The San Francisco Giants are en route to missing the National League playoffs for the fifth straight season.
Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey made it clear with his trade deadline revamping that the status quo is not acceptable.
San Francisco won its first game after the deadline and will look to post another victory Tuesday night when it faces the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas.
The Rangers are sinking with a season-worst six consecutive losses after a 5-1 series-opening setback. The Giants, however, have been plummeting in the wrong direction all season.
Among the flurry of moves was the departures of NL batting leader Luis Arraez (an infielder who has won three batting titles) to the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as former All-Star outfielder Heliot Ramos to the New York Yankees and left-hander Robbie Ray, a former Cy Young Award winner, to the San Diego Padres.
Overall, the Giants dealt seven players and brought in eight, including six minor leaguers.
“I guess the message is we’re not satisfied with the way that we’ve played this year and the last few years,” Posey said. “We’re trying everything we can to continue to build a product that we can all be excited to come and watch.”
Giants manager Tony Vitello said it was a hectic afternoon for everyone.
“It was chaotic,” Vitello said. “I think at this level that everybody understands it’s a business and you have to be a pro about your business. When you’re in street clothes, you have to figure out where you have to live, and when you’re on the field, you have to figure out how to win a ballgame.”
Meanwhile, Texas dealt veteran infielder Josh Smith to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom declined to waive his no-trade clause, eliminating his chance of being moved.
He told reporters he wants to win with the Rangers.
“Look, we haven’t played our best baseball,” deGrom said. “We’re capable of winning, and I truly believe in this group. Like I said, the goal was to be here and help this team win. We have to play better. I think we can, and I think we’re going to. So I wanted to be a part of that. … I also haven’t pitched to the best of my ability.”
Texas didn’t perform well on Monday as it committed a season-worst five errors. Ezequiel Duran homered and had four of the Rangers’ seven hits.
“We played probably our worst game of the year tonight quite honestly,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said afterward. “… It’s just a tough day overall for a lot of guys on the defensive side. Those days happen and errors do happen, unfortunately a lot of them happened tonight, so hopefully we got them all out of our system and can get back to clean baseball.”
Left-hander MacKenzie Gore (6-9, 4.77 ERA) will take the mound for the Rangers on Tuesday.
Gore, 27, lost to the Tampa Bay Rays in his last turn when he gave up three runs and three hits over seven innings.
Gore is 4-2 with a 4.02 ERA in six career starts against the Giants. San Francisco slugger Rafael Devers is hitless in nine at-bats against Gore.
Right-hander Blade Tidwell (0-0, 3.00) was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento and will be the first pitcher Tuesday. He made eight relief appearances for San Francisco in April.
Tidwell, 25, was 2-3 with a 4.38 ERA in 16 appearances (15 starts) for the River Cats. He has never faced the Rangers in his 12 big league appearances.
Tidwell played college baseball at Tennessee under Vitello, the first-year Giants manager.
–Field Level Media
