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Joe Panik is probably coming back in the next two weeks. Chase Utley is probably going to stay with the Phillies. Kelby Tomlinson is doing okay as a stopgap.
Wait, why were the Giants interested in Utley again? Feels like we're looking back at an online dating match that we were excited about, only to remember the person lived in Dubai and looked like Richard Nixon. That wasn't going to work on several levels! The Phillies are being rational, realizing there isn't a real compelling reason to just give Utley away and pay his salary, just to do another team a solid. Teams like the Giants are being rational, realizing there isn't a real compelling reason to absorb a ton of money and/or give up a prospect for five or six weeks of a declining veteran.
Stalemate? Stalemate.
The only problem with this, though, is that the Giants' only chance to improve on a thin bench is with an expensive veteran who clears waivers because of an onerous salary. If the Angels fall out of the race in the next 12 days, maybe they'll deal Albert Pujols (jokes), but Utley represented the best, most realistic chance for depth. His concern was that he didn't want to be depth. He's Chase Utley, former All-Star and should-be Hall of Famer, and he wanted to start. And he's also thinking that a strong finish to the year as a starter could help him make more money next year.
I get that. At the same time ... dude, shut your Chase hole and take your ninth-inning hacks, you weirdo. Have you seen Justin Maxwell swing? Do you realize the Giants don't have a pinch-hit home run this year, that their pinch-hitters are hitting a collective .230/.303/.281? Every pinch-hitter they send up is still basically Joaquin Arias.
Help us, Chase. Be a real pinch-hitter once Joe Panik comes back. Come on.
Utley, who holds full no-trade rights, wants to join a contender on the West Coast and preferably in his native Southern California, according to two executives involved in the discussions.
This freaking guy, man.
The Chase chase is probably over. Don't want to go full sour-grapes and tell him good riddance, but the odds are strong that he wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway. Take a moment of silence for the post-deadline trade rumors that are almost certainly dead now.