Lee’s two homers, Webb’s six scoreless cap SF Giants’ hectic deadline day with win

ARLINGTON — Tony Vitello was about 90 seconds into his pregame availability with reporters when his phone lit up. He stopped himself mid-sentence, descended from the top of the oddly tall dugout bench at Globe Life Field and momentarily disappeared into a tunnel.

On deadline day, even the managers have calls to take.

The Giants’ 5-1win over the Texas Rangers on Monday, powered by two homers from Jung Hoo Lee and a strong start from Logan Webb, was secondary to the madness that preceded it. Over 12 hours, the front office executed five trades that sent six major leaguers — Luis Arraez, Heliot Ramos, Robbie Ray, Tyler Mahle, Caleb Kilian, Erik Miller — to various contenders.

Most of the eight returning players were prospects, but former top prospect Marcelo Mayer figures to help San Francisco in the not-so-distant future. With the deadline officially in the rearview mirror, the attention now turns to maximizing the final 49 games of an otherwise lost season.

“Chaotic. Long day,” said manager Tony Vitello of his first trade deadline experience. “A little bit fatiguing on the voice and everything else, but it’s certainly part of the deal. All we can do is more forward.”

Amidst all the chaos of the last day, Webb turned in one of his more dominant starts of the season, tossing six scoreless with eight strikeouts to one walk. Webb, though, was in no mood to celebrate the win on a day where the Giants (48-65) sold because of how poorly their season has gone.

“It just means we’re not winning,” Webb said. “It’s not fun.”

Lee, who also stole a base and made several excellent defensive plays, was glad to still be a Giant following the deadline.

“The Giants gave me the chance to come out here to the major leagues and they gave me that contract to play out here,” Lee said through team interpreter Justin Han. “If I want to see any success in the league, I want it to be with the Giants.”

Following the team’s furious five-trade flurry, five players were added to the Giants’ active roster before their game on Monday: Blade Tidwell, Tristan Beck, Reiver Sanmartin, Carson Seymour and Buddy Kennedy. Since Ramos was traded so close to first pitch, San Francisco’s roster on Monday only had 25 players. Of that group, Tidwell will be the one most worth watching over the final two months of the season.

Tidwell, 25, has spent most of this season with Triple-A Sacramento, pitching only 12 innings for San Francisco. The trades of Ray and Mahle created two vacancies in the rotation, and president of baseball operations Buster Posey said that Tidwell will make his first start of the year on Tuesday.

“Blade’s a little bit of a Skittle,” Vitello said. “He’s rough on the exterior, but a little softer than people realize on the inside. He’s got a big heart. I think he’s got strong relationships with everybody he’s been involved with in his career.”

With their second rotation opening, the Giants might opt to get a little more creative. The simplest move would be having Adrian Houser re-join the rotation, but Houser struggled so much as a traditional starter (5.73 ERA) that the team moved him to the bullpen. San Francisco never explored using an opener before going to Houser, a possibility that the team might now explore.

“It’s something we’ve talked about and looked for,” Vitello said. “It might be something we’re more in tune with, too, with some of those minor-league arms. Could involve Houser, could involve somebody else.”

Tidwell won’t be the only young player getting considerably more run over the next two months.

San Francisco’s roster is considerably younger now than it was on Sunday morning. The Giants’ 25-man roster on Monday featured 10 rookies, as well as players such as Grant McCray, Osleivis Basabe and Christian Koss who played fewer than 100 games in the majors. Looking at Sacramento’s roster, left-hander Matt Wilkinson, infielder Parks Harber and outfielder Bo Davidson are among the candidates to make their debuts in the coming months.

“We’re going to get some looks at some younger players,” Posey said. “I think as much as anything, it’s going to be an opportunity for us as a front office and a coaching staff to evaluate some of our players. Some of them are going to get some longer runways than they’ve had in the past.”

Worth noting

Posey was asked in a scrum about outfielder Harrison Bader for the first time since he crashed his scooter, but Posey did not have much to add on the situation.

“We made the statement, still gathering information,” Posey said. “Wishing him the best in his recovery, but nothing more to say about it at this point.”