San Francisco Giants 'Expressed Interest' in Acquiring Silver Slugger Outfielder

The San Francisco Giants reportedly tried to make a trade for a power-hitting outfielder earlier this offseason.

Aug 28, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr. (88) scores against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of game two of the doubleheader at Guaranteed Rate Field / Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants knew they needed to increase the pop in their lineup.

It's been well documented they haven't had one of their players hit 30-plus home runs in a single season since Barry Bonds accomplished that feat in 2004, and with Major League Baseball transitioning into more of a power-hitting game, that is a statistic which has proven to be detrimental for this club.

The Giants hope they addressed that with the signing of Willy Adames.

He's gone over that plateau twice during his career and has hit 20 or more homers in five out of his seven years in The Show.

While Oracle Park is not a hitter's friendly stadium by any means, the slugging shortstop will certainly help increase the power numbers that have been lacking in San Francisco for quite some time.

However, it seems like new president of baseball operations, Buster Posey, also tried to add some insurance to his lineup when it comes to home run threats.

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, they were looking into acquiring Luis Robert Jr. of the Chicago White Sox.

"The San Francisco Giants also expressed interest in Robert earlier this offseason, but those talks, too, failed to produce a trade," the insider reported.

That's an interesting bit of information.

Outfield seems to be the least of the Giants' worries, especially after the emergence of Heliot Ramos, who also could provide the pop they're looking for this year, and the signing of Jung Hoo Lee the previous winter.

It would have been interesting to see what type of package San Francisco would have been willing to give up and how they would have deployed their outfield unit going forward.

Right now, the projection is Ramos will be in left, Grant McCray mans center and veteran Mike Yastrzemski is in right until Lee makes his full return from shoulder surgery that caused him to miss a good chunk of last year.

Robert would have boosted this lineup when it comes to power.

He had a breakout in 2023 when he blasted 38 home runs and had 80 RBI to take home his first-ever Silver Slugger Award, but he's also had trouble staying on the field due to injury and provides some inconsistency at the plate with his approach that has seen his career strikeout percentage sit at 27%.

The White Sox also have been known to have a high asking price for their stars, and since the Giants already don't have a strong farm system, gutting it to land Robert with an already strong outfield group on paper seems to be something Posey wasn't willing to do.