San Francisco Giants pull off a massive heist; Keep Bumgarner and Smith

With the trade deadline officially come and gone, how did the most interesting team in July, the San Francisco Giants do before the clock struck 4 p.m. ET?

No, the San Francisco Giants did not have a massive fire sale, but they also weren’t the heaviest of buyers.

Farhan Zaidi pulled off what I consider to be an excellent trade deadline. Considering he was likely brought in to rebuild the farm system and take advantage of the value of the pieces he had, he did just that.

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On deadline day, the Giants reeled in several minor league talents and one former all-star:

• 2B Scooter Gennett from the Reds.
• INF Mauricio Dubon from the Brewers.
• RHP Prelander Berroa, OF Jaylin Davis & RHP Kai Wei Teng from the Twins.
• RHP Tristan Beck and RHP Daniel Winkler from the Braves.
• OF Joseph McCarthy from the Rays.

Overall, there is a lot of talent in this haul. What did the Giants have to give up though?

• The Reds will receive a player to be named later.
• The Brewers acquired LHP Drew Pomeranz and RHP Ray Black.
• The Twins acquired Sam Dyson.
• The Braves acquired Mark Melancon.
• The Rays acquired LHP Jacob Lopez.

No, Madison Bumgarner was not traded and neither was Will Smith. The reason simply being that they didn’t have to.

The reason being is that Zaidi had already done all of his buying prior to the deadline. If you recall the names he brought in already – Kevin Pillar and Alex Dickerson – they had already been implemented into the Giants’ plan long before the deadline.

And look where it has gotten them.

Currently, in the thick of the Wild Card race, the Giants reeled off a historic month, finishing with a 19-6 record in the month, leapfrogging them to second in the NL West and two games out of the second wild card.

There was no wrench in the plan of the new administration, this was the plan. As perfectly articulated by Zaidi in his message to the fanbase:

The Giants administration did what was best for the team in the current and the now. They simultaneously filled some positional depth in the minors and restocked a farm system that is slowly working back to a good strength.

Dubon and Beck quickly find themselves in the top 30 of the Giants’ top prospects according to MLB Pipeline.

So what did the Giants truly accomplish this deadline? Did they buy? Sell? Both?

Digesting what the San Francisco Giants did may take more time – and wins – to understand, but they clearly are more aligned for the future of the Giants as well as the present Giants.