The San Francisco Giants didn’t have a game scheduled last Thursday in New York and right fielder Mike Yastrzemski took advantage of his afternoon off.
Yastrzemski and Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming received an invitation to tee it up at Shinnecock Hills, the exclusive and historic golf course out in the Hamptons that has played host to five US Open championships and a Walker Cup. They formed a foursome with Yastrzemski’s brother-in-law, Chris Cahill, and a mutual friend. Yastrzemski hit the ball straighter than anyone. He sank more putts than anyone. He was having such a good time in the summer sunshine that he might have forgotten for a moment or two that the date was July 31.
The trade deadline.
“We both made a pledge, more important for him than for me, but we said we’re putting the phones away,” Flemming said. “We’re not looking at them. We’re not thinking about it. It’s an off day, period. So we played our round. I played pretty well. He played awesome, really great. He was kind of on cloud nine, because it’s a great place and a fun round, really fun day. We had a great time together.”
They walked off No.18 and Flemming sipped a drink at the clubhouse bar while Yastrzemski and Cahill went to the locker room to clean up. Two minutes later, Cahill reappeared, his face frozen.
Uh, he just got a voicemail from Buster. So he’s calling Buster back.
Flemming checked the time on his phone. It was 6 p.m. on the dot — the moment when a figurative buzzer was sounding in every major league front office, including in San Francisco, where former All-Star catcher Buster Posey was experiencing his first trade deadline as the Giants’ president of baseball operations.
“So we go back to the locker room and Yaz had just gotten off the phone with Buster,” Flemming said. “And I think his actual words were, `I’m gone.’ It’s just me and him standing there. I said, `You’re gone?’ He said, `I got traded.’ I asked him where, he said Kansas City. We kind of chuckled a little bit, just because it was a very unlikely place for this to all go down.
“And then it was chaos for the next hour.”
The trade deadline is the most exhilarating day on the major league calendar. It drives massive media engagement. It compels fans, players and executives to refresh their phones every 30 seconds. It can alter pennant races. It can make World Series MVPs out of players who’ve barely introduced themselves to their new fans. It causes widespread unease among players’ family members. After weeks of posturing and sometimes empty rhetoric, it is the ultimate action date. The transactions cook like a bag of Orville Redenbacher in the microwave — staggered sounds over the preceding days, a building noise in the early hours on deadline day, an insane number of deals exploding in the final minutes, then a few stray pops after the deadline passes as news gets out about last-second deals.
The Giants got one of those last-second deals to pop, agreeing to trade Yastrzemski to the Royals for 21-year-old pitching prospect Yunior Marte.
The world learned that Yastrzemski had been traded at 14 minutes past 6 when MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand broke the transaction on social media. Flemming learned the news at Shinnecock Hills maybe 10 minutes prior to that. The only thing more intriguing to a baseball fan than the trade deadline is getting to see it happen from behind the scenes, watching how a deal comes together, and being in the room to witness the logistical and life-altering ramifications.
This is how the Mike Yastrzemski trade went down.
The discussions
Yastrzemski delivered a memorable final act in his last game as a Giant on July 30. He chased a foul fly ball down the right field line, casually leapt over the short fence like he was hopping into a sidecar, made the catch and landed like a trapeze artist in the protective netting. Of course, at the time, nobody knew it was Yastrzemski’s last game.
Not even Posey or Giants GM Zack Minasian.
Posey didn’t let emotional attachments get in the way at the deadline while he traded three of his former teammates. He dealt reliever Tyler Rogers to the New York Mets the day before the deadline and, with the clock ticking July 31, finished a deal to send reliever Camilo Doval to the New York Yankees for four prospects. Posey and Minasian had barely finalized that transaction when the Kansas City Royals got in touch.
The Giants hadn’t actively shopped Yastrzemski, but as they watched an 0-6 homestand play out prior to the deadline, the small group of front-office decision makers — Posey, Minasian, vice presidents Jeremy Shelley and Paul Bien — were unanimous that the organization should be open to trading their impending free-agent veterans. They’d spoken with the Royals about a few players including Yastrzemski in the days prior to the deadline, but nothing was imminent. Neither Posey nor Minasian woke up on July 31 convinced that Yastrzemski would be dealt.
“You start with conversations that are more open-ended,” said Minasian, who checked in with every team except the Los Angeles Dodgers. “It’s, `Hey, this is what we’re open to, here’s where we’re at.’ You don’t want anything to be misconstrued so that happens on the phone. Then probably two-thirds of the communication from there is texts.”
The Royals didn’t text back until there were minutes to spare. Was Yastrzemski still available? Minasian had a name cued up that his pro scouting staff, led by Hadi Raad, had identified as a strong-bodied pitcher who projected to throw harder as he grew into his body.
“There’s upside,” Posey said of Marte. “Zack, Jeremy and I, the rest of the group, felt that where things stood, it was worth taking a shot at this point and seeing what we could have in a couple years.”
