Giants Trade Rumors: Interest in Martin Prado, Ben Zobrist

Entering the 2014 season, one of the San Francisco Giants’ most glaring needs was finding a consistent, everyday second baseman. As of now, the Giants are still looking to fill that need.

Marco Scutaro has missed most of the season with a nagging back injury, the Brandon Hicks experiment only worked for so long, Ehire Adrianza hasn’t proven that he can hit at the major league level and made too many rookie mistakes, and Joe Panik doesn’t quite look major-league ready either.

The Giants let Tony Abreu go after calling him up to the big leagues for just a few days. They signed Dan Uggla to a minor league deal and called him up sooner than expected. Saying Uggla has been a disappointment is the understatement of the year.

So where does that leave the Giants? With the trade deadline quickly approaching, the Giants must make a decision. According to Peter Gammons, the Giants have reached out about several second baseman:

These players are all viable options for the Giants, but it remains unclear as to what the Giants would have to give up for one of these players. The Giants traded away Edwin Escobar and Heath Hembree in the Jake Peavy deal, so it’d be interesting to see which prospects they’d be willing to give up after that. The Giants have lots of potential in their farm system, but there isn’t much MLB-ready talent. That’s the problem.

Out of these listed players, Martin Prado might be the most intriguing option. Prado would be a perfect fit for the Giants given his versatility. He could play second base for the Giants, but he could also play third base or left field in the future depending on what the Giants decide to do with Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse, in terms of possibly contract extensions.

The Arizona Diamondbacks might not want to trade Prado to their division rival though. Also, Prado is under contract until 2016, and it’s unclear if the Giants would want to take on that type of contract.

The Giants have also been linked to Tampa Bay Rays second baseman and utility man Ben Zobrist. He is also a versatile player, like Prado, because he can play second base, shortstop, and right field.

He would be another great addition to this Giants team because of not just his versatility but also his consistency. He’s currently hitting .271, which is solid given his .263 career batting average. He also has nine home runs, 31 RBI, and he has a .361 OBP.

Zobrist also has an appealing contract. He will be a free agent at the end of this season, which is ideal for the Giants financially since they’ll have a lot of key players seeking contract extensions in the offseason. Depending on his production the rest of the year, he could also be signed to a reasonable contract, given the fact that he’s 33.

The Rays have made a surge recently in the standings, so they might be less willing to be sellers at the trade deadline though. The Giants are reportedly ready to act if the Rays make Zobrist available though.