The San Francisco Giants completed a trade Tuesday to acquire outfielder Hunter Pence from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for outfielder Nate Schierholtz, Double-A catcher Tommy Joseph and Class A pitcher Seth Rosin.
Looking at this trade individually, I really like it. Pence is really solid all around, gives us that 5/6 bat to really round out our lineup behind Melky/Posey/Pablo. Joseph had nice potential but hes not a blue chip prospect. Posey looks like he'll be fine at C for several more years, H. Sanchez is MLB ready right now, and Susac is another nice C prospect. Nate is a mediocre 4th OF, made completely useless by Pence, who is everything G's fans hoped and dreamed Nate could become. I wish Nate the best, but was always annoyed at his fanboys clammoring for giving him a starting gig when he'd be on a hot streak. The pitcher is irrelevant. Might be a middle reliever someday, maybe. Big picture, you wonder WTF they were thinking with Beltran. He claims the G's never really talked seriously with him. Maybe he wouldn't have returned at all if we didn't get a "big bat". You have to wonder what it would have taken to keep him (in addition to giving up Wheeler) vs. letting him walk and then trading for Pence. I think we got great value on the Pence trade but you can't help but scratch your head. Anyway, we have Pence under control through next season. Sabean claims they can keep both Melky and Pence, but ownership still makes me nervous despite this trade. Prior to getting Pence the rumors were that they'd go after Bourne if Melky was leaving. Now all of a sudden they can keep Melky and Pence?
