Marlon Byrd to Giants: Latest Trade Details, Comments and Reaction

The San Francisco Giants announced via their Twitter account on Thursday that they acquired outfielder Marlon Byrd and cash from the Cincinnati Reds for Double-A pitcher Stephen Johnson. 

For the Giants, the deal for Byrd was a necessity, as their outfield was worn dangerously thin. The team had just placed Hunter Pence on the disabled list as he deals with an oblique strain, while Nori Aoki made his return from the seven-day concussion disabled list in a corresponding roster move, bolstering the depth at Bruce Bochy's disposal.

“I’m excited to have Marlon,” Bochy said, via Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area. “I really respect how he plays the game. He’s excited about coming here. It’s fair to say we could use some help and experience, and he supplies that.”

Prior to the trade and Aoki's return, Gregor Blanco and Justin Maxwell were the only healthy and established outfielders available with Angel Pagan also shelved on the disabled list, according to MLB.com. 

They've recently relied on 28-year-old outfielder Juan Perez, who made his first appearance with the Giants this season on Aug. 13.     

Now, San Francisco adds an established outfielder who holds plenty of pop in his bat, as the 37-year-old has hit 19 home runs in 96 games with the Reds this season. In return Cincinnati gets a righty reliever in Johnson who is 3-0 with 68 strikeouts in 58.0 innings pitched in Double-A this season, according to MiLB.com.

FanGraphs.com's Kiley McDaniel took a look at what the Reds are getting:

San Francisco currently sits 2.0 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League West Division lead and 3.0 games back of the Chicago Cubs for the final wild-card spot. To make a late-season push, the Giants will need Byrd to replace some of the power lost with Pence injured.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.