San Francisco Giants: Three players likely to go at the MLB trade deadline
By Nick Stevens
If healthy, the San Francisco Giants have some veteran pitching options that may be attractive.
In addition to Kevin Gausman, the San Francisco Giants brought in veteran pitchers Drew Smyly and Trevor Cahill to not only fill out their starting rotation, but hope they perform well enough in the first half of the season to garner some trade interest by the deadline.
Unfortunately, injuries have limited both pitchers this season so we’re going to combine them into one here and think that at least one of them is healthy enough to be delt.
Smyly, a veteran arm with playoff experience, is still recovering from a finger sprain suffered earlier this season, but has recently started to throw again and could be on his way back to a mound shortly.
Before the injury, Smyly struck out 11 hitters across 8.1 innings, giving up three earned runs on seven hits. The 31-year-old looked as if he was going to rebound well from his rough 2019 campaign, producing more groundballs that usual and having yet to allow a home run.
If Smyly can come back soon and put together one or two good outings to show he’s healthy, there could be interest from other teams in adding him. He’s owed just $4 million this season.
The same can be said for Trevor Cahill. Cahill was signed to a minor league deal last offseason and is finally on the mound after missing the first few weeks of the 2020 season with a fingernail issue.
Cahill walked four hitters in his first start last week against the Houston Astros (lasted just 1.2 innings), but looked much better in his second start. He gave up one run on four hits in four innings, striking out four and walking one against the Los Angeles Angels.
A number of bullpens across baseball have been decimated due to injuries and poor performances and Cahill has experience working successfully out of the pen. With his extremely cheap cost and veteran track record, the Giants may be able to acquire at least a lottery ticket prospect in return.