Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Very rarely do you see a Major League Baseball team do what the San Francisco Giants did on Wednesday before the MLB non-waiver trade deadline. More accurately, you don’t see a non-contender with two or more players in the final year of their contract, hold on to those players. The Giants did nothing with Hunter Pence and nothing with Javier Lopez. It seems that considering their not-very-good record, Pence and Lopez would bring a lot in return.
For his part, Pence was a popular figure for rumors and teams that wanted some offensive help but still nothing happened. Pence is a free agent this upcoming winter and the Giants might not even try hard to sign him. If they don’t then they will have watched a very good player walk away when they could have really gotten something back for him.
The same is true of Lopez but maybe even to a larger extent. Lopez was for sale as a lefty reliever that was superb at getting out left-handed batters. A lot of teams were talking about specifically what Lopez could do for them and several teams were in on possible trade. For whatever reason, the Giants didn’t get the combo they were looking for and they still have Lopez who will also be a free agent this winter.
Both figure to be highly sought after and the Giants will likely not be able to, or possibly even want to keep both of them. Logic tells you that the powers that be in the Giants front office might be looking to complete a waiver deal in August for one or maybe both of these guys. Otherwise their return will be zero and then some.
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google Plus.
