlet did not rank the Giants’ other two trades, and offered less detailed analysis than ESPN.
Heliot Ramos trade
Giants grade: B
Yankees grade: B+
Luis Arraez trade
Giants grade: B
Phillies grade: A-
Robbie Ray trade
Giants grade: B
Padres grade: B
What about the A’s?
In contrast to their Northern California counterparts, the Athletics had arguably the quietest deadline this year among all MLB teams.
Also sitting well out of playoff contention, the A’s didn’t have much to sell unless they wanted to part ways with one of their core young hitters, especially with All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers likely out for the season with a knee injury.
This led to the 45-67 A’s making just one trade, sending fringe MLB outfielder Colby Thomas to the Philadelphia Phillies for right-handed reliever Seth Johnson.
The quiet deadline saw the A’s get poor grades from both Bowden of the Athletic and Mintz of Yahoo Sports, while the Thomas deal didn’t crack most trade-by-trade grade articles.
Bowden gave the A’s a D, tied for the lowest grade for any selling teams.
“I understand why they didn’t want to sell, as they are building for 2028 when they move to Las Vegas,” Bowden wrote. “I was just hoping they’d be able to make some trades to improve their future outlook and try to add more pitching but apparently weren’t able to find a way.”
Mintz was perhaps even harsher in his analysis, though he gave the club a C- grade. The reporter acknowledged that the likely season-ending injury to All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers limited the A’s options for selling — all but taking away their two biggest candidates in Langeliers and backup catcher Jonah Heim — but still said they didn’t do enough.
“This season has been a total wash for the Vegas-bound club,” Mintz wrote. “The only thing worse than being a seller is having nothing to sell.”
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