Ranking the Giants' trade deadline needs

New York Times

17 hours ago

At the moment, the San Francisco Giants are not winning baseball games. If they continue not winning baseball games, please forget everything that follows. A much, much different article will be needed.
However, let's proceed with the assumption the Giants will continue to be in the postseason chase, and when the trade deadline comes, they'll be buyers. I disagree with The Athletic's trade tiers, which have the Giants as 'trending to the buy side.' If the Giants are within even a game of the final wild-card spot, they'll be aggressive buyers. Not in the sense that they're going to make another blockbuster for a player making nine figures, but they'll have a clear goal and the means with which to accomplish it. The Giants are committed to several players for many millions for many years, and they're not getting younger. This is as win-now of a team as there's been since 2021.
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That's not to say it'll get an All-Star, a long-term solution or anything other than a utility infielder. Or even that it'll get that utility infielder. Just that it'll be a buyer. Ostensibly an aggressive one. Hopefully, a creative one, too.
Here's a ranking of the positions in most need of help, from lowest need to top priority.
You don't care about the backup catcher four games out of five, and then you suddenly do. It's not the most important job on the roster, but that doesn't mean it's an unimportant job, and if the Giants feel like there's an upgrade to be had, they should go for it.
It's not like it's even close to a priority, though. (And, no, they're not getting a more offense-oriented catcher to take starts from Patrick Bailey.)
Possible targets: Gary Sánchez, Matt Thaiss, Christian Vázquez, Freddy Fermin, plenty of others. Pick a bad team, check out their catchers. It's not like they have to be better than Buster Posey to be the second-best catcher on the Giants.
Hayden Birdsong and Landen Roupp are likely to blow past their career high in innings within the next week or two. Justin Verlander still isn't helping much. There's not an urgent need to upgrade, demote or make another change, but there are reasons for the Giants to keep an open mind. A potential Game 3 starter at a reasonable price would make a lot of sense for them, and they can deal with the roster fallout however they see fit. A trade for a starting pitcher would likely strengthen the rotation and bullpen in the same transaction, in theory, depending on who moves to what role.
Still, the Giants have finite resources, and this is a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have.
Possible targets: Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Sandy Alcantara, Seth Lugo, Edward Cabrera, Zack Littell, Zach Eflin, Mitch Keller, Nick Martinez, Chris Paddack, plenty of other fourth and fifth starters.
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There's a way to get plenty of starts and at-bats for Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee, Mike Yastrzemski and Other Guy without anyone feeling like they've been demoted, especially with the DH. And if there's a way to do this while improving the offense as a whole, the Giants should consider all sorts of outfielders.
The Giants would be flexible enough to consider outfielders with more power than speed, as well as outfielders with more speed than power. Outfielders who expect to start every day, and outfielders with experience in a supporting role. All-Stars, platoon heroes, left-handed outfielders, right-handed outfielders, switch-hitting outfielders, outfielders, outfielders, outfielders, every outfielder will be considered at Crazy Buster's, so call up Crazy Buster's and sell them your outfielders.
If the price is right. And if the fit is right, too.
Possible targets: Cedric Mullins, Taylor Ward, Bryan Reynolds, Harrison Bader, Alek Thomas
Casey Schmitt has hit into a couple of hard-hit outs over his last few starts, but he still hasn't forcefully claimed the position yet, and he might be running out of time. If he can show off more top-shelf exit velocities, bat speeds and, especially, swing decisions over the next two weeks, the Giants will look elsewhere to upgrade the lineup. If he starts swinging at pitches in the other batter's box again, there will be a bit more urgency.
That written, second base just isn't an offensive position in baseball right now. Of the 17 second basemen who qualify for the batting title, only four of them are slugging over .400. None of them is slugging over .500. In theory, it would be great to upgrade the production at the position. In practice, it's probably more practical to help Schmitt be the best durned Casey Schmitt he can be.
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Possible targets: Ozzie Albies, Ramón Urías, Brandon Lowe
Also, it's at least plausible the Boston Red Sox sink enough to consider trading Alex Bregman, and that would 100 percent be the most appealing option, both in terms of ability to help and in terms of potential comedy. A Bregman/Devers right side of the infield winning the pennant after all that would be extremely comical.
I originally had this category as '1B/DH' and opened with a long-winded explanation of how Rafael Devers' health and ability to play the field would factor into all, but I junked it. Give the Giants another guy who can hit, and they'll figure it out, whether it's at DH or first base or in the outfield. The Guy Who Can Hit can even play second base if the Tampa Bay Rays get froggy enough to give Brandon Lowe away. Guy Who Can Hit has no set position. Only a white horse that he rides into town as he vows to save the Giants' lineup by himself.
Guy Who Can Hit will hit, like, eight home runs between the deadline and the end of the season. Don't get too excited. But he's still a deadline necessity.
Possible targets: Eugenio Suárez, Ryan O'Hearn, Josh Naylor, Marcell Ozuna
This is pure theory and uninformed speculation, but it's possible the reliever-ification of baseball could have a beneficial trickle-down effect for teams looking for bullpen help at the deadline. As in, with more teams putting resources into weaponizing their relievers, it would follow there would be a larger number of helpful relievers available and potential trade partners. We'll see whether the prices come down accordingly.
Matt Gage made his Giants debut Friday night, which is notable because they're the team that drafted him in 2014. That was the same year Logan Webb and Tyler Beede were drafted, which means you can fit entire baseball lifetimes into the span it took Gage to appear in the majors for the team that drafted him. Because of this journey, he has the potential to be The One. Ryan Vogelsong. Conor Gillaspie. Travis Ishikawa. You know. The One. Every great Giants story needs the returning hero. Maybe Gage will throw innings 13 through 18 of a Game 7 without allowing a run.
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Or maybe the Giants will just trade for a proven left-handed reliever instead. That seems about 100 percent more reasonable and comes with a better chance of helping. This was the likeliest deadline target for the Giants on March 1. It was the likeliest target for them June 1, and it will be the likeliest target for them Aug. 1. It feels like 'which left-handed reliever' is a better question to ask than 'will they trade for a left-handed reliever?' Heck, this might have been the plan all along.
Possible targets: An incomplete list includes Reid Detmers, Gregory Soto, Garrett Cleavinger, Danny Coulombe, Brandon Eisert, Hoby Milner, Robert Garcia, Jacob Latz, Dylan Lee, Aaron Bummer, Andrew Chafin and Caleb Ferguson. Detmers is going to be the hot commodity, but there might be relative bargains to be found.
(Top photo of Reid Detmers: Isaiah Vazquez / Getty Images)