The Giants have reached out to the Pirates about infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, reports Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He’s presumably just one of several options being considered by a San Francisco club that has a notable need at second base.
Kiner-Falefa, 30, is hitting .274/.318/.340 on the season. He’s been about 16% worse than average at the plate, by measure of wRC+, but has offered value with his legs (12-for-15 in stolen base attempts) and glove. He’s also a tough strikeout, fanning in just over 16% of his plate appearances.
Though Kiner-Falefa isn’t enjoying his best season at the plate, there’s a low bar to clear at second base in San Francisco. Giants second basemen have combined for a .217/.275/.309 slash on the season — one of the least-productive groups in all of baseball. Last year’s breakout infielder, Tyler Fitzgerald, has struggled badly at the position and was optioned to Triple-A in late June. None of Christian Koss, Casey Schmitt or Brett Wisely has provided more offense when manning the position, and Fitzgerald has slashed just .246/.323/.281 in 65 plate appearances since being sent down.
Kiner-Falefa is in the second season of a two-year, $15MM deal originally signed with the Blue Jays. Toronto traded him to Pittsburgh at last year’s deadline. He’s been the primary shortstop for the Bucs this year but has experience playing all over the diamond, including more than 1500 innings at third base and more than 550 innings both at second base and in the outfield. Kiner-Falefa’s defensive marks in the outfield and during a brief experiment behind the plate are poor, but he’s considered a strong infield defender.
Given his status as an impending free agent on a last-place team that’s one of the few clear sellers around the league, Kiner-Falefa feels all but certain to be traded in the next nine days. The Pirates don’t have a prospect who’s knocking down the door for everyday reps at shortstop, but they can use the final two months of the season to look at Cam Devanney (acquired last week from the Royals in exchange for Adam Frazier) or perhaps any other infielders they might acquire as they continue what feels like an interminable rebuilding process.
If Giants are truly interested in IKF they def don’t need to give up much in return. Maybe straight up Wisely or Fitzgerald. It would be trading 1 reserve INF for another
Cherington has said that he doesn’t want prospects and instead major league ready players with several years of control
I see IKF being traded in a package deal that would involve another pending free agent of the Pirates
Has Cherington actually said this? I can think of a clip where he says he has no preference on proximity. But not one where he says he prefers MLB proximity. Any chance you can link a quote?
it’s called google
The only quote I can find comes from Cherington’s last press conference. A reporter asks if he will focus on guys close to the majors. Cherington says, paraphrased, “we could do that. We could also trade for A ball guys and then flip prospects this offseason”, which kinda goes against your assertion.
Its fine. You dont have to prove anything to me. Just thought you might be someone who would engage in good faith. No biggy.
Sportsnet.com is where I read what Cherington said
Can Fitz play solid defense at short?
He’s not terrible, but not great either at SS. He has a negative OAA. He’s in the ballpark with guys like Mookie Betts, and Trea Turner. But unlike Mookie and Turner, Fitz can’t hit enough to compensate for the mediocre D.
What player(s) would be available? The Giant’s farm system has been good to the Pirates in the past: Reynolds and Bart.
Bart is having a lousy season, making me wonder if last year was a fluke
It sucks that the Pirates don’t have decent hitting catchers, something that was supposed to be a strength this year
A low level prospect and a flea market condition copy of World Series Baseball for the Sega Genesis
Play hardball. Hold out for the Playstation 5 version.
Best they can do is MLB Slugfest (2003 edition) for PS2
The longer they wait, the more expensive it could get. Offer a decent enough prospect that would incentivize them to do the deal now
Why? Casey Schmitt is either roughly equivalent or better. His OPS+ is 104 and he’s just starting to tap into his potential. He’s rising, IKF is falling.
Wolfgang 3, Maybe. I’ve been encouraged by what I’ve seen from Schmitt this season after a good deal of initial skepticism. But Schmitt has had one good month in MLB. He was really good in June. But so far this month he has a slash line of .156/.229/.188. That’s an OPS of just .416. It is a small sample, but I can’t blame the Giants for exploring options..
Schmitt’s small sample size of July has been made even smaller due to the All Star Break, an IL stint, and the fact that there’s still seven games left until August.
His mammoth home run last night helped bump his July OPS nearly 100 points, which only illustrates how measuring his current performance on a stretch of ten games misses the mark.
Schmitt came up in 2023 and crushed the ball. Then pitchers adjusted and he was chasing everything out of the zone. Since earning some playing time nearly two months ago, Schmitt has cut his chase rate in nearly half. He’s making much better swing decisions, working the count, drawing walks more consistently, and forcing pitchers to throw something in the zone — and then he’s punishing many of those strikes.
Maybe the league adjusts further and Schmitt struggles to adapt. But this iteration of Casey Schmitt is a far more “complete” version at the plate, and it gives me legitimate hope that he becomes a solid Major Leaguer. And his excellent third base defense appears to have enabled him to quickly learn competency at both first base and second base this year.
