MLB trade deadline candidates — Bats

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There are three teams I could really see making a serious push for Brandon Drury: the Mariners, Dodgers, and Giants, and all of them could use Drury for different reasons.

The Dodgers love defensive versatility, and Drury is spectacular in that department. The Dodgers love to move players around and experiment with different lineups. For goodness sake, they put both Mookie Betts and Max Muncy at second base last year. Drury would fit in nicely to either the third base or second base role. Justin Turner isn’t playing up to his usual level and Gavin Lux has just four home runs and an OPS under .800 this year. At worst, Drury would be a great fill-in player with a lot of pop on a team in dire need of infield depth.

The Mariners have gotten very little help from their designated hitters this year. They’ve recorded a -0.6 WAR in fact. While Drury wouldn’t serve as a DH, his versatility defensively would give the Mariners an opportunity to move a more competent hitter like Eugenio Suarez to the DH role if they really wanted to. That said, they could also just slot Drury at second. Former All-Star Adam Frazier has an abysmal 78 OPS-plus in 2022. I’m sure the Mariners wouldn’t mind getting his bat out of the lineup for a while. Perhaps the pair could form a platoon — Drury in against lefties, Frazier against righties.

Then there’s the Giants, who, much like the Dodgers, love versatile defenders, but more importantly, have struggled with injuries at each of Drury’s favorite positions. Evan Longoria and Tommy La Stella have both missed considerable time with injuries this year and Drury would not only give the Giants a great insurance option if either were to go down again, but would also provide some much needed power for a Giants’ lineup that finished first in the league in home runs last season, yet finds themselves barely scratching the top-10 in 2022. The Giants need power to thrive and Drury’s 18 home runs would be more than anybody on the Giants this year. Yes, I know that he’s hitting these dingers at the famously hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark, but the Giants are desperate for any kind of power.

Of these three teams, the Mariners are the most likely to land Drury in my opinion. Not only are they the most desperate to fill a lineup spot with a strong hitter, but they’re currently in the middle of their best season in a long time. Yes, they were solid last year too, but their underlying stats said they were overachievers, destined to fall back to Earth. In 2022, they are not. Their success is real and they know it. If they’re going to trade away resources in an effort to gear up for the playoffs, this is the year to do so.

Best Fits: Mariners, Dodgers, Giants

Prediction: Drury winds up in Seattle



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