San Francisco Giants: Why they absolutely need Keon Broxton

The San Francisco Giants have really had an amazing offseason to this point. The front office has added Andrew McCutchen, Evan Longoria and most recently Austin Jackson to bolster a lineup and outfield that were among the worst in baseball in 2017.

They have done all of this while managing to stay under the $197 million competitive balance tax threshold by shedding the dead-weight contracts of Denard Span and Matt Moore.

However, one major hole still remains.

The Giants need a young center fielder who can cover ground and makes almost no money by MLB standards.

The Giants have roughly $1.4 million to spend prior to the luxury tax threshold. So where do they go for a center fielder? There are two options as it stands now.

Internal Platoon

If the season started today, the Giants would likely platoon rising prospect Steven Duggar who has just over 20 career at bats in Triple-A with recent acquisition Austin Jackson. This is not ideal mostly due to Duggar’s lack of experience in even the upper-minors.

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The Second Option

The Giants can, and should, make a trade for a young, cost controllable right-handed center fielder to platoon with Steven Duggar.

Enter the Milwaukee Brewers and 27-year-old Keon Broxton.

Broxton hit 20 home runs last year for Milwaukee and boasts incredible defensive range in center.

Why would the Brewers trade Broxton you ask, especially coming off a banner power season? The answer is simple.

Justifying The Trade

The Brewers recently acquired Christian Yelich from the Marlins, and then shortly thereafter signed free agent center fielder Lorenzo Cain to a 5 year, $80 million contract.

Both Cain and Yelich are outstanding center-fielders and the Brewers also have Broxton and highly regarded ourfield prospect Bret Phillips.

Simply put, the Brewers have more outfield options than they do available playing time. Logically then, Milwaukee must move one or more outfielders via trade.

Milwaukee’s Team Needs

It is no secret to anyone who has followed the MLB offseason closely, that the Brewers are looking to improve their pitching staff.

They have already signed Boone Logan and Jhoulys Chacin, among others, and have been linked to top free-agent starters Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta.

So what would a trade centered around pitching look like between San Francisco and Milwaukee?

The Trade

In my mind, the ideal swap would be Tyler Beede for Keon Broxton. Before many Giants fans accuse me of heresy, due to Beede’s  status as a top pitching prospect, you need to understand the long-term implications of the deal proposed here.

As stated above, Broxton would be a cost controllable option with plus defensive skills to platoon with Steven Duggar in center field.

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Future Trade Flexibility

If one of the platoon partners were to take hold of the everyday job, the Giants could trade the other platoon partner to fill another hole on the 25-man roster.

Also, a platoon of Broxton and Duggar would address the Giants center field position for this year and beyond.

Other Potential Future Benefits

This would potentially have multiple benefits allowing the Giants to shift highly regarded 19-year-old prospect Heliot Ramos to a corner outfield position in the coming years.

This would give the Giants two-thirds of a cost controllable future outfield.

In turn, this could allow the Giants to pursue further potential outfield upgrades next offseason.  Free agent options include, but are certainly not limited to A.J. Pollock and Charlie Blackmon.

Next: San Francisco Giants: Looking at the Milwaukee Brewers Surplus of Outfielders

Closing Thoughts

In summary, I believe San Francisco should pursue a trade for Keon Broxton  due to both present and future considerations. Whether the Giants will or can do this, remains to be seen. However, I believe the potential deal makes too much sense for both parties involved not to pursue it further.