The San Francisco Giants need pitching depth and the Pittsburgh Pirates have pieces to offer.
The San Francisco Giants just missed out on making the playoffs in last season’s expanded field and could very well find themselves back in the playoff hunt in 2021 with the return of Buster Posey set to provide a boost to the offense.
But the Giants have some holes when it comes to their starting rotation and bullpen. Kevin Gausman accepted his qualifying offer, giving the Giants a one-two punch of Gausman and Johnny Cueto at the top of the rotation, followed by a bunch of question marks.
They wanted to bring back Drew Smyly, but he recently signed a one-year/$11 million deal with Atlanta. As for possible free agent targets, the pickings are a bit slim and while they could very well bring in a Trevor Bauer or Masahiro Tanaka, it’s unlikely either finds their way to San Francisco.
The Giants could, however, fill out the backend of their rotation by making a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Brault, a California native, would provide San Francisco with a cheap rotation option while they spend a large chunk of their offseason cash on another starting pitcher, multiple bullpen pieces, and maybe a surprise bat to inject a bit more youth, power, and speed in their lineup.