3 pitchers the Giants absolutely need to trade at the deadline

After he pitched pretty well for them last year (3.62 ERA, 3.09 FIP, 11.9 K/9 over 12 appearances-10 starts), the Giants probably wanted to see Gausman do it again. In lieu of any multi-year offers he had out there, from the Giants or elsewhere, he accepted the team’s $18.9 million qualifying offer to essentially bet on himself.

A groin issue pushed back his most recent start a couple days, but Gausman has been up to the task thus far. He has gone at least six innings in all six of his starts, with one run or less allowed five times. Overall he has a 2.04 ERA, a 0.91 WHIP, a 9.1 K/9 and a 2.5 BB/9 over 39.2 innings.

At a glance it’s easy to say the Giants won’t trade Gausman, regardless of where they are in the standings moving forward. But if they are out of viable contention by mid-July, and he is still pitching close to as well as he is now, there will be suitors ready to part with assets to get a reliable innings eater (as that’s defined in today’s game). The lack of a multi-year commitment will drive any trade market for Gausman, and the Giants will have a hard time not listening if it comes to that.