GIANTS TRADE BUZZ: Bryce Eldridge may NOT be UNTOUCHABLE | Posey on Spending | Justin Dean Profile

GIANTS TRADE BUZZ: Bryce Eldridge may NOT be UNTOUCHABLE | Posey on Spending | Justin Dean Profile

Is Bryce Eldridge untouchable? Should he be untouchable? One of the biggest questions, one of the most polarizing questions of the Giants off season. And we’re breaking it down right now on Locked on Giants. [Music] You are Locked On Giants, your daily San Francisco Giants podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. What’s up y’all? I’m Alan Styles. Welcome to Locked On Giants, part of the Locked On podcast network. Now, because of you, the number one sports podcast network. So, thank you. On the show, we provide daily episodes Monday through Friday, talking about the San Francisco Giants in a way that provides passion, analytics with the eye test, and a little bit of fun. I’m from the Bay Area, but I live in Sacramento now, and I host a show on Sacktown Sports 1140, as well as MCing Sacramento Rivercast games. All in all, I’m lucky enough to cover a team I’ve been a fan of all my life. Today we are asking the tough questions on a beautiful, beautiful Friday. If you’re watching it or listening to it during the weekend, then this will help you enjoy the weekend as well. Should Bryce Eldridge be untouchable? Is he untouchable? What are the Giants saying about it? And we talk about Buster Posie, what he had to say as far as the Giants spending habits this off season. And last but not least, we bring back player profiles. a player profile on speedy outfielder and World Series champion Justin Dean. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app today. Should Bryce Eldridge be untouchable? Do we think he actually will be untouchable? These are the questions that everybody is asking with the GM meetings. Buster spoke on it a little bit. This is from John Sheay of the SF Standard and he gives his thoughts on what Buster had to say as well as some quotes from Buster. This is how uh Buster gets into the Bryce Eldridge thing. And happy Friday by the way if you’re listening to this on Friday. If you’re listening to this during the weekend, I hope you’re enjoying your weekend. And if this catches you next week during the week, I hope it helps you power you uh through the week. So this is what Buster had to say. I would say we value Eldridge as highly as you can value any prospect in your system. Posie told the standard at the general manager meetings Tuesday. To be 21 years and have the project ability to be just an offensive force in the major leagues, regardless of what the position is, we value him very highly because of that. With regard to trade talk, the roster has few untouchable. Now, this is John Shagen into Endeavors, Willie Adamis, Matt Chapman, and Logan Webb obviously, and perhaps other young players depending on the shape of the roster. On that front, Posie said, “You have certain players that, you know, it’s almost impossible to move on from, but we wouldn’t be doing our due diligence if we didn’t listen as well.” So, uh, and last but not least, uh, this is what Sheay says. Would Posie dare trade Eldridge? At this point, we’ve learned anything is possible with the president of baseball operations, Endeavor’s Trade, for example. Posie dealt two of the organization’s prized young players, Kyle Harrison, uh the first round pick, and James Tibs. He goes on to write that it could come up for Hunter Green, Joe Ryan, or McKenzie Gore. All pitchers that obviously the Giants are looking for, you know, the Giants are looking for starting pitchers anywhere they could find them. Here’s the thing. Before you say, Allan, absolutely not. I know the comments are going to be a complete nightmare when I get to them, but that’s okay. Uh, this would be by far the most cost-effective way to add a pitcher, a starting pitcher, a highlevel starting pitcher to the roster. This would be the most cost effective way. So, the argument to trade him or the argument to move on from him is pretty simple. You can get a highlevel pitcher. you can get that guy that we’ve been talking about instead of paying uh the big bucks to one of these guys, Franber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, any any of them, right? Even Dylan CE who’s on maybe that tier below, you could get a starting level pitcher under team control that’s younger than some of the pitching free agents that we’ve seen. You could do that with a package focus around Bryce Eldridge, right? So that would be the the biggest thing and the the biggest reason to do it. I think my question on it when it comes to Buster Posey, and we kind of broke this down last week as well, is that something has got to give, right? And this goes to Greg Johnson as well, just everybody within the Giants organization. Something has to give. Okay, you don’t want to spend $100 million or you’d rather not spend $100 million on a pitcher. Cool. Okay, now you don’t want to uh trade. And I know you can move other people. It doesn’t have to be Bryce Eldridge, but Bryce Eldridge is by far the most enticing piece, I think, in the Giants uh in in the Giants organization as far as somebody who’s very close. He played in the major leagues this season. And he showed some things even if the the box score didn’t illustrate that. We know what we saw and everybody knows what they saw. He’s the closest and he’s the one at that age that the nationals, if you’re talking about Mackenzie Gore or some of these other teams would say, hey, he’s pretty much ready to go, but he’s only what, 21, 22 years old. So, timing wise, we can have him for a very long time. So, you don’t want to spend money, but you don’t want to move off of Bryce Eldridge. At this point, to me, it turns into something’s got to give. That’s why I’m calling the Giants bluff on one of these things. either they actually are going to spend but they don’t want a ton of people knowing that they’re going to be a part of the market or Bryce Eldridge is at some level available. And to take it away from baseball for a second, I mean those that follow, you know, other sports, Luca Donic got traded. Now, Nico Harrison recently got fired and it’s a diff different situation because Luca had already done a ton of stuff in this league going to the finals or in the NBA going to the finals and things like that. But the point is, anything can happen. Anything can happen. I look at a guy who just won AL Rookie of the Year. Unanimous, the 14th AL player to be voted unanimous. And Nick Curts, another first baseman. Now, the A’s, the A’s are another team that you never know what they’re going to do. They just don’t like paying people. But Nick Curts is untouchable, right? Nick Curts has done things at the major league level that we haven’t seen in a very long time. The ops he put up, we’re talking about the same level as the Aaron Judge, A-Rod back in the day when he was a rookie. Guys like that, he is truly untouchable because we have a a an actual season, a body of work where he completely balled out. I don’t know if you can say that about Bryce Eldridge. Not that I want to move him because I don’t. But if you look at where the Giants are at as far as the ages of the guys that they’ve signed, what they’re telling us that they’re ready to win right now and the fact that they’re saying they don’t want to necessarily go out there and spend that highlevel cash on a pitcher, the easiest way to accomplish all the things that the Giants want to accomplish would be to move Bryce Eldridge with a package that is focused around him for one of these starting pitchers. Hunter Green, Joe Ryan, I Joe Ryan’s a little bit older than the other guys, and Mackenzie Gore, right? Those are the options that John Shay lays out. And to me, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens because to me, I wouldn’t be surprised if anything happens. I’m the guy, you know, and and look, things are tough right now, uh, in all industries of life, but I’m the guy who you never know what’s going to happen. I’ve been laid off before. I had no clue it was going to happen in a terrible situation. I I’m I don’t want to say I’m cynical about it, but anything can happen, right? The idea of being untouchable. If you look at and and basketball, everything is different, right? In football, quarterbacks for sure. Patrick Mahomes is untouchable. Okay? In basketball, clearly it’s a little different with Luca being moved. But I think we can all agree that that was just a bad trade, right? Luca should have been untouchable. Now, let’s take it to baseball. Uh who out there is untouchable? Some guys got trade clauses like Matt Chapman, but other guys, if you look around the league as to who is untouchable, I think every team, it depends on where they’re at in the process. If the Giants were rebuilding, I would say that Bryce Eldridge is truly untouchable. But the fact that the Giants are trying to win right now and they keep try trying to tell us that they don’t want to spend a ton of money, you have to you you have to uh sift through the options and and look at the options and look at what it is. Maybe you can focus these deals around other players for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of teams just on principle are saying you want Mackenzie Gore, you want one of these, you want Hunter Green with the team control that they have at the age that they are 26 years old. Yeah, I’m going to need that. I’m going to need Bryce Eldrich. you know that and the Giants can say no and go out there and and and and buy a pitcher. Okay, but these are the options. These are the options and you might not like them if you were in the Giants organization, but this is what it is. And you know what? I’m kind of burying the lead here and I want to finish this conversation on the other side because I think the Giants already told us that Bryce Eldridge wasn’t untouchable and I will explain that as well as get into some of the the money conversations that Buster Posie was having during the GM meetings on the other side. Don’t move. More locked on Giants coming up. