The Giants pretty much stood pat at the trade deadline and it met the ire of fans, pundits, and other critics.
Former GM Jim Bowden was not a fan of what Farhan Zaidi did for the Giants, giving them a D grade in a trade deadline piece.
He wrote:
Trades:
• Acquired OF AJ Pollock and INF Mark Mathias from Mariners for a player to be named
• Acquired RHP Marques Johnson from Red Sox for RHP Mauricio Llovera
• Acquired OF Jack Larsen from Mariners for cash considerationsKey takeaways: This was a bizarre trade deadline for the Giants. They did nothing to improve the team. The Mariners were about to release Pollock, who was hitting .173, and Mathias is nothing more than a 26th-man-type utility player on the roster. For a team that’s in the thick of the division and wild-card races, standing pat made no sense to me whatsoever.
Bowden joined Murph and Mac on Tuesday to break down his assessment of the Giants’ deadline moves:
His criticism stems from the fact that he believed the Giants would seek out a starting pitcher and attempt to upgrade in the short term at shortstop. They did neither.
Their one semi-significant move was to acquire the .165-hitting A.J. Pollock, who has yet to reach base for the Giants. Bowden was not a fan.
“The moves that he did make, I just thought were bizarre,” Bowden said. “I mean, the Mariners were gonna release A.J. Pollock. Like, he’s done. What is he [batting], .165? What is he, 0-for-6 for the Giants? Like, he’s done. He’s 35 years old. It’s over. I just didn’t understand it. It just didn’t make any sense that that was your move. Doesn’t seem like Farhan Zaidi to me…
“They’ve got a legitimate shot at one of these wild card spots. So they’ll have to go with what they have, but they certainly didn’t help themselves, I didn’t think.”
San Francisco is 4-3 since the deadline, but are still having to turn to an opener strategy to cobble innings together, as they lack anywhere near a reliable five-man rotation.
Bowden’s other issue with not acquiring a starting pitcher when they needed one, is that he thought the cost of acquiring one was reasonable.
“But if you couldn’t get the shortstop, a lot of starting pitchers were traded, and they were traded, many of them, at reasonable cost points, like Jack Flaherty going to Baltimore, Jordan Montgomery’s trade to Texas,” Bowden said. “I thought there was a pitcher like that, that Farhan would be able to grab. I thought they needed one.”
The Giants, though, are stuck with what they have. They’ll see Bruce Bochy in his return to the Bay with the Texas Rangers this weekend.
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