7:42pm: The deal is official now that Colvin has passed his physical, Schulman tweets.
4:34pm: Colvin himself tweets that he has "signed the dotted line."
10:37am: The Giants have agreed to terms outfielder Tyler Colvin, the Mercury News' Alex Pavlovic tweets. Colvin's contract is a minor-league deal, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Colvin will make $1MM if he makes the team, CBS Sports' Jon Heyman notes. Colvin is represented by Relativity Baseball.
The deal is pending a physical. Colvin had previously agreed to a big-league deal with the Orioles, but the O's backed out of the deal once Colvin took his physical with them, citing back issues.
Colvin, 28, has a career .241/.289/.454 line in 1,167 career plate appearances spread over parts of five seasons with the Cubs and Rockies. The lefty spent much of the 2013 season with Triple-A Colorado Springs, where he hit .275/.377/.480.
I guess Cruz took the spot he was hoping for with the Orioles.
Not a bad sign, Colvin very underrated.
I dunno, he’s pretty bad. Very easy to K, useless unless he’s on one of his occasional hot streaks.
He’s not underrated at all. He’s low risk / high reward. Those are completely different circumstances.
His numbers with cubs before bad management took his spot away says he is underrated.
he never regained form after taking a broken bat through his lungs with the cubs. He was good before that though, no question.
Hmmmm…it seems that they might have doubts about Morse or Blanco making it through for a full season?
More like he makes for a solid fifth outfielder and a PH with a little pop.
This is a minor league deal, not major league. The Giants will not have 5 outfielders on the roster, there’s no room for 5 OF. He will be in Fresno where it looks like he’ll be standing by as a call up if Morse or Blanco have problems.
I’d way rather have Colvin over Blanco, IMO
Uhm, no. Blanco had more WAR just last year (2.5) than Colvin has in his career (1.1, over 1167 PA). Heck, even if you take out Blanco’s superb D, his OWAR alone from last year takes it.
Colvin has a place on this team, don’t read me wrong, but not over Blanco. I’d like to see just how well he translates going from two hitters parks to a pitchers park. But if he can provide a .270/.315/.440 boost getting 250ish PA without much clank-mitt, I’m very much for it.
See below
Ok. Fair enough. I’ve always hated Blanco on the basepaths always getting picked off or caught stealing. Blanco is a 1 tool player. You are right about the WAR though. I’ve never understand Blanco’s impressive WAR however whenever I look. It just doesn’t add up.
Blanco is 66 for 90 in SB attempts for his career and 40 for 55 as a Giant. That’s 73%, above the minimum threshold to be an effective base-stealer. He’s fine.
He’s a perfectly acceptable 4th OF, perhaps even an above-average one since he’s essentially starter quality when you consider defense and baserunning. His WAR adding up in your mind is failure on your part, not his.
Colvin also has time at 1B, so I could see them keeping him on the big league club since he can cover there too.
The Giants’ depth chart at 1B: Belt, Posey, Morse, Sandoval. If none of those four guys is available to play first base, it doesn’t matter who they have as a back-up because the season will already be over.
Bochy stated on radio he intends to keep 5 OF because he needs to lift Morse for defense in the later innings.
I haven’t heard that yet. But with Scutaro’s back issues, I don’t see how he could afford to carry 5 OF and not an extra infielder instead. Adrianza is out of options and I think he’d get the chance over Colvin who has a new contract. But if he’s truly confident that Pablo can play full 9 inning games now, then that might be why he thinks he could keep 5 OF…
I expect that’s it. Pablo was lifted about 40 times last year, but only 8 times back in 2010 when he was in better shape.
Also helps with flexibility to only carry two catchers instead of 3, and to not have a Huff/Pill type who’s mainly a PHer and isn’t really trusted in the field. …although Morse arguably fits that mold.
Blanco, Colvin, Arias and Sanchez. If Scutaro goes out they can recall another IF.
Colvin has a decent shot to beat out Jaun Perez.
The Giants will carry 5 OFs, and the last spot will probably go to Juan Perez. Colvin might make the team, but he’s in the same spot as Cole Gillespie last spring, who hit pretty well but lost out to Guillermo Quiroz for a spot on opening day. He’ll have to be very, very impressive to play his way onto the team in March.
Considering that Perez duplicates Blanco, I’d say Colvin has the inside track at the 5th OF spot. Some power off the bench would be a good idea.
I don’t know, I think Matt hit the nail on the head. No reason to sign Colvin to a minor league deal unless they think they’ll need him at some point. Definitely an insurance signing that’s low risk/high reward. I doubt he makes the team out of spring (barring injury, of course).
I was thinking a straight platoon of Colvin/Morse in left and then Blanco as the 5th outfielder. Bench of:
Sanchez C
Arias IF
Abreu IF
Morse/Colvin 1B/OF late inning PH
Blanco OF
agreed, having colvin as a pinch hitter off bench adds a needed dimension to the team
Also Morse late in the game can do something. And Blanco can be a late inning replacement for the starter
I think the Giants prefer to carry 13 pitchers.
Great signing. Colvin did great in his last full season, 2012. Even if he gets over 3 million if he makes the team, it’s still a good deal. I am assuming he wound’t just take a flat out minor deal, so I’m sure that if he makes the team he’ll get about 2.5 Mill. He probably has an opt out date too. We will find out soon.
I doubt he’s getting even 2.5 mil. He made 2.3 last year – stunk up the bigs and was ok in AAA. He ain’t getting a raise off of that. I bet you it’s between 1 and 1.5 mil if makes the team. Which makes it even better if he can hit more like 2010 or 2012
At the very least he will be a great addition to their AAA team with a shot at a bench role should the opportunity arise.
Semi-rooting for Colvin, as a Cubs fan who was fortunate to see him have pretty good seasons in ’10 and ’12. Ian Stewart, thanks for nothing.
You guys underrate Gregor Blanco, he is a line drive hitter and his Avg. is destined to go up, he brings great speed and defense. He is a great overall player, he also takes a ton of walks. If he had any power he would be an All-Star.
Right, no power. The Giants bench has no power. That’s why they need a guy like Colvin.
Wow, the writer needs to understand the facts with the O’s situation. Problems were identified by the O’s medical staff with regards to his back and he was offered a minor league contact rather than a major league contact and he (Colvin) declined the offer. Anyhow, I’m wishing Tyler Colvin all the best with his new team.
where will he play with the giants if he is on the roster for opening day
why would he not take the 14.1 mil offer from Texes, he would have made 6.1 more than he is with baltimore
nice signing by o’s getting Jimenez hopefully he can pitch well
Yankees have made all the the right moves this offseason hopefully all the signing have yankees win #28