What Hunter Pence to the Giants would mean for your fantasy team

The time between late Sunday night and early Monday morning gave us an interesting development. If you were asleep, you might have missed it, but it all centers around Phillies outfielder Hunter Pence.

First, let’s start with Dennis O’Donnell of KPIX Sports.

But as we often learn at the deadline, things aren’t as they appear. CSN Bay Area’s (and recent Jeopardy champion) Andrew Baggarly shot down the idea that anything had been made official.

Now, by the time you read this, Pence may be on the Giants, Phillies, or one of several other teams looking for an outfielder. But as of this writing, nothing official has happened. But just for fun, let’s explore what kind of impact Pence would have on fantasy owners if this trade went through.

I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating. The two best pitching divisions in baseball are the National League East and National League West. Some of the best pitchers in the league occupy those divisions and both feature plenty of strong pitching parks.

Now, as for the actual home parks, that would be a bit of a change. Philadelphia tends to be friendly to the hitter, while San Francisco is a pitcher’s park. But a lot of the differences between the two parks come in right field, where San Francisco is extremely spacious and Philadelphia is short. For right-handed hitters (which Pence is), the parks are a lot more even.

Looking at what the Phillies have done thus far this year is tough when we’re trying to gauge the rest of the year. Yes, they are probably out of contention, but missing Ryan Howard and Chase Utley for most of the season will impact a lineup’s production. Now, both are back.

The big advantage that San Francisco has comes from the fact that they are a playoff contender. The Phillies may be technically alive, but they are going to need a lot to need a lot to happen over the next few years to stay that way. So, I am looking at older players like Utley, Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, as well as possibly Pence himself getting a lot more time off in September when the youngsters come up.

The Giants look to be at worst a strong contender for a Wild Card spot, so I couldn’t see them shutting down Melky Cabrera and Buster Posey.

This hasn’t been Pence’s best year, but his 17 homers are better than any Giant (Posey has 13, Cabrera has 10, nobody else is over 8). So, he’d be right in the middle of that order, batting anywhere from second to fifth. So, with those two around him, he’d have plenty of RBI chances and/or protection in the lineup.

As much as I love my Giants, I know that San Francisco isn’t exactly a prime destination for hitters. Still, going from a non-contender to a contender will boost someone’s numbers at the end of the year. I wouldn’t call San Francisco the trade that Pence’s owners should be hoping for, but it’s hard to imagine his numbers not being much better there than they would be in Philly, at least for the rest of 2012.