Giants trade Matt Moore to the Rangers for 2 prospects

Really cool of baseball’s Hot Stove to lie dormant for weeks on end only for a bunch of deals to go down on a Friday when everyone’s trying to talk about Star Wars and plan their weekends. That’s not annoying at all, no sir.

Anyhoooo...the Giants sent Matt Moore to the Rangers for prospects, pending a physical, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea. Moore was due to make $9 million in 2018, so this clears a significant amount of money off San Francisco’s books for them to bring someone else on board (like Jay Bruce?) for next year.

“This move allows us to reallocate our resources to address our position player needs,” Giants general manager Bobby Evans said in a statement. “In addition, we are pleased to add two power arms to our system. Our focus remains to strengthen our outfield defense and our everyday lineup.”

In 2017, Moore had a 5.52 ERA and a 1.532 WHIP in 174.1 innings over 32 games. That about matches what he did in 2015 with the Rays before he rebounded (briefly, as is apparent in hindsight) for a 4.08 ERA and a 3.53 FIP in 2016 when he split time between the Rays and the Giants.

Moore has a 2019 club option worth $10 million with a $750,000 buyout so if he looks great next year he could be due a nice payday, otherwise the Rangers get to treat this as a one-year rental and then send him on his merry way.

He’s only 28 at this juncture, so this shouldn’t be his last big league contract. Even if he keeps pitching like this he could find another home as the fourth or fifth starter and stick around. Just not for $9 or $10 million a year.

One prospect going back to the Giants in the deal is Sam Wolff, who ended the season at AA for the Rangers and had a sub-4.00 ERA at all three levels he spent time at in 2017. His WHIP, SO/9, and BB/9 all trended the wrong way with his move to AA but the Giants may be able to turn him into a reliable major league reliever in time if they’re lucky.

The other is another right hander, the 20-year old Israel Cruz. He pitched 32 innings in the Arizona League this year, with a 5.91 ERA and a 1.625 WHIP. Both of these prospects can grow into something, but there’s no guarantee that they will. The money dump is what mattered here.

Texas also received international signing bonus pool slot money in the deal, worth a reported $750,000 per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Moore is the third pitcher to be added to the Rangers’ rotation this offseason, after Mike Minor and Doug Fister. Now comes the time where we watch to see which free agent the Giants are hoping to land with this newfound salary flexibility.