Ranking the top 3 SF Giants needs for the trade deadline

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The SF Giants have a 54-42 overall record on the year while sitting in first place in the Wild Card standings. They expect to be buyers at the trade deadline, so what are the priorities that they need to address?

Ranking the top 3 SF Giants needs for the trade deadline

It feels like the Giants have an identity in terms of how they win games. The lineup is good enough to scratch four or five runs across home plate and the bullpen has been one of the best in baseball over the past couple of months.

The key is finding a way to score early so that the bullpen has a chance to close it out. On top of this, the defense has shown considerable improvement compared to last year when they were one of the worst in baseball. This year, the team's defense has been worth -2 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and +7 Outs Above Average (OAA).

Defensive metrics have their flaws, so they do send some mixed signals. However, based on the eye test, the Giants have not lost many games because of their defense this year. The same could not be said at this point last year.

So, the roster has quality overall components, but which areas do they need to bolster?

1. The starting rotation

Perhaps, the biggest surprise of the first half of the season was the performance of the starting rotation. Logan Webb and Alex Cobb were fantastic as they have been some of the better starters in the National League with a 3.11 ERA and a 2.82 ERA, respectively.

However, the rotation outside of these two has struggled to find any type of consistency. The Giants have used Sean Manaea, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, and Ross Stripling out of the rotation. It would be nice to see them give an opportunity to Tristan Beck or Keaton Winn, but both are back in Triple-A at the moment.

In fairness, Wood had a solid start recently against the Colorado Rockies where he tallied five scoreless innings. And, Stripling had a quality outing on Wednesday as he yielded three earned runs across six innings in a 3-2 loss against the Cincinnati Reds.

However, none of the four veteran options have put together anything that resembles consistency. The Giants hope that someone like Stripling can step up and help them out down the stretch.

The rotation is a clear need despite the fact that this unit has posted a 3.97 ERA in 2023. The trade market has not fully formed yet, but Jordan Montgomery or Jack Flaherty of the St. Louis Cardinals or Lucas Giolito of the Chicago White Sox make some sense. All three pitchers are rentals, so the cost will be relatively low given that any of the three would only make 10 - 12 for the remainder of the year. Of course, the Giants could pursue an outside-the-box upgrade as well.

Ranking the top 3 SF Giants needs for the trade deadline

2. Middle infielder

While rotation help is clearly the biggest need, middle infield help is not far behind. With Thairo Estrada (hand fracture) and Brandon Crawford (knee inflammation) both on the injured list, the focus has shifted to less experienced options such as Casey Schmitt and Brett Wisely.

Schmitt got off to a strong start, but he has just a .126 batting average in 97 plate appearances since the start of June. Teams have taken advantage of his aggressive approach and the team has been working with him on becoming more selective. The process has been slow.

On the other hand, Wisely has struggled to the tune of a .548 OPS in 109 plate appearances this season. That said, he has played well at second base. If he is able to muster any type of offensive production, it is not hard envisioning him becoming a solid role player.

The Schmitt-Wisely combination is extremely light on experience, but they can play capably up the middle. Though, the Giants could use some more offensive production from the middle infield.

The easy part is identifying the issue, so my job is done! I will leave the rest of the work up to the front office.

There are not many quality middle infield options, so I am not sure there is an obvious upgrade on the trade market. There are some imperfect fits such as Matt Duffy (Kansas City Royals), Paul Dejong (St. Louis Cardinals) or Zack McKinstry (Detroit Tigers).

Of course, Tim Anderson should be available from the Chicago White Sox, but he is having a miserable 2023 campaign. The middle infield is an obvious area to upgrade, but there are not many obvious options on the market.

Ranking the top 3 SF Giants needs for the trade deadline

3. The bullpen

The bullpen is not an area that really needs to be upgraded. I was debating between this and backup catcher. I feel like the Giants are comfortable with Joey Bart's defense behind the plate, so they may not even need to address that area.

That said, I would not be surprised if they targeted a veteran catcher at some point whether that is on the trade market or the free-agent market.

That leaves the bullpen. The bullpen has been quite good as it has posted a 3.80 ERA, which is the 10th-best mark in baseball. Since May 1, they have been the best in baseball with a 2.97 ERA. The Cleveland Guardians have the second-best mark during that stretch with a 3.35 ERA.

If the Giants are not able to address the rotation, then they should look to upgrade the bullpen to bridge the gap between a flawed rotation and a quality bullpen. Having as many effective relievers as possible helps to bridge that gap.

The Giants had one of the best bullpens in 2021 and still worked out a trade for Tony Watson from the Los Angeles Angels. It is not necessarily a need, but the type of move that competitive teams make at the trade deadline.

Upgrading the bullpen at the deadline is generally a low-cost move. There are typically plenty of options available. For example, Jordan Hicks and Chris Stratton of the St. Louis Cardinals are both free agents at the end of the year, meaning that they are rentals. The cost to acquire either one would be low. There are plenty of examples of this.

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