How the San Francisco Giants can ace the 2019 MLB trade deadline

Longshot: 2B Keston Hiura, Milwaukee Brewers

Don’t get me wrong, Keston Hiura is awesome and I would love to see him wearing a San Francisco Giants jersey.

However, part of the reason this trade is being labeled as a longshot is that it’s going to be awfully difficult to pry the young second baseman away from the Milwaukee Brewers in trade talks. In order to force their hand, the Giants would likely have to sweeten the deal by including someone like Will Smith or Sam Dyson in a larger trade.

There’s a very real chance that Hiura will be deemed untouchable in any trade talks. However, after reaching the NLCS last season and with the window to win wide open, the Brewers might be approaching this season with an all-in mentality.

Hiura hit .281/.333/.531 with five home runs in 64 total at-bats during a brief call-up earlier this season, and by all accounts, he’s MLB-ready. With a 70-grade hit and 60-grade power, he has a chance to be an impact offensive player.

The chance to acquire Madison Bumgarner will no doubt appeal to the Brewers given the current state of their starting rotation. They just played the Giants and were almost swept, with none of their starters throwing well enough to earn a win.

A potential reunion with Will Smith also makes sense for a Brewers team that has leaned hard on the bullpen during their recent run of success.

However, from the Giants standpoint, a packaged deal of Bumgarner and Smith might not be the best way to maximize their value, and that may ultimately be what it takes to acquire Hiura.

As such, they fall into the longshot category.

More Likely: IF/OF Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs

A deal with the Chicago Cubs centered around Ian Happ will be much easier to achieve because he’s a player the San Francisco Giants would be buying on the low on.

In 2016, MLB Pipeline had Happ ranked as their No. 21 prospect, which was ahead of some of the biggest names in the game today, including Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Josh Hader.

After a strong rookie season in 2017, Happ hit just .233/.353/.408 with a 36.1 percent strikeout rate last year. The Cubs sent him to Triple-A out of spring training to work on his approach and he has yet to appear at the MLB level this season.

The 24-year-old is hitting .231/.360/.417 with a 26.7 percent strikeout rate in the minors this season as he continues to refine his approach. His value is probably as low as it’s ever been, which makes this the perfect time for the San Francisco Giants to make a deal.

So why would the Giants even want him?

While Happ has not shown great contact skills or consistency as of late, he has the tools to be a great player in this league. Even amid all the strikeouts, he posted a 108 OPS+ and slugged 39 home runs in 257 games at the MLB level.

Happ also has a history of hitting the ball hard, with a barrel rate of 12.7 percent for his career.

For those of who are not familiar with barrel rate, here’s an explanation via MLB.com:

The Barrel classification is assigned to batted-ball events whose comparable hit types (in terms of exit velocity and launch angle) have led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage since Statcast was implemented Major League wide in 2015.

The league-average barrel rate is 6.3 percent, and the two guys who currently lead the Giants in home runs, Brandon Belt and Pablo Sandoval, own an average barrel percentage of 12.9 percent this season.

With a Giants player development staff that has a history of helping players rework their swings for the better, Happ in San Francisco seems to be a perfect match.

Another reason why this can be a valuable trade for the Giants is because of what little they have to give up in order to receive Happ in return. The Cubs have a solid rotation so the need for Bumgarner isn’t there, but the bullpen can use some work.

In Marc Delucchi’s Sell-Off Series, he proposed dealing Tony Watson and taking on Tyler Chatwood unappealing contract as a means of acquiring Happ.

It’s up to the Giants to get smaller deals like this done in order to speed up this rebuild.

Perfect Fit: OF Clint Frazier, New York Yankees

This is where Farhan Zaidi can prove that he was the right man for the job. Making a deal with the New York Yankees can set this team up for the future.

Any deal with the Yankees is almost certainly going to include Madison Bumgarner, which means the Giants will not be able to make a serious run at Keston Hiura. Since that deal was unlikely to happen anyway, the Giants should put their eggs in the Yankees’ basket, with some quality eggs expected in return of course.

More from Around the Foghorn

• SF Giants sign veteran 1B John Nogowski to minor league deal
• SF Giants call on veteran LHP Scott Kazmir for big start against Padres
• SF Giants: Update on Alex Dickerson’s rehab assignment
• Atlanta claims SF Giants C Chadwick Tromp off waivers
• SF Giants: Could Johnny Cueto help down the stretch?

The Sonny Gray trade in 2017 can be looked at as a reference when trying to determine what the Yankees might be willing to give up in order to acquire someone like Bumgarner. Gray wasn’t a rental like Bumgarner, but he also didn’t possess the same track record and resume of postseason excellence.

The Yankees gave up two MLB Pipeline Top 100 Prospects in Dustin Fowler and Jorge Mateo, in addition to James Kaprielian, who was used as a pot sweetener. The Yankees have a history of being aggressive at the deadline and they’ve already pulled the trigger on one big move to acquire Edwin Encarnacion.

Would they be willing to part with young outfielder Clint Frazier?

He can be the piece of this Giants rebuild that shows fans and teams around the league that San Francisco does not want to be floundering at the bottom of the division for much longer.

Once an MLB Pipeline Top 25 prospect, Frazier is having quite the year for the Bronx Bombers with a .283/.330/.513 line that includes 11 home runs and 34 RBI in 53 games, and he’s doing it at the age of 24. He would clearly be the offensive MVP if he were on the Giants right now.

So why would the Yankees be willing to trade a player like Frazier?”.

That is a valid question.

The Yankees recently acquired Edwin Encarnacion from the Seattle Mariners and in order to clear a roster spot, Frazier was sent to the minors. Someone had to go and Frazier had options remaining, so it made sense from a roster standpoint.

However, his stellar play this season led more than a few to question the decision. Fellow FanSided contributor, Rucker Haringey, believes that this move shows that Frazier is officially on the trade block:

[Mike] Tauchman will almost certainly follow Frazier when [Giancarlo] Stanton comes back to the Majors, but sending Frazier down first should be interpreted as a message from Cashman and the Yankees’ front office. They are clearly willing to field offers for the 24-year-old outfielder.

It also sounds like Frazier himself may be ready for a change as he described the demotion as a “tough pill to swallow” while talking with the media.

Frazier is truly a trade return that comes around once in a blue moon. Landing an MLB-ready talent instead of a low-level prospect will ease the blow of a Bumgarner trade to the fan base while also expediting the rebuild.

The biggest gripe with Frazier is his subpar outfield defense. Defensive miscues are annoying, but they can be worked on. Also, with the Giants giving Stephen Vogt a try in left field this season in an effort to add some offense, it’s clear defense is not the No. 1 priority.

Frazier also has a swagger that is invaluable in players today. With some quick coaching and inevitable maturing, Frazier can easily become a fan favorite in a city looking for a new, young superstar. He can be the centerpiece of this trade and this rebuild, and now it is up to Farhan Zaidi to get the deal done.

These hypothetical moves would ruin my homegrown outfield projection for 2022, but if Clint Frazier and Ian Happ are wearing the orange and black come August, there is a lot of hope for this franchise in the near future.