Aaron Rowand's Giants tenure has come to a close. The team designated the outfielder for assignment today, reports Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. The Giants cleaned house, also designating Miguel Tejada this morning. GM Brian Sabean says he'll try to trade both players.
Rowand, 34, hit .233/.274/.347 in 351 plate appearances this year, playing center and left field. GM Brian Sabean signed Rowand to a five-year, $60MM deal in December of 2007. Cutting him now means eating $1.8MM in salary this year and $12MM for 2012. The 2007-08 offseason was chock full of bad contracts, including Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Silva, Francisco Cordero, Andruw Jones, Jose Guillen, Luis Castillo, Scott Linebrink, Kaz Matsui, Geoff Jenkins, and David Riske.
Rowand was signed following a strong 2007 season for the Phillies (6.0 WAR), but he ended up hitting .253/.310/.394 in 509 games over four seasons for the Giants. His defense, at least, was generally graded as a positive by UZR.
Good job giants
That’s… interesting. He’s not been terrible enough to warrant a DFA.
His .621 OPS begs to differ.
Hopefully I’ll never have to see his terrible batting stance ever again.
He always looks like he’s about to fall on his back.
Many callers have said he looks like he’s about to use the toilet….in as clean a way of describing it as possible
Jeff Bagwell
I always thought he looked like a robot with that stance.
Yay!
Why DFA anyone right before call-ups, especially when they are owed so much?
Because they want to clear spots on the 40 man for guys that aren’t currently on the 40 man, and that are worth a look during the final month. Rowand became useless to the Giants well over a season ago, no bother in hanging on to him at this point. He has to be paid anyway. Better he isn’t taking away playing time from someone that could make a positive impact on the team in the future.
That makes sense and all, if the Giants are raising the white flag on 2011 that is.
Otherwise, I agree with the OP, why DFA a veteran when you are still theoretically in the hunt for a playoff spot?
Because
1. Rowand (and Tejada) are of no use to the Giants if, miracle, they make the playoffs.
2. Clubhouse cancers (discontented fat vets with little fire in their belly for a pennant fight) must go.
Giants bite the bullet with those two moves. More than I expected. Give me players with some fight. These two were pretty much unwatchable.
Giants are only 6 games out. And it’s not like the D-Backs are an experienced, or even good, team.
And keep in mind. This is with D-backs winning 8 straight so that 6 games up is rather generous.
Rowand stunk it up, but I thought his attitude was still considered top-notch. Have their been reports to the contrary or are you just making assumptions?
There have been reports of Rowand’s attitude, starting with Andrew Baggerly, Giants beat writer for the SJ Merc News.
Rowand had enough class/sense not to complain to the press. Which I appreciate. And he apparently took his reduced time last year well enough. But he was increasingly problematic in the clubhouse this year.
In Spring Training, Bochy asked Rowand if he would play the corner OF positions. Rowand said “No.” (Rowand, of course, subsequently has.) Rowand apparently felt that it was slight to him to play the corner.
Consider this: Rowand still has value. He is an above average OF defender. His pinch hitting numbers are very good this year. Something around 9 for 25 with 3 HRs. Yet the Giants were unable to trade him (they would have picked up almost all of his contract), and in the end, just cut him. There has to be a reason they’d just let him walk with $14 million of their money.
GOD IS GREAT
BEER IS GOOD
People are Crazy.
Eric Dykstra- Not bad enough to warrant a DFA? I take it you didn’t watch much Giants baseball for the last 4 years. This will go down as one of the worst signings in the franchise’s history.
Terrible signing yes. BUT if it weren’t for that hot streak he had back in 2010 where he was helping the Giants out in the beginning of the year they would have never reached the postseason.
Andres Torres was the real hero last year. Despite being injured for like two months, being platooned, he’s still provided more value and despite hitting with much less power this year, his defense and speed are still invaluable. Rowand is just taking time away from better players at this stage.
You cant make an argument like that. If he didn’t suck every year maybe EVERY year they would have made the playoffs.
It was a terrible signing (though not as bad as Zito).
That doesn’t mean it’s worth dumping him and paying 100% of his contract.
His WAR was negative last year, and not much better this year. Pretty much the definition of addition by subtraction. He’s worth more on a couch than an MLB team.
You = clueless.
Happy and Sad at the same time. …I will have to let my son know that his favorite player is no longer on the Giants and the Giants are better now because of it.
Wow he like Rowena how old is he?
He just turned 10. He’s knows Rowand sucked, so he’s not delusional, just started liking him when he came to the Giants.
Heck, my favorite player was/is Gregg Jefferies… Thought he was God. Looking back and comparing career, Jefferies didn’t do a whole lot. …Rich Aurilia had a better career than Jefferies.
I guess you like who you like.
Ya kids are fun gullible bags of candy haha but ya rowand was decent before
Finally God stops smiting me!
They were going to end up paying him anyway, at least now they’ve accepted that he was a mistake and can move on and free up roster space and give more deserving players a chance.
They were going to end up paying him anyway, at least now they’ve accepted that he was a mistake and can move on and free up roster space and give more deserving players a chance.
What a dumb move. September call-ups are tomorrow. Now if he says “release me,” you’re screwed. Maybe Brian Sabean isn’t as good of a GM as I originally thought.
September call-ups don’t matter for guys not on the 40 man roster. This was done to create space on the 40 man. Brett Pill will be added. Maybe Marc Kroon as well.
