It has begun...

The San Francisco Giants have officially made their first trade of the 2026 MLB trade deadline. One of the more underwhelming starters in this year's rotation is gone, and another arm comes to San Francisco. We'll break down Buster Posey's latest move here on SF Giants Digest and what it means for the organization moving forward. If you're new here, I am your host Michael Montreal, welcome to SF Giants Digest, and if you've been here before, welcome back to the channel we are so glad you found your way back to SF Giants Digest. Now before we get into today's video, if you haven't yet, make sure to go down below and hit that subscribe button. About 75% of you guys watch the videos are not actually subscribed to the channel yet. It is completely free, takes just a second of your time, and really does help us continue to bring the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. So if you enjoyed today's breakdown of the first trade, make sure to go down below and hit that button. It would be much appreciated by myself and everyone here at Digest Media. Now getting right into today's video, we finally have a real move from the San Francisco Giants. No more reports, no more rumors, while we are still waiting on Luisa Rice, Robbie Ray, well they will end up. We have our first move, and it is a starter moving out from the San Francisco Giants. Robert Murray, a fan, said it was the first person to report it, saying the Atlanta Braves are acquiring right-hander Tyler Mallee in a trade with the San Francisco Giants, according to sources familiar with the deal. Anthony Molina is going to the Giants. Now Tyler Mallee is one of the more polarizing players on the San Francisco Giants this season. He was the most significant addition to the rotation heading into the regular season on a one-year $10 million deal signed back in December. And we'll get into some of his numbers in a few seconds, but immediately when you hear the name Tyler Mallee and significant rotation addition, those two terms just should not mesh when the Giants had a real shot at contending this season if they were to invest in the rotation and into the bullpen a little bit more significantly. But Buster Posey, Zach Manassian, the front office, ownership, whoever's idea it was to not truly invest in the rotation, it is on them. And Tyler Mallee, one of the more underwhelming deals in recent memory. Now getting into what he did for the San Francisco Giants during his tenure here, it was a 5-13 ERA in 94 and two-thirds innings pitched. In those 94 innings, .8 wins above replacement. He struck out 8.46 hitters per nine, walked 3.5 hitters per nine. He started 18 games for the Giants, an expected ERA of .409, which was over a run better than his real ERA, but still not the most encouraging outings from Tyler Mallee through the majority of the first four months of the season. And I will throw out there, he did have four or five very good starts against good teams. He shut out the Dodgers. He had some good outings against really good teams in the National League. It's just over a consistent basis. He never strung together a couple of good starts in any time during the first few months of the regular season. And it was pretty clear through the first two-ish months of the season that this deal was not going to pan out for the Giants. And I will give props to Buster Posey. This is one of the cases where it was just a deal that didn't work out. He had a .218 ERA in about the same sample last season. So there was reason to believe that he could replicate that, but a lot of the underlying metrics from his 2025 season with the Rangers kind of indicated that there wasn't going to be a replication of that season. So a little back and forth to Tyler Mallee, but he does inevitably go to the Atlanta Braves as the first move of the San Francisco Giants deadline. Now getting into the return, the Giants get a right-handed pitcher in return, a guy who is seen more as a reliever than a starter, but he has spent time in big league rotations. Now he did spend two seasons kind of as a full-time big leader with the Rockies in recent memory. But this year with the Atlanta Braves has only thrown five innings in the big leagues at a 5-4-0 clip, only striking out 3.6 hitters per nine and walking 1.8 hitters per nine, 0-0 F4, nothing too crazy. It's a completely tiny sample, so you don't really know what you're getting from Anthony Molina this year. His past two seasons with the Rockies are not anything to be encouraged by, 6-7-9 ERA in 59 innings and 7-2-7 ERA in 34 innings. Not a big strikeout guy, more of a command-over-stuff type of pitcher, but he did spend the majority of this first half in AAA with the, I believe the AAA affiliate is in Gwinnett, but he did throw 52 in a third innings, nine games started the other rest of his outings coming out of the bullpen, 53 strikeouts in those 52 innings, so that strikeout rate is definitely better in AAA than it has been in the big leagues, a 3-7-8 ERA with a 3-2 record in AAA. This is more of a quad A arm, now the Giants did immediately option him to AAA Sacramento when the deal was made official a few minutes ago, so this isn't a guy we're going to see right away, but this is more of a depth arm, a guy who can come up in a pinch and throw some big league innings and not be absolutely terrible. He actually has been better at course field across his career, so maybe there's some indication that you put him in Oracle Park, a pitcher-friendly park, and he could be a little bit better, a little bit more productive of a reliever, a long man, a starter, whatever the Giants try to turn him into, but nothing too crazy of a return for the San Francisco Giants. Now I did want to show you guys, I texted someone that is very close to the Atlanta Braves and he did say that he's not a needle mover, a quad A arm, but with the right work can be a second tier reliever, fastball sits 96-97, but hitters don't miss on it, which is what's holding him back. So it does seem like there is some room for improvement with Anthony Molina, the righty, but do we really trust the Giants in finding those little tweaks that will make a pitcher pitch up to his full ability? Probably not, but who knows, maybe they teach him something, another pitch, maybe another arm side pitch, whatever it may be, maybe they find something in his arsenal that kind of improves his entire arsenal, makes him more effective against both sides, and we see this guy become a serviceable reliever for the San Francisco Giants. I mean he does throw relatively hard, sitting 96-97, touching 98-99, that'll play, it's just if it's a dead fastball, it will not play at the top of the zone, and guys will not miss that at the big league. Sure, it's a hard fastball, but if it's flat, if it's straight, big league hitters are not going to miss that, so who knows what we see from Anthony Molina over the next few weeks, over the next few months, but the Giants at least got something for Tyler Mallee. I think that is the biggest thing to note here, that they got something for Tyler Mallee. You would have told me two months ago that they would have gotten anything for him, and I would have been psyched because that's how bad he was pitching to open his Giants tenure. So he had a couple of fine starts over the last few weeks since returning from the IL, and now the Giants finally get a little bit of a return, and they have their first move of the deadline. Now before we get out of here, make sure to go down to the comments, let me know what you want to see through the next 20 hours, or whatever it is, before the deadline is officially past us. Obviously Robbie Ray, Luis Urias are going to be moved. What the return looks like, we have no idea. Urias has significantly more suitors right now, I believe the Rays, the Phillies, the Red Sox, the Padres even, have been in those conversations with potentially acquiring Luis Urias. Robbie Ray, there's been a few teams linked in, but his market has been a lot quieter behind the scenes, so who knows what happens there, but right now we are currently waiting to see what the Giants do. Of course, Elliott Ramos is another name who has been in trade conversations a lot, but it is good to finally see the Giants doing something. It seems like it was a little bit of a later start to the deadline, but we saw last year Buster Posey traded Mikey Stremski, Camilla Duval at the very last second, and it looks like we could see another one of those deadlines where Buster Posey waits until the last hour or two to really make his move, see what the markets are doing, but you don't want to wait too long, because then suitors have already found their other guys to fill those holes, and markets have already passed what the Giants are looking to get for Luis Urias, Robbie Ray, and some of those other names. That is going to do it for today's video. If you enjoyed it, make sure to go down below, hit that subscribe button. It is one of the best ways, and the easiest ways, to support the channel, and helps us continue to bring the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. Leave a comment down below what you want to see through the next few hours of the trade deadline before that 3 p.m. ticker tomorrow afternoon, and as always, thank you so much for watching. We will see you next time.