RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesKANSAS CITY, MO - JULY 22: A close view of the San Francisco Giants logo on a shirt before an MLB game between the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals on July 22, 2026 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Buster Posey and Zack Minasian did quite well at the trade deadline yesterday , but where does that leave the San Francisco Giants today and beyond? In the midst of another rebuild.
Buster Posey might not call it that , and the Giants have strenuously objected to such a practice in the past , but make no mistake: the Giants are rebuilding, and for the third time in a decade. Trading 23% of the major league roster in a 48-hour span while watching your team inch towards setting a new franchise record for losses in a season is definitionally a rebuild. So, we don’t need to think too deeply about their motivations.
I think I’m all out of interest in applauding the Giants for their moves that look positive on paper. The past decade or so has featured many such moves that haven’t panned out. Also, the Giants’ reputation is in the toilet for non-baseball reasons and I don’t think acquiring 8 prospects for 6 major leaguers changes the general perception. Nor should it.
But they became more interesting. Not a little more interesting . Actually interesting. Basically since the moment Buster Posey has touched the front office, the farm system has improved. Heading into the final hours of the deadline, the Giants were already ranked in the top 10 of the sport. They might not crack the top 5 in that ranking after yesterday’s additions, but their already upward trajectory was certainly turbo boosted by the additions of Marcelo Mayer, Ramon Marquez, Henry Lalane, Miguel Mendez, Kaeden Kent, Joniel Hernandez, and Marty Gair (my apologies to Anthony Molina and the salary relief).
That’s just one component of what makes them interesting. The other is that Buster Posey has been given permission to engage in creative destruction of the major league roster, something the last two front offices weren’t really allowed to do. Maybe it’s Larry Baer’s old age, maybe it’s the infusion of venture capital the past few offseasons, but this is a new dimension. The Giants have rebuilt without calling it that before, but they’ve never so nakedly engaged in rebuild behavior.
Now, there were a lot of complaints in my trade grades article from yesterday saying that the entire deadline was a bust because they didn’t move any of Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, or Matt Chapman, three players whose acquisitions were largely celebrated in the moment. I think I understand the compulsion to scream at the front office for wanting them to only trade bad players for good players (and, to be fair, a lot of commenters said good riddance to Heliot Ramos, too), but what makes the Giants interesting with them on the roster going into next year and beyond is that it’s extremely plausible and rather probable that at least one of them will be fairly important on the next not-bad Giants team, which could be as soon as 2028.
The Giants are the envy of no one but they are no longer a public embarrassment when it comes to their farm system. They are alive on the international side of the industry and they seem to have jumped to the front of the pack when it comes to the next development trend: emphasizing contact on the hitting side. And because they’ve been bad and a little lucky this past draft in terms of the lottery, they’ve been amassing some consensus quality prospects.
This doesn’t mean the Giants are automatically good or that a bright future is guaranteed, but the success of the operation and the talent that’s caught the attention of the industry means — to me, anyway — that fans don’t have to settle for hoping for hope. Yes, they’ve had some prospects and some position players (and Logan Webb) who’ve made us all conjure a few “interesting”s in our daily Giants talk, but the volume is simply greater now. The Giants have pushed themselves from “it will take an incomprehensible volume of luck to move the needle from ‘hopeless’ to ‘some hope” to being maybe 2 years away from a lineup that includes Bryce Eldridge, Gavin Kilen OR Marcelo Mayer, and Bo Davidson complimenting Casey Schmitt, Rafael Devers, and the cremains of Matt Chapman & Willy Adames with a pitching staff that includes the last useful innings of Logan Webb’s career buttressed by Jackson Flora and backed up by a bullpen that has Randy Rodriguez, Henry Lalane, and Miguel Mendez.
Or whatever. There are at least two other wishcasting configurations a fan could conjure and that’s because the Giants have put themselves in the position to maybe have some options. So, in terms of a rebuild, this isn’t like that post-Bonds era nor that post-championship run. Not exactly. The Giants have grabbed talent wherever they could and now they’re counting on VP of Player Development, Randy Winn, and his group to get at least some of them to become major leaguers.
Now, the Giants could rush through them the minors as Farhan Zaidi did and make sure the team has some of this talent on the roster in two years, but what’s interesting is that the talent has been arriving at the right time. Bryce Eldridge maybe could have used most of this season in the minors, but it seems like starting him in the majors would’ve been the most correct move and his development hasn’t raised any red flags. He’s figuring things out and you can see the flashes of greatness in his game. Casey Schmitt’s breakout might be a total fluke (we’ll find out after the lockout!), but it did happen and under this brand new coaching staff. Daniel Susac hasn’t exactly flourished, but he’s captured and held the confidence of the organization. Ron Washington helped Luis Arraez become an All-Star defender at second base. The Giants seem to have the tools to help players realize their abilities at the major league level...
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