Sabean is definitely not as good as you thought.
HOWEVER, these both are great moves. Two ineffective malcontents who actually felt they were wrongly denied playing time were sent packing.
The move says, in no uncertain terms, you have absolutely no value. Take your bellyaching tales woe and tell your story walking.
The part about Rowand feeling like he has been denied playing time is laughable (the fact that he thinks this, not that you said it). I think he, to date, had something like the third-most PAs on the team this season.
Sabean is definitely not as good as you thought.
HOWEVER, these both are great moves. Two ineffective malcontents who actually felt they were wrongly denied playing time were sent packing.
The move says, in no uncertain terms, you have absolutely no value. Take your bellyaching tales woe and tell your story walking.
A month to late
“.253/.310/.394 in 509 games over four seasons for the Giants”
…wow
Also, while his D was above average, there wasn’t much highlight reel action going on there.
I don’t mind that Rowand was sub-mediocre. He’s trying. He just doesn’t have it anymore. The thing is that he felt he should be playing in spite of those numbers.
BIG Ego.
I’m sure there was someone else to DFA that wouldn’t cost them a ton of money.
They already DFA’d Tejada. So they must need the spots to DFA both.
They don’t need the spots so much as they need these guys gone.
They don’t need the spots so much as they need these guys gone.
No one sucked as bad as those two.
The only good thing about both Rowand and Tejada was their walkup songs…
what were their songs?
I’m terrible with song names but Tejada’s was a song by La Banda Gorda and Rowand’s was an instrumental song by Linkin Park
“Hit The Road, Jack”
The only good thing about both Rowand and Tejada was their walkup songs…
Sabean – “Your being traded to the Long Island Ducks”
Rowand – ” I’ll be able to play a lot right?”
Sabean – “They needed a bat boy”
Rowand – I get to touch the bats hell yeah!
/suggestively waggles bats
//fired from being bat boy
Sabean – “Your being traded to the Long Island Ducks”
Rowand – ” I’ll be able to play a lot right?”
Sabean – “They needed a bat boy”
Rowand – I get to touch the bats hell yeah!
And no one ever signed a veteran outfielder who had inflated years in Philly again… Oops. Sorry, Nationals fans.
Good point.
I’m curious to how A-Rod’s contract is bad..
He was signed to keep playing like he did before, and his offense has ticked down. And in the first years of the contract, he’s already missing enough games that it’s nearly impossible to earn that kind of money. And neither is the sort of thing you expect to improve as he ages. His contract certainly isn’t as bad as most of those others, though. A lot of burnt money in there.
lol because he is deteriorating already and still has 5 years left on his contract with an annual salary over $20MM
Not only is A-Rod statistically not worth his deal, (right now and in all likelihood, the future as well) but that contract set an awful precedent as far as free agent deals are concerned. I’d argue that it was worse than the Rowand signing for that reason alone.
Seriously?
He’s 3 WAR player being paid $31,000,000.
He’s now 35. Let’s see his numbers when he’s 41 (and under contract) with no steriods to bolster them.
i like rowand but he had to go..tough eating all that money though, might as well throw zito in too if ur really hungry
To me, it’s about accountability, and both Rowand and Tejada did not warrant being kept. This now clears two spots on the 25 and 40 man rosters which will be filled by players not currently on. I’m sure Surkamp is one, Bret Pill maybe?
Surkamp was added when Tanner was DFA’d.
Yes, Belt will FINALLY get some playing time!
(Do you think Rowand heads back to the ChiSox?)
Stick a fork in the Giants
It’s all about shaking the team up. Whack some deadwood off at the knees and see how others respond.
Come home Rowand!
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
Oh my god. DO NOT PINCH ME.
Baseball Reference has a 4.2 WAR for the Phillies in 2007, 6.0 with the White Sox in 2004.
wooooo the rowand era is over
Any chance that Rowand could now be traded for Jason Bay?
Rowand did not live up to his contract; in fact, I think he let it get
to him. What are his true statistics? The one in SF, or from the tiny
little bandbox in Philly? I say what he did in Philly was an aberration
caused by the small dimensions which inflate Philly batting
statistics. (Jason Werth, anyone?) His stats in Chicago and SF are
much more revealing.
Why would he have any enmity toward Bochy?
He got his at bats, considering how many times he killed rallies by
striking out swinging at outside and low breaking balls in the dirt or
grounding into one DP after another.
I hear he wants to go back to Philly; well, so be it, who cares?
I’m not familiar with Rowand so there may be an underlying story I’m missing here, but why would he want to go back to the Phillies? They have more than enough OFs with Victorino, Pence, Ibanez, Mayberry, and Francisco. He’d get even less playing time there (none to be exact) than he did in SF. Even though Ibanez probably won’t get re-signed, I can’t see Rowand beating out Mayberry/Francisco for the 4 OF spot either if he wanted to play there next year too.
Everything you said, plus you left out Domonic Brown.
There was an article in another blog that referenced the Phillies interest in Rowand….
Thanks, I figured there was somewhere. Being an east coast guy, naturally I don’t know nearly as much about stuff out west. And Michael, with Brown being injured I totally forgot about him.
how about trading Rowan to the Mets for Pagan and a prospect and the giants picking up most of the $12m
Right, because corner players who become less healthy and productive around 32-33 are all former steroid users. Or did I just describe the vast majority of corner players?
Lots of terrible players have done steroids. Many of them have still aged pretty normally.