By Morris Phillips

The Giants consummated a pair of trade deadline deals on Monday and the cost of acquiring reliever Will Smith from Milwaukee and starting pitcher Matt Moore from Tampa Bay was enormous.

Gone are 21-year old Phil Bickford, youthful shortstop prospect Lucius Fox, former big league catcher Andrew Susac, and the biggest surprise, starting third baseman Matt Duffy, who was thought to be on track to rejoin the Giants on the upcoming road trip to Philadelphia and Washington.

Instead, Duffy appears to be on his way to becoming the starting shortstop for the Rays.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t heartbroken about leaving the group of guys and fans in SF,” Duffy said. “But I’m also excited about the opportunity to help push the Rays over the top and be a contender in the AL East.”

Moore, a left handed starter, is two years removed from Tommy John surgery and has pitched extremely well over his last 10 starts for the Rays. While the cost to acquire Moore was high, the Giants get a starting pitcher that’s under control for several seasons going forward, and can slot into the third starter position, temporarily dropping struggling Jeff Samardzija down a spot, and likely bumping Jake Peavy out of the rotation.

Most recently, Moore won at Dodgers Stadium against the lefty-leaning Los Angeles lineup, pitching into the seventh inning and allowing just one run, four hits. Previous to that, Moore won in Oakland, holding the A’s in check for seven innings. Moore had demanded that the Rays allow all of the starters to pitch deeper in ballgames, and Moore benefitted when the Tampa coaching staff relented. He’s thrown at least six innings in each of his last 10 starts with the one sore spot being the eight home runs Moore allowed.

Fox, 21-year old pitcher Michael Santos and Duffy were all shipped to Tampa Bay for Moore. In the other deal, Susac and Bickford went to Milwaukee for Smith.

Smith, a quality, left handed setup man, has not pitched at his best over the last month, but is envisioned as a replacement for the retired Jeremy Affeldt, and the struggling Javier Lopez. Smith obviously is not the knock out acquisition that Aroldis Chapman was for the Cubs, or Andrew Miller was for the Indians. But the Giants quickly found out that they were short can’t miss prospects to complete a deal for an elite closer, and Smith was the next step down in terms of what pitchers were available.

Smith’s acquisition likely means that Santiago Casilla will continue to be the closer for the Giants, and Smith will slip into a setup role with Sergio Romo. Since the Giants did not acquire a big-time closer, expect the Giants’ coaching staff to challenge the relievers they have—most importantly George Kontos, Derek Law, and Hunter Strickland—to pitch better down the stretch as they get more acclimated to being in more defined roles.

On Tuesday, the Giants start a three-game set in Philadelphia with Madison Bumgarner facing the Phillies’ Zach Eflin at 4:05pm.