Giants Stumbling Into Trade Deadline

The non-waiver MLB trade deadline is just 5 short days away, and the first big move of the summer has already taken place (Matt Holliday trade to Cardinals). Giants' fans are still on edge waiting to see what general manager Brian Sabean can pull off before Friday's 1 PM deadline, as the team continues it's downward spiral since the all-star break.

If Brian Sabean is going to make a move to help this team for the stretch drive he still could get something done after the trade deadline, but that would involve waivers and is a much more complicated process which doesn't always work out. Therefore, if the Giants are going to add another bat or two, or maybe another starting pitcher, chances are it will be done before July 31st. The thing is, there hasn't been much talk about the Giants over the last week or so. They've really struggled out of the gate after the break, and they're on their way to another series defeat as they trail Colorado 4-2 in the seventh inning as I type. And I think those struggles may be what's keeping Sabean from pulling the trigger. Their main spot for need coming out of the break was on offense, but with Randy Johnson's injury, and Ryan Sadowski pitching a lot more like a minor league call-up over his last few outings, the Giants pitching staff isn't in the best shape itself. Something tells me that Sabean isn't ruling out adding another starter and he may be trying he darnedest to pull some sort of multi-player deal in order to bring in both a hitter and another quality arm by Friday afternoon.

As I pointed out in the last post, the team that really seems to match-up well with the Giants, trade-wise, is the Washington Nationals. They have an right-handed hitting outfielder (Josh Willingham) and a couple of first base options in Adam Dunn and Nick Johnson, who could really help the Giants. However, if they're trying to add a pitcher into the mix, Washington likely isn't the place to look. They do have John Lannan, who's a young lefty and would fit perfectly in behind Cain, Lincecum and Johnson, but asking the Nats to get rid of him is like asking the Giants to get rid of Lincecum or Cain. That's how much he means to that rotation. One team that may have an arm available to the Giants though are the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds have both Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang who should be available. Neither has had particularly good years so far, but Harang is just 2 seasons removed from a 16-6 campaign, and Arroyo has been one of the games most steady right-handed arms over the last 6 years (keep in mind both are pitching in one of the most hitter friendly yards in the big leagues). Both of those guys would be major improvements over Ryan Sadowski, and neither would likely cost the Giants too much in return.

Notes: While the Giants have struggled since the break, one of their outfielders has got himself going again. Fred Lewis had been in a major funk, as he hit just .167 in June, but he had a couple of multi-hit games over the weekend in Colorado, which were his first multi-hit games since late May. I pointed out in this post about a week ago how I'd give Lewis another shot in the outfield again to see if he's gained anything while riding the pine, and it looks like has... Another young outfielder who recently got called up, John Bowker, has really struggled to get going since he's arrived in San Francisco. The powerful outfielder/first basemen has gone just 5 for 32 in his first 11 games back in the bigs. He better turn it around asap, or he'll find himself back in Fresno, building on those ridiculous numbers he was putting up there.