SAN DIEGO — All was quiet in the visitors’ dugout Sunday afternoon. No commotion to make a mid-inning substitution. Nothing to see for anyone on hug watch.
A few hundred miles up the coast, president of baseball operations Buster Posey and his contingent of Giants executives hunkered down in their offices inside Oracle Park and continued to put in the work that should mean the next 24 hours won’t pass so stealthily with several moves expected.
San Francisco made a move after the game, dealing right-handed pitcher Tyler Mahle to the Braves for right-handed pitcher Anthony Molina.
Others in the industry kicked into high gear approaching MLB’s trade deadline — 3 p.m. PT Monday — with starting pitchers Tarik Skubal (to the Dodgers), Freddy Peralta (Rays) and Luis Castillo (White Sox) headlining those already on the move.
The Giants, expected to be one of the league’s most active sellers, possess arguably the best lefty available besides Skubal in Robbie Ray, possibly the best hitter on the market in Luis Arraez and some other interesting pieces. But Posey preferred to let the clock tick, apparently hoping that as pressure grows for contenders so will the price San Francisco is able to extract.
On the field, it was business as usual in the final game before the deadline, even down to the starting lineup. Manager Tony Vitello didn’t take the same precaution as the Angels did with Jose Soriano, scratching the trade candidate from his scheduled start Saturday.
Arraez, held out for cramps in his lower half Saturday, was back atop the Giants’ order. In possibly his final at-bat with the team, he flew out to end its 5-4 loss to the Padres.
“I’m just trying to do my job during the game,” Arraez said afterward. “I just go out there and compete. I don’t want to think about the trade deadline or anything. If San Francisco trades me, I’ll go do my job.”
Ray’s cowboy boots provided a contrast to Arraez’s sequined black high-top sneakers, but the bottom line was that both pairs were still on each player’s lockers by the end of the day.
Heliot Ramos, whose name has also surfaced in trade rumors despite being under team control for three more seasons, played all nine innings.
Vitello, who doesn’t have the same kind of control over his personnel as he did running the program and everything that came with it at the University of Tennessee, went about his day, too. Although Posey and Co. “keep me in the loop,” he was more focused on the game in front of him.
That didn’t lead to many satisfying responses to the text messages lighting up his iPhone.
“Players I know from competing or recruiting or coaching text me. They think I have control over the trades,” Vitello said. “Our guys don’t have complete control over it [either].”
Like everything else, the trade deadline is a new experience for Vitello. Comparing it to the college transfer portal, he said “that’s a lot more emotional, and it’s a lot more chaotic.”
In the big leagues, he said, “the lines are thicker … it’s just a little more organized.”
Part of that means it’s on Posey and his lieutenants to find the best possible deals, rather than Vitello attempting to convince an 18- to-22-year-old with NIL money and playing time.
But the deadline shares something in common with college recruiting: It takes two to tango, and both sides have to be satisfied in order to sign off on a deal.
“It’s like anything with a match. What someone’s looking for has got to meet what someone’s willing to offer and what the other team’s looking for, too,” Vitello said. “So we’ll see how it all goes down. I’m sure it’ll be busy for everybody.”
