Bullpen is providing fodder for trade talk

LAS VEGAS — The Cardinals need a closer and really want Will Smith from the Giants. The player they want to trade is first baseman and outfielder Jose Martinez, who has the thump the Giants desperately need but is not what one would consider a Gold Glovecaliber fielder.

In fact, Martinez is subpar, the type of player the Giants of old would not have dreamed about sticking into the vast AT&T Park outfield. Would they consider sacrificing defense for offense now?

Yes, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said. In fact, the issue arose during internal meetings Tuesday when discussions turned to a particular outfielder, not necessarily Martinez.

“If you’re a double-plus offensive player and you’re giving back a little defensively, that would still be an upgrade from our current outfield group,” Zaidi said. “I think we’ve got to assess those guys not against some ultimate ideal, but against their incremental improvement to what we have.”

But there’s bad defense and really bad defense. When one potential outfield acquisition came up, a Giants official said, “I’ve seen worse.”

“I replied, ‘That’s not necessarily the standard we want to apply,’ ” Zaidi said. “We won’t wind up with a guy where we say, ‘I’ve never seen worse.’ ” Trading relievers: Smith and other Giants back-end relievers such as Sam Dyson and Tony Watson are attracting a lot of interest because they are relatively inexpensive compared with free agents such as Craig Kimbrel and Adam Ottavino. That could work to the Giants’ advantage.

Zaidi believes he can leverage demand for his relievers into deals for starters — those who are big-league ready and those who might need a little more seasoning — and outfielders. And he would be willing to trade some relief depth at the right price.

“If we keep this group intact, it’s going to be one of the best groups in the National League,” Zaidi said. “If it makes sense for us to move somebody to fill needs on the position-player side or the rotation, I think we’re still going to go into next year with a pretty good core.” Seeking Tulowitzki: The Giants, like the A's, plan to check on former Colorado shortstop and Sunnyvale native Troy Tulowitzki, who can be signed for the major-league minimum after the Blue Jays released him Tuesday.