DENVER — As contenders around the league went searching for relief help ahead of Wednesday’s trade deadline, the Giants’ bullpen represented the treasure chest other clubs were trying to unlock.
No club sat as comfortably on a surplus of arms as the Giants, who owned the best bullpen ERA in the National League and what appeared to be an excess of capable veterans.
President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi understood his peers’ desire to poach from the Giants’ bullpen, and he ultimately obliged. Zaidi didn’t trade three of his top four relievers, but he parted with enough valuable arms to create lingering questions as to how the Giants might survive in the National League Wild Card chase.