The two teams agreed via text to the deal two minutes before the deadline, including the cash that would cover roughly half the roughly $3 million owed to Yastrzemski for the remainder of the season. Minasian cranked out an email to the MLB account set up to handle trade notifications — a swifter process than what his forerunners endured while praying the paper wouldn’t jam in the fax machine. He hit send. If the email had been time-stamped one second after 6 p.m., the league wouldn’t approve the trade. Minasian sent the email in time, then received confirmation that it had been received.
The next step was the least pleasant.
“Buster immediately called Yaz,” Minasian said. “We’re always sensitive for the player to hear it from us. A lot of deals were going through, which might have bought us a couple minutes.”
A few minutes earlier, when the deal to send Doval to the Yankees was confirmed, Posey tried calling the right-handed former All-Star closer and wasn’t able to get through. Fortunately, Yastrzemski called back quickly enough to receive notification from Posey instead of reading the news on a screen crawl or social media feed.
“I mean, it wasn’t a call I was looking forward to by any stretch,” said Posey, who played with Yastrzemski in 2019 and on the 2021 NL West championship team that won a franchise-record 107 games. “He’s a friend of mine. So it’s, `Hey, man, not an easy call I’ve got to make here, but the Royals showed some interest in you. Felt it was the best for the Giants to make the move.’ He got it. I mean, he knows it’s not coming from a place of malicious intent.”
“I did express my appreciation,” Posey said. “But it’s not like we went down the memory trail.”
Posey and Yastrzemski shared the field together, making the trade phone call a charged moment. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
“I don’t think there was a whole lot that needed to be said,” Yastrzemski said. “We’ve known one another for so long and we understood what was going on. I was happy that he was able to call me, that it wasn’t some one-off thing, and I never would have expected them to handle it any differently. They were incredibly professional, matter-of-fact, very respectful, and for that I’m grateful, too. It wasn’t just a transaction without feeling. There was some thought that went into it, and there was genuine care that went into it, and that’s all you can ask as a player and as a human being.”
And yet …
“Obviously, it was a huge shock to him,” Flemming said. “He was trying to have a good attitude about it, and he really did. It wasn’t like he broke down weeping. I think he looked at it as a cool opportunity. Somebody really wanted him and made the move to get him. But I do think he was stunned, and in a weird way, it was good to have somebody with him. He wasn’t alone in a hotel room. We reminisced about his great moments.”
Yastrzemski came to the Giants in an unheralded minor league trade with the Baltimore Orioles in 2019, made his major league debut as a 28-year-old and continued the baseball legacy of his Hall of Fame grandfather, Carl, whose 23-year career with the Boston Red Sox is the stuff of legends. The inspiring story was supposed to end there. But Carl’s grandson accomplished far more than a cameo with the Giants.
Yaz the younger hit five walk-off homers as a Giant — one more than his grandfather hit for the Red Sox.
The whirlwind
Kansas City officials arranged a car to take Yastrzemski from Manhattan to the airport to catch a flight to Toronto, where the Royals were beginning a three-game series the following night. But Yastrzemski was a 90-minute drive down Long Island. So the Shinnecock Four were able to spend a little more time conversing together — in between rapid-fire phone calls, anyway.
Royals GM J.J. Picollo called Yastrzemski’s cell phone. Then the Royals travel staff called. Then Giants manager Bob Melvin. Yastrzemski would be on one call and get three more he’d have to return. He talked to his wife, Paige, of course, and his mother, Anne-Marie.
“He’d hang up with one and laugh with us about who he had just talked to, and then make the next call,” Flemming said. “It was something I’d never witnessed before. It’s your stuff, it’s the lease on your place, it’s the travel documents going to Toronto, which was an extra complication.”
Yes, Yastrzemski happened to have his U.S. passport with him.
“Thank God he did,” Giants right-hander Logan Webb said. “I actually have my passport with me, too. But that’s because I haven’t put it away from our Toronto trip two weeks ago.”
During the car ride back to Manhattan, Cahill looked up the Royals schedule and let out a laugh: Oh my gosh, do you know where you’re going after Toronto? Boston!
Maybe it’s poetic that Yastrzemski would be traded away from the only major league home he’s known, and a few days later, return to Fenway Park, which has been his family’s baseball home for generations. But a Boston trip would mean added stress, too. So much for quietly settling in with his new team.
Mike and his famous grandfather Carl’s Boston roots made his trade an even more unusual situation. (Kathryn Riley / Getty Images)
The Giants clubhouse staff ensured Yastrzemski’s bats and other equipment would travel with him to Toronto but Rob McDonald, the Giants’ director of team operations, didn’t inundate him with questions. There would be time to pack up his locker in San Francisco and ask what stuff should be sent to Kansas City and what should go to his offseason home in Nashville. There were cars to ship and a rental house in Lafayette to clear out.
“In the moment when things are moving so quickly, you aren’t always thinking clearly,” McDonald said. “I always tell guys, `Catch your breath, take a step back, think about what’s best for you and your family. We’re here to help.’”
When Yastrzemski arrived in Toronto, the second whirlwind began.
