SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey made it clear on Tuesday that he has no plans to entertain trade offers for homegrown ace Logan Webb. But he acknowledged that he will be open to potential deals for other Giants, including high-priced veterans like Matt Chapman, Willy Adames and Rafael Devers.
“I think we'll leave all options on the table,” Posey said before the Giants’ 3-1 series-opening win over the A’s at Oracle Park. “The way things are trending now, I’d say that we've got to remain open to seeing what best ways we can try to improve the club.”
The Giants were expected to be in win-now mode after making big commitments to Chapman, Adames and Devers, who are owed a combined $451 million after this season. But the trio has underperformed to varying degrees this year, which is a major reason why San Francisco remains 14 games under .500 at 32-46.
Moving any of their big three would be a tall task for the Giants, who would likely have to pay down some of those contracts or be willing to attach young prospects to generate serious trade interest from other teams. Chapman and Adames also have full no-trade clauses, though Posey said he has not spoken with either of them about whether they’d be willing to waive them under certain scenarios.
San Francisco should have an easier time finding takers for impending free agents like second baseman Luis Arraez, left-hander Robbie Ray and right-hander Tyler Mahle, who is expected to come off the 15-day injured list and rejoin the rotation on Wednesday.
Arraez departed Tuesday’s game in the fifth after fouling a ball off his foot in the bottom of the first inning, but he should be in demand if he’s healthy, as he’s batting .321 with an .803 OPS over 75 games. Ray’s trade stock also seems to be on the rise. The 34-year-old veteran struck out six and allowed just one unearned run over eight innings against the A’s, lowering his ERA to 3.70 over 16 appearances (15 starts) this year.
While the Giants look like clear sellers heading into the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline, Posey said he hasn’t lost hope that the team could still get hot and find a way to turn it around in the coming weeks. Still, he recognizes that he needs to do his due diligence and be prepared to pivot toward the future if the Giants continue to flounder.
“I do believe in that core,” Posey said. “I think at this point we've got to put everything on the table and listen to different types of scenarios. Certainly, I can speak for all of us. We don't have our mind made up one way or another, and we'll just kind of see how things progress here over the next month or so.”
How would Posey describe what’s gone wrong for the Giants this year?
“When you play this poorly, it's a little bit of everything,” Posey said. “I think our starting pitching outside of Webby has not done a good job of getting deep in the games. Pitch counts have been high. The bullpen has been a little bit erratic. They've been forced to pitch a lot because of the lack of getting later in the games. And offensively, we were looking at some numbers the other day. If our offense scores four-plus runs, our record’s really good. And then if we score three or fewer, it's not. So it's a combination of all of it.”
Posey signed a three-year deal when he agreed to replace Farhan Zaidi as San Francisco’s head of baseball operations in September of 2024. The Giants hoped the three-time World Series champion would be able to steer them back to relevancy, but they now look well on their way toward missing the playoffs for the fifth straight year.
Most of Posey’s signature moves -- including building a core around Chapman, Adames and Devers and hiring first-year manager Tony Vitello out of the University of Tennessee -- have yet to pay off, but he said he plans to finish out his contract and then go from there.
“I’m committed to seeing it through,” Posey said. “What I like about sports, and I think we all like about sports, is it's a meritocracy. If you play well, you stay. If the team plays well and you win a bunch of games, you stay. If not, then there's conversations that have to be had.”