As the MLB Winter Meetings take place at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, the hot stove is in full swing.
Giants President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi joined NBC Sports Bay Area’s Laura Britt at the Winter Meetings on the latest “Giants Talk” episode and explained how the trade market is shaping up for San Francisco in terms of retooling for one Playoff run in 2024 could look like.
“When you talk about trades, especially given our needs, we need to be more athletic in midfield. Sometimes that doesn’t come in the same form as signing a free agent; a star player who has been to several All-Stars.” “Star Games is coming in,” Zaidi said to Britt. “Oftentimes it’s a player who has done really well in the upper levels of the minor leagues, who may be stalled in his current organization, but who we believe has a chance to be a strong everyday player at the major level Leagues to be.”
Zaidi detailed how successful this strategy was for the Giants during his time with his team, pointing to a handful of players who were acquired in a similar manner and became key contributors to the team.
“We’ve had some success in that player pool with guys like LaMonte Wade [Jr.]and Thairo Estrada and Mike Yastrzemski,” Zaidi explained. “So we’ll see if we can keep up with teams in this area too.”
When asked if there were any players on the Giants that Zaidi would consider untouchable in trade negotiations, the manager shared that the organization would like to build on the pitching staff filled with young talent for the foreseeable future.
“The old, untouchable question is always difficult to answer,” shared Zaidi. “If you don’t think you have players that valuable, you literally wouldn’t trade them for someone else in baseball; it’s hard to actually use that nickname.”
“But our young pitchers in particular are a group we want to build around. Our young pitchers and Patrick Bailey, who we believe is the best defensive catcher in baseball. That’s really the foundation on which we want to build moving forward.”
The Giants are reportedly investing heavily in strengthening their roster after missing the playoffs in consecutive seasons.
It remains to be seen how these moves will be implemented, but the winter meetings provide the perfect setting to negotiate a deal if there is mutual interest between the Giants and another team.
All eyes will remain on the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes until the reigning American League MVP announces his destination, but that doesn’t mean San Francisco won’t facilitate some less-noticed transactions while their brain trust sits in Nashville.
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