San Francisco Giants: Could a Paul Goldschmidt for Brandon Belt Trade Work?

With rumors swirling about the Arizona Diamondbacks wanting to trade Paul Goldschmidt, could the San Francisco Giants work a deal with their division rival?

The San Francisco Giants certainly need to get creative this offseason if they want to compete in 2019. A deal with a division rival to swap first baseman is certainly out of the ordinary.

It sounds like the Arizona Diamondbacks are wanting to get rid of some money, while still competing in 2019.

They’re losing two of their best players to free agency this offseason in Patrick Corbin and A.J. Pollock. It’s possible they re-sign Pollock considering his injury history and the fact that he has a qualifying offer attached to him.

The Diamondbacks have the desire to compete, but need to fill some holes with a limited budget.

This is where the San Francisco Giants can help out themselves and the Diamondbacks.

But any deal between these two clubs will need to be creative, as the Giants will likely have to take on some money for it to work.

Here is what I think could happen:

Belt will make $17.2 million the next three seasons, and I believe the Giants would love to get out from under that contract.

Yasmany Tomas will make $15.5 million in 2019 and $17 million in 2019, so I know the Diamondbacks would love to get rid of that contract.

Paul Goldschmidt has just one year left and will make $14.5 million next year.

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Shaun Anderson gives the Diamondbacks a young, controllable starter, which marks off one of their needs this offseason. If they want a more polished major league pitcher, you could swap out Anderson for Dereck Rodriguez, Andrew Suarez, or Chris Stratton.

Either of those pitchers will give the Diamondbacks a three or four type starter, which is what they need.

And even though I’m not huge on Belt, he is still a really solid first baseman both offensively and defensively when healthy.

The Giants will have gained one of the best first basemen in all of baseball for at least one year.

Tomas is the question mark here as he struggled with the Diamondbacks enough in 2017 that he spent all of 2018 in Triple-A where he hit .262 with 14 home runs in 355 at-bats.

In 2016 he hit .272 with 31 home runs in 530 at-bats as a 25-year-old, and the Giants would certainly welcome that type of production.

But either way, that could fill a void in the outfield for Giants as they absorb that contact for two years instead of three with Belt.

In this deal the Giants would take on $12.8 million in salary for 2019, while the Diamondbacks will obviously be saving that much.

Next. San Francisco Giants Should Trade for Sonny Gray

This deal has a lot going against it because they are division rivals who both want to contend in 2019, but the possibility is certainly there if the two sides can get creative and work together.

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