Giants have convinced front office they can contend for a playoff berth

"The team is fundamentally different. The roster is different."

SAN FRANCISCO — In July 2017, the Giants made the decision to stop playing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” in the late innings of games they trailed during home games.

The club was headed for a 98-loss season and had fallen so far out of contention that the ballpark staple was nothing more than a sullen reminder that the Giants’ glory days were over.

“Don’t Stop Believin” hasn’t returned on a regular basis to Oracle Park, but after a miserable start to the 2019 season, the Giants refused to give up.

With a 14-3 record in July, the Giants suddenly are baseball’s hottest team. They are coming off a 7-1 week in which they passed three teams and tied another in the National League Wild Card standings.

As the trade deadline approaches, they’ve accomplished a remarkable feat.

The Giants have turned upper management into believers.

Why does president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi feel a team with a 50-50 record is a legitimate threat in the NL Wild Card race?

“The team is fundamentally different, the roster is different,” Zaidi said. “That’s why I don’t think you can just look at this team’s run differential and make an assessment of our quote-unquote true talent level.”

With four games in three days at Coors Field and a four-game home series against the Mets that pitted the Giants against quality arms such as Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom, this was the week the club was supposed to regress.

After a strong start to the month of July, the Giants should have been exhausted, depleted and overwhelmed. Never mind that neither the Rockies nor the Mets are particularly good. The schedule simply appeared too demanding for the Giants to continue their hottest stretch of baseball.

Because of a doubleheader and four extra-inning games, the Giants played 84 innings of baseball last week. They swept the Rockies at Coors Field and had three walk-off wins in four days against the Mets.

“You do have to look at the totality of the season, that’s what the standings are based on, but I think one of the reasons we put a lot of credence in our recent play is because the composition of the team is very different,” Zaidi said Sunday.

There’s no question the Giants’ roster is much stronger today than it was in April and May. Outfielders such ase Gerardo Parra and Mac Williamson have been replaced by Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson. Yangervis Solarte hit .205 in 73 at-bats before he was designated for assignment while utility infielder Donovan Solano is hitting .324 through 40 games.

Rookies Tyler Beede and Shaun Anderson helped bump Derek Holland and Drew Pomeranz from the rotation while a starter like Dereck Rodríguez who was expected to carry a heavy load is now battling for innings.

Then there’s the bullpen.

The Giants would match their unit against any in the NL, particularly at the back end where closer Will Smith has proven so dominant.

For months, it was assumed the Giants would trade their best relievers, receive solid prospects in return and turn their attention toward 2020.

Now?

“We know for us to continue on this path, that group of players is critical,” Zaidi said. “I’ve said a few times, there’s interest in a lot of of our relievers and we have interest in our relievers.”

Sam Dyson, Tony Watson and Reyes Moronta could all fill set-up roles for teams with visions of locking up a playoff spot. In Zaidi’s eyes, they’re already doing that.

“I’m not going to stop teams from calling, I’m going to have to have those conversations, that’s my job,” Zaidi said. “But we recognize that for us to continue to play that well, we’re going to have to continue getting the kind of performance from the bullpen that we’ve gotten.”

The Giants found themselves in a familiar position ahead of last year’s trade deadline before the season spiraled out of control. San Francisco was 54-54 on July 30 and general manager Bobby Evans was reluctant to buy or sell.

In August, Johnny Cueto, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Steven Duggar all underwent season-ending surgeries. Jeff Samardzija didn’t pitch again due to shoulder issues while Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford were both unproductive as they tried to play through pain.

The injury bug injected the Giants with venom, weakening them to a point where they went 5-21 in an embarrassing month of September.

There’s no telling how the final two months of the 2019 season will unfold for the Giants, but they’re in a much stronger position to withstand injuries. The Giants began spring training with one of the weakest 40-man rosters in baseball, but they reached a point where they had to let go of Holland, an excellent weapon against left-handed hitters who could draw trade interest from a handful of other contending clubs.

With seven games remaining until the trade deadline, there’s still plenty of time for things to change.

The first-place Chicago Cubs could roll into town, sweep the Giants and send them tumbling into San Diego with concerns about their future. Zaidi could receive a substantial offer for ace Madison Bumgarner that forces the Giants to prioritize the future ahead of the present.

A scenario  in which the Giants sell off all of their top assets and give up on the season, however, is now increasingly unlikely.

Since June 1, the Giants are 28-16 and have posted a plus-47 run differential during that span. The Dodgers might be running away with their seventh straight division crown, but over the last seven weeks, the Giants have inspired confidence in their front office.

“Don’t Stop Believin” might not be returning to Oracle Park on a regular basis anytime soon, but the song’s message is one the franchise has embraced.

“I’m excited we’re playing well because it gives us options,” Zaidi said. “It doesn’t paint us into a corner where maybe we feel that pressure of, ‘Hey, we really have to reload for the next five years because we have a real investment of what’s going on here right now.”