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After the San Francisco Giants traded for Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox in what was a shocking trade on Sunday, one has to wonder if the team will be making another splash in the market. With Giants president Buster Posey looking to fortify his team even after Devers, ESPN's Buster Olney could hint that they are in pursuit of another impactful player.
In Olney's latest column, which details the front office executives under the most pressure, the first he lists is Arizona Diamondbacks' Mike Hazen. With the amount of marketable players in Arizona, Olney mentions San Francisco having implied interest in first baseman Josh Naylor.
“Hazen will have a lot of say about what happens at this year's trade deadline because if Arizona decides to trade talent, he'll dangle a highly marketable set of players. Josh Naylor(Could the Mariners be interested? Or the Giants?),” Olney wrote. “Eugenio Suarez (Yankees would be in on him), Merrill Kelly, and Zac Gallen would become some of the best options, and other GMs like to trade with Hazen because they find him communicative and decisive.”
Naylor currently has nine home runs on the season with 48 RBIs and sporting a .300 batting average, as even Ken Rosenthal would say for The Athletic, that Naylor could end up with San Francisco.
“Ordinarily, I’m not a fan of predicting where players might get traded at the deadline,” Rosenthal wrote. “It’s often pure guesswork, and an exercise a futility. But with the deadline seven weeks away, I’m comfortable saying this much: If Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Josh Naylor and Baltimore Orioles first baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn get moved, they need to land with two of these three teams: The Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, and San Francisco Giants.”
Giants have been linked to Josh Naylor before
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It won't be the first time that the Giants have been linked to the Diamondbacks' star, as The Athletic's Jim Bowden said last Thursday that Naylor “would be a good fit.” Though looking back, it would end up being ironic that the initial reports had San Francisco not expected to make a lot of moves when the Devers deal has been the talk of baseball.
“The Giants believe in stability and continuity, so, outside of adding another bat, don’t expect a lot of moves from them at this deadline,” Bowden wrote. “They need more offense — they rank 24th in OPS — and could use an upgrade at first base or in right field. Naylor would be a good fit because he’s a rental and wouldn’t block their top prospect, first baseman Bryce Eldridge. The Giants usually don’t like short-term solutions, but in this case, it would make sense.”
At any rate, the Giants are currently 41-31, which puts them second in the NL West as they start a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night.