I think a guy like IKF can be a great depth option on the bench to fill in with defense and speed when the need arises, but I believe the Giants see Schmitt as the primary option at second until his performance suffers
Yes he crushed the ball when he was brought up, but that crushing lasted for only 22 games. In the final 68 games that season he went 25 for 170, for a .147 BA.
What pitchers figured out was they didn’t even need to throw anything in the strike zone. He was getting himself out. In 2023 his chase rate was 38.5%. As I mentioned in another post, I am encouraged by his better plate discipline. But his chase rate in 2025 is 27.8% which is about league average.
I took note of the small sample of his subpar work in July, but will also say that his very good work in June is also a small sample.
My point was that the Giants would be foolish to assume, based on sample size, that he is the answer at 2B. I hope he is and am encouraged, but the small samples of good hitting aren’t conclusive enough. Any good FO needs to perform due diligence, and explore the options.
He really turned it on at the end of last year. 86 games isn’t that small of a sample size in 2024 and 2025 with a combined roughly 109 OPS+. I’m buying it. I think he’ll be one of the better 2nd baseman in the NL given the chance. Of course, I could be wrong.
Well I disagree that 86 games isn’t a small sample. That’s just a little over half a season. And it isn’t unusual for a guy to perform better or worse than the mean over a half season.
I hope your right though. And I’m not saying Schmitt is bad or even below average. There are encouraging signs, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by his improved plate discipline. But for me I’ll reserve making an opinion, one way or the other, as to him being the answer at 2B.
Could be interesting to buy low on Reynolds and package him with IKF.
Giants are on Reynolds no-trade list.
Realistically the Giants could probably get Thairo Estrada or Kyle Farmer from the Rockies for a bucket of balls and some Big League Chew…
The no-trade list means nothing more than him getting some compensation for waiving it.
IKF isn’t being given away like people think! He’s been good and will cost a team someone they weren’t expecting in a sellers market!
Nah, every day that goes by without a trade his return value deteriorates. The Pirates have to turn him into something, because he isn’t going to bring a competitive balance pick. As the deadline appears on the horizon, the pressure mounts onto Pittsburgh. He is a known quantity, so even if he puts together a 15 hits in the next week it won’t counterbalance the diminishing return by letting time go by. There is no doubt offers have already been made for IKF and most likely are better (and gone) than anything the Pirates can get for him now. There is always possibility of an unexpected injury on a surefire contender, or a desperate team who misses out on another target making a strong move… but outside of those two scenarios, the longer Pittsburgh waits the worse the offers get.
That’s one way to imagine the scenario. Another way is that the closer to the deadline it gets, the more desperate teams competing for a playoff spot gets which results in them paying more. Both are logical and possible. We really don’t know.
This!
A light-hitting infielder that can play all few spots, he’s definitely moving but not sure where. I just hope Hoyer doesn’t get him. IKF isn’t horrible, but need a little more thump if Cubs are sending Shaw back down to work on his swing.
Yankees better trade for IKF or Hayes instead of Suarez. Suarez is a big mistake. IKF never wanted to leave New York. Great team player
Yes been doin a lot of praying he goes to Frisco.
“Frisco”, so you’re that supposed Yankees fan who went by ’27champyankees’ who used to troll Giants articles? (Joking, but not joking)
Frisco is a town in Texas.
Frisco is dummy language fer San Francisco, which is a lot of confusing sounds and letters for too many of us!
Yankees need to grab IKF but fast. He won’t need to shave off the whiskers this go-round.
Pirates can have Peraza and Brubaker.
The Giants have like 3 guys exactly like him; unless he makes the switch to catcher, this makes no sense.
He’s a versatile IF where from a roster perspective you don’t have depth as either 3B, SS or 2nd. This also suggests they’re uncertain Tyler Fitzgerald at least for 2025 is a lock for a possible playoff roster. You’d like to think his positional versatility both INF/OF would get him on but he’s had big time contact issues and cannot be in a lineup that also includes Bailey
IKF, Hayes, Baty, and Rosario would work for Yankees. I don’t want Suarez or Arenado
I don’t think the Giants have much faith in Fitzgerald. Unlike Schmitt, who came back with better plate discipline after being sent down, Fitzgerald hasn’t shown much development in that area. Schmitt hasn’t been especially good, but better than Fitzgerald, I think 2024 was a bit of a fluke based on some of Fitzgerald’s peripherals.
IKF is a professional ball player who unfortunately was forced to play his worst position in Pittsburgh. He’s best as 2B or a utility IF. Definitely has too weak of arm to be a great defensive SS.
He plays SS better than Volpe. IKF will be wearing pinstripes in a week
Prepare for another very disappointing trade deadline.