5 Trade Candidates The SF Giants Should Pursue with the Universal DH in mind

5 Trade Candidates The SF Giants Should Pursue with the Universal DH

Garrett Cooper, Miami Marlins

Now, THIS is the perfect Farhan guy. He is 31 and he's played in just 239 games for the Marlins since 2018. When he does play he has played well. In 146 plate appearances in 2021, he hit .333 against the fastball.

He is due a salary of $2.9M for the upcoming season, and likely does not factor into the Marlins long term plans. The right-handed hitting Cooper also spent the last three months of the season recovering from elbow surgery in his non-throwing arm. With both of those things in mind getting Cooper would not cost much, likely nothing higher than a Double-A prospect, and would be another good experiment, especially if the Giants do not want to fully commit to a designated hitter. If he plays well, great. He isn't due for free agency until 2024 at the earliest, and his arbitration numbers likely won't even be too demanding. If he doesn't play that well in bulk playing time, then the Giants could either cut bait or just send him down to the minors.

The Giants already have Darin Ruf, so an acquisition of Cooper might be redundant, or Cooper, who does in fact play both the outfield and first base, could just take over the Ruf role. Of course, for this exercise, we are talking about Cooper for the DH role, which would fit him well with his injury recovery, anyway. A low-risk, high-reward player who fits the classic "nobody believes in me, not even my own team" which Farhan takes a liking to.

I'm not sure the Giants are craving to acquire anyone on this list, but if I had to guess, I would say Luke Voit would be the most likely acquisition of the five.

Another name I thought of while composing this was Mike Moustakas, so let me give you a quick rundown: he's 33, is owed $16M and $18M the next two years respectively with a $20M team option in 2024, but had one of if not the worst season of his career with the Reds in 2021. He played in just 62 games, had a near career-low in home runs, and on-base percentage, and had career-lows in RBIs, batting average, and OPS+. (This worked out to a season WAR of -1.0).

With those stats not looking the best, and not knowing what to expect from Moustakas going forward, I highly doubt this is a trade the Giants would even entertain, which is why he did not make the list. At the same time knowing how unpredictable sports as a whole are would I be surprised if Mike Moustakas is the starting second basemen or DH for the Giants in 2022? Not at all.

Once the lockout ends, there will likely be very little time to make major roster moves before Spring Training, but if there were any the Giants would need to make, finding a full-time designated hitter would be one of them.