In their second significant deadline deal today, the Giants have acquired southpaw Matt Moore from the Rays. Tampa Bay has long been said to be pursuing trades involving its controllable starters, and this one comes in right at the wire.
[Related: Updated San Francisco Giants and Tampa Bay Rays Depth Charts]
Currently injured third baseman Matt Duffy headlines the package going to Tampa Bay. Infield prospect Lucius Fox is also included, with righty Michael Santos is heading to the Rays to round things out. There are some complicating factors in this pact that seem likely to cause a delay in an announcement, per reports. Duffy’s DL placement and Fox’s relatively recent international bonus appear to be two possible causes. Sherman tweets that Tampa Bay will cover a portion of that sum, which may require league approval.
The 27-year-old Moore brings plenty of talent, but also a good deal of risk, with him to San Francisco. Entering the 2014 season, Moore was considered one of the best young pitchers in baseball, but he popped his UCL after just two starts.
Since returning from Tommy John surgery in the middle of 2015, Moore has pitched to a 4.52 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 over 193 innings. Those numbers are trending up this year, generally, and Moore has regained much of the fastball velocity that he showed earlier in his career, so clearly the Giants’ scouts saw plenty to hang their hats on. And Moore has run up seven consecutive quality starts, allowing just nine runners to cross the plate in 40 2/3 frames.
That being said, it’s not all rosy for the lefty. Even in his recent string of nice starts, he has managed only 25 strikeouts against 14 walks. And he currently owns a 4.50 FIP, 4.67 xFIP, and 4.41 SIERA on the year, with Moore benefiting a bit from a .280 BABIP against. Still, he should provide a nice boost to a rotation that has two questionable pieces at the back end in veterans Jake Peavy and Matt Cain, and there’s upside aplenty in this contract.
Indeed, the early-career extension that Tampa Bay signed with Moore has proven to be an asset, even if it’s not quite as valuable as it once seemed destined to be. He’s only owed the balance of a $5MM salary this year, and is under control for three more years through club options. San Francisco can keep him through 2019 at a grand total of only $26MM, a pittance in the current market.
For the Giants, Moore is the second significant left-handed pitcher acquired today, as the club also landed reliever Will Smith. The pair came at a steep cost. In this particular deal San Francisco was forced to give up a player in Duffy who entered the year as the club’s regular third baseman.
Duffy certainly hasn’t matched his productivity from a year ago, when he ran up a surprising .295/.334/.428 batting line with a dozen home runs and a dozen stolen bases in his rookie campaign. Thus far in 2016, he has not only battled through injuries, but owns a much less useful .253/.313/.358 slash.
Tampa Bay obviously sees something in Duffy, though, as reports have suggested the team held out for his inclusion before striking the deal. Critically, he delivers a top-quality glove at third. Despite his struggles at the plate, Baseball-Reference credits him with 1.6 WAR on the year due almost entirely to the leather. Plus, he won’t qualify for arbitration until after next season, so there’s plenty of cheap control remaining.
The other two pieces of this deal are of the more speculative prospect variety. Fox signed on with San Francisco for a $6MM bonus as an international free agent last summer, he’s considered a quality prospect despite his struggles this year in A ball, and only just turned 19. Meanwhile, the 21-year-old Santos has a big frame and big arm, and has featured on organizational top prospect lists with the Giants. Pitching this year in the Sally League, he has a 2.91 ERA over 58 2/3 innings (ten starts) with 6.8 K/9 and a sparkling 0.8 BB/9.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported that Moore was going to the Giants (Twitter links). Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter), ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Twitter link), and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) reported the package returning to Tampa Bay.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Well there goes Arroyo…
I’d rather it was Duffy than Arroyo honestly. But you’re probably right.
I agree.
Ok nevermind its Shaw. Still, Bickford and Shaw gone? They need to replenish the farm.
How huge is the Eduardo Nunez trade now?
Looks like this was the plan all along
Duffy and Fox for Moore? You’ve got to be kidding me.
Terrible, terrible deal for the Giants, lost future SS/ OF and Duffy who was their 3B and fan favorite. This deal is no good in the long term or short term
I don’t kow about that – the giants have been looking at an infield log jam with arroyo beating on the door and they are going to have at least 1 rotation spot to fill in the desert of pitching offseason that will prolly end up giving a 20m/yr contract to de la rosa. duffy has had some regression this year and nunez is an AS slotted right in.in the short term.
Know Nunez is full time 3B.
Agree. Whoever brokered this deal on the Giants side is a Jerk.
Wonder who the Rays are getting back
Has to be Arroyo right?
didn’t see this coming
Arroyo and a struggling minor league pitcher with high upside is my guess.
