NEW YORK -- Two days after being traded for each other, right-handed relievers Tyler Rogers and José Buttó found themselves settling into opposing bullpens at Citi Field on Friday night. After spending 13 seasons in the Giants organization, Rogers was dealt to the Mets in exchange for Buttó and two prospects -- right-hander Blade Tidwell and outfielder Drew Gilbert -- on Wednesday. Rogers wasn’t entirely surprised by the trade given his status as a pending free agent. The greater unknown for the 34-year-old submariner was how it would feel to potentially make his Mets debut against the team that drafted him in the 10th round of the 2013 Draft and then watched him blossom into one of the most reliable relievers in the Majors over the last seven seasons. “To go out there and pitch for a new team for the first ever is going to be weird,” Rogers said Friday. “And then to look up and see a Giants uniform in the batter’s box is going to be something. But no real expectations with that. Just kind of take it in stride. It’s going to be memorable, for sure. It’s the only team I haven’t faced yet. It’ll be interesting.” Rogers found out he was joining the Mets in the middle of the Giants’ 2-1 loss to the Pirates on Wednesday, though he wasn’t forced to make any abrupt goodbyes right away. The Giants allowed him to fly with them to New York on their charter flight after the game, which gave him time to spend some final hours with his longtime teammates and reflect on his tenure in San Francisco. “That actually worked out great to be able to say goodbye and put a bow on it,” Rogers said. |
|
|
Rogers wasn’t the only member of his family to find himself on the move this week. His twin brother Taylor -- who spent two seasons with the Giants from 2023-24 -- was also traded from the Reds to the Pirates on Wednesday and then flipped to the Cubs the next day. “Mom was having a day, that’s for sure,” Rogers said. “Another funny baseball thing. Just getting to play with him for two years and then getting traded on the same day. Just such a baseball thing to do.” Rogers said his focus now is on helping the Mets get as far as they can go, though he didn’t rule out the possibility of re-signing with the Giants as a free agent this offseason. “Great people over there,” Rogers said. “I gave them everything I had. I can’t say enough about the people over there, the city. It’s where I started. It’s where I got drafted. I can’t say any more than that.” With Rogers no longer around to hold down the eighth inning, the Giants got their first look at Buttó in that same spot in their 4-3 series-opening win over the Mets on Friday. Buttó surrendered a game-tying sacrifice fly to Pete Alonso and then walked Ronny Mauricio to put a pair of runners on with two outs, but he coaxed an inning-ending forceout from Brett Baty to give San Francisco a chance to rally in extra innings. “I consider myself a warrior,” Buttó said in Spanish before the game. ”Every time I take the mound, I give my 100 percent. If things don’t go right one day, then tomorrow is a new day. I always try to give my best to help the team win.” |
Buttó became emotional after he learned he was traded by the Mets, who signed him as an 18-year-old out of his native Venezuela in 2016, but he also got to fly back from San Diego on the team charter, which helped him gain some closure. “I’m not going to lie, I was a little sad when I first got the news, as you saw in the video,” Buttó said. “But as the hours went by, I started to realize that it’s part of the business. Things happen for a reason, and God has a plan for everyone.” Buttó made 15 career starts for the Mets over his four seasons in New York, but the Giants plan to use him out of the bullpen for now. The 27-year-old recorded a 3.64 ERA in 34 relief appearances for the Mets this year and could slide into a back-end role to help the Giants replace Rogers and Camilo Doval, who was traded to the Yankees on Thursday. All-Star right-hander Randy Rodríguez is expected to replace Doval as the Giants’ closer and picked up his second career save after working out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th inning on Friday. Despite losing two key back-end pieces, Rodríguez believes the Giants’ bullpen still has enough depth to remain one of the best units in the Majors down the stretch. “It’s always sad when you see someone leave, but we have the same level of confidence,” Rodríguez said in Spanish. “We still have most of the same guys down there.” |
|
|
MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
|
|
“It was bittersweet. It’s tough to have those goodbyes. But I feel like I left everything there I possibly could. Playing hard, day in and day out, and gave everything that I had to that organization at the time. That’s a gratifying feeling, when you don’t feel like you have any reservations about how it went. Obviously, I would have liked to finish that run in ‘21, maybe make another couple other runs, but those are all results-oriented goals. … Hopefully some of those guys feel like I helped them along the way, and maybe at some point it was a better organization than when I got there.” -- Mike Yastrzemski on getting traded to the Royals |
|
|
• Justin Verlander heard his name thrown around the rumor mill leading up to the Trade Deadline, but he said he didn’t lobby for the Giants to deal him. “I wasn’t really pressing the issue one way or the other,” Verlander said. “I was kind of just like, ‘Let the cards fall where they may.’ I’m enjoying being in San Francisco. I’m enjoying living there. My family is there. I’ve got a newborn. It wouldn’t be the easiest life decision to go somewhere else right now. I just kind of let the universe figure it out.” • The Giants ended up netting eight players in return for Rogers, Doval and Yastrzemski, though they seem particularly excited about Jesus Rodriguez, a 23-year-old catcher who is now ranked their No. 16 prospect per MLB Pipeline. “There’s a lot to like about him,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s hit everywhere he’s been. He’s got a good throwing arm. I just started doing a little digging last night. It hasn’t been a lot of time since then, but I think that was certainly a key piece in that trade that [president of baseball operations] Buster [Posey] made [with the Yankees]. He wanted a guy like that." |
|
|
FORWARDED FROM A FRIEND? SUBSCRIBE NOW |
|
|
To subscribe to Giants Beat, visit this page and mark "Giants Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Giants or that they're checked as your favorite team. |
|
|
|
