San Francisco Giants: Three Possible Trade Candidates
By Paul Ashley
The San Francisco Giants are currently 4.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot and 5.5 games out of first place in the National League West. The Giants made some significant additions in the offseason, but expect them to make more additions this trade season.
According to Mark Feinsand on Twitter, the San Francisco Giants do not have plans to be sellers and they will have their eye on controllable players.
Source says @SFGiants expect to be "strategic buyers" before July 31 Deadline. Looking for controllable players, not rentals. Team has no plan to become a seller.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 24, 2018
The Giants do not shy away from making moves. Over the offseason, they acquired Evan Longoria from the Tampa Bay Rays and Andrew McCutchen from the Pittsburgh Pirates. They also signed Tony Watson, Nick Hundley, and Austin Jackson.
According to Henrey Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, Giants General Manager Bobby Evans is currently concerned with the team exceeding the $197 million luxury-tax threshold. Due to this, the San Francisco Giants may need to move other salaries before acquiring any other players.
Despite signing Jackson in the offseason, the Giants moved him to the Texas Rangers in a salary dump. The trade freed up around $2 million for San Francisco.
According to the Salaries and Contracts page on baseball-reference, the Giants are currently at $196.4 million in team salary. Hunter Pence is currently making $18.5 million on the last year of his contract, so he could be a trade option. Sam Dyson is currently making $4.42 million and is eligible for arbitration two more times, so he could also be a trade option.
However, as the Giants value the leadership from Pence, they may not be interested in moving him. It is not easy to move larger contracts. Taking all of this into account, the following players would fit more easily into the Giants budget and should be targeted at the trade deadline.