The San Francisco Giants indicated their willingness to sell at the MLB trade deadline by sending Jorge Soler to a superior team. But they aren’t totally ready to bottom out just yet, as indicated by their stance on Blake Snell.
The Giants sent Soler, one of their best hitters, and Luke Jackson to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Tyler Matzek and a minor-league infielder, Sabin Ceballos. They have a record of 53-55, good for fourth place in the National League West. Nonetheless, the team is going to forge ahead and try to keep winning.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports, the Giants plan to keep Snell in an attempt to give their team a shot at making the postseason. Nightengale noted Soler's contract being moved in the deal, perhaps underlining the main reason why San Francisco wanted to move on.
Giants not planning to move Blake Snell ahead of trade deadline
For most of this season, Blake Snell has not been anywhere close to the level he was at last season when he won the NL Cy Young award. Some of his peripheral stats, like his 3.34 FIP and lowered walk rate (down 3 percent from last season), suggest that he is performing better than his 5.10 ERA indicates.
He has been much better after missing most of June with a groin injury, pitching 5.0 innings in his last four starts, which includes three where he allowed zero runs.
Snell's improvements have given him some trade buzz as playoff contenders look to bolster their starting pitching rotations. But the Giants, despite plenty of teams ahead of them in the Wild Card picture, would rather try to compete than add more young talent to their farm system. While an improved Snell will help, it’s going to take way more than that.
If the Giants are indeed not going to keep Snell and try to win, they should also try to swing trades to upgrade their roster. They need another big bat to replace Soler and could use another starting pitcher alongside Snell and Logan Webb.
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