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. 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So, to close out the Bryce Eldridge conversation, I told y’all I was excited to talk about uh how uh Bryce Eldridge may or may not be available because I do think that these topics are very very polarizing and I love hearing everybody’s uh thoughts on it. Here is my I guess theory, right? If the Giants went out and and it’s not even that tinfoil hat, but if the Giants went out and got Rafie Devers, who they know they’re going to have for a very, very long time, and they know what that commitment is going to be, and in a large part, that contract is looked at as fairly untouchable, which is why the Red Sox were excited to move off of it, even if the Red Sox are now looking for a middle-ofthe-art bat. But if the Giants made that decision that they were going to uh make a trade for Raphael Devers and bring in a a guy that they’re going to turn into a first baseman for the foreseeable future. I know one guy’s one righty and one’s a lefty, but the Giants doing that to me kind of told us already that Bryce Eldridge at some level is not untouchable on top of the fact that Matt Chapman has a no trade clause. So even if you wanted to say, well, DeS could play first baseman for a year or two and then they could move off of Matt Chapman. Now look, maybe Matt Chapman waves his no trade clause, but you’re doing a deal. You don’t know that that’s ever going to happen. So to me, they made this deal for Rafie Des and they knew that he was going to be the first baseman and they knew what that could mean for Bryce Eldridge and they knew that Bryce Eldridge only plays first base. I mean, maybe they mess around and try to get him in the outfield a little bit, but they made that deal because what you have that’s proven is more important, and we should know that as Giants fans, is more important than a prospect. So, now they make that deal. Now, you have I wouldn’t call it a log jam, but I mean, you’re not going to platoon Rafy Divers. You’re talking about this DH first base situation, which is fine, but do you really need and I know he’s young, but Rafy Des isn’t going anywhere, so you’re just going to lock in Bryce Eldridge and Rafie at at DH first base, which is very possible, don’t get me wrong. or the Giants may be thinking, “Hey, we can if we need to move somebody like Bryce Eldridge to then fill an actual hole that we have because not having a a solid DH, obviously you want everybody in your lineup to be an absolute stud. I get all that. And in the in the playoffs and sometimes even during the regular season, it looks like that one spot always comes up that you are not equipped with. And that could be, you know, your catcher that’s hitting, that could be a DH, your right fielder, whoever it is, we we understand that. But if you’re priding yourself on pitching and you know uh the type of ballpark that you play in, I think it’s very possible that the Giants made this move and knew that making this move could make Bryce Eldridge just a little bit more expendable if the right price comes along. What’s the saying that? Everybody has a price. Everything has a price. and the price of starting pitching and the price of Bryce Eldridge, they might just parallel together because the Giants continue to tell us that they don’t want to go out there and spend that type of money. That’s what it is. This gives them a way to upgrade the pitching uh rotation without spending big money. One of these options has to happen. Are other prospects valued like Bryce Eldridge to allow you to get a McKenzie Gore or Hunter Green? I I don’t know that yet. I don’t know. It would depend. I know the Reds, they don’t the the Reds to me, why would the Reds want somebody that isn’t going to be in the league for two years? The Reds just made the playoffs. They got Ellie Dela Cruz. They got guys that they’re ready to go right now. The Nationals maybe, because I think the Nationals might be further away. So maybe the deal is with the Nationals if you say, “Hey, we got a couple guys, you know, and you’re not going to like those names either. all those top 30 guys that we’ve talked about, right? The outfielding prospects, the infielding prospects, somebody got to go. And I guess a lot of you would say, “Well, Allan, I’d rather do that than Bryce Eldrich.” And that’s fine because I probably agree with you. But based on the Giants timeline, all these guys being in their mid to late 20s, all their