Giants Possible Trade Target Seth Lugo Agrees to Extension with Royals

The San Francisco Giants remain in the Wild Card hunt, three games back, but are falling out of the division race, despite struggles from division rivals in July.

With the trade deadline approaching, signs point to San Francisco buying this season. While pitching is a big need for the team, one of the top targets is now off the market.

Kansas City's Seth Lugo was linked to a few teams this deadline season and he was a big part of the rumor mill. However on Sunday night, ESPN's Jeff Passan broke the news that the Royals had signed Lugo to a multiyear extension, taking him off of the board entirely.

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A reliever for seven years, Lugo began starting as a 33-year-old in 2023. The 35-year-old broke out with Kansas City in 2024. He started 33 games, throwing 206.2 innings with a 3.00 ERA and 5.4 bWAR. Lugo earned his first All-Star nod, won a Gold Glove and finished second in Cy Young voting.

This season was set to be Lugo's walk year, and he has been pitching like he wanted a deal. In 19 starts, Lugo has a 2.95 ERA and has struck out 99 batters in 113 innings. His 3.2 bWAR was going to be a huge trade chip and earn him a good contract in the offseason. Instead, he stays in Kansas City.

San Francisco's biggest needs heading down the stretch is starting pitching. Logan Webb and Robbie Ray were both All-Stars, but there are struggles behind them. Lugo was likely going to be a target at some point during the process.

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Ken Rosenthal, a reporter for The Athletic, had stated that pitching was going to be a position they wanted. Few pitchers on the market are better options than Lugo was going to be.

Now, they look to other options on the market, such as Luis Severino and Merrill Kelly, or to the farm for someone like Carson Whisenhunt. All options should be on the board if they want to acquire more pitching.

With Hayden Birdsong's struggles and demotion and Landen Roupp's injury, the back half of the Giants' rotation is in desperate need of innings. While they might use a bullpen game until Roupp returns, San Francisco needs to fill that fifth spot.

The quick fix would be to promote Whisenhunt and look ahead to the deadline for even more depth.

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