The Giants have drawn interest in their starting pitchers, and while ace Logan Webb rather clearly figures to be off the table in any discussions, San Francisco has a handful of shorter-term options that could make for more realistic trade possibilities. FanSided’s Robert Murray wrote last week that lefty Alex Wood could be an option to change hands, and Ken Rosenthal and Jayson Stark of The Athletic have now similarly mentioned the possibility of trading Wood or another bulk-innings option as a means of acquiring either middle infield help or prospect depth.
A free agent at season’s end, the 32-year-old Wood has voiced a preference to remain with the Giants (link via Evan Webeck of the San Jose Mercury News). However, he’s also made clear he wants to start games, and San Francisco has frequently used him as a bulk option behind an opener. Four of Wood’s past six appearances have come in relief of an opener. He hasn’t reached six innings in an appearance all season and hasn’t recorded an out in the sixth inning since May 26.
The Giants have been careful about limiting the number of times Wood faces opponents in a game, and with good reason. In 2022, when the lefty was deployed solely as a starter, he held opponents to a .241/.300/.344 batting line on the first trip through the order and a .256/.307/.399 slash the second time around. In the 95 plate appearances where Wood turned a lineup over for the third time, opponents exploded for a .326/.368/.573 batting line. He had similarly problematic splits in 2021, too.
Wood could certainly still be of interest to clubs seeking help at the back of the rotation, although he currently looks like something of a buy-low candidate and might need to be swapped out for an infielder in similar standing with his organization. The veteran southpaw has a pedestrian 4.75 ERA on the season, and his 18.8% strikeout rate, 11.2% walk rate, 43.6% ground-ball rate and 1.19 HR/9 mark have all gone in the wrong direction, relative to his 2021-22 output. Wood is pitching in the second season of a two-year, $25MM deal and will reach free agency again following the season. About $4.167MM of this year’s salary remains to be paid out.
San Francisco has other arms to peddle in similar scenarios. Right-hander Ross Stripling and lefty Sean Manaea are both in the first season of two-year deals that guarantee them the same $25MM promised to Wood. Both, however, can opt out at season’s end. Neither has pitched up to his career standards, but both have been considerably better after a tough start to the year. Since returning from the injured list in late June, Stripling carries a 3.64 ERA and a sensational 22-to-1 K/BB ratio in 29 1/3 innings. Manaea, since a full-time move to multi-inning relief work, has 4.03 ERA with a 29.2% strikeout rate against just a 5.9% walk rate. The recent trends are encouraging, but the Giants might still have a tough time extracting present-day value in a trade — and it’s quite possible one or both will forgo his opt-out opportunity at season’s end. That’ll depend largely on how the final two months play out.
It’s worth noting that since reports about interest in the Giants’ rotation depth first emerged, right-hander Anthony DeSclafani was placed on the injured list. An MRI revealed a Grade 1 flexor strain, and DeSclafani is expected to miss a “few weeks” with the injury, at the very least. That, coupled with his prior struggles leading up to the IL placement (21 runs in his past 23 1/3 innings), figures to all but remove him as a trade candidate.
I could see a team like Baltimore looking at one of these guys.
Do they need a #6 starter? None of these guys would move the needle on a good team.
@BigFred
Not even Webb?
Webb is not being traded.
webb is not getting dealt, neither is cobb, beck or winn.
Beck or Winn could for sure be on the move.
that would make zero sense. there isn’t anyone out there worth trading them for and the plan isn’t to fire sale, you want to create roster flexibility to get them and/or harrison in the mix
The Orioles do need pitching depth, unless they want to gamble on Cole Irvin providing anything or Keegan Akin being the guy in event of injury. Not every move needs to be a “big splash” type move.
I want to see Manaea in a different uniform as soon as possible, and I think he can actually help a few teams as a #5. Stripling has greatly improved and I’d like the Giants to hold on to him—at least to the end of his current contract. I’m sorry DeSclafani is hurt cuz I was hoping he’d be shipped away, too.
Wood wants to start? What’s the difference in him pitch 1-4 instead of 2-5 innings? Clearly no playoff team is going to let him go through the order a 3rd time.
Given the amount of teams who have starters like this, wouldn’t you think more teams would have multiple RP who can pitch multiple innings twice a week as their designated role.
The arms are breaking, Giants better not sell any pitchers. Give Beck a shot at starting. Passes the eye test, I don’t care about all the AI stuff. Saw Ramos in Richmond, one game, didn’t not impressed me, didn’t pass the eye test.
Couldn’t the Giants use a Rental 2B, like Tony Kemp from across the bay, until Thairo returns?
Wouldn’t cost much, in terms of a prospect, and Kemp has been Hitting on fire recently, plus, he’s close to Yaz and was College teammates with him at Vanderbilt.
he’s been one of the worst players in the league. yikes people… can’t believe what some people consider an upgrade
Rengifo, anyone?
