SF Giants Rumors: Bryce Eldridge could heavily influence team’s trade deadline

The one development this season for the SF Giants that should give fans some hope for the future is the emergence of Bryce Eldridge. He's looked like the guy fans hoped he would be so far and already has a signature moment in his young career with a walk-off grand slam at Oracle Park.

He looks to be the future of the franchise and his emergence could have some very big ramifications for the Giants this next month ahead of the August 3 trade deadline. 

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Giants feel that Eldridge should not be spending as much time as designated hitter this early in his career: “The San Francisco Giants, who would love to trade two of their infielders at the trade deadline, need to clear space for power-hitter Bryce Eldridge. They realize it is stunting his growth as an infielder to keep using him as a DH at the age of 21," Nightengale writes in a recent column.

If that’s true, it could really impact how San Francisco approaches the deadline. To make Eldridge the everyday first baseman one of two things has to happen: either the Giants need to tell Rafael Devers he’s going to be the everyday DH or they trade Devers.

The Boston Red Sox can tell you how doing one of those things pretty naturally leads to the other so the Giants may just decide to try to move off Devers to avoid another hissy fit if he doesn’t like not being able to play in the field anymore. He’s said in the past that he likes playing in the field and he has shown improvement at first base, but going forward it would make sense for Eldridge to get the bulk of innings at first.

He is 6-foot-7 which certainly helps out infielders if they make a bit of a high throw and he’s also shown he can pick it. Casey Schmitt made an unreal double play on Friday night but it would not have been a double play if Eldridge didn’t scoop his throw out of the dirt.

Who would be traded to make room for Eldridge?

What about Nightengale’s assertion that the team would love to trade two infielders? That’s not a huge shock given the Giants have said they’re open to getting rid of Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, and Devers. Luis Arraez is a trade chip since he’s a free agent after the year but he is an All-Star this season and has been the team’s most consistent player so there would be a lot of fans who would hate to see him go. Heck, Mike Krukow even said he’d cry if Arraez gets traded.

Perhaps trading Devers and Chapman would make the most sense. Schmitt would become the new everyday third baseman and Eldridge would be the new everyday first baseman. Of course, that would leave a hole at DH but maybe Heliot Ramos could slide into that role given his defensive limitations in the outfield. It's a lot easier said than done given how few teams would want to take on those big contracts.

The Giants have a lot of choices to make in the next month but if they decide Eldridge’s development should be the main priority then that could govern how they approach the deadline.

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