SF Giants: Should the team trade pitcher Kevin Gausman?

The San Francisco Giants may be actively shopping several players ahead of the August 31st trade deadline, and that includes pitcher Kevin Gausman who has looked solid in his last few starts.

In a rebuild year, the San Francisco Giants may be looking to trade some of their top talent in exchange for prospects. Some of these players include Mike Yastrzemski and Donovan Solano.

Could right-handed pitcher Kevin Gausman be another trade chip the Giants are considering dealing?

Giants Gausman has looked strong

Gausman has looked solid on the mound as of late. He has pitched into the sixth inning in each of his last four starts, surrendering more than three earned runs only once, which was in last night’s victory against the Los Angeles Angels.

One thing to keep an eye out on is Gausman’s strikeout rate. Since his first start of the year, he has recorded at least six strikeouts in every outing, topping out at eleven in a start against the Oakland A’s. Those kind of strikeout numbers are bound to attract the attention of postseason-bound teams:

Gausman has a deadly pitch combination with a high velocity fastball that easily reaches the high-90s and a slow, quick-dropping changeup that fools hitters regularly. That one-two punch has made him very effective so far for the Giants.

On a team that lacks much pitching promise, it may seem unwise to trade the 29-year-old away when he could possibly help the team out for the next few seasons should they re-sign him. But the problem is that Gausman is set to be a free agent after this season and may well sign with a different team in the offseason.

Trading him would be very similar to what the Giants did in trading Drew Pomeranz last season. He struggled for most of the year but started to strike out a lot of batters before the trade deadline and the Giants were able to trade him for Mauricio Dubon.

Of course, there is always risk involved in trading for a younger player. Very rarely is there absolute certainty that the player you trade for will be a productive big league player.

But those are the risks involved and if the front office feels they get a good offer for Gausman then there is a good chance they will take it to try and rebuild the Giants roster.