The Giants are finalizing a trade
that sends outfielder Heliot Ramos to the New York Yankees for at least prospect Henry LaLane, a left-handed pitcher.But before I dig into that, I want to take a moment to editorialize here (also, Brady is writing up the concurrent trade that’s breaking on the wire as I write this) and say that Heliot Ramos was A Good Giant. Yes, he was an All-Star in 2024 — one of their youngest in recent memory — and first position player post-Championship era and his 22-home runs
season of 24 made him just the second sub-25 year old Giant since 1997 to hit at least 20 home runs (Pablo Sandoval did it twice — 25 & 23 in 2009 & 2011, respectively); and, he broke the post-Bonds Curse of Left Field by being the Opening Day starter there in 2025 & 2026 — BUT, there’s a bit more to it all than that.
Ramos was treated like a lot of Giants prospects in that post-Championship era, rushed through with high expectations, not a lot of instruction or conflicting instruction when they finally got some. The front office seemed to give him tough love at times and the cold shoulder at others, and when he wasn’t the first round choice of the current regime, that makes some sense. But it’s also the case that the Giants haven’t had many players come through their system with some of his skills. Few Giants hit the ball as hard as he has, and sandwiched in between Rafael Devers and Bryce Eldridge on the Hard Hit and average exit velocity scales you can see a formidable middle of the order.
He also appears to have done everything the team has asked of him over the years, improving his “swing decisions” just from a strikeouts to walk ratio standpoint while maintaining his power profile. No, he can’t really field and the hoped-for improvements over the last couple of coaching staffs haven’t materialized, and the New York Yankees — who famously lost a World Series because of their defensive ineptitude — are unlikely to improve upon what’s there in a fielding sense, but the Giants are losing a quality contributor on their roster and the Yankees have gotten better.
You could argue the degree of improvement (or subtraction) given Ramos’s injury track record and performance of late. From this morning’s series preview:
Heliot Ramos: Will he be traded? Since coming off the IL on June 28th, he’s hit .260/.300/.423 (100 wRC+). Now, here’s where the breakdown gets weird. He’s also hit 5 home runs since his return (130 PA), but 4 of those occurred within his first 8 games back, and that’s why his line looks league average. But since July 7th, he’s hit just 1 home run in 96 PA and has just a 4.2% walk rate against a 30.2% strikeout rate to go with a line of .242/.281/.275 (58 wRC+). No wonder his name has come up in trade rumors. He is probably on the Patrick Bailey train with the organization.
But he was an oasis in a desert of prospect contributions and certainly not the problem while on the team.
He’ll be arbitration eligible for the first time this winter so it will be interesting to see how he performs down the stretch. If he’d stayed on the Giants and continued to perform at his current rate, then it might’ve been a bit of consternation for the team to non-tender or trade him. That won’t be the case if he can’t produce in New York, even with the cost attached to him. And he’ll be going to a team that does need the thunder in his bat, as they’re desperate for offense down the stretch here with the unknown timelines for the returns of Giancarlo Stanton, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge.
As much of a bummer the trade is, the upside is pretty cute. Like I said, the Yankees paid a bit for him. The Giants received not only the #5 prospect in the Yankees’ system, LHP Henry LaLane — a 10.5 K/9 in the minors with a 50-grade fastball and 55-grade changeup. Per Baseball Savant,
The son of a former St. Francis and European pro basketball forward with the same name, Lalane was born in the Bronx, moved to his father’s native Dominican Republic as a youth and played the outfield before shifting to the mound at age 14. Signed for the largest bonus ($350,000) given to a pitcher in the Yankees’ 2021 international class, he ranked as the best pitching prospect in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League during his U.S. debut in 2023 and starred in a Spring Breakout game the following March.
[…]
The 6-foot-7 Lalane inherited size and athleticism from his dad, allowing him to create natural extension in his delivery. He pounds the strike zone to the tune of a 5 percent walk in the FCL, but that figure ballooned to 17 percent during the next two years. He once seemed on the track to developing three solid or better pitches with control to match, and now he’s a total wild card.
The other player is the Yankees’ 3rd round pick from last year’s draft, Kaeden Kent, the son of Hall of Fame Giant Jeff Kent. Kaeden is currently on the MiLB IL with what I can only assume is related to washing his car. But otherwise, the 22-year old infielder (he turns 23 on 8/29) stands 6-2, weighs a deuce and has translated his .883 OPS in college to .719 through 101 pro games. He’s got 32 walks against 76 strikeouts and a .274 batting average. Just 8 homers, but 22 doubles and 2 triples in 460 MiLB plate appearances (all in High-A). This is a player the current and previous regime would’ve wanted.
So, the Giants did quite well for a player who had become one-dimensional. Heliot Ramos survived an absolute gauntlet of player development with the Giants and at the end of the day, he’s landed on one of the league’s premiere teams to try to build his name some more.
The Giants get a tall, flame-throwing lefty and a legacy kid with upside. Good trade.
