SF Giants-Cleveland: Five Potential Francisco Lindor Trades

Five Potential SF Giants-Cleveland Trades:
Trade #1: Joey Bart for Francisco Lindor, Cal Quantrill

This deal is the most straightforward, but will probably be particularly difficult for both sides. Catcher has been a constant source of struggle for Cleveland over their recent stretch of contention and Joey Bart would slot in nicely as their everyday catcher of the future. The Giants still have Buster Posey returning in 2021 and have built a surprising amount of depth behind the plate.

Chadwick Tromp seems ready to at least be a big-league backup behind Posey and the team drafted Patrick Bailey in the first round of this year’s draft. That’s before even getting to other intriguing prospects like Ricardo Genoves that could become full-time options as well.

Adding an intriguing southpaw like Cal Quantrill makes it easier for the Giants to sacrifice their years of team control over Bart for just one guaranteed season of Lindor while not creating a large hole back in Cleveland.

Still, both sides are taking huge chances. Bart has become the face of the Giants branding as they’ve struggled in recent years and has long been called the heir apparent to Posey. If he’s the real deal, it’s hard to envision San Francisco parting with him. On the flip side, the Cleveland front-office would be putting all their eggs in one basket. If Bart doesn’t become a star, they’ve lost any other potential return for Lindor.

Basically, Cleveland would need to be high on Bart and the Giants would need to be low on him. That’s generally not how these swaps work, but it’s not entirely unforeseeable, especially if the Giants think someone like Bailey or Genoves can move quickly through the system.