San Francisco Giants: Five Outfielders They Should Trade For

Corey Dickerson

Honestly, when the Evan Longoria trade news came in, I was a little bit disappointed that the Giants would not also be acquiring one of the Rays talented outfielders. While Kevin Kiermaier or Mallex Smith may be a bit too valuable in the long term to get rid of, I was dreaming about one of corner outfielders Steven Souza or Corey Dickerson.

However, for the Giants’ purposes, the powerful and defensively gifted Souza is likely way outside of their range. He is also probably someone the Rays want to keep around in their retool/quick rebuild stage, as he comes with three more years of control.

Dickerson only comes with two, and he could well be the expendable outfielder with the aforementioned Mallex Smith being younger and requiring more playing time.

The 28-year old Dickerson bats lefty but doesn’t need to be shielded against southpaws, as he didn’t have discernible platoon splits in 2017 (.273/.320/.493 vs. RHP and .308/.339/.481 vs. LHP).

The first time All Star is also not as much of a defensive liability as Castellanos would be and he has been a consistently above average offensive performer, despite not drawing many walks. As such, the Rays may feel obliged to request a fairly substantial package for their outfielder, but Dickerson would be a nice high-floor acquisition for the Giants current lineup.

Projected to earn $6.4MM in 2018, the Rays are not one to turn away the right package for veterans who are nearing free agency. However, it would probably take even more young talent going to the Rays to get that done.