San Francisco Giants: 2015 MLB trade deadline review

In the days leading up to this year’s MLB trade deadline, we’ll take a look back at San Francisco Giants deadlines past. Next up, the 2015 trade deadline.

The San Francisco Giants made it three World Series titles in five years during the 2014 season, and with a strong core still in place, they entered the 2015 season with title aspirations once again.

They carried a 42-36 record into the month of July, which left them 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West standings and with a 1.5-game cushion for the No. 2 wild-card spot.

That was enough for them to pull the trigger on a significant addition to the pitching staff on the eve of the trade deadline.

Here’s a look at their July activity:

July 30, 2015: RHP Mike Leake acquired from the Cincinnati Reds for OF Adam Duvall, RHP Keury Mella

With an established track record as a reliable workhorse, Mike Leake was one of the most coveted starting pitchers on the market at the 2015 deadline.

The 27-year-old had a 3.56 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 136.2 innings when the Cincinnati Reds finally found an offer to their liking and sent him to the Giants.

In nine starts after the trade, Leake posted 4.07 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, before cashing in with a five-year, $80 million deal from the St. Louis Cardinals in free agency that winter.

Adam Duvall was hitting .281/.325/.547 with 26 home runs in Triple-A at the time of the trade, and he had slugged 57 long balls at that level over the previous two seasons. He was simply never given a chance in San Francisco. He was 26 years old at the time of the trade and went on to post back-to-back 30-homer season with the Reds while earning a spot on the NL All-Star team in 2016.

Right-hander Keury Mella was the No. 4 prospect in the Giants system at the time of the trade, according to Baseball America. He’s still just 25 years old and entered this season as the No. 15 prospect in the Cincinnati system.

Summary

The Giants gave up a good deal to acquire Mike Leake, and they were just a half-game back in the NL West standings at the time of the trade.

Unfortunately, a 13-16 month of August put them in a hole, and the ended up finishing 84-78, eight games back in the division and 13 games out of the final wild-card spot.

Check back here in the days and weeks to come for more San Francisco Giants trade deadline reviews, all culminating in what promises to be a busy 2019 deadline.