Mark Canha is completing the Bay Area triple.
The San Jose-raised former Oakland A’s outfielder is joining the San Francisco Giants, who acquired him at the MLB trade deadline from the Detroit Tigers.
The 35-year-old Canha heads back to Northern California in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Eric Silva, who has spent 2024 pitching in relief for Double-A Richmond. Silva is not listed among the Giants’ top 30 prospects, per MLB Pipeline.
Canha, a 2007 Bellarmine graduate, started the season hot, but has cooled significantly since. In his first 29 games, he hit five home runs and batted .278 with a .922 OPS. Since then, he is batting .211 with just two home runs over about two months. Canha’s relative positional flexibility may have been a selling point for the Giants: He has played double-digit games in left field and right field, as well as first base.
Canha will be reunited in San Francisco with former A’s manager Bob Melvin and former Oakland third baseman Matt Chapman. He spent the first seven years of his MLB career in Oakland after playing collegiately at Cal.
The best season of his career was 2019, when he slugged 26 home runs and had an OPS of .913.
He left the A’s in free agency in 2021, signing with the Mets. This is the third time in the last year he has been traded: He was traded on July 31, 2023 to Milwaukee for the playoff push, then was sent to the Tigers in November.
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In 50 games with the Brewers last year, Canha batted .287 with a .373 on-base percentage, five homers and 33 RBIs. He produced one of the most memorable moments of the Brewers’ season by hitting a tiebreaking grand slam with two outs in the eighth inning of a 9-5 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sept. 16.
He will presumably split time in the corner outfielder spots with Mike Yastzemski and Michael Conforto, perhaps occasionally spelling LaMonte Wade at first base. Derek Hill has also recently played a few games in the outfield after the Giants traded Austin Slater.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