Big 3… Engaged
There goes Beede and Shaw!
Nooooooo. Really like Moore, he was finally getting back on track. I think this is selling low on him unless the return is overwhelming. He would have more value in the offseason.
But according to MLBTR commenters.. Giants don’t have the prospects.
Rays got shafted.
Matt Duffy
Wrong Shaw linked FYI mods
Noticed that too! I was thinking “wow this guy is terrible!”
Watch Peavy get designated for assignment now.
Couldn’t they just place him on waivers and try to get something for him instead of just DFA? He’s still somewhat serviceable… I think.
I think they would move Peavy to the pen before they DFA him.
If Matt Moore gets 100% healthy this could be an absolute steal.
No body get 100% healthy no more
The only reason Giants get Matt Moore is he is south paw
He is average at best
Remember Pete Falcone and Bob Knepper Atlaa Hammaker and Kirk Ruete?
Will those are candlestick Giants
Barry Zito is better then Matt Moore
Duffy, Fox, and Shaw? Not bad for Tampa.
I bet Duffy is livid..probably cut up everyone’s jerseys
He should be livid. This is an insane move. Stupid one too. Too bad this guy has to be in the crossfire. I feel for Duffy.
Duffy Fox and santos
I really don’t see why all the attention for Matt Moore ,I don’t think he is that special
Baseball America did when they named him the #1 prospect in the sport just 4 years ago. Baseball Prospectus disagreed, they only thought he was the #2 prospect in all of baseball. But I guess we could go by your assessment instead.
Nicely said
That was before Tj surgery and other injuries. He is currently a 7-7 pitcher with a 4.08 e.r.a. Duffy is a stud 3b. Hard to replace
Since your judging Moore “currently”, let’s be fair. “Currently” Duffy is an all glove, no bat 3B who is injured. I bet the trade seems fairer now.
Duffy is in a sophomore slump, it happens to the best of players. He was a .300 hitter last year AND he hit third in the lineup. He’s cheap and can play short, third and second. He works his butt off and he’s going to come good before this season is even done with.
I would much rather keep an injured Duffy and get rid of GIllespie. SF is too left handed anyway.
I don’t mind who we got but Duffy is a classy player and I hate to see him go. I kinda hope he stinks for his new team, get’s released and the Giants pick him up again where he shall return to form and we’ll all bow to his greatness! And his Fat Cat.
Was that the secret plan with Pablo Sandoval too?
You are right because he is a left handed
Giants were trying to get Chris Archie
Asking price are too high and he is a righty
Nice, we picked up a Will and Matt. I think Duffy was getting more expendable as the season went on, and our prospects with cool names don’t usually pan out. Still got something left in the cupboard with Beede and Arroyo.
I mean, Madison bumgarner was a cool enough name, but did he ever fully live up to potential?
Three things Mad Bum need to do
20 game winner
Cy young
No hitter then hall of fame
Pretty good haul for a middle of the rotation guy.
Good contract though.
My immediate takeaway:
There’s someone named Lucius Fox and it’s not the Lucius Fox from Batman?
The biggest deadline disappointment in years
Yup lol
Sounds like its Duffy
Matt Duffy…
how long is moore under contract for?… I see 3 years can be extended – that is pretty huge considering the loss pf peavy next year, no need to look for a replacement starter
Looks like the Giants had a plan all along. If this is true, it’s the only one of the trades they made that I like. Also shows you they value Arroyo and Beede above all. The Giants needed a fourth starter for the playoffs and a long-term rotation piece for the future
Pagan comes off the books next year. Cain the year after. They will need money probably to replace Cueto in 2018.
2017 Rotation
Bumgarner
Cueto
Shark
Moore
Cain with Beede being the heir apparent
Lineup
CF: Span
2B Panik
1B Belt
C Posey
RF Pence
SS Crawford
3B Nunez with Arroyo the heir apparent
LF Williamson/Parker
Why would the Giants keep running Cain out there? He’s quite clearly done.
As of sept. My line up will be
Nunez
Panic
Parker
Williamson
Pence
Posey
Belt
Crawford
Pitcher
Hell. We need bats to score
Your old line up can’t score
Forget defense
Terrible could even score against average pitcher what’s wrong
What position does Duffy play on Rays SS?
No way, Brad Miller is far better defensively and somewhat better offensively.
Since when is Brad Miller better defensively or Offensively than Duffy?
Have you ever seen Miller play? I’ll give the guy credit, he has hit pretty well but is a terrible defender.