GangGreen—it’s been rough after Thairo was HBP and broke his hand, but he started taking grounders last week. He could be back this weekend.
No mention of Alex Cobb?
Too good this year to be worth trading without hurting the Giants.
and he has a team option for next year – an affordable all star pitcher with an option for next year would have to get a hefty return if it was even considered. wood would be a pure rental
Alex wood for David Fletcher? May be some cash considerations with it.
that would need to include prospects in the deal I would think.. Fletcher is in AAA and owed money through 2025.basically does nothing for the giants except cost money and open a roster spot
Braves can have their choice between Wood, Stripling and Manea for Grissom
Lol. Manaea is carrying a -1.0 WAR and Stripling is carrying a -0.2 WAR. They have been awful. why would SF sell when their value is so low. And Wood is no more than a 3-4 inning pitcher..
yeah in a lot of ways I kind of think that keeping them is best for everyone but we will see. Stripling and Manaea both have crap numbers because they have been horrible and dug a hole early on but have looked much better lately and if both opt in may be a good thing for next year for the giants. wood going makes a lot of sense because I don’t think he likes his role on the team and wants to have a traditional starting role though he hasn’t earned it
Thanks for being a voice of reason bag o ballz, you are correct that Wood has been the most vocally unhappy about being a bulk or featured pitcher so if Zaidi can find a perfect trading partner, Wood is the most likely to go. Wood may like starting better but he’s been terrible starting and much much better doing the bulk innings thing.
Idosteroids — Problem is Manaea’s value is always low, no different this year, but valuable to some teams as a lefthander who can deliver innings. Same with Wood for (as you say) 3-4 innings. Stripling has been quite good over the past 4-5 outings.
Manea can deliver innings if you want to be down 8 runs by they time you take him out of the game.
Sounds like the perfect arm for the Rays. Trade him for Brujan.
hard pass on Brujan..however, you never know w/Giants development staff..they’re turned a lot of players like him to be successful as much as possible (Estrada, Yaz, Wade, etc.)
I sincerely hope this means that Beck/Winn/Wisenhunt are all on the staffs radar to potentially get consistent starts at some point this season
winn and wisenhunt both hurt right now. Beck already producing but he’s a fringe guy
I forgot about Winn getting hurt but I was aware of Harrison and Wisenhunt. Beck is fringe for sure I’m not touting him as a rotation asset but flatly, the Giants cannot rely on stripling manaea and wood especially without desclafani (who seems to be toast anyway) and they need enough pitching to simply get through the rest of this seasons innings. Maybe they call up Hielle again but he seems to have really been having a tough time in the majors his last couple of stints.
Winn should be back this season they recently received good news on him, the opposite for Wisenhunt who has sprain flexor tendon or something in the elbow was seeking another opinion I believe.
Only the Giants think their rotation is deep. The rest of the League sees them as oft injured and non worthy of a deal.
Only MLBTradeRumors thinks their rotation is deep* fixed it for you. Starting pitching has been their most glaring need since early on and Zaidi just a few weeks ago said they’d target SP help. It’s actually mind boggling to me that the Giants have the third best record in the NL with a patchwork rotation and the insane number of injuries they’ve endured.
To say nothing of the number of runners they left stranded.
Didn’t realize you had an in to speak for all the teams in MLB. As it is they’re 14th in SP WAR. That’s better than other contenders like the Dodgers, Orioles, D’backs, and Brewers,
@Jean Matrac I’ve definitely seen worse rotations but as someone who has watched 90% of Giants games they’d probably be 2-3 games ahead of the Dodgers if they had two more middle of the pack starters (the same could be said of the Dodgers rotation that is actually worse than ours).
I watch nearly 100% of Giant’s games (it’s great to be retired). While I agree the SPs aren’t close to being dominant, I think there’s a perception problem.
Fans tend to be more critical of their own team, without seeing the big picture. I bet Zaidi would have loved to sign better arms. But the competition for SPs is tough. There are more slots needed throughout baseball than their are arms to fill them.
There’s a reason why MLBTR sees the Giants as having SP depth. Compared to a lot of other teams they do, even if they aren’t close to being elite. But, it’s not unusual for under the radar trades that bring in an innings-eater, wind up being positive.
The Giants have no such delusions about their starting “depth”. They need to call up a couple of kids that they don’t necessarily want to just to get through the innings that are left in the season. Getting a starter at the deadline would be huge for them and it’s been one of the major talking points from the FO and players all season.
