Another day, another trade involving the Giants. It’s like GM Farhan Zaidi is appearing in a reboot of “Brewster’s Millions” in which, instead of spending all the money he can in 30 days, he has to make all the trades he can in six months. Hey, whatever works for him.
This trade was for Tyler Austin, who was DFA’d by the Twins recently. Austin plays both outfield and first base. This fills the Giants requirement of not just making a trade, but making sure 85% of said trades involve outfielders. In exchange for Austin, the Giants have sent Minnesota minor league outfielder Malique Ziegler, thereby complying with the Law of Conservation of Outfielders, which is totally a thing.
Austin has some pop -- he hit 17 homers in 268 plate appearances between the Yankees and Twins last year, which is pretty decent -- but his defensive value is pretty low. Maybe it was a roster crunch situation, but the fact that the Twins couldn’t find a spot for him doesn’t exactly make you think he’s going to have a big impact in San Francisco, but I suppose stranger things have happened.