Short stop
Or back up third base
I think he can play second too
Yes short stop he was a short stop in college and minor
Giants had Crawford
Duffy can play second too
Where is Duffy going to play, he has been almost exclusively at 3B in the Majors? Guessing he goes to 1B or mixes in all over.
In the minors he played more 2B/SS and just moved to 3B out of necessity on the ML roster, I believe.
Except for 7 games, every minor league game Matt Duffy played was at SS.
Yep, he’s a SS, always has been and learned the 3B position last year, hit third in the lineup and hit .300…. also is a TOTAL clutch hitter. I think from memory SF even tried him in the OF for a game or two.
Duffy is a totally underrated player outside of SF.
We get it, Deke – you want to marry Matt Duffy. Jeez, enough.
What do the Rays do with Duffy? I know he played some 2B early on, but he’s been strictly 3B as of late. Does he DH with Longo at 3B?
Duffy is too good a fielder to DH.
2B is ideal. Good glove at 3B but lacks the arm to make some of the quicker/longer throws.
If Duffy is slick with a glove then put him at 3B and move Longo over to 1B where the Rays have long needed an upgrade.
He came up as a SS but obviously wasn’t going to displace Crawford in SF. I’m assuming TB will use him at short and move Miller to the bench.
Shaw not included in deal, now?
Um that shaw sucks lol
To me we got more for will smith then the Rays got for Matt Moore lol
Considering Will Smith is better
Lefty relievers are all the rage. Teams pay a premium to be fashionable.
How huge is the Eduardo Nunez deal now? Seems like one of those marquee Giants moves that will just somehow work out.
On the other hand, great job by the Rays as well. They had a high price and weren’t going to budge until someone met it. And, at least in my opinion, San Francisco did.
I give the Giants props. Yeah, they gave up a lot from their farm… but their farm was not rated that high to begin with. They ended up keeping Arroyo, their top prospect, as well as Beede and Shaw. And the players they got in return are signed for multiple years.
As a Giants fan, I feel I’m one of the few not freaking out about the price the Giants paid.
They got a solid LH reliever signed through 2019. A solid LH starter whose contract is controllable. And Nunez can play everywhere and has another year.
Better than giving up top prospects for rentals.
Matt Moore costing this little makes me hate the Cubs’ reliever deals so much more. Moore would be pretty interesting to see coming out of the Cubs bullpen instead Mike f’in Montgomery. Then next year they can decline Hammel’s option and promote Moore to the rotation.
The Rays’ deals lately have been super confusing.
They took Souza and Ott instead of Turner and Ross
They traded a decent pitcher (at the time) in Karns for Brad Miller
Now they give up Moore for nothing special at all.
They seem to like their ML ready players. Which is dumb.
Montgomery has shown absolutely nothing I agree…but I’m sure the Rays started with schwarber then went to Baez…just can’t happen
Beside Moore being a starter, Montgomery is solid, settle down
Lusious fox ? Why would the rays want Morgan Freeman?
Who wouldn’t want Morgan freeman?
You said Sherman instead of Schulman in regards to Hank’s tweet about TB potentially covering some of Fox’s signing
We will miss you Duffy!!! Lots of heart and a top notch glove. Better get an a/c for your cat
I would not have given up Duffy because you don’t trade proven bats. Giving up shaw, fox and anyone else besides arroyo and beede I would be completely fine with. But no matter how it’s for u don’t trade proven bats. Look at what happened to the A’s when they traded cespedes, I know cespedes is a much better player than Duffy but it works as an example, the A’s offense went down the toilet once they lost him.
Cespedes was the A’s offense. The SF offense did not center around Duffy. Plus, you still have Nunez, who’s doing great, to play 3B.
Was Matt Duffy a truly proven bat? He had high BABIP last year and now he is struggling. I liked Duffy, he had a great glove and could have been a great staple at 2B or 3B, but I can see why the Giants pulled the trigger for a pitcher with high upside, especially given the market.
I have a theory that the A’s tanked after Cespedes left because the entire team was a just that, a TEAM. Then they trade their marque name and the entire team realized “wait, this is a business” and it affected the team chemistry. While this is my theory I have heard commentators surface this theory too.
Hard to argue with that. It will certainly be interesting to see if the team chemistry is affected by this. Feel like Bruce Bochy can get it resolved amongst the team players. He’s like the Bill Belichick of baseball. Patriots way, “it is what it is.”
Now that Shaw isn’t part of the deal, I like it a lot more for the Giants. Moore can still be a top line starter and is very cheap for the next three seasons. Fox is a long way away and while Duffy is a fun guy to watch, he doesn’t have a great pedigree and Arroyo will be ready soon.
