SF Giants swing trade for Bay Area native outfielder right before deadline

The SF Giants made a trade for outfielder and DH Mark Canha at the trade deadline. The San Jose native was a long time member of the Oakland A's and figures to be a discounted version of Jorge Soler for the rest of the season.

SF Giants swing trade for Bay Area native outfielder right before deadline

The Giants traded minor league pitcher Eric Silva to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Canha. This season, Canha is hitting .231/.337/.350 with 7 home runs and 38 RBI in 377 plate appearances. He is on the final year of his contract so he is in essence a rental.

This move very clearly fills the hole created by the Jorge Soler trade. Canha does not have as much raw power as Soler, but he can hit for power and can also play first base and the corner outfield spots, something that Soler did not do at all. Plus, Canha does not have an overly expensive contract that the Giants will be stuck with for the next two years like they would have with Soler.

Canha is a guy who just seemed destined to become a Giant at some point. This is not only because of the fact that he was born in San Jose and played his college ball at UC Berkeley, but given the fact that he was a member of the Oakland A's from 2015-2021 when Bob Melvin was manager of the team that only makes this move seem more obvious.

We will see how Canha will fit into the offense. He will probably see a lot of playing time against left-handed pitching. After the Austin Slater trade and the struggles of Wilmer Flores and Luis Matos, the Giants felt they needed an extra right-handed bat that can play first base and the outfield to plug in the lineup against lefties.

This move is on par with the blockbuster A.J. Pollock trade from last year. It is a classic Farhan Zaidi move. If the Giants continue to be mediocre the rest of the season and miss out on the postseason and Zaidi loses his job, he sure did stick to his guns and we got to give him that I suppose.