Giants stand pat at trade deadline
Henry Schulman
July 31, 2017 Updated: Jul 31, 2017 10:38 p.m.
Larry Baer (left) comments on the 2016 season with Bobby Evans and Brian Sabean at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, two days after the Giants were eliminated in the NLDS by the Chicago Cubs.Paul Chinn / The Chronicle
Giants fans are upset, as they should be watching the worst team in the majors. They see big contracts that will be tough to move, older players with diminishing skills, a lack of power in a record year for home runs, and a Dodgers juggernaut atop their division that could be tough for many years.
The Giants say they want to contend in 2018, but the road map is hard to read.
To those who scratched their heads after the nonwaiver trade deadline passed Monday with no new deals, beyond last week's trade of Eduardo Nuñez to Boston, general manager Bobby Evans said he gets it.
He also declared that nobody should read his inactivity Monday as a sign the Giants expect to win in 2018 with this roster, even if the front office plans to keep most of the core intact.
"We understand we have to make changes to this roster to get to a place where we're more competitive, and put ourselves in a position where we've been in the past," Evans said. "How much we can accomplish between now and the beginning of 2018 remains to be seen."
The Giants were caught in an odd market with too many sellers and too few buyers, who were more interested in bolstering their 2017 rosters with high-impact rentals than making what the industry calls "baseball trades," where two teams swap established big leaguers to improve long term.
Those occur more often in the winter, and Evans said he got a good sense during deadline discussions how other teams value his players and who might be interested in doing business. He said he fielded calls on core players and had deals on the table, but none attractive enough to consummate.
Those discussions will be ongoing, but Evans cannot make promises.
"I think that's why we have to be careful not to overstate what we can accomplish this winter," he said. "Some of that has to be us on alert for what opportunities exist. As we sit here today, we've got a lot of ideas where clubs see our guys.
"You're not going to have the rubber meet the road on those discussions until the offseason."
The Giants understand what they are missing, particularly power and outfield defense.
"We have shown a lack of power, and that's hurt us," manager Bruce Bochy said, adding that come the offseason, "maybe you do have to look at power."
The Giants also have to take an honest look at Denard Span in center and Hunter Pence in right. They are 33 and 34 years old, respectively, and do not have the range or arms they once had. The organization has outfield prospects coming, including Austin Slater, Chris Shaw, Steven Duggar and Ryder Jones, who will get at-bats later this season.
The Giants can try to trade Pence and Span, both free agents after 2018. If they stay, the club probably will have to alter their roles and give younger players some of their starts because run prevention is crucial for a team that cannot slug it out with its opponents.
In the same light, fans need to be realistic about some of their favorite players.
If Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford are untouchable, the Giants will have to consider trading more desirable guys like Joe Panik, Brandon Belt and Ty Blach to get difference-making players in return.
Panik is an ideal trade chip because he is 26, has a Gold Glove, can hit and has three more years of club control.
"Trust me. It's crossed my mind," Panik said. "It's a business. I know going forward my name is going to be thrown around. I could be a casualty of a year like this."
The Giants can still look at August waiver deals. Players with big contracts, such as Belt and Johnny Cueto, should clear waivers, but teams are reluctant to take on a lot of money without a firm handle on what their 2018 budgets will be.
Being on the disabled list has depressed Cueto's market. He was expected to throw 70 pitches in a rehab game for Class A San Jose on Monday night but threw just 34. It was not immediately clear why.
For now, the Giants will provide more playing time to their dwindling number of healthy minor leaguers, including Jones and Jarrett Parker, who will be activated from the disabled list Wednesday.
That is part of the process of building for 2018, which gained little steam during a quiet July trading season.
Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hankschulman
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Henry Schulman has covered the San Francisco Giants since 1988, starting with the Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Examiner before moving to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1998. His career has spanned the "Earthquake World Series" in 1989 and the Giants' three World Series championships in 2010, 2012 and 2014. In between, he covered Barry Bonds' controversial career with the Giants, including Bonds ' successful quests for home-run records and his place in baseball's performance-enhancing drugs scandal. Known for his perspective and wit, Henry also appears frequently on radio and television talking Giants, and is a popular follow on Twitter.