Giants don’t make additional trade, Dodgers get Yu Darvish

After months of rumors and speculation, the Giants did not make an additional trade at the deadline. Their entire trade deadline experience can be summed up by trading Eduardo Nuñez to the Red Sox for Shaun Anderson and Gregory Santos. In a couple of years, maybe that will excite us. As of right now, it’s simply a reminder that they didn’t have much to trade, which says an awful lot about their awful roster and awful luck.

Also, the Dodgers traded for Yu Darvish, and they might win 120 games.

The Giants didn’t get an interesting offer, apparently, for Jeff Samardzija, who has a dodgy combination of salary and success that needs a FanGraphs page to appreciate. Mark Melancon and Johnny Cueto are hurt. Matt Moore is finding himself. Brandon Belt is paid fairly, which means he wouldn’t bring a huge bounty of prospects. The Royals traded for Melky Cabrera, and they were one of the only possible fits for Denard Span. The Cubs traded for Alex Avila, and they were one of the best fits for Nick Hundley. It all adds up to no trades. For now. Remember that the real trade deadline is in a month for the Giants.

Also, the Dodgers traded for Yu Darvish, and they might win 120 games.

In the end, it was the glut of relievers on the market that hosed the Giants. They weren’t going to get a lot of interest in George Kontos, and they weren’t going to get the kind of prospects that would make them give up cheap seasons from Hunter Strickland and Cory Gearrin. While I’d absolutely love to grade the offers they did receive, because I could totally see the Giants overvaluing both pitchers, I’ll assume that they were right to not donate their relievers just because they wanted to make a move and fit in with the trading crowd.

Still a little annoyed that the Dodgers got Yu Darvish right when I thought the deadline was over, to be honest. Although Willie Calhoun has terrified me for about a year, so I’m not going to be too maudlin, here. As long as the Dodgers don’t do something wacky and actually win a pennant, I’m fine with this.

But if you were hoping for the Giants to break it all down and start over, I have bad news for you. If you were hoping for the Giants to make a trade — any trade — just to bring a few prospects into the system, I have bad news for you.

If you’re Hunter Strickland and really didn’t want to figure out where you were going to live for the next couple years, I have good news for you! Other than that, it was as slow of a trade deadline as we’ve seen around these parts in years. It was a sign of just how miserable this whole Giants season has been on several levels.