With a couple weeks left before the trade deadline and the Giants (45-43) not exactly making a decisive push in either direction, questions persist.
Will they remain aggressive and try to add to their talent pool? Or make use of potential one-year rentals like Carlos Rodón (has an opt-out he’s expected to exercise) and Joc Pederson to acquire future assets and get younger?
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi joined KNBR on Friday to discuss the situation. He believes the Giants, at least at this juncture, aren’t exceedingly likely to be sellers.
“I would say the Giants are certainly in the middle there on the bubble, leaning more towards buy or at least hold, I would say, from their perspective,” Morosi said. “Because when you consider where the Giants are, the demands of the fanbase, the ballpark always obviously having such strong attendance and fan support, the expectation is that you keep this thing going.”
Morosi thinks the Giants’ current roster is good enough for them to believe they can make a second-half push.
“In general, there’s enough there to look at this Giants team and say, they’re gonna have a chance to be a competitive team in the second half to where you don’t make that sell decision right now,” Morosi said.
But what if the Giants fall off even further in those two weeks? Can they really afford not to capitalize on someone like Rodón’s trade value?
Morosi made a comparison to the way the Giants handled Madison Bumgarner in 2019, holding onto him then when they were in a worse position than they are this season.
He also argued that when San Francisco wants a player — and indications are they want to keep Rodón — they by and large are able to keep them.
“I think if they really want to keep Rodon… I think he’s proven how well he can perform in San Francisco and so while that fear about losing him… It just seems to me like that’s a relationship that could very easily continue,” Morosi said. “And if I’m the Giants, unless I’m really out of it, I would I would tend to keep him. I really think that there’s enough there.”
Morosi didn’t indicate any specific hitters the Giants might target, but mentioned relievers like the Cubs’ David Robertson, Michael Fulmer and Andre Chafin of the Tigers and Matt Moore of the Rangers as potential, available arms.
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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