San Francisco Giants trade rumors: Ranking all of the team’s player & pitcher options before the deadline
Jul 17, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher James Shields (33) pitches against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
The “All-Star long shots” group
David Price (Tigers), Cole Hamels (Phillies), *James Shields (Padres), Jeff Samardzija (White Sox)
Any one of these guys would immediately anchor the Giants’ rotation with Madison Bumgarner, but as I mentioned in my article about Price the other day, there are several major hold-ups. In short: 1) SF’s prospect pool, 2) salary concerns and 3) other suitors. Even so, the Giants’ have recently been linked to both Price and Hamels, while the Padres and White Sox seem desperate to move Shields and Samardzija, respectively.
Updates: David Price has been traded to the Toronto Blue Jays. Cole Hamels has been traded to the Texas Rangers.
Aroldis Chapman (Reds), Craig Kimbrel (Padres)
San Francisco Giants
Santiago Casilla’s probably pitched well enough of late to keep the front office happy, but his struggles with arm fatigue have to be in the back of Bobby Evans’ mind. The same hold-ups I mentioned for the All-Star starting pitchers apply here, though Chapman for just a hair over $3 million for the remainder of the season is very reasonable.
Update: The Giants have touched base with the Reds on Chapman’s availability, according to Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi.
Justin Upton (Braves), Yoenis Cespedes (Tigers)
I doubt the Giants would bring in either of these guys considering they’re set at the corners with Nori Aoki and Hunter Pence, not to mention their big contracts—$14.5 million for Upton and $10.5 million for Cespedes in 2015. With that said, both would bring some much-needed thunder to San Francisco’s lineup, and the team could get creative defensively if they had to (they survived with Michael Morse and Travis Ishikawa in left last year, after all).
Next: On to the third group