big money guys, and what they’re trying to do, it’s very clear that the movement of Bryce Eldridge could be a possibility. That’s all I’m going to say. That’s all I’m going to say. All right, let’s get to what Andrew Bagley had to say. Uh, and it features some of Buster Posy’s quotes in the media availability during the GM meetings. The dialogue during Posy’s media availability Tuesday had a lot more to do with vibes than offseason goals. Posie cited players such as Elliot Ramos, Jung Hu Lee, and Luis Matoss while saying there’s more in the tank and meat on the bone. Posie made it clear the Giants will augment their roster from the outside world this winter. He made it even clearer that a successful return to the postseason will require internal improvements under the leadership of Vitello and a coaching staff with some assembly still required. Here’s the quote. The reality is we’re going to need I mean I looked at it like this as a player. I think I look at it even more so now the successful teams are going to have players within their system that make an impact said Posie citing developing pitchers such as Blade Tidwell, Carson Wizen Hunt, Carson Seymour, Kaiwe Tang as key contributors in 2026. I think for us to get where we want to go and certainly don’t read between the lines and say that we’re not going to make any additions because we will most certainly do our best to improve pitching like always. But we’re going to need some of the Tidwells, the Wizen Hunts of the World, the Tangs, the Seymours, and I’m probably leaving one or two out there to take that next step and really contribute on the pitching side of things. Posy’s uninspiring remarks, this is uh Baggerly, of course, uninspiring remarks appeared in stride with wet blanket comments that Giants chairman Greg Johnson made earlier this month when the SF standard asked him about competing at the top of the starting pitching market where Framber Valdez, Dylan Cece, Tatsuya Imi, and perhaps Ranger Suarez will command contracts in excess of 100 million. And again, going back to his reply, I’d say we’re going to be very cautious about those kinds of signings. So, they’re still saying the same thing, and this connects back to the the Bryce Eldridge situation. They’re still saying the same thing, and they’re saying, “Well, we’re going to do this and we’re going to do that to upgrade internally and to get better internally.” I just don’t see them running out two of those guys, right? I just don’t see them running out. Carson Seym the Carson’s Carson Seymour and Carson Wizen Hunt Blade Tillwell and uh you didn’t even say Hayden Bird song which I just realized that I don’t see that happening. I do not see that happening. So, you know, that is going to be a fascinating situation for the Giants. Obviously, they’re saying what they feel like they want to put out there, but I just don’t think realistically, again, you can say what they continue to say, but then on the other hand, say we want to be about pitching and defense when you have you’d be looking at two unproven starters in your rotation. That That’s ridiculous. That’s ridiculous. One more segment with you. We’re bringing back player profiles, Justin Dean and his player profile. the speedy outfielder and the recent World Series champion and what can he bring to the San Francisco Giants. More Locked on Giants coming up. Thank you for making Locked on Giants your first listen of the day and thank you for making Locked on Giants the number one podcast network. It’s been a while since we’ve done a player profile and I thought what better way uh to take a little breather from the rumors and and the buzz and everything that’s been going on and the reports as nothing has really happened yet then by uh bringing back some player profiles and doing it with the newest giant Justin Dean drafted in 2018. The speedy outfielder was selected by the Braves. uh he did not end up getting to the promised land that reached its end and he ended up signing with the Dodgers on a minor league deal. Just a little background on Dean. He spent three years starting for division 2 Lenor Ryan University in North Carolina, hitting and running well enough to catch the attention of area scouts. After hitting close to 400 as a junior, the Braves took him in the 17th round of the 2018 draft. Then saw him play his way to full season ball during his summer debut. who he spent his first full year of pro ball at that level, swiping 47 bases before finishing off the year in the Arizona Fall League. And here is kind of a a a breakdown of his profile. Dean is one of the fastest players in the minor leagues with some scouts giving it an 80 on the 20 to 80 scouting scale. He’s clearly a base ceiling threat and knows his bread and butter is to get on base so he can wreak havoc on the base pass. Power isn’t a huge part of his game, but he can impact the baseball with some extra base authority from the right side. Dean speed also allows him to cover a lot of ground in center field, and he has a chance to play there for a long time where his fringy arm isn’t as big of a concern. The missed year, he missed a year, certainly hurt him, so he’ll need to prove his skills will play at the upper levels, but he has a chance to be a table setter type perhaps with a career as a fourth outfielder most likely. So again, 5’8, 28 years old. Hey, shout out to shout out to my my smaller players out there. 