My mind is playing tricks on me. When I first read it above that Alex Wood could change hands, my first thought was if he thinks he’s Pat Venditte. SMH I needed to shake out the cobwebs to realize it meant he could be traded…
What depth???? They have two starters and four guys who basically require an opener. If they’re selling one as a multi inning relief option perhaps somebody would want one
I would like to see more time for Stripling and Manaea to get things going, even into next season, however with those player option contracts time is not a luxury. We all knew they’d be trade bait whether the team was competitive or not.
I never want to see another inning with Manaea in a Giants uni.
I don’t want to see Manea on the mound at all. They are in a playoff race. It’s not time to hope your bad investment can get back on track.
I hear you guys on Manaea but he just had his best outing in ages! And he throws from the left side!! Could see manaea convert to a high leverage bullpen guy similar to how pomeranz did.
Had Cleveland adopted the name Spiders, the first move would have been trade for and add Cobb/Webb to the top of the rotation
Go Zaidi go go go go go!!!
Yaz for Verdugo?
Yaz is clearly the better all-around player. Verdugo is younger, but so what?
Seems like a lateral move, plus Giants are focusing on mid-IF and SP
The Giants are 29th in starting pitcher innings pitched — that’s not indicative of depth.
They need to acquire starting pitching if they plan on surviving a round or two of the playoffs.
This is what Gabe did in Philly. Every pitcher on the 26 man roster was so overworked by seasons end, they had nothing left by the end of the season.
I think that stat is misleading. It doesn’t take into account all the innings from guys like Wood, Stripling, Junis, and Manea, when they pitch behind the opener. Those 4 have started only 27 games combined, but pitched in 56 games combined that they didn’t start.
@Jean Matrac
You are correct in that the opener does mislead starting pitcher innings.
My ultimate point is still valid; those 4 guys have pitched 249.2 innings and garnered a 5..15 ERA. That’s not depth; that’s just bad.
I won’t argue that it isn’t bad, though I think it’s more mediocre than bad. But if that is bad, then there’s a lot teams competing for the playoffs that are also bad.
Anyone think tigers and Os match well. ?
Eddy R quality pitcher. Familiar with Al east.
Possibility of keeping him around too.
Tigers need couple good prospects.
Cowers and Mayo , Dl hall
Throw back a Lange perhaps. ?
Or less prospects and Lorenzen ?
I like Eddy though
Lorenzen is flat out terrible, no matter how improved he’s been this season. A waste of a roster space.
This story is a great example of one person’s opinion turning into a story that everyone starts to believe.
DeSclafini just went on the IL. BUT, the Giants are looking to trade from their pitching depth. If that makes sense to you I’m going to post a link to my AmWay site where you can buy the most AMAZING things ever.
If the Giants can unload Manea, Stripling, or Wood, they absolutely should.
Offer the White Sox Junis, Manaea, Stripling, Wood, Bart, Johnson, Ramos & Walton for Cease & Jimenez
Manea is worth at least a can of SPAM and a churro.
Stripling has not proven much this year, but likely offer a low quality prospect which might not be worth losing him for the Giants.
Wood he could return some type of semi-to-quality prospect but depends how bad a team needs an inning eater.
DeSclafini is like wood but its his turn to be injured.
How about using 5 starting pitcher. Kapler is a moron
sportsguy—if you have 5 lockdown starters, you start them. But they are not exactly easy to come by. Giants use Webb and Cobb as traditional starters, other games are openers with bulk guys, with a 14-4 record. Kapler has done an amazing job navigating a ton of injuries this season as well as winning games with openers. That’s not moronic, it’s genius.
“Kapler is a moron” is an insanely weak take when you consider how well the Giants have done in spite of their lack of resources and much of it has to do with brilliant game planning and in game management. I don’t agree with everything he does but he sure seems to have found a way to maximize this roster. Therein lies the problem, as the roster needs at least one more starting pitcher.
What kind of a return would Cobb get you? A Top 100 prospect?
No chance they trade Cobb. That would be throwing in the towel and this team is good enough to not only get to the playoffs but potentially win a series or two.
Giants have a $10M option on Cobb next year. He will not be dealt.
“(Wood) hasn’t recorded an out in the sixth inning since May 26.“
He would if he had recorded more outs in innings two through five!
As others have mentioned, the Giants have no rotation depth. Webb & Cobb have been pretty good. DeScafani, Stripling & Wood kind of stink. Walker & Winn are rookies. Alexander has been good, but is primarily an RP.
Contenders are pretty unlikely to trade for the low-end guys, and SF won’t trade the high-end guys unless they tank, which is really unlikely.
Lol. Depth? They only have 2 actual starting pitchers. The rest of the guys who they signed to start are washed up has-beens who are lucky to pitch 3 innings.
And yet the Giants sit atop the Wild Card and are two games out of first place..
Not much mention of Junis. He’s not done much this year and could benefit from a change of scenery.
For real. When has a team EVER traded a ML starter at the deadline and won the WS that year?