“In each organization, there’s 60-something names of people running around behind the scenes who have a big part in your life, from training staff, to scouts to the people coming through the clubhouse,” said former outfielder Hunter Pence, whom the Philadelphia Phillies traded to the Giants at the deadline in 2012. “Your teammates, you’ll get to know them. But all the other names, you have to get down, too. You’re constantly saying, `Who do I need to ask to get X, Y or Z?’”
Pence was a bachelor living out of a suitcase when he was traded to San Francisco. So there was only so much life to disrupt. He said he empathizes with someone like Yastrzemski, who has a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son.
Webb, who became a father last year, rents a house in Lafayette and lamented that two of his neighbors — the Rogers family and the Yastrzemski family — will be moving out.
“I just saw Rog in New York and asked him if his family is coming out there,” Webb said. “He said he didn’t even know yet. I can only imagine how crazy it is to pack up your entire life.”
As businesslike as Posey treated the trade deadline while trading away three former teammates, he acknowledged that he considered the disruption that any deal would make on those involved.
“A big part of this for me is not forgetting the human element of it, good or bad,” Posey said. “Ultimately, I’m still going to operate from a place where I’m going to make what I think are the best decisions for the team. And unfortunately, sometimes you know it’s going to throw a wrinkle in people’s personal lives. But it doesn’t mean that you should be callous to it, either. ”
The future
Minasian laughed when he recalled the day in the spring of 2019 when then-president Farhan Zaidi walked into the office and made an offhand comment. Hey guys. I think I’m gonna trade for Yastrzemski.
“There were three of us in there and we were like, `OK …’” Minasian said. “Turned out pretty good, right? That was all Farhan. I can’t take any credit for that.”
A 28-year-old outfielder who was stalled with Baltimore’s Triple-A club ended up receiving down-ballot NL MVP votes in 2020. Yastrzemski won a Willie Mac Award as the team’s most inspirational player in 2020 and was the club’s nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award honoring a commitment to community service.
“You saw it the day before the trade,” Webb said of Yaztrzemski’s catch into the netting. “He put his body on the line. He’ll hit a pop up and he’s still running to second base when it’s caught. He does all the things right that you look for in a baseball player. I enjoyed playing with him because you know he’s going to go all out for you. He’s one of my best friends in the game.”
Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee had formed a close bond with Yastrzemski as well.
“I’m not going to lie, I did break down a little bit because Yaz was a really good friend,” Lee said through Korean interpreter Justin Han. “We sent over a lot of long text messages. I hope for the best for him.”
The Giants hadn’t intended to sell at the deadline until the losses piled up in the days preceding it. So Posey cannot say he enjoyed his first experience with MLB’s most frenetic day on the calendar.
“But I’ll say this: I don’t think I ever felt we were unprepared to make a decision,” Posey said. “That’s a credit, one, to Zack, being in a leadership role and having been a pro scouting director for so many years. It played a big part in my decision to hire him as GM in the first place. As a pro scouting director, you’ve got to play like you’re the GM of the other 29 teams and know their systems just as well. He leaves no stone unturned.
“Even though it wasn’t a particularly fun day, trading away players, the solace for me was similar to how I felt when I was a player: If I could go out and feel I was prepared, it gives you confidence.”
The Royals, like the Giants, are on the periphery of the wild card standings. Kansas City is likely to be a two-month stop for Yastrzemski, who will be a 34-year-old free agent for the first time. Standing at his locker in the Fenway Park visiting clubhouse earlier this week, he credited Paige with not letting him quit when he expressed doubts after six seasons in the Orioles system.
You made me a promise that you were going to play until somebody ripped the jersey off your back. I didn’t work three and four jobs at a time, grinding through the minor leagues with you to see you just kind of flail out in one weak moment. Really?
“That snapped me back in it. And the rest is history,” Yastrzemski said. “So I have her to thank for most of it.”
“I appreciate every day that I’m here.”
Carl Yastrzemski played his entire career in a Red Sox uniform. He holds the major league record for most games (3,308) while spending his career with one team. Although his grandson came to the Giants in a minor league trade, this is the first time a major leaguer named Yastrzemski has changed teams.
At some point during the afternoon on the fairways at Shinnecock, Yastrzemski mentioned it to his playing partners: His grandfather grew up on a potato farm just a few miles down the road.
Humble beginnings sometimes span generations.
“There’s a sense of gratitude when you can put all the materialistic BS aside,” Yastrzemski said. “You can just appreciate it — the actual accomplishment of (being) one of 23,000 people in history to play in the big leagues. That’s a big deal to me. I didn’t do the whole travel ball scene. I played in the Andover Little League. I played in the Pony League. I played with my friends. It was all fun for me, and it just kind of transpired. So, it’s just something that I appreciate every single day. Even on the worst days, I can find a way to sit down and say, ‘You know what, I’d rather punch out four times in the big leagues than hit four homers in the minor leagues.’”
In his first at-bat in a Royals uniform, Yastrzemski did not punch out. Facing former Giants teammate Kevin Gausman, he hit a home run.
The Athletic‘s Chad Jennings contributed to this story
(Top photo: Mark Blinch / Getty Images)