The rumor mill doesn’t usually ramp ump until closer to the trade deadline, but two of the biggest stars in MLB could reportedly be on the move within the next year.
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees is due to become a free agent this offseason, and has already been linked to a number of team’s including the Giants. Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals, meanwhile, has two years of arbitration left, but has recently been the subject of trade rumors, the Giants thought to be a team that would be interested.
Giants beat writer Susan Slusser joined Murph & Mac on Friday and gave her take on both rumors.
“I certainly don’t see Judge happening this year, but he could be somebody who tempts them as a free agent,” Slusser said on KNBR.
What about Soto? Slusser seems to think a deadline deal for him could be more likely.
“Who wouldn’t want Juan Soto, my goodness. That I could see. I’m sure they are having talks. Did anybody think the Giants were going to be the team that wound up with Kris Bryant last year? No. So sometimes when the rumors come out this early, it winds up being not even close to what winds up being in reality.”
While those are the two sexiest names that have been linked to the Giants, Slusser believes that a catcher is probably at the top of their wishlist currently.
“They’re very big on clubhouse chemistry, and I’m not sure how they rate some of these potential guys on clubhouse chemistry. To me for the Giants this year, their need is going to be another catcher in seeing how things go with Joey Bart in the next month or two. That’s probably the area that I’m looking at most practically for the Giants.”
“I’ve been saying Sean Murphy for so long. Someone like that on a team that’s got very little chance on going anywhere and has a good young catcher. I think would be a very good fit.”
Murphy, 27, is playing across the Bay with the Oakland A’s, and won the Gold Glove in 2021 while slashing .216/.306/.405 with 17 home runs.
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Murph & Mac weekdays from 6 – 10 a.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.