San Francisco Giants Trade Deadline: Four Areas to Improve the Roster

This is probably the likeliest place they make an upgrade/addition of any sort. Right now, they have Corey Gearrin who has rendered himself virtually useless. He only pitched 5 innings in the month of June, and that should tell you enough, after he posted 9 innings in March/April, and 13+innings in May.

The Giants have already tried to get rid of him once, placing him on trade waivers with no “biters.” That was according to a Ken Rosenthal Report. With how little they’ve used him in recent weeks, it’s safe to say his days with the Giants are numbered.

Ideally, the Giants would replace him with Ray Black. Someone whose track record in the minors speaks for itself. In 133.2 innings in the minor leagues, Black has struck out 254 batters, and walking 87. What’s probably the most impressive of all of them is the fact that he’s only walked 14 of those batters in 30 innings this year. His WHIP across both levels in 2018 is a .815. That’s really good. The questions is if there is another injury coming?

If there is another injury coming, the Giants should look at another bullpen arm via the trade market. It would be smart. After Ray Black, the Giants don’t have much “organizational depth” when it comes to relievers. So the trade market would be ideal. Here are a few options that are on the cheap, but good:

• Jake Diekman, Texas
• Brad Brach, Baltimore
• Tyler Clippard, Toronto

All three are cost-effective options whose contracts expire this year. Brach might be the most intriguing as he could be the cheaper of the Orioles late inning guys. Zack Britton might be healthy in time but can cost a pretty penny, and Brach has done a good job in his place. Diekman is a good reliever and is with the Rangers, who the Giants have dealt with before, including taking on salary.

That is actually the main common denomonator between these three. All three could take on the Giants dead weight salaries for this year, not have it hurt their Luxury Tax scenarios, and both parties would be A-OK. If the Giants needed to shed Austin Jackson, Hunter Pence, or Corey Gearrin for any of these guys, the receiving team might be more likely to take that salary if the Giants give them a slightly better prospect along with.

Those are of course the emergency scenarios. If they decide to oust Corey Gearrin, I’d truly like them to end up doing it because they called up Ray Black, and not added yet another player in front of a promising young arm on the depth chart. But again, if there is another injury to the bullpen, those three should be nice targets for the Giants.