Will the San Francisco Giants be buyers or sellers during the free agency window? Depends on who you talk to

The San Francisco Giants are having a rough time of it. Not a terrible season, but also not the great bounce-back that they had hoped for. Sitting at 46-49 coming up to the All Star break, they have reason to hope that their August run will be fruitful.

Blake Snell, the 2023 National League Cy Young Award winner, was back on the mound Wednesday night and man, was he electric. After a rocky start this season with a 9.51 ERA in his first six outings, Snell pitched a beautiful 5.0 innings of one-hit baseball, no earned runs.

Jim Bowden at The Athletic wrote, “The Giants are similar to Arizona in that they hope several key starting pitchers will soon come off the IL, including former Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray, and right-handers Alex Cobb, Keaton Winn, and Tristan Beck. In terms of trades, the Giants have been linked with the Marlins on Jazz Chisholm Jr., the Cubs on Cody Bellinger, and the White Sox on Luis Robert Jr.”

MLB insider Jon Heyman agreed with this outlook on a Bleacher Report live video, saying that he thinks it unlikely the Giants will be sellers.

To the Jazz Chisholm speculation, he added Blue Jays’ stars Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to the potential shopping list.

But then SF Giants’ President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi waded into the fray on KNBR Sports radio. Throwing down the gauntlet, Zaidi made it clear: the team needs to show some fight or he’ll consider selling.

Zaidi said, “We’re four Games under .500 now. We have some great storylines, like Heliot Ramos and Logan Webb making the All-Star team. But overall, it’s been a real disappointment. We need the players to show us what the right direction is for us.”

Whether Zaidi’s ultimatum lights a fire under the team or backfires remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure: the Giants have to change something, and fast. They are three Games adrift of a Wild Card Spot, but they might need to trade for a big bat to get there. If the front office is sitting with their finger on the trigger to sell, the Giants’ season may be over. Let’s see how they respond.