SF Giants trade deadline: Making sense of the Joey Bart-for-Kris Bryant rumor

After wrapping up a 2-1 win over the Dodgers on Tuesday at Oracle Park, the Giants extended their lead in the NL West to 3.0 games and guaranteed they would enter Friday’s trade deadline in first place.

Even with their fourth win in five games over the reigning World Series champions, it’s clear the Giants have room to improve. And it’s possible no player on the trade market this summer represents a better upgrade for their lineup than Chicago Cubs star Kris Bryant.

It should come as no surprise the Giants have repeatedly been linked to Bryant, a pending free agent who is expected to be on the move in the coming days. With the versatility to play five different positions, a career 134 OPS+ and the type of offensive profile that would fit right in with a patient Giants lineup, Bryant is the ideal match for a club that’s expecting several key position players back from injury in the coming weeks.

During Tuesday’s game at Oracle Park, MLB Network reporter Jon Morosi tweeted that the Giants have engaged in trade talks with the Cubs that involve Bryant, but Morosi also noted Chicago’s front office is evaluating whether to ask for one of the Giants’ top prospects, catcher Joey Bart, in a potential deal.

In a follow-up tweet a few minutes later, Morosi added the Giants would likely only deal Bart to Chicago in a trade that involved other players.

Sources: The #SFGiants have spoken with the #Cubs about Kris Bryant, and the Cubs are evaluating 24-year-old catcher Joey Bart as one candidate to be requested on their side of the talks. Bart has a .904 OPS this year at Triple-A. @MLB @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 28, 2021

In other words, the Giants aren’t going to give up the No. 2 pick in the 2018 MLB Draft so they can add Bryant to their lineup for two months.

Looking to make sense of the rumors involving Bryant, Bart and other players the Giants are considering acquiring at this year’s deadline? Here’s a breakdown.

Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has spent the last three years amassing depth in the organization’s farm system with the goal of building a team that can achieve the type of sustainable success the Dodgers have enjoyed over the last decade. Zaidi was determined to turn the Giants into a playoff contender as soon as possible (without doing a full rebuild) and the next part of his plan involves keeping the franchise in win-now mode for the next several years by relying on the farm system to churn out the next generation of top-tier talent.

That doesn’t mean the Giants would rule out trading Bart this week, but a one-for-one deal that would ship Bart out for a player who will hit free agency this offseason deviates so far from Zaidi’s plan that it’s hard to fathom.

Even if the Cubs packaged Bryant with All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel, who has a $16 million team option for 2022 with a $1 million buyout, it seems unlikely the Giants would part with Bart. To give up a consensus top-50 prospect on the verge of making major contributions in the big leagues, Zaidi would almost certainly need to acquire a premier talent with at least one additional year of team control.

Those types of players aren’t often available in midseason deals, but Nationals shortstop Trea Turner, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, and Rangers slugger Joey Gallo, might convince Zaidi to more seriously entertain the possibility of trading Bart.

It remains possible the Giants will move Bart in a deal involving Bryant, but as Morosi noted, any potential trade would likely need to involve at least one player with multiple years of team control coming from Chicago to San Francisco. A Cubs team looking to shed salary might be willing to include starter Kyle Hendricks, who is owed $28 million over the next two seasons, in a trade alongside Bryant to heat up the conversation, but in all likelihood, the two sides might be a better match on a simpler deal.

Should the Giants decide to make Bryant their top target ahead of Nationals ace Max Scherzer at this year’s deadline, sending out a top-10 prospect such as Alexander Canario and packaging him with a young bullpen arm such as Camilo Doval or Kervin Castro might compel the Cubs to make a deal.

Current Giants general manager Scott Harris worked under Cubs executive Jed Hoyer in Chicago and knows what Chicago values, so the familiarity could ultimately help San Francisco land Bryant, a former NL MVP. Harris and Hoyer also know that the days of sending out a top prospect for a rental, as the Cubs did when they traded Gleyber Torres to the Yankees for closer Aroldis Chapman in 2016, are pretty much over.

As we’ve noted, Bryant and Bart may be on the move this week. But it would be the most shocking move of the Zaidi era to see the duo traded straight up for one another.