San Francisco Giants: Five Best Potential Trade Partners

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Dec 17, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants senior vice president and general manager Bobby Evans announces the signing of pitcher Johnny Cueto at a press conference at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /

The San Francisco Giants have a little less than a month to push themselves back into postseason contention. With such a bad start, there is a very likely scenario in which they become sellers. Who are their best trade partners?

The San Francisco Giants are likely going to be sellers. They have needs. They need to get younger. That pretty much has to start this season or at the end. There are plenty of ways to do it. Some take longer than others.

You can take the Giants 2005-2008 approach if you like. They never went better than 76-85 (2006) and built primarily through the draft. In 2006 they landed Tim Lincecum, 2007 they landed Madison Bumgarner, in 2008 they landed Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford, and in 2009 they landed Brandon Belt. There is your championship core! You can also do what the Astros did, and suck for a very long time until you finally get good prospects through years of bad drafting. The long way usually is more frustrating, and takes a long time.

The short way is trading away pieces of your roster that are no longer needed or ineffective, for young, close to big league ready prospects that will help you in two years time. That model is something that the Cubs, Red-Sox, and Yankees have done in recent years to re-tool, and it has worked so far.

The Giants have the option and ability to do that, now. There are some aging pieces that would be worth a hefty amount of prospects, especially to a team that could be in “win-now” mode come July. We’re going to look at five teams that would be perfect trade partners for the Giants based on three things:

Looking for something the Giants can offer
Have good prospects worth trading for
Have contender/buyer status.

Before you take a look at these, understand where we’re coming from in analyzing what the Giants trade block probably looks like currently with this article from earlier in the week.

With out much more to say, let’s get started!

The Chicago Cubs

Current Record: 30-29, 2nd in NL Central, five games back of Wild Card.

Playoff odds according to FiveThirtyEight: 69%

The Chicago Cubs are nowhere near as good as their record setting pace of 2016. There has been a whole lot of inconsistency in both the pitching, and their offense. So what could they be looking for? Potentially another ace to get them over the hump. The pitching staff just has not been good this year, as only one starter has an ERA under four. Johnny Cueto or Matt Moore might be intriguing options for them. While they’re having bad seasons, they are still quite valuable. The Cubs may be willing to part with a couple prospects for someone like those two.

In terms of position players, we’ll have to wait and see what happens with the current Addison Russell situation. If a suspension is in the woodworks, or this whole thing turns out to be something big, someone like Eduardo Nunez might be enticing to them as well.

It’s pretty clear the Cubs might need another piece this year to push them over the edge as the Brewers and Reds have helped keep the division competitive this season. And with the strength of teams like the Rockies, Nationals, Dodgers, and Diamond-Backs, the Cubs may want to stock up.

The question is what all are they willing to give up. Last year they gave up Gleyber Torres for Aroldis Chapman, and might just be regretting it at the moment, especially when the Yankees signed Aroldis back and made off with the best selling period I think anyone has ever pulled.

They do have a few intriguing outfield prospects, a huge area of need for the Giants. The Giants currently have four outfield prospects in their top ten, but none are graded higher than a 50. Jeimer Candelario and Mark Zagunis look to be some of the best prospect fits.

If the Giants could get a really good haul from somewhere else on Joe Panik, it might make sense to move Christian Arroyo to second, and someone like Candelario could be groomed as the future third-baseman. He’s a more traditional power hitting corner infielder, maybe not a home-run power, but gap-to-gap power (27 XBH in 48 games in 2017, seven are homers). Both are in AAA and performing at a high level, and could be considered MLB ready by July.

I think the Cubs could be an intriguing match for a blockbuster trade, but that would be contingent on them willing to surrender prospects. If they are, they’re a great match for the Giants.

Aug 14, 2016; Bronx, NY, USA; General view of Yankee Stadium after a game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Tampa Bay Rays won 12-3. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

The New York Yankees

Current Record: 34-23 1st in AL East

Playoff Odds according to FiveThirtyEight: 74%

The Yankees were anticipating a two year rebuild and re-tool, much like what the Cubs went through when they were big time sellers in 2014. Well, that window has opened quickly big time, much like the Cubs in their own rebound from 2014-2015. Young stars are leading the charge and the Yankees looked primed for a postseason appearance. The big question mark for them is always the pitching staff. They score a ton of runs, but can their staff keep them off the board? They don’t need to worry about that with the bullpen, so starter arms are likely the focus of their “trade energy.” That means Cueto and Moore.

The big question surrounding the Yankees is the same as the Cubs, “Are they willing to give up prospects?”. They are not going to give up Gleyber Torres, but the Giants should be asking in earnest about Clint Frazier. A top ten outfield prospect, and top twenty MLB prospect overall, he’s a right handed power bat that would slot perfectly into left field. Another player the Giants could ask on is Chance Adams, a stud right handed starter in their farm system. Dustin Fowler, also a five tool outfielder in their farm system, might be the best outfield prospect they could get from them if Clint Frazier is off the table.

