Giants latest call up is stark reminder of Guardians previous trade deadline mistake 

A little more than two years ago, the Cleveland Guardians attempted to add to their pitching depth by acquiring Alex Cobb from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for minor league pitcher Jacob Bresnahan and a player to be named later who eventually became infield prospect Nate Furman. 

It’s been one of the worst trades in recent Guardians history. 

Cobb (who was hurt at the time of the deal) ended up throwing just 16 1/3 regular season innings with the Guardians before making two ill-fated appearances in the postseason. 

While the immediate reaction may be to criticize the inclusion of Bresnahan in the deal (especially since the Guardians don’t have a ton of pitching depth), Furman’s going to get the first opportunity to cause Guardians fans to feel big league regret. 

On Saturday, the Giants called Furman up from the minors in place of catcher Jesús Rodríguez, who hit the injured list with an elbow injury. 

Although Furman has yet to record an MLB at-bat, it won’t take much for him to turn the trade into even more of a win for the Giants given how little Cobb gave the Guardians. 

Nate Furman’s promotion twists the Alex Cobb knife into the Guardians a little more 

Furman seemed like a bit of a lottery ticket prospect at the time of the deal since he was coming off a season at Single-A and High-A where most of his production was on the basepaths (37 steals). 

But he turned that around in the Giants system, and was in the midst of a strong season at Triple-A prior to his promotion where he had a .284/.370/.405 slashline. 

His profile really rose last season when he recorded a 1.100 OPSin 36 minor league games after missing the start of the season with a shoulder injury. 

Furman’s going to be joining one of the worst teams in MLB (47-65 record), so he should get plenty of runway to play the rest of the season (especially if the Giants end up trading Luis Arraez). 

He can play all over the infield and has recorded nearly as many walks (48) as strikeouts (54) this season. He has the same kind of profile as almost every Guardians’ prospect, though now that profile is going to be the Giants’ gain. 

But Furman’s promotion also doesn’t take anything away from Bresnahan, who is ranked as the Giants’ No. 7 prospect by MLB Pipeline. He has a 2.93 ERA in 76 2/3 innings at High-A this season, and is starting to pitch his way into the Giants future. 

Although the Guardians struck gold on their 2024 signings of Matthew Boyd and Ben Lively, their trade for Cobb showed there are clear limits to how much fairy dust they have for injured pitchers. 

Furman’s promotion is another example of that.

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