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Three games back of the second wild card. In the midst of a surprising run of 10 wins in 12 games.
It is up to Farhan Zaidi to decide what comes next for these perplexing Giants.
Unless Bruce Bochy’s team can tell the team’s president of baseball operations what to do with their play.
Zaidi is “going to do what he thinks is right. He’s the leader now, and I can’t be selfish on this. My job is to make it work whatever we do,” Bochy told KNBR’s “Papa & Lund” on Tuesday. “Obviously I’m hoping we play well and we keep this club intact or even add, and that’s up to us to determine that.”
It is very unlikely the Giants (45-49) add significantly at the July 31 trade deadline, but their ascension up the wild-card standings has been startling. Entering Tuesday’s game in Colorado, San Francisco was just three games behind St. Louis and Philadelphia, a 23-15 run putting them on the periphery on the playoff hunt.
This was not the plan for a team that can be dangling Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith in a trade market largely absent impact players.
“The funny thing is that there’s so many clubs now within 3 1/2 games of that wild card,” Bochy said of a race in which they still would need to leapfrog six teams to be leading. “I’m sure it’s affecting the trade market. Teams are doing the same thing we are. ‘Well, are they this good? Are they gonna stay on this run?’
“That’s my hope that I can put added pressure on ownership, front office, ‘Hey, we can get this done.’ You have to do what’s right as far as an organization and what Farhan thinks is right. But if you get a chance to win, they’ve always shown they’re going to do whatever they can do to help us win.”
They have so far, infusions such as Alex Dickerson bringing life to a flatlining team. They have 13 more games to change Zaidi’s course.
