Giants get RH Mike Leake from Reds for another playoff run

CINCINNATI (AP) – The Reds shipped starter Mike Leake to the San Francisco Giants for a pair of prospects on Thursday night, bolstering the defending World Series champions for another playoff run. He has pitched exceptionally well of late, posting a 0.60 ERA in 30 innings over his past four starts. While adding Leake could help the team win a few more games this season, postseason baseball does not appear to be in the team’s near future.

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Mike Leake watches from the dugout…

The 27-year-old will give Bruce Bochy another solidified starter in his rotation, leaving the team with just one slot to worry about.

Leake will be a free agent at the end of the season, but San Francisco has been effective in retaining many of their recent deadline acquisitions, with guys like Hunter Pence and Peavy remaining with the club for multiple seasons after their initial arrival.

They were interested in Hamels, who waived his no-trade clause to consider the Giants. “He will do whatever it takes”. Also going to the Reds, slugger Adam Duvall, who had 77 plate appearances with the Giants in 2014.

Cincinnati (46-54) are 18 games behind NL Central leaders St Louis and the deal comes about a week after they traded away ace pitcher Johnny Cueto to Kansas City.

Duvall, 26, was selected by San Francisco in the 11th round of the June 2010 first-year player draft. 279 with 26 homers and 79 RBIs at Triple-A Sacramento.

Mella, 21, was signed by the Giants as a non-drafted free agent in September 2011. He went 5-3 with a 3.31 ERA in 16 starts for Class A San Jose this season. He was a Cal League mid-season All-Star, was selected to play in this summer’s SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Great American Ball Park and now is ranked by MLB.com’s MLB Pipeline as the top prospect in the Giants’ organization.

Fans of the Red Sox want the rotation to be rebuilt now, not in the offseason, but maybe waiting is the best course of action at this point.

The team had been linked to Leake a few weeks ago, but not much progress had been made on a potential deal until things came together quickly on Thursday. Homer Bailey had Tommy John surgery and won’t be back until sometime next season, leaving rookie starters to finish out the season.