MLB Rumors: Red-hot Giants could flip from sellers to buyers

There's no official report on what the San Francisco Giants — or any MLB team, for that matter — plans to do at the trade deadline. The most people can do is speculate, and right now, the Giants' red-hot form seems to suggest the Bay Area club is leaning toward buying in August.

The Giants, currently second in the NL West with a 45-35 record, have been on a tear in the last two months. Since May 1, San Francisco have won 34 and lost 18; that pace would have them at 105 wins over the course of an entire season.

Whereas other teams have fallen far down the pedestal or are wiggling back and forth between selling and buying, the Giants have played like one of the league's best teams recently and will likely act like one at the deadline.

Again, there's no official word on what the Giants will exactly do. The Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi did say the team will be "aggressive" buyers at the deadline at the start of June, and the Giants' blistering streak thus far supports that claim.

After the rough offseason San Francisco went through, who would have guessed the team would be in this fine position?

MLB Rumors: Cardinals-Angels 'outrageous' trade involves moving Paul Goldschmidt

'Tis the season for proposing outrageous MLB trades, and one thought experiment by Bleacher Report has the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Angels doing business with each other.

In the trade, the Angels receive Paul Goldschmidt and the Cardinals receive Logan O'Hoppe and Victor Mederos.

Many people stopped reading at "Paul Goldschmidt" since it feels highly unlikely St. Louis is actually going to deal him in 2023. Yet the Cardinals' terrible 2023 season and Goldschmidt's high desirability may suggest, in theory, that St. Louis may want to rebuild and see what the team can get in return for the reigning NL MVP.

In indulging such a trade with the Angels, would the Cardinals benefit long-term though?

Dealing their star slugger for the fair but not particularly useful returns of O'Hoppe and Mederos just doesn't feel like a savvy business move. O'Hoppe, the Angels' top-ranked prospect, looks like he has the potential to develop into a franchise catcher, but the Cards just signed Willson Contreras and aren't trying to give him the boot yet.

Mederos would supply the Cards with a solid arm albeit not a headlining one. He has a 5.98 ERA in Double-A this season and wouldn't make an immediate impact in a down-bad Cards team. St. Louis needs reliable pitching help, and Mederos' 5.98 ERA just doesn't cut it.

Zach Rotman of FanSided's Halo Hangout gave this trade a C, and from the Cards' perspective, it doesn't feel like a wise investment, either.

This outrageous trade gets a D from us.

MLB Rumors: Pirates could take Paul Skenes with No. 1 pick

Most MLB pundits believe the Pittsburgh Pirates will take Dylan Crews with their first pick of the draft.

The Athletic's Keith Law (subscription required) would like to respectfully disagree.

Law sees the Pirates drafting ace Paul Skenes over the outfielder. Why? According to Law, "there's a rumor running around that Dylan Crews doesn't want to go to the Pirates for some reason."

While Pittsburgh may still go after Crews, fellow LSU star Paul Skenes may turn out to be the better long-term pick. His scouting report reads:

Skenes is the hardest-throwing amateur starter I've ever seen, even beating out Hunter Greene and Gerrit Cole; when I saw Skenes pitch at the Box this April, he hit 100 or 101 mph seven times in the first inning and didn't throw a fastball under 96.

If you're going into the draft hoping you can find a Justin Verlander type, he's your guy.

So, Crews or Skenes? One of them is going first. The Pirates only have a handful of days to figure out which player they want.

Either way, it's Geaux Pirates.