It begins.
Trade rumors. Speculation. Rumors! More rumors! Scouts whispering. Always whispering. Occasionally rumbling. People with knowledge of a source close to the team's thinking by way of a proxy who can smell the whispers. The whispers that careen across the hallway of a quiet house, reverberate off worn hardwood floors, and keep you up at night. I borrowed that last sentence from a novel I'm writing about Ken Rosenthal staying in a haunted house to collect an inheritance. If you work for a publishing house, call me.
From Fox Sports:
Tuesday night in Houston, sources say representatives for the Yankees, Giants and Blue Jays were in attendance as left-hander Wandy Rodriguez allowed two earned runs over seven innings in a 2-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals.
I like Wandy Rodriguez. He's a quality pitcher, and I write about him way too much, mostly because I think someone's going to get a pretty good deal with him. He's quite underrated. If the Giants are worried about having both Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum in the rotation -- they almost certainly are worried, and they should be -- a guy like Rodriguez would make a lot of sense.
But I'll write this here so I can come back, copy it, and paste it in every article I write next month:
Rumor has it that the Giants are interested in (player), but it's probably not going to happen.
The main problems with the Giants making a trade this year:
1. The top prospects from the start of the year -- Gary Brown, Joe Panik, and Tommy Joseph -- would all be sell-low guys right now. Really, really low. They aren't doing anything inspiring enough to make them the centerpiece of a big deal, so they'd either be moved in a quantity deal (with a couple of them going at the same time) or for a modest upgrade who wouldn't be that exciting.
2. The prospects who probably would excite other teams, like Kyle Crick and Clayton Blackburn, are pitchers. The Giants have fewer interesting pitching prospects now than they have since the days of Jake Esteves, and the whole organizational strategy is to build around pitching prospects. I'd be surprised if they were willing to part with Crick and/or Blackburn, especially after getting burned with the Zack Wheeler trade.
3. If the Giants weren't willing to spend a lot in the offseason, they probably aren't going to want to spend a lot midseason. The concern with Wandy Rodriguez, for example, is that he's owed $13 million next year and, if he's traded, he has a $13 million player option after that.
Maybe the Giants think differently, and they're willing to gut the farm for short-term success. Considering where the team is in the success cycle, that's not an outlandish position to hold. These over-.500 seasons can be fleeting, so short-term reinforcements can be underrated.
But this is just a guess at how they're approaching the deadline. There will probably be a deal or two made, but they'll more likely be of the Orlando Cabrera variety. Which is to say, minor like the Orlando Cabrera trade. Not completely stupid like the Orlando Cabrera trade. Although they could be! We should get a pool going. If you're looking for a smart analogue to the Cabrera trade, you can substitute Kenny Lofton or Andres Galarraga as low-cost, high-reward guys.
The days of Carlos Beltran huntin' are over, though. And when it comes to guys like Wandy Rodriguez, who are on the market more because of what they'll cost, it's already been established that the Giants are at their self-imposed payroll cap.
I'm fine without a big deadline deal. Really, completely fine. It's not a bad way to approach the deadline, considering the state of the Giants' farm system. It's just really, really boring. Rosterbation will be a dull affair this year.
We'll always have the whispers.