ST. LOUIS — Sunday at Busch Stadium was something of an anomaly. The San Francisco Giants made a pregame transaction, and the Mariners weren’t involved.
The Giants have made four deals with Seattle in the past two weeks, a streak of dealing with the same team that is not something president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi ever has come close to doing before.
“No, definitely not,” Zaidi said by phone Sunday. “And I think probably both front offices are some combination of amused and embarrassed about this stretch.”
Zaidi found an ever-willing trade partner in Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, who’s known for frenzied wheeling and dealing. In rapid succession, the Giants acquired first baseman Mike Ford, utility players Kevin Padlo and Donovan Walton and outfielder Stuart Fairchild. Somewhere in the midst of all that activity, the Giants, who’d obtained Ford in a cash deal, designated him for assignment and sent him back to Seattle for cash.
“I told Farhan, ‘I think this is hilarious — but it’s also a lot of fun,’” Dipoto said by phone.
So what has fueled this Giants-Mariners madness? For starters, the teams value many of the same attributes, especially versatility, and Zaidi said San Francisco has had an eye on these players for awhile. “I think we like similar players,” said Zaidi, noting that assistant hitting coach Dustin Lind is familiar with Ford, Walton and Padlo from his time with the Mariners organization.
Then, perhaps more important, both teams’ roster needs matched up: The Mariners were looking to trim their roster just as the Giants were looking for depth after a spate of COVID-19-related cases. Seattle, which went through its own coronavirus issues before the Giants, had had to make some additions for the same reason — including Walton and Ford, plus Fairchild, picked up from Arizona last month.
“We’ve both been in a little bit of flux, roster-wise, over the last couple of weeks with injuries and COVID,” Zaidi said, “and those situations can create a little bit more 40-man roster turnover than usual. We learned in our little COVID stretch that you can go from feeling like you almost have too much of a crowd to feeling like you don’t have enough options.”
“The planets were lining up with DFA’s firing up and injured guys coming back,” Dipoto said. “I’m sure it will slow down but it was a perfect storm there.”
Walton, obtained for minor-league right-hander Prelander Berroa, was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday as the Giants added reliever Yunior Marte to the roster. Walton will be joining Padlo (a cash deal) and Fairchild (exchanged for infielder Alex Blandino and cash) there.
Teams will often wait for players who’ve been designated for assignment to go through waivers and claim them then; the Giants and Mariners have in these deals opted to speed things up because of the roster needs and the desire to bring the players straight to the big leagues. Reducing waiting time is also helpful for players — it’s less stressful and keeps them from sitting for a week-plus and losing timing.
Fairchild is the only one of the four not to join the Giants quickly. “He’s another player we’ve had longstanding interest in, and when I reached out to Jerry, I started the text with, ‘You’re going to think I’m pulling your leg,’” Zaidi said.
“It’s not all that shocking, because of the way the Giants do their business and the way we behave,” Dipoto said. “We tend to churn the back end of the roster.”
The Giants concluded a more traditional deal Saturday, sending utility player Mauricio Dubón to the Astros for minor-league catcher Michael Papierski, opening the one-day roster spot for Walton.
“Mauricio is a great story and he’s a fan favorite, but we had an opportunity to make a deal to acquire a player that we like at a position where we probably needed some options,” Zaidi said, calling Papierski major-league ready from a defensive standpoint. “We’re carrying only two catchers on the 40-man, and we’re very vulnerable if we have an injury there. And we’re probably getting in a situation where when Tommy La Stella gets back, I don't really know what we would have done otherwise.”
La Stella, who has been out all season while recovering from Achilles surgery, is likely to join the Giants in Denver on Monday and be activated within a day or two.
Susan Slusser covers the Giants for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser
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