The Reds and Giants reached a deal late last night just over three weeks before the trade deadline. According to an announcement from both clubs, the Reds acquired the outfielder Austin Slater from San Francisco in exchange for a left-hander Alex Young. Cincinnati also receives cash considerations as part of the deal. The Giants have optioned Young to Triple-A as a result of the trade.
Slater, 31, has been around the Giants organization for more than a decade. His professional career began when he was drafted by the club out of Stanford in the eighth round of the 2014 draft, though he didn’t make his major league debut with the club until he was 24 in 2017. Slater was largely a part-time player during his early years in San Francisco, racking up just 544 major league plate appearances between 2017 and 2019. In that limited playing time, he posted a decent .254/.335/.368 batting line that gave him a 92 wRC+ while splitting time between all three outfield positions, first base, and even making brief appearances at second and third base.
The shortened 2020 season saw Slater break out in a big way, as he posted a stellar 150 wRC+ for the Giants while appearing in 31 of the club’s 60 games that year, primarily playing right field and designated hitter for the club. That offensive burst earned Slater a larger role in the years that followed, and while the majority of his playing time still came against left-handed pitchers, he carved out more of a platoon role for himself as opposed to the backup outfielder role he had previously been used in. Slater took to his increased responsibilities very well, and between the 2020 and 2023 seasons, the lefty hit a solid .259/.352/.421 (118 wRC+).
That line goes from solid to sensational when looking exclusively at his production against lefties, against whom he smashed to the tune of a .285/.380/.486 line with a wRC+ of 141. That production against left-handed pitchers ranked 17th in baseball over that four-year span, tied with all-star hitters such as Jose Altuve And Xander Bogaerts.
While the Giants relied heavily on Slater as a platoon partner for a primarily left-handed outfield featuring hitters such as Mike Yastrzemski, Michel ConfortoAnd Joc Pederson During those years, Slater’s playing time was further reduced by injuries. Since the start of the 2020 campaign, Slater has made seven trips to the injured list for groin, hamstring, wrist and hand issues as well as multiple concussions. Slater also required elbow surgery last offseason to remove a bone spur and relieve nerve pain.
It’s possible that the long list of injuries contributed to what has been a difficult 2024 season for the 31-year-old, as he’s hitting just .200/.330/.244 in 112 at-bats this season after a month-long stint on the injured list with a concussion earlier this year. Those struggles have ultimately paved the way for the youngsters Heliot Ramos And Luis Matos to oust Slater from playing time in the Giants’ outfield, as Ramos has become a regular in center field while Matos serves as a right-handed complement off the bench for Yastrzemski and Conforto.
In acquiring Slater, the Reds are likely hoping to extract some of that left-handed hitting ability he’s shown in previous years and make him a valuable platoon partner for the club’s many left-handed outfielders. Slater’s main competition for playing time in that role appears to be Stuart Fairchildwho has posted a mediocre .224/.298/.347 (81 wRC+) in 189 at-bats this year. In the short term, however, both Fairchild and Slater should get plenty of reps alongside Will Benson And Spencer Steer in the club’s outdoor mix thanks to the absences of Jake Fraley, TJ FriedlAnd Nick Martini. Fraley is currently on the family medical emergency list and will likely return in a few days, but Friedl and Martini are both on injured reserve and face potentially extended periods of absence.
In exchange for parting ways with Slater, the Giants are getting help from left-hander Young. Once a second-round pick by the Diamondbacks in the 2015 draft, the lefty made his major league debut in 2019 and generally struggled at the major league level in a pivotal role with Arizona and Cleveland. That changed in 2022, when Young was acquired by San Francisco in a cash deal from the Guardians and began pitching in a full-time relief role. The lefty performed quite well in his first stint with the Giants, posting a 2.39 ERA and 2.96 FIP in 26 1/3 innings of work before being waived by San Francisco the following November.
Young was eventually signed by the Reds on a minor league deal ahead of the 2023 season and has remained with the club ever since. He had solid middle relief performances with the club last year, pitching to a 3.86 ERA despite a mediocre 4.99 FIP. While Young’s 21.2% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate were both perfectly solid, he allowed a whopping ten home runs in his 53 2/3 innings of work with the Reds last year.
Young spent most of the 2024 season at Triple-A for the Reds, though he posted impressive numbers in both his two scoreless innings at the major league level and in his more significant work in the minor leagues. In 23 appearances with the club’s affiliate in Louisville this year, Young posted a sparkling 1.19 ERA while striking out a solid 25.3% of batters faced. Unfortunately, the lefty wasn’t able to get much playing time in the major leagues with the Reds this year due to the club’s deep bullpen, which includes each of the Justin Wilson, Sam MollAnd Brent Suter as quality left-handed options.
That made Young replaceable enough that the Reds were willing to part ways with him, and it’s easy to see how the lefty could impact a Giants bullpen that has relied heavily on Erik Miller act as a secondary left-handed reliever behind a high-leverage arm Taylor Rogers. Miller, a 26-year-old rookie with a 3.51 ERA and 4.49 FIP in 41 innings of work this year, features a much more pronounced platoon split than Young has in recent years, and Oracle Park’s spacious outfield should be a great fit for Young that helps reduce his propensity to give up home runs.
San Francisco is also sending money to Cincinnati in the Slater deal, a fact that could factor into the club’s final luxury tax calculation later this year. Before the trade, RosterResource reported that the Giants had a luxury tax payroll of just under $254 million, or just over $3 million below the second luxury tax threshold. Slater is making $4 million this year, while Young is making a salary of $1.16 million. Depending on how much cash the Giants include in the deal, it’s possible the trade could provide the added benefit of giving the club additional financial breathing room below the second luxury tax threshold.
News Source : www.mlbtraderumors.com
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