Good lord, will the Giants have the best potential postseason rotation with Moore added to the list?
no, i think the cubs, nats, mets, and dodgers (depending on kershaw) have some problems with that statement.
The Giants 1/2 combo is better than all of those teams.
So then Moore means absolutely nothing contrary to the original posters suggestion.
From the Nats perspective ill take my chances with Strasburg and Scherzer against Cueto (who they just beat) and Bumgarner. Splitting those matchups and then having a clear advantage for number three starters seems pretty nice.
The Giants 3/4 can compete with any of those teams as well. You have to ask how Moore will be in the easier to pitch NL. All of these teams are pretty damn even.
The NL is NOT easier to pitch in than the AL. That is a complete myth. At the very least the difference is not statistically significant.
Average AL team OBP – .322
Average NL team OBP – .320
Actually 5 of the top 7 teams in OBP reside in the NL. The biggest difference is the three worst teams are also in the NL.
So very selective, using a single stat to prove your point. And you are arguing against yourself even with that stat.
Giants gave up too much for Moore and over paid on Will Smith. Duffy was runner up to ROY last year, Fox is only 18 with topside and Santos is only 21 and developing well. Tampa Bay got the better deal.
Will smith has a bum knee, just like Affeldt, and wears a brace! Number 1 prospect Bickford and Susac for him? Again, big overpay. Susac will be a top catcher in 3 years.
Look back at both these trades in 3 years and see Giants got the short end of both!
I agree on Smith, but something tells me the Giants aren’t sold on Bickford.
The Moore trade looks like a good one to me. Fox is a looong way away from a major leaguer. And as much as I like Duffy, are you actually confident this year is not more of an indication of what kind of player he truly is? He was definitely not driving the ball this year.
I’m a Brewers fan and I like Bickford a lot. But I doubt Susac becomes great
As I Giants fan I am sad to see Susac go, he is a threat with the bat & an awesome catcher too
Why? You already have an awesome catcher. If we’re being honest Andrew Susac had no future with the Giants.
Even if Susac is a top catcher in 3 years he would have never gotten a chance with the Giants unless Buster Posey suffered a career ending injury or something like that.
The Rays acquiring Matt Duffy to me means that a Longoria trade is on the horizon either the next couple of months or at least in the off season. Why else would they acquire Duffy 25 yrs old. instead of a younger player unless he is to start soon.
Cash already said the plan once he comes off the DL is to play him at SS (has to be better defensively than Miller)
ya, duffy came up as a SS, he was a converted 3b after pablo left.
Didn’t Duffy just sign a team friendly extension..or am I bein Duffy
Nope.. he’s on his pre-arb years
no duffy is in his 2nd (I think you say second – he played a little in 2014 but last year he was a rookie) year and so they haven’t talked extension or anything, I think they were waiting to see if there was any regression
I think the Rays wanted to move him because 1. He has been inconsistent 2. They have plenty of pitching prospects coming up through the minors that want a rotation spot 3. His contract is a lot for a small market team, but not for a team like the Giants
The Rays acquiring Duffy makes me suspicious of them trading Longoria. I hope not.
I’m ok with all trades Giants made. Got guys that are controlled for several years. Prospects are prospects. No guarantee they pan out.
They pretty much just stole .Matt. Moore. Depending on the prospects. Giants just ransacked the rays in this deal. No one of real value was sent the other way. Last I checked the rays have longoria for the next 6 years.
You might want to check again because Duffy is going to be a SS. He was only at 3B because of Crawford’s presence.
So we gave up Moore and basically got nothing back. An injured players and two prospects…… Wonderful……
This deal is more towards the Giants than the Rays. The Rays should of got more in return for a quality pitcher like Matt Moore.
I tend to believe in Matt Moore more than his numbers say I should, so I really think San Francisco made out well in this one. He’s shown some improvement lately in the results department, and the move to the NL to a pitcher-friendly park can’t hurt. Considering the price of mediocre pitching this year, the upside that Moore still has and his contractual situation makes him well worth an average third baseman, decent SS prospect and future No. 4 starter
Duffy is a very good defensive player an all star
Duffy’s hitting maybe questionable other team put defensive shift on him
Now third base is weak
Giants got rip off not enough for Duffy’s return
Mr Bobby Evans. Can I try out for third base???
The rays don’t even need this buster. They have longoria for the next 6years. There’s no place for him. He’ll be dealt again either in August or this winter.
All of you Giants fan
The only reason Giants got Matt Moore because
He is a left handed
Giants need a left handed
He is average pitcher and get paid average
Moore is nothing special