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San Francisco Giants: Who is trade pickup Alex Dickerson?

TORONTO, CANADA - JULY 25: Alex Dickerson #1 of the San Diego Padres watches the flight of his two-run home run that would land in the fifth deck in the ninth inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 25, 2016 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
TORONTO, CANADA - JULY 25: Alex Dickerson #1 of the San Diego Padres watches the flight of his two-run home run that would land in the fifth deck in the ninth inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 25, 2016 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

The San Francisco Giants made a minor move on Monday to acquire outfielder Alex Dickerson.

At this point, it seems like there’s a 50/50 chance that any player that hits the waiver wire wind up joining the San Francisco Giants organization.

The transaction carousel continued spinning on Monday when Alex Dickerson was acquired in a minor trade with the San Diego Padres.

So who is Alex Dickerson?

The 29-year-old was a third-round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2011, before he joined the Padres organization via trade prior to the 2014 campaign.

He hit .307/.374/.503 with 36 doubles, 12 home runs and 71 RBI at Triple-A during the 2015 season and he made his MLB debut on Aug. 6 that year.

The following season he saw extended action in the big leagues and made some noise at the plate, posting a 112 OPS+ while hitting .257/.333/.455 with 16 doubles, 10 home runs and 285 plate appearances en route to 1.2 WAR.

Before he had a chance to fully establish himself at the MLB level, injuries derailed his career. A back injury sidelined him in 2017 and he spent 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Back healthy this year, he returned to a crowded outfield situation in San Diego, and he was officially designated for assignment last week.

It’s a reasonable roll of the dice for the Giants, who will see if a clean bill of health and a change of scenery can help him return to his 2016 level of production.

Going the other way in the deal is reliever Franklin Van Gurp.

The right-hander was a 25th-round pick in 2017 and he has posted impressive strikeout numbers throughout his pro career, punching out 174 batters in 128.2 innings.

The 23-year-old has a 4.54 ERA and 1.10 WHIP with a 49-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 33.2 innings on the year.

The Padres get an interesting bullpen piece who won’t occupy a spot on the 40-man roster, while the Giants get another new potential outfield option who has enjoyed MLB success in the past.

With Dickerson reporting to Triple-A, he will now need to hit his way onto the MLB roster.

It’s a low-risk move and exactly what we’ve come to expect from this front office. Time will tell if it pays dividends.

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