The Giants don’t have a shortstop right now, so they added one from the team that’s in town.
As first reported by Jon Morosi, the Giants traded for Cubs minor-league infielder Dixon Machado. Machado is already at Oracle Park before Sunday evening’s game, after shortstop Thairo Estrada went down with a concussion on Saturday. Machado is the only healthy shortstop on SF’s roster and will start Sunday night.
Estrada will be placed on the concussion injured list after taking a pitch to the head, while Brandon Crawford is still working his way back from right knee soreness.
Machado, 30, has 172 major league games and 505 plate appearances under his belt, all with the Detroit Tigers from 2015-18. He didn’t exactly turn heads in The Show, posting a career slash line of .227/.285/.295.
He has, however, been playing good ball with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate this year, posting a .312 batting average and .796 OPS. Machado spent 2020 and 2021 in Korea (KBO) putting up average numbers (.280/.359/.393) at the plate.
In exchange, the Giants sent over right-handed pitcher Raynel Espinal.