This week's mailbag gets into potential Giants trade targets, long shot front of the rotation trade candidates this summer, players who might retire after the season, and much more.
Todd asks:
Since the Giants have done so much better than expected, chances of them doing something significant before the trade deadline seem likely. Who do you expect the Giants to be pursuing, or at least who should they be pursuing?
The Giants sit at 15-9 with a 47% chance at the playoffs. I agree they'll be looking to upgrade at the deadline.
Offensively, left field and first base seem like potential areas to improve. Heliot Ramos, manning left field, hasn't hit much over his last 200 PA dating back to last year. The Giants have some options in Triple-A, but none that seem clearly better than the likely 2-WAR-ish Ramos. Looking through the various unlikely playoff teams' outfields, I could see Taylor Ward being a decent target. Still, I'm not convinced he's better than Ramos. We'll get to Luis Robert Jr. later in this mailbag.
Bryce Eldridge homered in his first at-bat of the year yesterday, and if he gets to Triple-A quickly and hits well, I could see a fast track to the Majors. The bottom line is that I don't see an obvious position player for the Giants to target - yet.
As I said last week, the Giants will need more starting pitching behind Logan Webb. Landen Roupp and Justin Verlander both pitched well against the Angels over the weekend. Robbie Ray is entrenched salary-wise. Jordan Hicks could wind up in the bullpen, though he would probably not prefer that.
Sandy Alcantara is the name on everyone's lips, and he's back throwing 98 and getting groundballs, though he hasn't actually pitched well through four starts. Sonny Gray could be interesting, though there's no suggestion he'd waive his no-trade clause. Which other pitchers might be available at the deadline?
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