The San Francisco Giants are trying to catch up on the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in the National League West division. They are very much within striking distance of their rivals, but that they are behind the Dodgers and the Padres could also mean they should be eyeing to make moves as buyers at the 2022 MLB trade deadline several weeks from now. Apart from that, here are three reasons why the Giants should be MLB trade deadline buyers.

3 reasons why the Giants must be MLB trade deadline buyers

3. Judgement Day is looming

Whether the Giants — or any team — are trending well or not to make the postseason, there should never be a time for them to shy away from trying to be better, especially if the opportunity is presenting itself. The Giants are among the teams being rumored as a potential destination of hulking New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is yet to be satisfied by any contract extension offer from the Bronx Bombers' front office.

The Yankees are in the thick of the postseason race, and if they are to part ways with Judge, it's likely that it would happen in the offseason during the free-agency period. But the door isn't completely closed when it comes to trade rumors, and if the Yankees feel that nothing within their reasonable range is going to make Judge put ink on paper for a partnership that would go beyond the 2022 MLB season, then they might as well try to shop him as painful as that may sound to their fans. That's where the Giants could dangle some assets in the face of New York in exchange for the outfielder.

Judge was a Giants fan growing up in California, as pointed out by Jon Heyman of the New York Post, so that could be interpreted as a significant plus in the team's chances in a potential Judge lottery ahead of the 2022 MLB trade deadline.

The Giants are seen as another potential landing spot for Aaron Judge, who grew up a Giants fan (he’s from Linden, Calif.). Though they specialize in bargains, they did make a spirited attempt for Bryce Harper, finishing second to Philadelphia

2. The farm is loaded

The Giants' farm system was regarded as among the best entering the 2022 MLB season. That should still be the case. San Francisco doesn't have to go wild with its imagination when thinking of which of its young talents the team could potentially give away in a swap before the 2022 MLB trade deadline, but there must also be considerable interest in the Giants' loaded farm from teams looking to position themselves as buyers.

Players like Marco Luciano and Heliot Ramos are deemed untouchables, but could someone like Joey Bart generate enough interest? Bart isn't panning out as well as many envisioned him to be, as he's struggling a bit to fill in the shoes of his superstar predecessor in Buster Posey. And if the Giants make a trade for a catcher, that might be a sign that they are willing to move the needle on Bart.

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1. Pitching depth

The strength of the Giants' glory years in the last decade was in their pitching staff. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Madison Bumgarner made sure they won't have to buy their own beers in the Bay Area by playing big roles in San Francisco having all those World Series championship parades. This year, San Francisco owns the fifth-highest starting pitchers WAR in the majors with 6.3. While the Giants' rotation is just 14th as of this writing in terms of ERA (3.79), it is far healthier than what that number suggests because they have the no. 1 FIP in the majors at 3.12.

All that being said, the Giants could definitely use upgrades beyond the top two or three guys of their rotation. Logan Webb and Carlos Rodon are anchoring San Francisco's starting pitching staff, but with guys like Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Cobb, Jakob Junis, and Matthew Boyd on the injured list, albeit in varying lengths, the Giants have reasons to explore their 2022 MLB trade deadline options.

Cobb and DeSclafani aren't also doing pretty well on the mound when healthy, as they are sporting 5.73 and 6.08 ERAs, respectively. While both Cobb and DeSclafani have BABIPs north of .400 and FIPs south of 4.00, indicating a much positive outlook once they return and go deeper in the season, the Giants must be far from satisfied with the overall quality of their starting rotation.