Hours before Mike Yastrzemski parked a walk-off home run beyond the wall in left, pushing the Giants to 14-3 in July, Farhan Zaidi, the president of baseball ops, held court in the home dugout at Oracle Park.
With trade chips like Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith on hand, but his team sitting 2.5 games out of the second wild-card spot, Zaidi was asked how he addresses to trade deadline.
“We’ve been fielding calls all year, even going back to the offseason,” Zaidi told reporters.
Giants President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi on trade conversations pic.twitter.com/uuX1pHzgaW
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) July 22, 2019“So, I haven’t changed my phone number of taken my phone off the hook. You still take those calls. It’s helpful to know what other teams are thinking and who other teams are interested in -- whether it winds up being something you act on or not.”
“We have to be prepared for every scenario as has been our intention all year long. So, I’m having conversations with other GMs every day. That is not an indication of what we’ll do or even if we’ll do anything.”
“But, that’s our job this time of year…”
Should Zaidi look to swap out Bumgarner, things could get complicated, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal detailed back in May.
Madison Bumgarner’s eight-team no-trade list, per sources:#Braves#RedSox#Cubs#Astros#Brewers#Yankees#Phillies#STLCardsBumgarner chose teams strategically; list comprised solely of contenders that might want to acquire him from #SFGiants, not teams he wants to avoid.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 11, 2019More context on Bumgarner: His contract allows him to reject trades to eight teams. The eight I reported are the ones he can block. He can still approve trades to those teams, but generally players want some form of compensation to waive their no-trade protection.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 11, 2019ESPN’s Buster Olney rehashed this possibility in a Sunday column. Stay tuned. The deadline arrives on July 31.
