ARLINGTON — Giants manager Tony Vitello was 90 seconds into his daily pregame session with beat reporters when his phone started buzzing. Vitello paused for a second and then looked down at his phone. It was Buster Posey.
You should probably take a call from your boss in just about any situation, but on this day, it was particularly important for Vitello to step away for a few minutes and chat in a hallway behind the dugout. It was one of the busiest MLB trade deadlines in recent Giants memory, and they’re hopeful it’s one they look back at fondly one day when they’re back in the playoffs.
In five separate trades, Posey and general manager Zack Minasian sent six experienced big leaguers and one prospect out and acquired eight players, only two of whom have any big league experience.
They have known for months that they would likely be trading Luis Arraez and Robbie Ray elsewhere, and in recent weeks it has been clear that Tyler Mahle would have a market. But on deadline day, the front office also found new homes for former MLB All-Star Heliot Ramos and key bullpen pieces Erik Miller and Caleb Kilian.
The first three are all free agents at the end of the year. The latter three are under club control, which puts this deadline approach somewhere in the middle. It wasn’t quite a rebuild, but it sure was a lot closer than anyone expected.
That’s not a word Posey would use. After all, he deemed Logan Webb off-limits and didn’t find takers for Willy Adames, Rafael Devers or Matt Chapman. But the cuts were still significant.
“I guess the message is we’re not satisfied with the way that we’ve played this year and the last few years and we’re trying everything we can to continue to build a product that we can all be excited to come and watch,” Posey said on a call with reporters a half hour after the deadline. “And that was really the goal. Even if we have to subtract a little bit now, can we potentially add some players that we think our fans are excited about and hopefully wear a Giants uniform for a long time.”
Posey was a seller last year, too, but the approach then was to get more quantity. This time, it seemed more targeted, whether the Giants want to admit it or not.
None of the five deals brought back more than two players, but they certainly added a lot of talent to a farm system that should be a top five group by the end of the season.
The Arraez/Kilian trade returned Ramon Marquez, who was ranked fourth in the Philadelphia Phillies’ top 30, according to Baseball America. The Giants are particularly excited about the right-hander, and Posey said he’s someone they had targeted early but “weren’t sure we’d have access to.”
In exchange for Ramos, they got lefty Henry Lalane, who ranked fifth in a good New York Yankees system. They also got infielder Kaeden Kent, Jeff’s son, and the 14th-best prospect in their system.
Miguel Mendez and Joniel Hernandez, from the Ray trade, ranked among the San Diego Padres’ top 20 prospects, and Hernandez, a 17-year-old who got $1.4 million as an international free agent a few months ago, seems like a particularly savvy gamble.
Then there was the Miller trade, which was perhaps the most surprising. He has been Vitello’s closer in recent days and is under team control for three more seasons. But how could the Giants hang up when the Red Sox offered 23-year-old Marcelo Mayer, a consensus top 15 prospect in all of baseball as recently as last year?
It was a haul, and the Giants weren’t the only ones to feel that way. Multiple rival executives told NBC Sports Bay Area on Monday that they felt the Giants “crushed” the deadline.
Posey stayed subdued Monday, but he was probably also pretty tired. He said there was traction on an Arraez deal on Sunday night, but that wasn’t finalized until around 7 a.m. on Monday. Other than the Mahle trade, the others all came together Monday, with Ramos and Miller happening so late that the Giants were scrambling just to get a full roster together for their game against the Rangers. They ended up being one call-up short.
Ramos found out about the deal on a clubhouse TV and was all smiles as he was pulled into the daily hitters’ meeting by Vitello. Later, he stood on the field and stated: “I’m very happy to be a New York Yankee.”
Ramos’ smile was a reminder that the next few months will hurt. He’s a homegrown success story, but he’ll now be aiming for the short porch at Yankee Stadium while wearing pinstripes. Arraez will chase a fourth batting title in Philadelphia. Ray will return to Oracle Park with a division rival in September.
All six big leaguers that were sent out now have a shot at the postseason. The Giants are 47-65, and for the next two months, they will often closely resemble the Sacramento River Cats.
But this is what had to happen to move forward, and Posey is confident the Giants took a big step Monday. This has been a painful season, and it was an emotional 48 hours for the organization, but the hope is that this deadline day will one day be viewed as transformative.
“Yes,” Posey said, “I do think there’s still a chance, as bad as this year has been, that we can be a team that’s in contention.”