I’m sure the Yankees would love someone like Joe Panik, as they asked for him in the apparent Andrew Miller talks between the two clubs last offseason. But Eduardo Nunez may be the perfect super-utility position player they’re looking for.

If they happen to throw one of those position players into a trade, you can expect one or more of the prospects I mentioned above. Two contributing big-leaguers is worth a lot, and the Yankees set that bar. We’ll just have to see who is on their “do not touch” list.

The Houston Astros

Current Record: 43-18, best in baseball

Playoff Odds according to FiveThirtyEight: >99%

The Astros are absolutely destroying people this year, and their record is indicative. The big thing for them is another starter. Johnny Cueto will want to be traded to a contender, and the Astros may just be looking to “aim big” in their trade market approach this year. Their biggest need at the moment is someone like Johnny Cueto. So hello, Astros! What do we want from you?

Taking at look at their top 10 prospects, there are a few pieces that stand-out. You might be able to convince the Astros to give up one of their stud outfield prospects, Kyle Tucker or Derek Fisher. Both are quite good, and both are highly rated (on Top 100 list). One of the two would be fantastic, but Fisher is my personal favorite due to MLB-readiness. He’s hitting .338/.403/.619/1.022 with 17 homers and 17 doubles in 57 games for the Fresno Grizzlies this season. That would probably be the likely key prospect for the Giants, but Cionel Perez could be another Giants intrigue, as they need to re-stock the pitching aspect of their organization as well.

The big thing here is whether or not the Astros think they have enough to get it done this year, or if they might need someone to push them over the edge. Our sibling site, Climbing Tal’s Hill, wrote an article recently basically building up the notion that the Astros will aim high in the trade market. If the Giants could snag one of Fisher or Tucker, that would be great for their future.

May 30, 2017; San Francisco, CA, USA; Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon (6) reacts after taking a strike against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /

The Washington Nationals

Current Record: 38-21, 1st in NL East

Playoff Odds according to FiveThirtyEight: 97%

The Nationals might be in the biggest “WIN-NOW” Mode of everyone, which makes them good targets for going after their farm system. Frankly, most experts think their farm system is terrible. But they have a few gems that might be worth grabbing. First off, we have to understand what they might want.

Of course they’re going to want Mark Melancon, but coupled with a super utility player like Nunez, the Nationals would be salivating. The Giants would then have to convince them that the combo would be worth one of Victor Robles, or Juan Soto. If they can, I make that trade in a heartbeat for the Giants.

The big issue is I don’t see the Giants wanting to split with Melancon just yet, unless they believe top starting prospect turned closer, Kyle Crick could take over the reigns as effectively, or even better. Melancon has had his struggles this year though, and it seems the yips are as contagious all throughout the Giants pen. But, the closer spot seems to be the biggest area that the Nationals could use a significant upgrade. Melancon would be that, and the Giants, outside of the Rays, are likely the only “seller” with an elite closer.

If the Nationals want Melancon back, it would likely take Robles, and for them to take on all of Melancon’s contract beyond this season. If they pony up and do it, Bobby Evans better say yes and file it before the Nationals realize how bad of a trade that might be. But, sometimes teams see red when it’s “win-now” mode. The Nationals are a great candidate to be that team.

The Milwaukee Brewers

Current Record: 32-29 1st in NL Central

Playoff Odds According to FiveThirtyEight: 28%

Ahh yes, the Brewers. The current leader of the NL Central, one of the biggest shocks in baseball. They already have a lot of young guys up and contributing. They are contending, so they likely won’t want to trade away Ryan Braun. If it comes to a “win-now” upgrade addition for them, great candidates are Johnny Cueto and Eduardo Nunez. The Giants and Brewers already have a trade history from last season. But now the roles could be reversed.

Johnny Cueto could likely be the main piece they attempt to trade for. It will likely come down to who offers the best prospect package for Cueto. If you’ve seen some of the prospects mentioned throughout this article, the Brewers would likely have to offer one of Lewis Brinson, Corey Ray, and Josh Hader to land Cueto. If they go with one of them, as Giants, I beg for Corbin Burnes as well. Burnes was a 4th round draft pick, but a top 50 prospect according to most last season. He’s already made his way up to AA. A very nice 3.5/1 strikout-walk ratio on top of a .86 WHIP across all levels screams “Get this guy.”

The Brewers may be smarter in the way they go about adding. I don’t think the pieces they have are enough right now, but they may not want to dump the farm system to compete with the Cubs just yet.

Next: What the Giants should do with their first three picks in the draft

In Conclusion

There are multiple solid trade partners for the Giants, but these seem to be the best five. I would hope for any of these other than the Brewers. The others frankly have some better prospects to offer, and a few more MLB ready prospects as well. My bet is we get at least one trade with the Yankees, and maybe another with the Astros. You could also throw the Cubs in there for a lower level acquisition, but that feels relatively unlikely.

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