San Francisco Giants Acquire Marlon Byrd from Cincinnati Reds

The San Francisco Giants have acquired outfielder Marlon Byrd from the Cincinnati Reds just a day after Chase Utley, Dodgers swap.

Byrd, who is having a funky year, has battled his share of injuries this season, but has bounced back quite nicely, registering a slash line of .258/.286/.454. Outside of those weird blimps, Byrd is actually having a down season and is only batting .237. 

His on base percentage is nothing to be desired either. The only positive is that he is showing an increase of home runs this season with 19 home runs thus far. 

However, his presence should provide the San Francisco Giants with a ton of flexibility as they battle the injury bug themselves. Joe Panik, Hunter Pence, and Nori Aoki have all had their sling of injuries this year, which has made it almost impossible for the Giants to fill out their lineup card. 

They had to rely on players such as Gregor Blanco, Justin Maxwell, and Brandon Belt to fill out their outfield. To top it all off, Angel Pagan is having a terrible year and does not look like a starting-caliber center fielder anymore.

Marlon Byrd will probably slot in at left field while Nori Aoki slides to the right side, a position he has played for the majority of his career. 

Once Pagan and Pence come back, Byrd could move to a bench role or remain the left fielder with Aoki taking over in center, a position where his light throwing skills will not be such a problem.

Byrd also won’t cost the Giants much as they only lose right handed pitcher Stephen Johnson. 

Johnson, who is a former sixth round pick in 2012, started his career off strong, but has had control problems recently and for all intent and purposes has fallen off the prospect map. 

If he can get his control back, which he has been showing signs of, he could become a back of the rotation starter or more likely a middle reliever.