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San Francisco Giants Rumors: Five potential Bay-bound trade options

By Paul Ashley

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 26: Sonny Gray #55 of the New York Yankees celebrates the final out of the third inning after Mike Moustakas #8 of the Kansas City Royals struck out with the bases loaded at Yankee Stadium on July 26, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 26: Sonny Gray #55 of the New York Yankees celebrates the final out of the third inning after Mike Moustakas #8 of the Kansas City Royals struck out with the bases loaded at Yankee Stadium on July 26, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Merrifield is a backup plan, but he fits the plate-discipline profile the Phillies like. John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/TNS via Getty Images. /

During the 2018 season, the Giants finished 25th in the MLB with a 0.1 WAR from the second base position.  Although the team could hope for a bounce back year from their current option, there are available options in the trade market.

Last season Joe Panik played 101 games at second base and 1 game at first base.  During these games, he put together a .254 batting average (AVG), a .307 on-base percentage (OBP), and a .332 slugging percentage (SLG).  Out of players with at least 250 ABs for the Giants in 2018, Panik had the lowest on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) at .639.

After three straight seasons from 2015-2017 in which Panik put together 8+ home runs and 21+ doubles, he was only able to compile 4 home runs and 14 doubles in 2018.  Despite missing most of July with a left groin strain, this was not an adequate amount of production from second base.

Even though the Kansas City Royals kept Whit Merrifield through the 2018 trade deadline and have recently indicated an unwillingness to trade him, general manager Dayton Moore is still likely to listen to any offers for the OPS machine as they look to retool instead of rebuild.

Last season, Merrifield played 158 games for the Royals in which he put together a .304 AVG, a .367 OBP, and a .438 SLG.  To help obtain these numbers, he had an impressive 192 hits with 58 of those hits turning into extra bases.  Merrifield also compiled 88 runs, 60 runs batted in, and 45 stolen bases in 55 attempts.

Javier Baez was the only primary second baseman to finish the 2018 season with a higher WAR than Merrifield.  Baez compiled a 5.3 WAR while Merrifield compiled a 5.2 WAR.  This number shows how valuable Merrifield could be for the Giants as the Chicago Cubs relied heavily on the production of Baez last season.

Even though Merrifield is 29-years-old, he is under team control through 2023, which would help the Giants out payroll-wise while they wait for a few high contracts to come to an end.  The Royals will definitely be looking for a large return for Merrifield, however, if the Giants are able to put together the right offer, he could very well end up in San Francisco before next season.

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