San Francisco Giants: Jonathan Sanchez Traded to Kansas City for Melky Cabrera

After seemingly years of speculation, the San Francisco Giants traded starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez and minor-league lefty Ryan Verdugo to the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Melky Cabrera.

Sanchez, who was drafted by the Giants in the 27th round of the 2004 MLB Draft, has always been one of those pitchers that you expect to break out season to season. He’s posted K/9 rates of 8.9+ in each of his four full seasons as a starter while showing brief glimpses of front-of-the-rotation talent. His no-hitter on July 10, 2009 was the team’s first in over three decades, but it also probably bought him a few more inconsistent seasons than he deserved.

As great as Sanchez was and as high as his ceiling appeared, he simply has not been able to shake his inconsistency issues.

Sanchez, who turns 29 this month, is coming off one of his worst seasons of his career, posting a 1.441 WHIP and career-high 5.9 BB/9 over 19 starts. Expected to make over $5 million in arbitration this winter, it was time for the Giants to trade Sanchez, even if this is much lower value than we may have expected him to go for at this time last year.

In return, the Giants get some much-needed offensive help, but just how much remains to be seen.

Melky Cabrera, 27, is coming off a career season in which he batted .305 with 18 homers, 87 RBIs, 20 steals and 102 runs, terrific numbers at the top of a weak Kansas City offense.

However, since debuting with the Yankees back in 2006, Cabrera has never been considered more than big-league average, a .260-.270 hitter with average pop at best. While he is certainly coming into the peak years of his career, Cabrera has yet to string a pair of good seasons together. Doesn't sound like much of an upgrade from Andres Torres if you're asking me.

Slated to make $4 million this winter in arbitration, Cabrera will slot at either 1 or 2 in the batting order while manning center field.

I hate to ever call a buy-high, sell-low situation a good play (because frankly they very rarely are), but this trade does make sense for the Giants. As great as Sanchez can be, he's been a migraine for the team. I'm by no means ready to call Cabrera the real deal, but he's at least the most talented outfielder on the roster now.

While the value of the trade will only continue to be debated, it certainly answers a few questions entering the offseason. The aforementioned Torres (arbitration) and Cody Ross (free agency) are increasingly unlikely to return for 2012, and the team looks to be out of the market for free agents Coco Crisp and Grady Sizemore.

A lot still remains to be done this offseason for GM Brian Sabean, but Monday’s move did at least address the Giants dearth of offensive help...a little bit. Next up: negotiations with Carlos Beltran.