San Francisco Giants: 5 things to watch for in the second half

4. Are Alex Dickerson and Kevin Pillar here to stay?

So far, Alex Dickerson and Kevin Pillar have been the two most successful trade pickups made during Farhan Zaidi’s tenure. They have brought some welcome stability to an outfield that has seen a lot of turnover in the last few years.

After coming over in a trade with the San Diego Padres, Dickerson splashed onto the scene with a grand slam in his first game with the Giants.

Pillar, who was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in an early April trade, has put together a respectable year at the plate and he’s been hitting much better of late after a slow start.

The second half could be a good indicator of whether the San Francisco Giants front office feel they are long-term solutions in the outfield.

Pillar has one year of arbitration remaining and Dickerson is under team control through 2022, so both will be back next season unless the team decides to cut them loose.

If Pillar can continue providing value both offensively and defensively, and Dickerson can stay hot at the plate, then there is no question they will be sticking around.

If their production drops off, they could wind up being just two more names in what has been an outfield carousel for several years now.

We’ll have to wait and see how it all unfolds, but in the short term, these two trades have helped the Giants out a great deal in stabilizing the outfield.