San Francisco Giants Center Field Trade Options: Kevin Kiermaier

The San Francisco Giants need to improve their team, and getting a better player in center field is a great way to do it. Kevin Kiermaier would help.

The offseason is fast approaching, meaning free agency is soon to begin and the trade market is going to heat up. The San Francisco Giants have to fix the on-field product, and the main area they’ve pinpointed is center field. They’ll likely do so through the trade market, and there are a lot of options. One of which is Tampa Bay Rays’ center fielder Kevin Kiermaier.

Kiermaier is 27 years old, and just finished his fourth full season in the big leagues after playing one regular season game and one postseason game in 2013. The Rays made him a 31st-round pick in 2010, but he made his major league debut just a few short years later.

Defensively, to call Kiermaier “elite” would be an understatement. He’s a human highlight reel in center field, making circus catch after circus catcher and making them look easy. If you don’t want to take the written word for it, head on over to Youtube and check out some of his many highlight reels.

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The statistics back up the eye test in Kiermaier’s case. His 22 defensive runs saved in 2017 ranked fourth among all major leaguers at any position, despite playing just 97 games in center field. Since 2015 started, Kiermaier’s 89 defensive runs saved lead baseball, and his 42 DRS in the 2015 season rank as a single-season record.

Not only does he have incredible range, Kiermaier has a strong arm as well. He threw out 15 runners in 2015, and has thrown out 12 in the past two seasons. Overall in his career, Kiermaier has racked up 32 outfield assists (29 coming from center field) in 459 games. In 2015, he had nine throws back into the infield reach at least 100 miles per hour, the most in the major leagues.

Kiermaier is the two-time defending American League Gold Glover in center field, winning in 2015 and 2016, but won’t be able to three-peat. He isn’t a finalist for the Gold Glove for the 2017 season. For his otherworldly defensive effort in 2015, he was given the American League’s Platinum Glove as the best overall defensive player.

At the plate, Kiermaier has been somewhere between average and above average since coming to the big leagues. In 2017, he set careers highs in average (.276), on-base percentage (.338), and home runs (15), and tied his career-best with a .450 slugging percentage. His 112 wRC+ puts him in the “above average” category (as does his .788 OPS), but falls behind his 117 wRC+ mark from 2015 as his best.

As a left-handed hitter, Kiermaier has also improved against left-handed pitching. He hit .203/.213/.284 with one home run in 78 plate appearances against southpaws, but has gotten better in recent years. In 2015, he hit .246/.273/.352 with two home runs in 150 PA against lefties, then .262/.364/.452 with two home runs and 10 extra-base hits in 99 PA in 2016, and .255/.321/.362 with four home runs in 158 PA in 2017. He isn’t exactly a lefty killer, but he also isn’t a liability.

Kiermaier also has good speed. In 2015, he legged out 12 triples to rank second in the major leagues, and he has stolen 15 or more bases in three straight seasons.

Injuries have been an issue for Kiermaier throughout his big league career. In 2016, he was limited to 106 games because of a broken left hand that he suffered while diving for a ball in the outfield. In 2017, he took part in only 98 games because of a hairline fracture in his hip that caused him to miss two months. It should be noted that, after the injury, he finished the season extremely well at the plate. Kiermaier hit .306/.352/.450 with eight home runs over his final 36 games of the season.

The difficult part here is determining whether Kiermaier is actually available for trade. Rays’ beat writer Bill Chastain recently did a mailbag on MLB.com, wherein he answers questions about the team potentially shopping veteran players, Kiermaier included. Chastain doesn’t come out and say yes or no, but does draw on past observations to say the team is always “looking for the best bang for its buck”, and compares them to old salesmen who are always willing to deal.

That, of course, is determined by the price. If the price is right, the Rays will probably be willing to deal. If not, they have no reason to take anything lower than the best offer. Kiermaier is still young, controllable, and a darn good baseball player, so the Rays have all the leverage. If a team wants to pull him away from Tampa Bay, they’ll need to pony up.

In terms of controllability, a team that were to make a trade for Kiermaier would have him for a long time on a reasonably cheap deal. Before the 2017 season, he signed a six-year extension worth $53.5 million that is good through the 2022 season. The deal also includes an option for the 2023 season worth $13 million, along with a $2.5 million buyout.

Next: Giants CF Trade Options: Hamilton

Kiermaier is a special talent, and is one of the game’s bright young center field stars. The Rays hold the cards here, and if the Giants want to put him in center field, it won’t come easy.

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