The San Francisco Giants made a trade with the Texas Rangers that sent away three players on Sunday, but it’s what the deal indicates that’s even more important than who was involved.
The San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers made a deal on Sunday that shows significant indication to the Giants’ plans for the MLB Trade Deadline at the end of the month. The players do matter to some degree, but the end result will be something much, much more important for the San Francisco Giants.
The deal: San Francisco Giants trade OF Austin Jackson, RP Cory Gearrin, and minor league RHP Jason Bahr to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later or cash
Coming into the day on Sunday, the San Francisco Giants were just barely under the $197M competitive balance tax threshold. In order to clear some salary room to make salary space for any potential trade acquisitions, the Giants sent away Jackson, Gearrin, and a minor league arm for what will likely be little in return from the Rangers.
The Rangers get an upside arm in Bahr out of taking on the salary of Jackson and Gearrin, neither of whom will offer a lot of help to the Rangers and both of whom could still be traded again before the end of the month.
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Bahr was taken in the 5th round of last June’s draft, and he’s been solid across two levels this season, pitching to a 2.55 ERA in 84 2/3 innings across low-A and high-A. He’s not a guy with frontline projection, but he has good control and mixes pitches well, which should give him a high floor as a back-end starter in a rotation.
With this deal, the Giants should have in the range of $5M of salary room for deadline deals. They could still move other players in similar deals like Derek Holland to create a bit more room, but it’s more likely that they pair a veteran salary along with some international money (though the Giants likely have only around $500K left).
Regardless of how they do it, the Giants created some space for a trade acquisition. However, this should also put some perspective on the players the Giants can be pursuing. Unless they can get the team they are trading with to absorb significant salary, they won’t be in the market for guys like Adam Jones.
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While this won’t be a major headline deal, this trade will have a significant impact on the future trade mobility of the San Francisco Giants. It will be interesting to see how they use it.