The best get better, as the Giants acquire former AL all-star southpaw, Matt Moore, from the Tampa Bay Rays, but it was a bitter sweet move for both teams. The Rays have not made a big move in years, but have now at 2016’s trade deadline in order to bolster their already good farm system. With San Fran being cold since the all-star break, allowing the Dodgers to inch up to 2 games back in the NL West, the Giants made a move to improve their already solid pitching staff, despite what they gave up in return.
Matt Moore is now the second lefty in the Giants rotation behind Madison Bumgarner. Despite the not so stellar ERA, Matt Moore does have a quality start percentage of 57% compared to the MLB average of 52%. In Tampa, Moore had the pressure on his shoulders of being the #2 or ace of the staff, all while facing AL East sluggers. Now being in the NL and the #3 or #4 guy on a championship contending team, the southpaw may turn back to his 2013 form when he finished 9th in the AL Cy Young race. Despite being yet another good arm to add depth to the Giants staff, was he worth giving up Matt Duffy and two good prospects for?
With the acquisition of Eduardo Nunez a week earlier, sending Matt Duffy to Tampa may have been all part of the plan when Nunez was added. With that said, the loss of the stellar 2015 rookie, Duffy, may not hurt so bad for the performance of the team, but he sure was loved by the San Fran fan base. Other than him, Tampa acquired pitching prospect Michael Santos (#30 ranked in Rays’ system) and shortstop prospect Lucius Fox (#7 in Rays’ system). Yes, these two prospects have some very good upside, but MLB Pipeline has them both projected to be major league ready in 2019, so it may be a ways down the road before it can be determined whether this was a good move for Tampa or not. As Matt Moore hasn’t been performing up to all-star caliber yet and Tampa has been waiting the last 2 years for him to get fully healthy, this was as good of a move for the Rays as it was for the Giants. Again, Moore may have the potential, and one year of evidence, of being an ace type, but he is no Cy Young Award winner, so with that said, and considering how well Tampa produces pitchers, the Rays may be the long term winner, and possibly the short term, depending on how well Moore pitches with the Giants.
