3 San Francisco Giants prospects who should not be traded and 3 who should

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Being a somewhat middling baseball team is a really awkward position to be in and that is exactly where the San Francisco Giants find themselves although their recent hot streak has definitely helped their cause. To be clear, there are some really good things happening with the Giants right now. Thairo Estrada isn’t getting anywhere near enough love nationally for how good he has been this season, the position players in general have been one of the better groups in all of baseball in 2023, and Logan Webb and Alex Cobb have been doing strong work in the rotation.

However, this is also a roster that has some underachievers (Sean Manaea, Mitch Haniger even before the injury, and Brandon Crawford come to mind) and a somewhat iffy bullpen that has been carried a bit by how strong Camilo Doval has been. Again, the Giants have made it work especially the last couple of weeks, but this is far from a perfect roster.

The bigger problem right now is that with what the Dodgers and Diamondbacks are doing. The Giants are essentially having to play out of their minds against teams in the division that do seem to have more talent on their rosters on paper. There is also going to be a lot of competition out there in the wild card race with teams like the Marlins, Brewers, one of the aforementioned Dodgers/Diamondbacks, and Phillies being some of the teams that are likely to hang around and stay aggressive looking for wild card spots if the division ends up out of reach.

Which prospects do the Giants need to keep and which ones should they trade?

Charting the path forward in the short-term, as a result, becomes a bit tricky. On the one hand, the Giants are absolutely in a position to make a real playoff push and those opportunities are precious. However, keeping pace with the competition could force them to have to part with prospects that could allow them to stay competitive in the years to come.

With those hard choices in mind, here is a look that the Giants prospects the team should consider trading to help out the big league roster in 2023 and those that they need to hang on to if at all possible.

Trade: Marco Luciano - SS

Marco Luciano has been gracing the top of the Giants’ prospect rankings for seemingly forever and to be clear, he has some really exciting potential. His raw power is very well documented and his decent hit tool allows him to get to that power fairly frequently. His ceiling is All-Star level offensive production and that isn’t easy to part with.

There are a few problems here, though. One, while his hit tool is decent, more advanced pitchers have been able to exploit some holes in his swing in the minor leagues which has led to some uneven production. It is also a very open question as to whether or not Luciano will be able to play shortstop in the big leagues. Luciano is talented, but he may be worth more to the Giants as the centerpiece of a significant trade to upgrade the major league roster instead of waiting around and hoping he develops the way they want him to.

Keep: Kyle Harrison - LHP

Let's get this out of the way: no prospect should be completely off limits. There is nothing certain about almost any of them and while the better ones should be valued highly, there is always a trade where moving a guy makes sense. That said, the Giants’ best prospect, lefthander Kyle Harrison, is pretty close to untouchable right now.

It isn’t just the quality of his three pitch mix that includes a mid-90’s fastball, a slider that he can make dive out of the zone or land for a strike, and a changeup that is better than it is given credit for or his deceptive delivery. The primary reason to hang on to Harrison is that he helps solve one problem the Giants have and that is depth in their rotation. He is very nearly major league ready and it doesn’t make a ton of sense at all to move a guy that is expected to upgrade the big league roster sometime this summer.

Trade: Grant McCray - OF

McCray is a fun sort of prospect as his top end speed allows him to do a lot on a baseball field. He has been stealing bases at a high clip and can play any of the three outfield positions well and he has shown more pop than was initially thought to be in his bat. Again, he is a very good prospect with a lot to offer especially with MLB’s new rules that have opened up the running game a bit more.

The issue is that McCray has a decent bit of swing and miss in his game and his hit tool in general is a little questionable. As a result of that and the usual COVID delays that a lot of guys have had to deal with, his development has been pretty slow even for a prep guy as he is in just high-A after being drafted back in 2019. He could end up being a dynamic player with a ton of defensive value, but this is also the kind of guy that the Giants can afford to move to a team that has a longer timeline than San Francisco for a short-term upgrade.

Keep: Vaun Brown - OF

One reason that McCray may be more expendable is that they have a pretty similar player in Vaun Brown that has arguably more upside. Brown is another plus runner that can defend in the outfield and who has some swing and miss. However, he also has plus raw power going for him and is one of the more physically gifted prospects in the Giants’ farm system.

Between McCray and Brown, it is probably a good idea to keep one of them around as outfielders that are defensively versatile that can also contribute offensively are not easy to find. We will hang our hats on Brown who is more tooled up, has progressed more quickly through the minor leagues (he is already at Double-A after being drafted in 2021), and who has a better chance of hitting the ball hard consistently in the big leagues. This is pretty close, though.

Trade: Reggie Crawford - LHP

Teams love trying to stockpile pitching prospects when they are sellers at the trade deadline, so it seems like a good idea to have at least one available to get a key deal done. It is very tempting to try and hang on to Reggie Crawford, though, as he has a fastball that can touch triple digits and a devastating slider that has a ton of movement that also serves as an out-pitch.

The first issue is that Crawford already had very limited pitching experience when he was drafted and missed the 2022 season after having Tommy John surgery. The injury itself isn’t the biggest issue as tons of great pitching prospects have gone under the knife, but delaying his development as a pro has lengthened his expected development time significantly even though he was drafted as a college guy. His upside is tremendous, but feels like a long-term project that has some real reliever risk. Sending him to a team that has the time to let him develop and that loves his upside seems like a good use of him as an asset if the return is right.

Keep: Carson Whisenhunt - LHP

Keeping a second left-handed starting pitching prospect may seem to be a bit redundant and risky given how volatile pitching prospects can be, but Carson Whisenhunt is likely worth keeping around. He has a weird profile as he isn’t a flamethrower and his breaking ball needs work, but his changeup is so good that he has been slaying minor league hitters with regularity anyways and has been promoted twice this season already.

The fastball being a low 90’s type of pitch means that he is going to really command it to prevent big league hitters from teeing off on him, but again…the nice thing about Whisenhunt is that he has such a good changeup that it should keep hitters honest. Unlike Harrison, Whisenhunt probably needs time in the minor leagues this season to keep improving his breaking ball and refine his fastball usage, but a 2024 debut seems like it could be in the cards and having another lefty in the rotation that can get swings and misses is a worthy investment.

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