San Fran looking for more relief

THE GIANTS filled a need they tried to address in the offseason — a multi-positional player — by obtaining Eduardo Nunez on Thursday night. Now, they are fixated on adding a reliever before the deadline. Outside executives believe they are most focused on Milwaukee’s Will Smith and Jeremy Jeffress. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told the Giants early in the process he did not see suitable matches in San Francisco’s tepid farm system for Aroldis Chapman or Andrew Miller. That likely means the Giants also would have difficulty playing for top relievers such as Kansas City’s Wade Davis or Pittsburgh’s Mark Melancon. However, the Giants’ reputation is to trade what is necessary to upgrade in years they are contending — remember Zack Wheeler for Carlos Beltran? — so outside executives believe they would consider dealing starter Phil Bickford (the 18th overall pick in 2015) to address areas of need. San Francisco’s bullpen is 13-28 with a 3.88 ERA and ranks next-tolast in the NL in Wins Above Replacement. In addition, the main endgame of closer Santiago Casilla, Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez are all free agents after this season. “It would be an advantage to find someone like that [that had control beyond this season,]” Giants GM Bobby Evans said by phone. “But you can’t lessen the quality for 2016 just to get control years.” As for Nunez, the Giants had gone through a lot of backup infield types such as Ruben Tejada, Ramiro Pena, Ehire Adrianza, Conor Gillaspie and Kelby Tomlinson hoping to lessen the workload on their strong starters and fill in during injuries to second baseman Joe Panik and third baseman Matt Duffy. They felt more offensive threat was necessary, so they dealt lefty prospect Adalberto Mejia to Minnesota for Nunez, who is having his best season with 12 homers, an ALbest 27 steals and a .764 OPS. He mainly will play third base until Duffy returns, then play throughout the infield and perhaps in left field. “Versatility, offensive ability and the fact we control him for next year were really important to us,” Evans said.