The San Francisco Giants still need a center fielder, a third baseman and bullpen help, but on Tuesday afternoon, they were linked to a surprising free agent who wouldn’t help address any of those needs.
ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted the Giants are among the teams considering signing free agent starting pitcher Trevor Cahill, a year after Cahill split time with the San Diego Padres and Kansas City Royals.
The Giants, in need of a starting pitcher, are among teams considering Trevor Cahill. Ranked 16th among 204 pitchers in groundball rate in 2017: https://t.co/zBViogdkuN
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 19, 2017
Cahill posted a 4.93 earned run average over 84.0 combined innings with the clubs last season, and struggled significantly during the second half of the year after being traded to Kansas City. The nine-year Major League veteran spent the first three seasons of his career with the Oakland A’s before pitching for parts of three campaigns with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Olney noted that San Francisco is in need of a starting pitcher after shipping Matt Moore to the Texas Rangers in exchange for a pair of prospects, but the team was expected to fill Moore’s void in the rotation with internal candidates. The Giants could slide Chris Stratton into the No. 4 spot in the rotation and have Tyler Beede and Ty Blach battle for the No. 5 job, but if Beede is considered a trade chip, then San Francisco may work to add starting pitching depth later on in the offseason.
With a goal of remaining under the competitive balance tax threshold of $197 million, the Giants don’t have much flexibility to add free agents.