SAN FRANCISCO — When the Giants’ team bus pulled into Oracle Park late Sunday night, finally home from a six-game swing through Atlanta and Cleveland, there was somebody waiting to meet them.
Farhan Zaidi, the club’s top baseball executive, had news he wanted to convey in-person.
Austin Slater, the Giants’ longest-tenured player, had been traded to Cincinnati.
The departure of the outfielder, who was drafted by the previous regime in 2014, made his debut in 2017 and went on to become one of the major leagues’ most productive platoon players, batting .275 with an .804 OPS in 872 career plate appearances against left-handed pitching, was only a sign of things to come.
Between the last out of their road trip and the beginning of their final homestand before the All-Star break, the Giants shuffled the deck with clear intent. Less than 72 hours later, they cut ties with another veteran, shortstop Nick Ahmed, who was designated for assignment before Tuesday’s series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays.
“We’ve talked a lot about wanting to give some of our young players coming up opportunities and adding athleticism to the roster, and one of the best ways to do that is to have your young guys come up and earn roles,” Zaidi said before Tuesday’s game. “As much as anything it’s just a vote of confidence in those guys.”
That the transition comes the same week that one of their young outfielders, Heliot Ramos, was named an All-Star was a coincidence. But the production that led to that recognition gives the Giants some confidence that their other prospects — Luis Matos and Tyler Fitzgerald, most of all — can capitalize on larger roles in the same way.
Entering their final homestand before the All-Star break as winners of three of their past four series against playoff hopefuls but still three games under .500, Zaidi said the Giants’ record is a “real source of dissatisfaction” and “we can talk about us feeling like we have some positive momentum, (but) we’re still three games under .500. We’ve got to find a way to get better.”
Three weeks from the July 30 trade deadline, Zaidi indicated those upgrades were more likely to come internally. Their beleaguered starting rotation is beginning to get healthy, with Blake Snell returning from the injured list Tuesday and Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb expected to join him soon after the All-Star break.
On the position player side, the Giants anticipate splitting playing time in right field between Matos and Mike Yastrzemski and at shortstop between Fitzgerald and Brett Wisely, who has been a revelation in a similar fashion as Ramos, giving the front office the confidence to move on from a pair of struggling veterans.
“Turning to some of these internal options, some of these young players we think can continue to inject this team with energy and help us, I think it’s a fair statement to say giving them as much of an opportunity in these last few weeks before the deadline will help inform what we do then,” Zaidi said. “I think we have areas of depth and areas where we’re a little light. When I look at our team we have what I believe are pretty solid players at pretty much every spot on the field. …
“Nothing jumps out as a spot that we need an emergency plug in and are just going to get whatever’s out there on the trade market. When you’re in it, there’s always an expectation and a pressure to do something to change the mix, but we’ve got to be careful that whatever we do is a meaningful upgrade.”
Initially signed as an insurance plan to top prospect Marco Luciano at shortstop in spring training, Ahmed went on to win the Opening Day job and appeared in 52 games, maintaining his strong defensive reputation while providing some timely hits but holding a batting average of .232 and an OPS of .581.
Battling injuries to his throwing arm and his side in spring training and then losing three weeks of the regular season to a concussion, Slater has battled through his most difficult season at the plate, batting .200 with a .575 OPS in 43 games, but that didn’t lessen his impact in the clubhouse.
Serving as their player representative with the players’ union until midway through last year, Slater was “the biggest piece of the puzzle for us” while the league navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, his platoon partner, Yastrzemski, said.
“He was in on every meeting,” Yastrzemski said. “Those things are very selfless. He wanted to make sure everybody in the league was taken care of. I think that was his character overall, a guy that wasn’t put on the field maybe as much as he could have been and always looking out for the team and everybody’s best interests. So to have that presence missing from the clubhouse is tough, but we still have a great group here.”
Moving on from a player with Slater’s stature, Zaidi said, “that’s maybe not going to change the path that you’re on but it’s one that you want to show the utmost respect as you move through it. It’s a big deal. I drove in because I wanted to have that conversation with him in-person with (manager Bob Melvin).”
Yastrzemski, who takes on the title as longest-tenured team member, learned not long after Slater that he would be getting a new locker mate. For the past six years, it has been him and Slater holding down the fort in the outfielders’ corner of the clubhouse.
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“I was grabbing my bag and I was walking out and he said bye. I was like, ‘What do you mean?’” Yastrzemski recalled. “He was like, ‘I just got traded.’ Like, what? It was very quick and it was a shock, but that’s baseball. You just show up the next day and keep doing your job.”
On Tuesday, Slater’s old locker had a new occupant: Ramos.
Notable
— Where does top prospect Marco Luciano fit into this youth movement? In 54 games at Triple-A Sacramento, he is batting .230 with a .687 OPS and has split his time between shortstop, second base and designated hitter. “But we’re not giving up on the shortstop role for him,” Zaidi said.
— When it comes to the reinforcements the Giants hope to add to their rotation in the second half, Robbie Ray is closer than Alex Cobb. Ray was scheduled to throw about 65 pitches Tuesday for Single-A San Jose in what Melvin described as a “big day for Robbie.” Cobb will follow Ray with his third rehab start for San Jose on Wednesday, but Melvin said the right-hander will need “three or four” more while Ray is “right on the cusp.”
