Giants complete trade for veteran outfielder
The Giants just announced they have added an outfielder, acquiring 37-year-old Marlon Byrd from the Cincinnati Reds for Double-A pitcher Stephen Johnson.
“He still has some old-man strength,” former Reds teammate and current Giants pitcher Mike Leake said.
The 2010 All-Star adds badly needed depth to a Giants bench that had Madison Bumgarner pinch-hit once in each of the past two games at St. Louis.
With Hunter Pence out for at least two weeks, and realistically a lot longer, because of an oblique muscle, and the Giants thin on minor-league outfielders, the organization had been searching for an experienced option from the outside.
A team source told The Chronicle the club did not want to deal for just any outfielder, but one who "moves the needle" offensively.
How much Byrd can move the needle while playing his home games at pitcher-friendly AT&T Park is questionable, but the player he most likely will replace, Ryan Lollis, has one big-league hit.
Overall, he has 23 walks and 101 strikeouts in 388 plate appearances.
In his only All-Star Game appearance in 2010, as a member of the Cubs, Byrd was playing right field with one out in the ninth inning when he fielded a John Buck looper that landed in front of him and threw out Boston's David Ortiz at second base for a force play.