7/3 10:52: Buster Olney of ESPN tweets, “Heard this: There have been no recent trade talks between the Giants and Brewers about Prince Fielder.”

Olney adds this in his ESPN Insider blog:

It’s hard to envision Milwaukee having this conversation without Matt Cain coming up as a deal breaker. Jonathan Sanchez isn’t enough; neither is Madison Bumgarner, so unless the Giants put Cain in an offer — and it’s hard to imagine they would, given the red flags that are popping up with Tim Lincecum — it doesn’t seem like there is a Fielder-Giants match. We’ll see.

7/3 01:22: The San Francisco Giants need some offensive pop if they want to stay in the National League West race. Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury says GM Brian Sabean is looking for a left-handed hitter to firm up the middle of the lineup. He’s made it clear that he does not want a rental, so is the Milwaukee Brewers’ Prince Fielder the answer?

“We are not interested in free agents,” Sabean told Jeff Fletcher of FanHouse. “We don’t want to rent players. That doesn’t make sense for us. We’ve got to find someone we can control, much like the Freddy Sanchez deal, and hope that presents itself.”

Fielder has the big bat and he’s under contract until then end of 2011, so he could be what Sabean is looking for.

If the Giants want to make an attractive offer to the Brewers, it is likely they will need to include one of their front-line pitchers. ESPN Insider suggests a Madison Bumgarner or Jonathan Sanchez could get the deal done.

If they can get away with a Bumgarner or Sanchez plus another mid-level prospect for Fielder, I say do it in a heartbeat. The Giants could make a serious run in both 2010 and 2011 if they have that power bat.

Fielder, 26, will be a free agent after the 2011 season and he may command as much as $200 million over eight years – a sum that the Brewers probably cannot afford. The team will be better off trading him this season to get the maximum amount in return – in this case, a front of the rotation starter.