3 Players the Giants Need to Explore Trading in the Offseason
By Sean Facey
2019 was yet another year of underachievement for the San Francisco Giants. Their aging players on excessively large deals once again failed to meet expectations, and with manager Bruce Bochy now retired, it's time for them to move on from the players of the past and into the future, full stop. To start, they absolutely have to consider a variety of ways to ship out these three players.
3. Brandon Belt
Belt is due $16,000,000 in 2020 and has another year at the same rate in 2021 left on his deal. As a rebuilding team, the Giants simply have no need to keep the 32-year-old first baseman around. They'd be better off offloading his contract and trying to see what type of prospects they could get in return for him, a high-OBP first baseman who provides a patient at-bat in any place in the order.
2. Brandon Crawford
Like Belt, Crawford is still on an expensive deal that he's simply not worth. Though the 33-year-old has a full no-trade clause, the Giants would be best off exploring the market for him and at least trying to get something in return. He posted a sub-.700 OPS with league average defense last year. Unfortunately Crawford has no place on a team that's desperately trying to get younger, despite potentially being able to lure his brother-in-law Gerrit Cole to the roster.
1. Evan Longoria
Longoria, the biggest albatross left on this bloated roster, perked up last season at age 33 to provide a bit of a bounce back on the back end of his deal. Though .254 with 20 home runs is a far cry from his Tampa Bay peak, there will likely be a team out there willing to absorb the final three years of Longoria's deal. It's time to deal big names, not ancillary pieces. This rebuild is still stuck in phase one, and San Francisco can't fully focus their energy until they rid themselves of blockages.