Trade Deadline Alien Landing: Hunter Pence to the #SFGiants

As if having one awkward athlete wasn’t enough, the Giants, losers of five straight games, including the ugly-fest played last night, the Giants have traded for OF Hunter Pence and cash from the Philadelphia Phillies, who is reportedly on his way from Washington D.C. The Giants will give up OF Nate Schierholtz, and prospects Tommy Joseph, and RHP Seth Rosin.

Pence, 29, and under control through 2013 for one last arbitration year, is not known for his defensive abilities, but more for his bat as he is sporting a  a .271/.336/.447 line with a .339 wOBA. 17 HR, 10 of those outside of his 2012 home ballpark of Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. In 20 G and 82 PA at AT&T Park, Hunter Pence has a .329/.366/.566 line with a 125 OPS+ with 5 HR over the course of his career. He’s batted the majority of his games in the 3rd and 4th slot this season with the Phils with more of them coming in the clean-up spot, but I’m not so sure that’s where Bochy will put him. Do you put Hunter 3rd and put switch hitter Melky in between him and Buster? Do you put Melky 2nd and FINALLY put someone like Theriot lower in the lineup? That awaits but my guess is it’ll go like this for now:

Blanco/Pagan

Theriot

Melky

Pence

Posey

Belt

Scutaro

Crawford

Pitcher

Going to the Philadelphia Phillies will be minor league catcher Tommy Joseph, ranked as the #5 catcher on MLB.com for the Giants organization, and hasn’t been doing too badly for Richmond (the AA affiliate) with the numbers, but you know who is blocking Joseph and sooner or later one of the catchers between him and Andrew Susac would be going. RHP Seth Rosin is also included on the deal and he’s been putting up good numbers as well in High-A San Jose, but is not one of the Giants’ top prospects. Doesn’t mean he can’t be good, just doesn’t project to be a big name like Tommy Joseph could be, in the opinion of some scouts.

Speculation only: Hunter Pence is already making 8 figures in 2012 ($10.4MM) and his last arbitration year in 2013 makes him due for another raise and that would take the Giants out of the market for any bigger names in the offseason. Should they not be comfortable with that, look for them to trade him for… something. #analysis

The Giants are still looking for a reliever, while the Dodgers have been busy loading up on guys like Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino, and possibly Ryan Dempster, all without totally gutting their farm system like we hoped they would. The trade deadline is 1:00PM PST.