{"id":546256,"date":"2026-03-17T13:26:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T13:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546256\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T13:26:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T13:26:20","slug":"how-the-giants-2025-trade-acquisitions-can-help-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546256\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Giants\u2019 2025 trade acquisitions can help this season"},"content":{"rendered":"

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez, the Giants\u2019 starting left fielder and leadoff hitter, smashed Zac Gallen\u2019s first pitch of the day 415 feet over the center fielder\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s a paragraph no Giants fan could have imagined when Buster Posey acquired a haul of prospects with his three trades at the July 31 deadline.<\/p>\n

At the time, Rodr\u00edguez was labeled a catcher who needed serious defensive work and a good contact hitter with little power. Now? He\u2019s one of the pleasant surprises in spring training and could morph into a valuable utility player and man many positions.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez has appeared at catcher, second base, and left field, and the Giants see him playing first, third, and right as well. He was recently timed at 29.4 feet per second running out a grounder, which is impressive considering the fastest Giant last year, Tyler Fitzgerald, was at 29.6.<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty impressive to be able to bounce around like that as a catcher,\u201d said Posey, the president of baseball operations, \u201cand you see him when he runs the bases, he\u2019s got some spring in his step. I think the most impressive part to me is the feedback you get from the coaching staff that he has a high baseball aptitude and is very coachable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The worst-case scenario for the Giants at the deadline was selling, not buying, because it meant the season was going nowhere. All these months later, they\u2019re looking at the best case scenario \u2013 and that\u2019s the group of prospects they received for Tyler Rogers, Camilo Doval, and Mike Yastrzemski.<\/p>\n

Four of them have been in big-league camp, and all four have a chance to make contributions in 2026. Especially Rodr\u00edguez, Drew Gilbert, and Blade Tidwell. The fourth, Parks Harber, is behind the others, not yet reaching Double-A, and will get a late start to the season after pulling his hamstring over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hoping we were going to be adding at the deadline, but unfortunately, we played ourselves out of that,\u201d said Posey, who credited scouting director Hadi Raad, player procurement director Josh Zimmerman, and the scouting and analytics staffs for the deadline prep work. \u201cWe had to change course pretty quickly, but they were ready to go, and we were in a good position to make some tough decisions. We\u2019re excited about that group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an update on the four prospects and their projections:<\/p>\n

Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez<\/p>\n

Acquired in the Doval trade with Harber and pitchers Trystan Vrieling and Carlos De La Rosa, Rodr\u00edguez is making hard contact in spring training: .353 with a .964 OPS in 15 games. Five of his 12 hits went for extra bases, and he struck out just five times in 34 at-bats.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez, 23, is listed as a catcher, one of several backups behind Patrick Bailey, and if Rule 5 acquisition Daniel Susac opens the season as the No. 2 catcher, Rodr\u00edguez will get plenty of opportunities at Triple-A Sacramento to showcase his versatility. <\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez never appeared in the majors, but he accompanied the Giants in September (on the taxi squad) to experience the big-league life and work with catching coach Alex Burg.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Giants GM Zack Minasian recalled Melvin Mora as a player whose value was producing at the plate while appearing at several positions and that Rodr\u00edguez has \u201ca little bit of that vibe that he\u2019s going to help you win a game, wherever he\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n

While mostly a catcher, Rodr\u00edguez played five positions in the Yankees\u2019 farm system while producing a .309 batting average over six seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been players that have shown this ability to move around the field and impact the game every day at a different position, and sometimes those guys are players with limited defensive tools set \u2013 you try and hide them to get their bat in the lineup,\u201d Minasian said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if Jes\u00fas quite fits that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWherever he plays on the field, he\u2019s going to work his tail off to be the best defender possible,\u201d Minasian said. \u201cThen, obviously, it\u2019s a pretty exciting offensive skillset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drew Gilbert<\/p>\n

Gilbert, 25, made his major-league debut in August and appeared in 39 games, displaying premier defensive skills and over-the-top energy, but his bat needs energizing for him to stick in the majors. He hit just .190 with a .248 on-base percentage.<\/p>\n

That he sustained a shoulder impingement in late February, probably caused by overdoing it in throwing drills, put him behind other outfielders.<\/p>\n

3 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

6 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday, Mar. 6<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

He was acquired with Tidwell in the Rogers deal, two Tennessee kids on a team managed by former Volunteers coach Tony Vitello. The Giants\u2019 brain trust has been familiar with both players from its research entering the 2022 draft, where Gilbert was taken in the first round and Tidwell in the second round.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gilbert energy and defense is something that we all gravitated to,\u201d Minasian said. \u201cWe had some sense of it going into it. But getting to see him daily, you really appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ADrew Gilbert made his MLB debut with the Giants in August. | Source: Thearon W. Henderson\/Getty ImagesBlade Tidwell<\/p>\n

Like Gilbert, the 24-year-old Tidwell needs more Triple-A development. In 6 \u2154 innings, he has surrendered seven runs, but the team loves his repertoire and upside \u2013 Minasian spoke of Tidwell\u2019s slider as \u201ca separator pitch\u201d \u2013 and believes he\u2019ll be a factor in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Tidwell got a brief taste of the big leagues as a Met. After the trade, he pitched well with Sacramento (1.50 ERA, 24 strikeouts, 18 innings), but a shoulder injury cost him a chance to join the Giants in September.<\/p>\n

Tidwell is part of a group of young starters who\u2019ll open at Sacramento unless somebody is needed in the bullpen. Trevor McDonald would be the likely choice, having outpitched others including Carson Seymour and Carson Whisenhunt with a 1.80 ERA over four outings.<\/p>\n

Parks Harber<\/p>\n

The Giants aren\u2019t ruling out Harber, 24, reaching the bigs in 2026 even though he hasn\u2019t played past A-ball. That\u2019s how much they think of him as a hitter. He owns a .312 minor-league average.<\/p>\n

The undrafted third baseman was continuing to build momentum until the hamstring injury. He was hitting .357 with a .995 OPS and, like Rodriguez, showing quality bat-to-ball skills with five K\u2019s in 28 at-bats.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never looked overmatched to me,\u201d Posey said.<\/p>\n

With third baseman Matt Chapman signed through 2030, the Giants are discussing ways to make Harber more versatile. Minasian said perhaps he could eventually play third, first, left, and right.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want him to feel comfortable on third base. We\u2019re going to test him there,\u201d Minasian said. \u201cBut I think we all recognize, with Matt Chapman\u2019s presence and then how well Parks has played, being able to play other positions is going to be important. Those are still conversations that we\u2019re having.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AParks Harber played in the Arizona Fall League after being acquired in the trade that sent Camilo Doval to the Yankees. | Source: Chris Bernacchi\/Diamond Images via Getty ImagesThe other guys<\/p>\n

The Giants acquired veteran reliever Jos\u00e9 Butt\u00f3 in the Rogers deal, and expect him to play an important role in their bullpen.<\/p>\n

They added Trystan Vrieling, 25, and Carlos De La Rosa, 18, in the Doval trade, and pitcher Yunior Marte, 22, in the move that sent Yastrzemski to Kansas City. Vrieling is the most advanced of the trio, while Marte and De La Rosa will pitch at lower levels this season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,31170,591,5157,85],"class_list":["post-546256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-buster-posey","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}