Dodgers go all in, Yankees come up short as MLB trade deadline passes
Bob Nightengale breaks down why the Dodgers won the MLB trade deadline after landing Tarik Skubal, plus other winners and losers.
Sports Pulse
The MLB trade deadline is over and we’re at the latter part of the 2026 baseball season, during which teams are either jockeying for postseason position, evaluating young prospects and other talent they recently acquired, and re-evaluating those held on to.
If you’re 49-65 and have one of the worst records in baseball like the San Francisco Giants, then odds are the remainder of the season is an extended tryout period to see who will claim a starting spot, find a way into the batting lineup or even make next year’s 40-man roster.
That’s the direction the Giants are headed to next.
“We’re going to get some looks at some younger players, and I think as much as anything, it’s going to be an opportunity for us as a front office and a coaching staff to evaluate some of our players, and some of them are going to get some longer runways than they’ve had in the past,” Giants general manager Buster Posey said in a radio interview on 97.5 FM.
It’s about the only thing left for San Francisco to play for since being left out of playoff conversations. The Giants are 21 games back of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. Grading talent and going into the offseason this fall is about all the Giants have to look forward to.
But there are still questions that need to be answered going into the offseason. There are holes in the roster that need to be filled. And overall, San Francisco needs to figure out which direction it’s headed.
“I think these last two months that we can be excited about, to build off of, and you know to look to build on from what we do here these last couple months and into the future,” Posey said.
Posey will have his work cut out for him as the Giants face many questions as the season comes to a close following the deals made, and those not made, at the deadline. It seems like San Francisco went through a semi-reset, dealing six players at the deadline including Luis Arraez, Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle.
Here’s what San Francisco needs to consider in these final two months and into the offseason:
Play the top prospects
Wins have been hard to come by all year long, so it shouldn’t be an issue to play younger players a bit more in the final two months of baseball.
There should be more sightings of guys such as Blade Tidwell, Dylan Smith, Drew Cavanaugh, Daniel Susac, Osleivis Basabe, Drew Gilbert and Bryce Eldridge.
Eldridge has particularly shown promise as a designated hitter, but he could be more and San Francisco should consider giving him the chance to play elsewhere other than at designated hitter. Test him out at first baseman for a string of games.
Posey wants to create a particular “brand of baseball,” he said during a radio appearance on Bay Area sports radio station 97.5 FM.
“We keep saying you look for fundamental baseball guys that are going to throw throw the ball over the plate, control the strike zone at the plate, catch the ball on defense and make smart decisions on the bases,” Posey said. “I do think it’s been nice to see that we’ve been pushing the envelope a little bit more as far as stolen bases have gone the last month or so. So that’s been nice to see, but just trying to create a brand of baseball.”
Guys who are under 30 should be getting those opportunities to show that they can buy-in to the brand Posey wants the Giants to play.
Is a full rebuild on the horizon?
Next, the Giants need to figure out which direction they are going in. Whether it’s a full overhaul, or mixing young and the old, they need a clear direction.
They weren’t able to get rid of Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman and Willy Adames, some of the most expensive contracts on the payroll. These guys aren’t that old. But they also aren’t under 30 years old, except Devers who turns 30 in October.
They opted to keep Jung Hoo Lee, who turns 28 this month, out of trade talks, but there are two months to decide whether that should be reconsidered. There’s a bunch of money tied up between these four, nearing $100 million. San Francisco should have a hard look at who’s costing money but not producing on-field.
Will Logan Webb remain a Giant?
Logan Webb is one of few bright spots on the Giants’ pitching staff. The bullpen needs help. If the Giants were to lose Webb, then that would be another setback dilemma. San Francisco had already made it known to those who inquired about Webb near the MLB trade deadline that he wasn’t available, according to USA TODAY Sports baseball columnist Bob Nightengale, who reported interest from the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves.
Webb, 29, is the longest-tenured member of the Giants. He turns 30 in November. It’s likely he remains a Giant, which directs the attention back to whether a fire sale or full rebuild is coming or not.
Maybe. Probably not. To be determined.
Is Tony Vitello’s job still safe in San Francisco?
It hasn’t been the rookie year that first-year MLB skipper Tony Vitello had hoped. There were more head-scratching moments than celebratory moments this season. But that’s what comes with a rookie manager and a team without clear direction: growing pains filled with ups and downs.
Posey and company need to determine soon whether Vitello is the man for the job. Realistically, if evaluating him as well, he should get one more year to see if the experiment should end early or not.
Vitello signed a three-year contract that pays him $3.5 million annually. It’s like that line from J. Cole, “fool me one time, shame on you. Fool me twice, can’t put the blame on you.”
With that said, Vitello should see a second season, but if plays out his three-year deal and the next couple seasons mirror 2026, then you can go ahead and finish that lyric and dump him.