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Giants ‘interested’ in trading for Blue Jays center fielder [report]

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The Giants might already have a speedy, defense-first center fielder in Steven Dugger, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t keen on adding another.

San Francisco has interest in trading for Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar, multiple sources have told Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Pillar, 29, isn’t scheduled to become a free agent until 2021.

The Giants interest in Pillar likely stems from the righty’s ability to hit left-handed pitching (career slash line of .281/.315/.437 vs. LHP), making him an interesting platoon partner with the left-handed Duggar, at least in theory. The hole in that theory is that Duggar crushed left handers last year, posting a .333 batting average and .846 OPS compared with a .222 batting average and .627 OPS vs. righties.

Another theory floated by Pavlovic has to do with the front office’s desire to play two natural center fielders simultaneously, due to the large and hard to navigate nature of the AT&T Park outfield.

“Right field at our place is just as hard as playing center field,” one source told Pavlovic.

A Southern California native, Pillar has been with the Blue Jays since they drafted him out of CSU Dominguez Hills in 2011, and been the starting center fielder on the big league club for the better part of four seasons. Pillar has been consistently average at the plate during that span with an OPS hovering around .700 while averaging 12.5 home runs per season.

Defense is where Pillar makes his money, however, and the center fielder is responsible for some of the more incredible catches we’ve seen in recent years.