Remember when the San Francisco Giants routinely won the World Series every other year? The Giants won the World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014. That’s the good news. The bad news is San Francisco has not made the postseason since 2016 and are coming off 5th and 4th place finishes. As 2019 continues to take shape, it’s clear the Giants window is over.
The Giants enter Monday in last place and 8.5 games out of first in the NL West. The Giants are old and have a barren farm system. It’s time to start over and get a kick start on a rebuild that probably should have happened 3 years ago. I’m going to sit in my GM chair for a second. Here’s what needs to be done to fix the Giants for the future.
Trade Madison Bumgarner
Trading Madison Bumgarner needs to be the first order of business. The faster they trade him, the more they should theoretically receive in return. Bumgarner is a true difference maker in the postseason. We talk about pitchers who start a game and it’s over before they ever take the mound. Mad Bum is that guy who changes the entire landscape in one trade. I’m sure a ton of teams want in on Bumgarner who has a 0.25 ERA in 36 innings pitched during the World Series. Yes, he’s that good in the clutch.
The key for the Giants is getting the right package back. Sure, Bumgarner is a pure rental but he’s still just 29-years-young. That should command a high price tag. Let’s put together some potential trade packages I’d like in return if I was running the Giants.
The first place I’m going is the Braves. I want 3 of those young arms and two more throw in players. Mike Soraka and Max Fried are already in the rotation and pitching well so I won’t even ask about them. Instead I want Touki Toussiant, Sean Newcomb, and Luiz Gohara. Newcomb is in the bullpen but only because the Braves have so much pitching depth already. Touissaint is burried and AAA. Gohara hasn’t pitched yet this year but has some gas on him. Those names could change. Maybe Kyle Wright, Bryse Wilson or Ian Anderson could be had. Whatever the case, my first call goes to the Braves and I want their young arms. Now that I can build around.
The Braves have to have
If the Braves won’t budge on a deal, the backup plan should be Tampa Bay. That’s another loaded farm system. Wander Franco and Brent Honeywell are the top 2 prospects but they have about 10 or so that should be just fine in a trade package. Here’s one thing I know, when the Giants trade Bumgarner, they better get back 2 players who have All-Star futures. If not, it will go down as a fail.
Trade Will Smith
The other big trade chip the Giants have is Will Smith. He’s been a very reliable closer for San Fran. Smith has a 2.87 ERA and 10 saves on the season. I think he has Boston written all over him. The Red Sox need a closer to replace Craig Kimbrel and they don’t have a lefty out of the pen. I think this is someone the Red Sox will want. Smith is a rental so I’m not sure you can ask for the moon and stars but some prospects I really like out of the Sox system are Darwinzon Hernandez, Bobby Dalbec, and Jay Groome. Darwinzon had a really nice Arizona Fall league outing and has a serious whip out slider. Dalbec has some big time power and just hit 3 homers in a game with AA Portland. Dave Dombrowski has never been afraid to trade prospects.
Those two deals at least clears the valuable rentals off the board. I’m not sure the Giants can trade costly vets like Buster Posey, Evan Longoria, Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik, and Brandon Belt. If they can, they should. One last thing I did want to mention is that teams do not do this enough. In full tear downs EVERYONE should be available. That means Reyes Moronta needs to be available. I understand that trading a reliever with a 2.60 ERA with 4 more years of control is a tough pill to swallow. Trading him would be the right call. By the time the Giants get good again, Moronta will be either old or more useful in a trade now to continue to rebuild. This is a team that’s going to stink for at least 3 years. If the Giants do it right, that means everyone is available.
