Giants anticipate internal reinforcements after quiet Deadline

SAN FRANCISCO -- A relatively quiet Trade Deadline passed Tuesday without further action from the Giants, who opted to stand pat aside from acquiring veteran outfielder AJ Pollock from the Mariners on Monday.

While they were believed to be in the market for starting pitching and middle-infield help, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said no additional deals ultimately made sense for the 59-49 Giants, who retained the top spot in the crowded National League Wild Card race with a 4-3 comeback win over the D-backs at Oracle Park on Tuesday night.

“It wasn’t a super active Deadline,” Zaidi said. “A lot of the bigger names that people thought might be moved at the Deadline were not. Teams that were kind of on the bubble decided to push in. I think a lot of teams dealt with the same supply-and-demand issue that we did and ultimately didn’t line up on anything.”

Reluctant to trade away top prospects for rentals, the Giants preferred to move forward with their current depth and hope that their biggest reinforcements come from inside the organization in the coming weeks. Second baseman Thairo Estrada (left hand fracture) could return as soon as this weekend, while outfielder Mitch Haniger (right forearm fracture) could be back by the end of the month.

The Giants have sorely missed their presence in their lineup, as they ranked last in the Majors in batting average (.209), OPS (.632) and runs per game (3.32) in July. Still, a couple of other regulars showed signs of breaking out of their slumps on Tuesday, with Brandon Crawford and LaMonte Wade Jr. each homering to back a gutsy start from All-Star right-hander Alex Cobb, who gave up three runs over six innings while battling a stomach bug.

Pollock, 35, hit only .173 with a .547 OPS over 49 games with the Mariners this year, but he could also provide a nice boost against left-handed pitching and help fill the void in the outfield left by the injury to Mike Yastrzemski, who is expected to miss two to three weeks with a left hamstring strain.

“I’m just here to do my job,” Pollock said. “Whatever role they want me in, I’m ready for it. I’m not going to put any pressure on it. For me, it’s just get to work, bring what I bring to the ballclub and show up every day ready to work.”

Several frontline arms, including Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Eduardo Rodriguez, had no-trade provisions in their contracts, which complicated the Giants’ efforts to beef up a rotation that is down to two traditional starters in Logan Webb and Cobb. Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Jordan Montgomery, Aaron Civale, Michael Lorenzen and Jack Flaherty were among the other starters who changed hands, but Zaidi felt the asking prices were too high given the widespread demand for rotation help.

“We just talked about how it’s not a great feeling when you trade a really good young player for a rental, and then you see him in someone else’s big league uniform a week later,” Zaidi said. “For us, it was going to be hard to trade someone that we see as a really near-term contributor, which is a lot of our best young players, for somebody that was just going to be here for a short period.”

The Giants are still expecting to welcome a new face to their rotation mix soon, as Zaidi said top pitching prospect Kyle Harrison will rejoin Triple-A Sacramento on Saturday and could be up shortly after completing his rehab from a right hamstring strain.

In the meantime, San Francisco will keep leaning on its crop of bulk-inning pitchers, who have carried the club to a 14-5 mark in bullpen games this year. Zaidi said he’s been encouraged by the recent performance of veterans such as Ross Stripling, Alex Wood, Jakob Junis and Sean Manaea, who earned his first career save after recording the final two outs of the ninth inning on Tuesday.

Manaea came on with a runner on first base and one out and coaxed a flyout from Corbin Carroll before catcher Patrick Bailey picked off Geraldo Perdomo at first base to end the game.

“That’s way different than anything I’ve ever done before,” Manaea said. “It’s everything I’ve dreamed of. Getting a save in The Show. Getting out there in the ninth with the game on the line. That’s crazy stuff.”

Despite the inactivity on Tuesday, Zaidi said he’s confident the Giants remain in position to make noise in the NL West, where they’re only 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Dodgers.

“Personally, looking at the landscape of the National League, even post-Trade Deadline, I don’t really see a seismic shift based on the trades,” Zaidi said. “A lot of it is just going to come down to who plays the best down the stretch.”