28 years old, 18 games, uh, with two at bats, still looking for his first major league hit. And that’s what he did with the Dodgers. And TripleA last season, he slashed 289, 378, and 809 with 27 bags and six home runs. for his whole AAA career, 10 home runs in 196 AAA games between the Dodgers and the Braves, 59 bags, and was only caught 14 times. He was on the Braves, aa team for a while, and just couldn’t crack the code. Then he made his way to the Dodgers. He’s a good defender, doesn’t strike out a lot, fits the mold for what the Giants are heading towards, but I have no clue when he would see the field. Feels like he’s going to be kicking it with me a good bit in Sacramento. he is optionable. So, I do hope to get to know him out here in Sacramento when he is uh when he is probably going to be optioned. You know, the biggest surprise to me in this, and I get it, the other guy that I’m about to name is a lefty hitter, is it just feels a lot like Grant McCrae. So, I’m curious why they felt like they needed to add him. The other thing, somebody hit me up and commented when I said Luis Moss uh maybe should be able to have more runway. Somebody responded and said, “What about Tyler Fitzgerald?” And I think that’s a great call out because Tyler Fitzgerald was starting in center field when the Rivercats ended. So now you bring in Justin Dean. He’s 28 years old. I honestly thought he was a little bit younger before I looked him up. He’s 28 years old. You already got Tyler Fitzgerald. You still got Wade Meckler who’s played center. You still got Grant McCrae. It’s a little bit of a head scratcher even at the AAA level. If you want those guys to get as many ABS as possible, maybe they think that later in the season he could be able to help out the same way he helped out the Dodgers. I guess that’s possible. But yeah, I was a bit surprised once I went a little bit deeper into his profile based on age and things like that that the Giants decided to to bring him in. But, uh, always happy, uh, like I said, to have another little speedy outfielder, uh, to to kind of go back and forth with, and I do hope to spend some time with him. I’m just not really sure what the path is and and how uh, impactful he will be on the Giants. You never know, maybe he gets an opportunity and he makes the most of it. That’s all anybody can can ever ask for. I think the the one thing I will say is at the center field position, not to get on Jungle Lee again. Maybe the Giants feel like bringing in as many guys that can play a premium position as center field is just a good thing to have and they can figure the rest out later, especially when you have somebody optionable like Justin Dean. Thank you for watching and listening to Locked on Giants. Have a great weekend. It was a fun one. I know everybody wants moves to be made and I want moves to be made, too. I wish I could snap my fingers and get it get it done, but I can’t. Maybe one day I’ll be in the Giants front office, but not yet. Right now, I’m rocking with you Monday through Friday, every single day, giving you all the info that you need. Have a good weekend. Enjoy your day. And until Monday, we will talk to you soon. Peace.

The Giants’ offseason has officially reached “hold-your-breath” territory. In today’s episode, we dive deep into Buster Posey’s strongest comments yet on Bryce Eldridge, including whether the 21-year-old phenom should truly be considered untouchable — or if a pitcher like Hunter Greene, Joe Ryan, or MacKenzie Gore could force the front office into a franchise-shifting decision.

We also break down Andrew Baggarly’s new piece on how the Giants should approach spending, why ownership is telegraphing caution on big-ticket pitching, and what Posey’s comments reveal about the organization’s real plan for 2025 and 2026.

Plus: a full profile on Justin Dean — the sneaky, blazing-fast outfielder the Giants quietly added — and what his upside actually looks like.

All of that, plus the latest on internal development, rotation strategy, the impact of Vitello’s arrival, and the pressure mounting on a roster with fewer and fewer untouchables.

Tap in — this might be one of the most important episodes of the offseason.

0:00 Bryce Eldridge untouchable?
12:16 Bryce Eldridge cont., Buster Posey on spending
20:38 Player Profile: Justin Dean