The San Francisco Giants are in position to sell off parts of their roster at the Aug. 3 trade deadline, president of baseball operations Buster Posey reiterated on KNBR Thursday morning. Posey said the Giants may also use the deadline to reinforce one of the weakest parts of their big league roster: The bullpen.
Asked whether the Giants would address their late-game problems this season with a trade on “The Murph and Markus Show,” Posey said, “I think closing out a game is one of the more unique things in sports because some guys have the ability to handle it better than others and you’re hoping that somebody is gonna grab the bull by the horns, but we’re in mid-July now and that hasn’t happened.
“So I think it’s one of the things we have to think about as we approach this trade deadline. I almost hesitate to say that I think it’s unfair to Randy Rodriguez because sometimes when you come back from Tommy John surgery it takes you a little bit of time to get back on track, but he’s a guy that we’re all excited to have coming back next year. Maybe people roll their eyes, I don’t know. Bullpens are funny, they tend to be very momentum oriented and it can go in a positive direction or negative direction and unfortunately it’s been a little bit negative for us this year.”
The Giants have sorely missed Rodriguez this season. He staked a claim to the closer role in 2025 while earning a spot on the NL All-Star team while averaging 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings and posting a 1.78 ERA, but he had to have Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in September. The organization also traded Tyler Rogers away before the trade deadline last year, and watched him sign a three-year, $37 million contract with Toronto in the offseason. They also traded away previous closer Camilo Doval to the New York Yankees.
It has been an adventure in high-leverage situations in the absence of last year’s late-inning options. The Giants went into this year’s All-Star break with 12 blown saves, eight leading to losses, so what leads they’ve had, they’ve proven susceptible to losing late. They operated without a defined closer until Caleb Kilian was given the job mid-June.
Kilian hasn’t owned the role since being thrust into it. On the season, he has eight saves with three blown saves while posting a 4.74 ERA and better-looking 3.84 FIP (fielding independent pitching, a metric that measures pitchers’ ability to prevent walks and homers and strike batters out). The entire bullpen ranks as one of baseball’s least effective with a 22nd-ranked 4.47 ERA and 20th-ranked 4.41 FIP.
The Giants made a point of adding pitching help for their system during the amateur draft over the weekend, starting with No. 4 overall pick Jackson Flora, UC Santa Barbara’s ace who was named Big West Pitcher of the Year for his 12-0 with a 1.06 ERA, and who may be on the fast track to the big leagues.
Competition for relievers at the trade deadline is historically heated among contenders, so the Giants will be duking it out with hungry teams on the market for big league-ready arms to help their playoff push.