Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
PHILADELPHIA — His crazed day started with phone calls and texts and ended with an email.
Farhan Zaidi sent a letter to Giants fans following his trade-deadline moves, in which he held on to the team’s biggest pieces — Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith — parted with a few valuable ones — namely Sam Dyson — and added Scooter Gennett at second base and a plethora of young pieces for the future.
He was not a full-fledged seller, nor was he a true buyer. He believes in the team’s relief depth, and thought he could take advantage of that by adding to their prospect base.
“Our goal was to strengthen the team for this season and reload for the future,” Zaidi wrote in a rare message directly to fans. “While it’s always difficult to part with talented pitchers like Mark Melancon, Sam Dyson, Drew Pomeranz and Ray Black, we are fortunate to have the organizational depth to fulfill those roles.”
Later in the email, Zaidi, in his first season with the Giants, hinted at his decision to retain Bumgarner and Smith.
“As you can see, it’s been a whirlwind of activity today and the moves we made — and in some cases, didn’t make — position us well now and beyond,” he wrote. “I hope you are as excited as I am to see how these next several weeks unfold.”
This letter from SF Giants President of Baseball Ops Farhan Zaidi.
Take notes, DD. pic.twitter.com/KMmOYEwUjh
— Gabrielle (@gfstarr1) August 1, 2019