One day after dealing setup man Tyler Rogers to the Mets, the Giants traded away two other notable pieces from their roster.
The Giants sent closer Camilo Doval to the Yankees and veteran outfielder Mike Yastrzemski to the Royals in the final minutes leading up to Thursday’s 3 p.m. PT Trade Deadline, capping a stunning sell-off that felt unimaginable six weeks ago.
TRADE DETAILS
Giants get: RHP Trystan Vrieling (Yankees No. 19 prospect), C-3B Jesus Rodriguez (No. 25 prospect), 3B Parks Harber and LHP Carlos De La Rosa
Yankees get: RHP Camilo Doval
San Francisco jumped the market by acquiring three-time All-Star Rafael Devers from the Red Sox on June 15 and looked poised to continue to bolster its roster in the second half, but the club ended up being forced to pivot from buyers to sellers after going an MLB-worst 13-24 over the first 37 games of the Devers era.
Devers’ arrival wasn’t enough to cure the Giants’ anemic offense, the once-mighty starting rotation started to show cracks and the mental mistakes started to pile up across the diamond, resulting in an ugly 2-12 stretch that dropped the club under .500 (54-55) for the first time this season.
An 0-6 homestand against the Mets and Pirates left the Giants six games behind the Padres for the third National League Wild Card, prompting president of baseball operations Buster Posey to recalibrate and begin retooling for the future.
TRADE DETAILS
Giants get: RHP Yunior Marte (Royals No. 20 prospect)
Royals get: OF Mike Yastrzemski
“We wanted to be in a different position to add,” Posey said during a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday. “Unfortunately, with the way we played, we had to make a decision here to try to add some talent that we feel can help us moving forward.”
With the Giants in the midst of a tailspin, the club decided to take advantage of the lack of high-end relievers available on the trade market and move Doval, a 2023 All-Star who endured a down year last season before rebounding to post a 3.09 ERA with 15 saves and 50 strikeouts over 46 2/3 innings in 47 appearances in 2025.
The Giants received four prospects back for Doval: right-hander Trystan Vrieling (the Yankees’ No. 19 prospect per MLB Pipeline), catcher/third baseman Jesus Rodriguez (the Yankees’ No. 25 prospect), third baseman Parks Harber and left-hander Carlos De La Rosa.
San Francisco also parted ways with Yastrzemski, a pending free agent who was the Giants’ longest-tenured position player. The 34-year-old Yastrzemski had been a mainstay in San Francisco’s outfield since breaking into the Majors in 2019 and was batting .231 with a .685 OPS and eight home runs over 96 games this year.
In return for Yastrzemski, the Giants received right-handed pitching prospect Yunior Marte (the Royals’ No. 20 prospect).
Posey admitted that it was difficult to say goodbye to Rogers, Doval and Yastrzemski, as he played with each of them before ending his catching career with the Giants following the 2021 campaign.
“I knew when I took this job that one of the harder parts was going to be at some point moving on from guys that I had a personal relationship with and I played with,” Posey said. “That’s not an easy phone call or conversation to have in person.”
With Doval no longer in the mix, the Giants could turn to All-Star right-hander Randy Rodríguez or Ryan Walker to take over closing duties for the rest of the season. Yastrzemski’s departure could open the door for Luis Matos to get regular playing time in the outfield, though the Giants could also take a look at speedster Grant McCray or Drew Gilbert, who is now ranked the club’s No. 13 prospect after coming over from the Mets as part of the Rogers trade.
While the Giants appear to be trending younger, Posey downplayed the possibility of bringing up No. 1 prospect Bryce Eldridge from Triple-A Sacramento since the 20-year-old first baseman missed nearly a month with a right hamstring injury this year.
At least one new face could debut with the Giants on Friday, though, as general manager Zack Minasian said right-handed reliever José Buttó — another part of the return package for Rogers — will be active for the club’s series opener at Citi Field.
Despite the turnover, the Giants chose not to completely dismantle their roster on Thursday. They retained other veterans on expiring contracts like Wilmer Flores and Justin Verlander and never seriously entertained trading All-Star left-hander Robbie Ray, who is under contract through 2026.
With Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman still locked up for the long term, Posey believes the Giants could still hang around in the playoff picture down the stretch and definitely return to contention next year.
“We’ve got to play better baseball, plain and simple,” said Posey, who reaffirmed his confidence in manager Bob Melvin and his coaching staff. “We just haven’t looked like the same team as we did at the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the year, we harped on doing the little things right. It was clean baseball. We’ve kind of taken a 180. We’ve got to somehow recapture that form and that style of baseball that we had at the beginning of the season.”
