Two days before the Aug. 2 trade deadline, Carlos Rodón took the ball for the Giants in Oracle Park.
For seven innings, he showed both why any contending team would love to acquire him, and why the Giants would love to keep him.
MLB insiders reported this weekend that the Giants are listening to trade offers for Rodón. Four-and-a-half games out of the final wild card spot and holding a 19.7% chance at reaching the postseason before Sunday’s game, it may behoove the Giants to recoup prospects for the ace.
If Sunday was the last time Rodón pitches in a Giants uniform, he’ll leave the organization with what he’s given it almost the entire season: excellence.
Rodón’s sixth double-digit strikeout game of his season, plus a four-run fourth inning, powered the Giants to a 4-0 victory. Rodón allowed two hits and struck out 10 while walking none. After losing seven straight road games, the Giants (51-51) enter a rematch four-game series with the Dodgers having taken three of four games from Chicago.
Whether Rodón will remain a Giant through the entire Dodgers series will determine what SF’s front office thinks of this season.
“I think the most professional, most effective players around the game are able to kind of separate some of the noise,” manager Gabe Kapler said postgame. “Which would be totally understandable if some of that got in, but Carlos was able to keep it out today.”
Rodón’s evening got off to a bumpy start, with Cubs leadoff man Christopher Morel shooting his fifth pitch 103.3 mph off the bat to left. But Luis González, who homered and made a sliding catch on Saturday, reached over the wall and saved what would have been a home run.
From the mound, Rodón appreciated González’s effort.
An outfield robbery like González’s has been rare for the typically heavy-footed Giants. Recently, Darin Ruf hardly got off the warning track dirt on a robbable ball. Joc Pederson also crashed into the wall, suffering a concussion on a home run ball he later admitted he should have caught.
Rodón can opt out of his contract at the end of this season, making his future with the Giants — or any team — uncertain. But the talent is clear. González’s catch was the only true Chicago threat.
The lefty retired eight straight Cubs between the second and fourth innings, striking out four in that span.
He struck out the side in the fifth, ringing up Patrick Wisdom and David Bote on fastballs and Nelson Velazquez on a slider. The perfect inning raised his strikeout total to eight on the night.
Rodón recorded his ninth strikeout in the sixth and 10th in a 1-2-3 seventh. He left with a 4-0 lead and his 18th double-digit strikeout game of his career. Only two Cubs reached base against him, both on singles.
When Rodón left after his seventh shutout inning, he hugged some of his teammates in the Giants’ dugout. After the game, he said those were normal interactions.
“That’s just a normal thing,” Rodón said postgame. “Good outing, guys playing hard. Just relieved I can finally go out there and pitch well.”
The Rodón who took the mound Sunday has been there for the Giants all year. He’s exceeded even the most optimistic expectations of him when he signed a two-year deal this winter, making every start and leading the National League with a 2.42 FIP that only improved Sunday.
It’s July, and Rodón already has pitched the most double-digit strikeout games as a Giant since Madison Bumgarner in 2016. He lowered his ERA to 3.00 and has struck out 158 batters in 123 innings.
But performing at an All-Star level makes Rodón potentially more valuable to a contending club than the middling Giants. If San Francisco’s front office gets overwhelmed with a trade offer, they could move him before Tuesday’s deadline.
“I trust that he knows how this works,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said pregame. “At the end of the day, I think every player in the Major Leagues knows this is a business. So you have to stay focused on the task at hand.”
Rodón was pitching for the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. Kapler hopes he’ll be pitching for the San Francisco Giants in a playoff game this October.
Although the Giants are back at .500 for the first time since July 25, a lot needs to go right for that hope to become reality.
“I thought we played well as a team,” Rodón said. “What I’m worried about is tomorrow. Worried about winning tomorrow. That’s all I really care about.”