Giants reportedly exploring upgrades to outfield, including one potential trade with Blue Jays
The Giants need outfield help badly heading into the regular season
Right now the Giants are poised to open the 2019 regular season with a starting outfield of Mac Williamson, Steven Duggar, and Gerardo Parra. That's self-evidently a problem, and the Giants figure to be even thinner out in the grass following the release of Cameron Maybin.
That suboptimal situation leads us this report from Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle saying the Giants, among other options, may be interested in trading for Blue Jays fly-catcher Kevin Pillar.
Pillar, 30, owns an OPS+ of 86 for his career, though he put up a more palatable figure of 93 last season. Pillar does boast occasional pop from the right side, but his real value is that he still profiles as a strong defensive center fielder. No doubt, Pillar's defensive skills would be useful in the spacious Oracle Park outfield.
As Schulman notes, it's not certain that the Blue Jays have interest in moving Pillar, who's under contract $5.8 million this season and not eligible for free agency until after the 2020 season. The Blue Jays, however, don't have serious designs on contention in 2019 and would presumably be open to dealing veterans. As for the Giants, adding Pillar certainly wouldn't elevate them to contending status, but it might make that outfield situation a bit more tolerable.
















