San Francisco Giants Add Will Smith to Their Bullpen

The San Francisco Giants were in need of both starters and relievers coming into deadline day. The NL West leading club just addressed their bullpen by acquiring left-hander Will Smith from the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Milwaukee Brewers were a team to watch coming into the day as they still had a couple of pieces to trade, most notably Jonathan Lucroy and Will Smith. While their catcher is still on the roster, the club has made a move to trade Smith to the San Francisco Giants.

The Giants had to give up a lot in order to improve their relief pitching. They have sent their 2015 first round pick, right-hander Phil Bickford, and a Triple-A catcher, Andrew Susac, to the Brewers in exchange for Smith.

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San Francisco was once the best team in baseball heading into the All-Star break, but things have changed since then. The Giants have lost seven of their past 11 contests and have watched the Cubs and Nationals each improve their bullpens with the additions of Aroldis Chapman and Mark Melancon, respectively. These moves put the pressure on the Giants to respond with a couple of additions of their own leading up to the trade deadline.

Bringing in Eduardo Nunez was a good get for the NL West leaders, but the club’s major weakness was in its pitching staff. After Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija has fallen back after a hot start. Jake Peavy and Matt Cain are now more big names than anything else. The Giants still have not addressed their rotation, but Will Smith will improve their relief corps.

Santiago Casilla has been good enough as a closer, even though San Fran was involved in the Chapman talks. Sergio Romo just returned from injury and the team has gotten solid production from the likes of Hunter Strickland, George Kontos and Derek Law in the bullpen, but their one lefty reliever, Javier Lopez‘s performance left a lot to be desired.

Will Smith will be able to step into the role of facing left-handed hitters late in the game. The only problem is that Smith has been better against righties than lefties in 2016. Coming into the day left-handed hitters held an average of .318  against Smith, while hitters on the other side were hitting a measly .143. Still, Smith represents a different look for the Giants bullpen that features a stable of right-handed pitching.

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Smith was one of the top relievers on the trading block heading into August 1 with all of the trades that have already happened regarding relief pitching. Rockies reliever Boone Logan was probably the only lefty available that represented a true upgrade, so getting a young reliever that is controlled through 2019 is a big addition. However, the Giants surrendered a lot of talent to get the deal done.

According to MLB Pipline, the Giants are trading away their number one prospect in Phil Bickford. While he isn’t an elite minor league pitcher, Bickford is rated as the 50th overall player in Baseball America’s midseason top 100 prospects update. The 21-year-old works in the mid 90s and has had success in High-A ball this season. He’s sporting an ERA under 3.00 at the two different levels he’s played in.

San Francisco also threw in catcher Andrew Susac, who became expendable with the emergence of Trevor Brown as the backup catcher behind Buster Posey. Nonetheless, Susac was previously ranked as a top 100 prospect last season and has been hitting well at Triple-A this year. He has the skill set to be at least a major league caliber backup in the near future.

The Giants got a solid and controllable relief pitcher in Will Smith, but giving up a player like Bickford was probably a little too rich for a reliever that only has a 3.68 ERA with his velocity on the decline as well. On the surface, Milwaukee seems to have gotten the better end of this trade, but the Giants were in a tough spot knowing they needed to answer what the Nationals and Cubs did if they wanted to keep pace in the National League.

Next: Red Sox swing deal for Abad

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