Pitching prospect Jacob Bresnahan is joining the Giants system in return.
Alex Cobb’s final season with the San Francisco Giants ended before it ever started. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Giants have traded Cobb to the Cleveland Guardians. The Athletic’s Zack Meisel reports that the Giants are receiving left-handed pitching prospect Jacob Bresnahan and a player to be named later in exchange for Cobb.
Despite undergoing offseason surgery, Cobb looked like he would be a big part of the team’s rotation this year, after the Giants picked up his $10 million option for the season — and at first seemed on pace to return in April or May. But he suffered numerous setbacks, and never made it onto the field for San Francisco this year. Cobb was initially expected to pitch this past weekend, but a popped blister suffered during his final rehab start delayed his return to the field. It’s expected that he’ll be able to join Cleveland’s rotation in the coming week or so.
Like the other notable trades the Giants have made this year — shipping Austin Slater to the Cincinnati Reds a few weeks ago, and sending Jorge Soler to the Atlanta Braves on Monday night — this move seems to be more about clearing the runway for young players than anything else. With it looking increasingly unlikely that the Giants will not trade Blake Snell, the Giants are set to move forward with a rotation of Snell, Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Kyle Harrison, and Hayden Birdsong. Given the excellence that Birdsong has shown, it seems like the Giants justifiably didn’t want to push him back to the Minors for Cobb, and so they opted to save some money and get a prospect for him instead.
While the money savings and job opportunity created for Birdsong are surely the primary incentives for the deal, the Giants are getting an interesting pitcher in Bresnahan. The southpaw was a 13th-round pick in the 2023 draft, but signed for $375,000 … a bonus commensurate with a late fifth-round pick. He posted a 2.54 ERA and a 3.57 FIP, with 63 strikeouts in 46 innings for Cleveland’s Complex League team this year, and was moved to Low-A (where he’s made one appearance) when the Complex League season ended last week.
Most excitingly, Bresnahan — who has been used as a starter — is an incredibly young prospect. He was drafted out of high school (hence the large bonus), and only turned 19 at the end of June.
Best of luck to Cobb in Cleveland, where he’ll have a chance to pitch in the postseason for just the second time … and the first time since 2013. He deserves it!