MLB News and Updates 2016: Giants Trade for Gordon Beckham in Last Gamble for NL Wild Card
Teams in Major League Baseball are riding out the last week of the regular season, fighting to solidify their spot in the playoffs. The Chicago Cubs are the best team in MLB this year and are looking at home advantage throughout the postseason en route to the coveted World Series spot.
The Boston Red Sox, meanwhile, are hanging on to a division victory, neck and neck against the Texas Rangers in the American League. While these top teams are on quite comfortable spots in the playoffs, a team struggling to clinch a place in the postseason is shuffling its pieces in a gamble for a deep run.
Giants' struggles
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The San Francisco Giants would still need to pull off big games down the stretch. They will face the Los Angeles Dodgers in their final games of the season, a team locked in No. 2-seed contention vs. the Washington Nationals.
For their part, the Giants are fighting for the National League wildcard in a three-way battle against the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets. They only have a half-game lead over St. Louis for the second spot and it can be largely attributed to their cold stretch in the second half.
The Giants were having one of their best seasons this year, but after the All-Star break, things went haywire. They went 25-41 in the second half until last week, with a minus-16 run differential. To add to their dilemmas on the field, Johnny Cueto went down with a groin injury last week.
Trade for Gordon Beckham
Gordon Beckham is not exactly an All-Star piece. He might not be a game-changer either, but he could be a key in the final games of the season for the playoff-hopeful Giants.
San Francisco acquired Beckham in a trade that sent Rich Rodriguez back to the league-bottom Atlanta Braves, plus cash. Beckham had hit .217 and five home runs with 30 RBI this season, but he would only have to do great in the last couple of games for the Giants.
San Francisco is banking on Beckham only as an infield safety net, with Eduardo Nunez uncertain for at least two games to close the season. Moreover, Beckham would not be eligible for the Giants' postseason roster with the waiver trade deadline over, but he can help the team get there in the final stretch.
