San Francisco Giants: MLB-ready trade deadline targets, Part 1

The San Francisco Giants could make a point to target MLB-ready prospects at the deadline. Marc Delucchi will highlight a few players who fit the bill from each potential trade partner.

In a recent discussion with the media, San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi suggested the team would be targeting prospects close to the major league level in their deadline deals.

If that is indeed the path they choose to take it limits the pool of prospects they will be willing to consider. In order for a contender to be willing to part with talent close to the big-league level, they have to believe that player is not capable of making an impact in the short-term. That could be true for a couple of reasons.

1. The prospect is blocked by a current big leaguer.

2. There’s a specific part of their game that is lacking. For pitchers, that’s usually a lack of control. For hitters, it’s often an inability to make consistent contact.

With that in mind, we’ll generally be looking at either post-hype prospects or guys who aren’t considered top prospects but are playing in the upper levels of the organization.

Ahead we’ve taken a closer look at players who fit the bill from the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees in part one of our look at blocked players the San Francisco Giants could target this July.

Milwaukee Brewers

For a better idea of which San Francisco Giants players might interest the Brewers, check out the Sell-off Series.

Current MLB Players
RHP Corbin Burnes
RHP Adrian Houser
RHP Freddy Peralta

Blocked Triple-A Players
OF Trent Grisham
OF Corey Ray

Pitchers
LHP Angel Perdomo
RHP Miguel Sanchez
RHP Bubba Derby

Burnes was pretty close to untouchable entering the year but has taken significant steps back. He’s now out of the rotation and is serving in a mop-up role out of the bullpen. However, he still has swing-and-miss stuff and the potential to be a mid-rotation arm.

Houser, 26, has a mid-90s sinker, potentially plus 12-6 curveball, and a solid changeup. He’s split time between the bullpen and rotation this season in Milwaukee and while he hasn’t dominated, he’s more than held his own. With over a strikeout an inning and a 4.01 ERA, he would make sense as someone the Giants could see as a long-term No. 4 starter.

Peralta has an interesting profile. He just turned 23 and already has 169 strikeouts in 139.2 innings at the MLB level. He does it with a low-90s fastball that plays up in a Nick Vincent kind of way. Like Houser, he has a solid curve and change that he’s able to throw for strikes. It’s hard to read what his ceiling is given his lack of velocity, but he seems like a mid-to-back of the rotation starter.

Ray and Grisham were both first-round prospects expected to move quickly before their development stalled. Ray has superior tools and can handle center field, but he’s also a couple of years older than Grisham and is really struggling at Triple-A with a 43.8 percent strikeout rate. Grisham’s ceiling is as an average corner outfielder, and between Double-A and Triple-A this year he’s hitting .250/.361/.500 with 18 home runs.

Sanchez is an interesting story. After serving in the Dominican Air Force, he didn’t begin his career until he was 22. He’s another low-90s sinkerballer with a couple of usable offspeed pitches but has struggled with platoon splits.

Perdomo was a prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays system with an electric fastball who ran out of service time and signed with the Brewers as a free agent. He’s reached Triple-A and has continued to rack up the strikeouts with 15.2 K/9 on the year, but he’s walked nearly a batter an inning as well.

Derby was a sixth-round pick out of San Diego State by the Oakland Athletics. He profiled as a back of rotation starter when he was sent to Milwaukee in the Khris Davis trade and that still looks like his future. He works off a low-90s fastball and above-average changeup. He’s been quite impressive this year in the Pacific Coast League with nearly a strikeout an inning and a 4.02 ERA.

New York Yankees

For a better idea of which San Francisco Giants players might interest the Yankees, check out the Sell-off Series.

Blocked Triple-A Players
OF Clint Frazier
IF Thairo Estrada
1B Mike Ford
LF Trey Amburgey
IF Tyler Wade

Pitchers
RHP Chance Adams

The Yankees have a deep crop of position players at the Triple-A level who have no clear path to the majors. Frazier is the biggest name in the group by far, and perhaps in this entire series, but whether he will be in play for the San Francisco Giants remains to be seen.

However, there are some other interesting upper-level minor leaguers that are more clearly blocked. Wade projects as a utility player with a below-average bat and a glove that fits all over the diamond. Estrada has rebounded from a lost 2018 season and is once again showing the potential to be an everyday shortstop with an average bat and plus defense.

Ford doesn’t really make sense for the Giants unless they are able to move Brandon Belt, and at 27 years old he’s not all that discernible from Chris Shaw. One notable difference is Ford has always controlled his strikeouts and walked a lot. He doesn’t have Shaw’s power, but he’s a safer bet to be productive.

Amburgey has never gotten much prospect love, but the Yankees have continued promoting him and at 24 he’s having his best season at Triple-A. He’s always hit for good power while splitting his time between all three outfield positions. His .279/.323/.514 line with 15 home runs isn’t actually that special in the Pacific Coast League, but at his age and with his defensive flexibility he has a power-hitting fourth-outfielder profile.

Adams has been a favorite of mine dating back a few seasons. He posted dominant numbers and was primed for a big-league call-up before he needed surgery to remove bone chips in his right elbow. When he returned last season he wasn’t as effective and saw his fastball dip in velocity from the mid to low-90s.

He still has a very good slider, but his curve and changeup have stalled developmentally and he’s essentially a two-pitch pitcher as a result.  Still, he’s rebounded a bit to be relatively effective in the Pacific Coast League and he’s an intriguing post-hype target.

That concludes part one of our blocked player breakdown. We’ll have three more teams and plenty more MLB-ready targets for the San Francisco Giants in part two, so stay tuned.