Giants do nothing at trade deadline

After months of speculation, after turning from buyers to sellers in the blink of several dozen horrible games, the Giants did absolutely nothing at the trade deadline.

It's not that surprising. Brian Sabean never traded Jason Schmidt, Randy Winn, or Bengie Molina, even when the team was absolutely miserable. The only veterans who went the other way at the deadline were Ray Durham and Matt Morris, and even then, Morris was about salary relief. They don't do selling well. Or at all, really.

I can understand keeping Lincecum. Teams would have given up very little for him, and the Giants would have had to eat some of the remaining salary. Compensation picks aren't worth a whole lot, considering how rarely they pan out. But I'd wager the prospect return for Lincecum would be even less. At that point, why not keep him, even just for the warm fuzzies of his last home start in September?

I can kinda understand keeping Hunter Pence. If the team really, really likes him, it's a lot easier to re-sign a player when he's in the organization than it is to sign him after he's been traded. Plus, the Giants get the safety net of a compensation pick. The real question is if Pence is good enough for a long-term deal considering that he's cooled down dramatically. I don't think the see-ball-swing approach is going to age well, especially when it's paired with squirky-ferky mechanics. But that's a post for another time.

I don't understand keeping Javier Lopez, but that's without having any idea what the offers really were. If the Giants were really asking for top prospects, they're hilarious. If other teams were offering Darren Fords, well, I guess I'd rather have the chance to overpay Lopez. He's a good addition to any bullpen, and I've grown rather attached to him. But I'm thinking the offers were somewhere between Darren Ford and a top prospect, which means the Giants probably made a mistake. Again, that's total speculation.

I really, really don't understand keeping Chad Gaudin if there was even a Darren Ford deal on the table. He's a pending free agent who shouldn't be in the rotation next year, and his value will never be higher. He's had a nice run, but I don't trust it. Neither should the Giants.

It was a whole lotta rumbling and grumbling about nothing, this trade deadline. The Giants also sent a message, which is this: We believe this team should have been good, and we're willing to try it again with minor upgrades. Hope Cain and Vogelsong bounce back, hope the hits start falling with runners in scoring position, and try it again. We were not wrong; baseball is just being a total jerkwad this year.

They say the definition of insanity is repeating the Albert Einstein quote about the definition of insanity as if there's still someone who will think it's clever. Also, to do the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. And the Giants are a little goofy to think this team as currently constructed is an unlucky contender. The sad thing is that I might not disagree. Still wrestling with the idea. I'm pretty disappointed with the lack of activity, but standing pat isn't the absolute worst thing the Giants can do, oddly enough.

It's just really, really boring.