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Even if the Giants do a magnificent job at the trade deadline and acquire the right players to improve their playoff odds, they still would need to play two months of fundamental baseball to reach the postseason.
Clean baseball. Efficient baseball. Smart baseball.
Otherwise, an upgraded roster would do little good. It’s all about playing the game right, executing effectively, and performing well at the highest level.
The Giants haven’t done this lately and certainly didn’t Tuesday night at Oracle Park. Aside from collecting just two hits, they butchered the basics, and their mistakes were difference-making in a 3-1 loss to Pittsburgh, leaving them with a .500 record for the first time since March 29 when they were 1-1.
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Exactly two-thirds into the season, with one game remaining before Thursday’s trade deadline, the Giants are 54-54 and continue to trend in the wrong direction.
Buster Posey, the president of baseball operations who has been mostly optimistic about his roster in good times and bad, has to wonder how much he can help a team that has lost 11 of 13 and is showing no signs of snapping out of it.
Imagine Posey watching Tuesday’s game and seeing Heliot Ramos forgetting about the infield-fly rule and getting caught off second base to end a first-inning threat. Then seeing second baseman Casey Schmitt and pitcher Tyler Rogers botching a play in the eighth inning, prolonging the Pirates’ decisive rally.
Not exactly the brand of baseball that motivates a top executive to be all in on upgrading the roster for the stretch run.
Ramos, an All-Star last season, has regressed in 2025. He remains one of the Giants’ top hitters but has made too many defensive miscues in left field and now is making baserunning blunders. Tuesday’s was costly.
“Mental error,” Ramos said. “Trying to do too much. Overthinking it. I messed up. It’s been happening a lot. I’m just trying to get better. Trying to work on it. Trying to work on my defense. I know it hasn’t been the best. I don’t want to mess it up. I don’t know what to do. I mean, all I’m doing is working every day, trying to fix everything.”
Also: “All that I have on my mind is I don’t want to mess up.”
And: “It’s a mental battle.”
No player can reach his potential with such a mindset, and Ramos said he’s working daily on trying to improve his confidence and get back to contributing on defense and the bases.
“I don’t want to depend only on my bat,” he said. “I know what I can do out there.”
With one out in the first inning, the Giants had runners at first and second when Matt Chapman hit an easy popup to the left of the mound. Umpires called it an infield-fly rule, meaning Chapman was out and runners could advance at their own risk — in this case, the right move was to stay on the base. But when the ball dropped, Ramos overlooked the rule and moved off second base, and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes threw to the bag for an unusually easy double play.
“He just lost track of the rule. Just lost track of what he needed to do,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Look, the guy plays hard. At times, his defense hasn’t been its best, and I think it kind of snowballs on you a little bit, and maybe he starts overthinking some stuff. He comes up and fights every at-bat. The other portions of the game, he’s having a tough time with.”
The misplay came two days after Ramos got caught between second and third after Willy Adames’ check-swing grounder down the third-base line, which should have been an infield hit had Ramos stayed at second. But he took off and was tagged by the Mets’ Ronny Mauricio, ending the inning.
Defensively, Ramos did nothing Tuesday that cost the Giants defensively, but he did get in center fielder Jung Hoo Lee’s way on Spencer Horwitz’s third-inning fly ball, even though Lee signaled for the catch — and made the play.
“When I started the season, I felt I’m the best out there,” Ramos said. “I’m trying to catch the ball, get to the ball, take the right route. Then whenever you make a couple of errors, when they’re back to back, it gets in my head and I feel it costs us the game. It’s like, damn, I’ve got to get better. I put that pressure on myself.”
Could Ramos use a day or two break?
“Whatever Bob wants, obviously,” he said. “I’m not the manager. Whatever is best for the team.”
Melvin said Ramos will be in the lineup for Wednesday’s series finale: “He’s one of our best hitters. It’s tough to give him a day. It’s tough to DH him, too, because we have a couple guys that do the DHing right now. Just got to power through it.”
In the eighth inning, Rogers could have had a play on Tommy Pham’s chopper off the mound but struggled to get a grip and didn’t want to throw the ball away. The next batter, Hayes, grounded to the right side, pulling first baseman Rafael Devers off the bag. Schmitt gloved it and looked toward Adames covering at second, where it seemed a force play was doable, but instead threw to first — Rogers, covering the bag, had anticipated a throw from Adames and never saw Schmitt’s throw.
Luckily for the Giants, the ball hit Hayes, saving a run. Didn’t matter, though. The Pirates scored twice after that, the first on former Giant Joey Bart’s tie-breaking single.
While Ramos stuck around and answered every question from reporters about dealing with his mishaps, Adames and starting pitcher Justin Verlander were gone by the time reporters entered the clubhouse. It was unusual because both had nice performances with Verlander surrendering one run in five innings and Adames clubbing a fourth-inning homer for the Giants’ lone run.
In the days before trade deadlines, any unusual activity could be reason to believe a transaction is in the works. Adames and his big contract aren’t going anywhere. What about Verlander, who has had solid back-to-back starts? Late Tuesday night, a team official said no trades.
There’s still plenty of time for roster moves. Thursday’s deadline is at 3 p.m.