San Francisco Giants: Five Outfielders They Should Trade For

Nick Castellanos

The Detroit Tigers entered a rebuilding stage this past season when the team traded away perennial All Stars like Justin Verlander and JD Martinez at the trade deadline.

Their roster is mostly filled with immovable contracts (Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Jordan Zimmerman) or young players they should want to keep through the rebuild (Michael Fulmer, Jeimer Candelario), so 3B-turned-RF Nick Castellanos stands to be one of their most tradeable assets.

He only has two more seasons left of arbitration eligibility and is coming off an impressive two year run, in which he batted .277/.325/.493 with 44 home runs, good for a 114 OPS+. He would be a prime middle of the order candidate for the Giants, and is only going to be 26 years old going into next season.

However, when you get to his defensive stats, there is certainly reason for pause. He was never a good defensive 3B, and his move to the outfield seems to be an even worse defensive fit.

That could change with an offseason of practice, but the outfield at AT&T Park does not forgive poor defenders, as the Giants have certainly learned over the past few seasons. Having Pence and Castellanos in the corners would beg for a strong defensive CF, or else the defense might actually be worse next year.

But any player in the Giants price range would probably come with some qualms, and Castellanos’ are of the defensive variety. If the team believes in any way that his offensive skills outweighs his defensive liabilities, I would be all for making this trade.

Castellanos has a career WAR of 1.3 after four seasons, yet is predicted cost $7.6MM in arbitration – surely Tigers GM Al Avila can’t place too high of a value on him?