The Giants have claimed left-handed reliever Jose Mijares from Kansas City, the teams announced. Mijares will provide Giants manager Bruce Bochy with a third lefty relief option to go along with Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez.
Mijares has a 2.56 ERA with 8.6 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 33.3% ground ball rate in 38 2/3 innings this year. The 27-year-old earns $925K, will be arbitration eligible following this offseason, and will remain under team control through 2014.
I identified Mijares as a midseason trade candidate in May. However, I wouldn't have predicted he'd go unclaimed by 13 American League teams and a number of National League teams given the season he's having and his modest salary.
Royals fans are collectively scratching their heads.
What’s left of us, yes
Yeah, with Mijares being waived instead of traded I’m now convinced beyond a doubt that upper management has no idea how to build a team. Now it’s back to cheering for the Cubs. Oy.
Disregard
The Twins more or less gave him away last year after years of good to fair performance through the minors and up into the bigs. But at some point he was just not worth the effort. KC reached that point too, apparently. That’s not to say he shouldn’t have been moved last week for some return, but he’s not your average cost-controlled 2.5 ERA lefty.
June 2013: Mijares selected to first All-Star Game.
more details would be nice. Did the Royals just give up one of their better relievers who is not making very much money for nothing or did they work out a trade?
They gave him up for nothing, this wasn’t a trade.
I wouldn’t really have called him one of the Royals’ “better relievers,” but he was certainly contributing.
I’d hope the only reason why the Pirates didn’t acquire him was because of his price tag. He would have been an excellent addition to the bullpen.
His pro-rated $925k price tag?
But no, I think the reason the Pirates didn’t acquire him would be the Giants have a worse record and get first crack.
I assumed he would actually be traded, not just claimed and have them get nothing in return.
Did the Giants get him for nothing more than a waiver claim? What a steal for them.
Yes. No trade, Royals just let the Giants have him.
Why weren’t the Angels in on trying to pick him up? Pretty obvious they need a lefty reliever, and bullpen help in general…
Exactly! IDK what they were thinking.
DiPoto seems pretty on top of everything, surprised this one got by him.
Unbelievable. Would have been far better than Zagurski.
And the Royals get?
“Salary relief,” if you can even call it a relief considering the salary they’re sending over the Giants.
Kicked in the teeth by the Giants. AGAIN.
What’s the source for this? I didn’t see a single recent news article about him on Google News, nor on either team’s official page. Is it possible he was just “claimed” by the Giants and then the Royals pulled him back? Otherwise this does seem very weird indeed.
Giants beatwriters are all over it on Twitter. Said we claimed and will take the salary. He reports tomorrow.
Thanks, I hadn’t checked Twitter.
“The Giants have claimed left-handed reliever Jose Mijares from Kansas City, the teams announced.”
Pretty sure those last three words are as concrete as a source gets.
Well I read that, just wanted to know where the information actually came from. You know, like a link to a press release or something. I was wondering through what means the author knew that the teams had announced it. I wasn’t doubting the authenticity, just that it seems like an unusual waiver claim.
Nice pick up Giants! I’m surprised Dodgers and Dbacks didn’t block him
seriously, seems like a pretty big mistake by multiple teams, especially the other NL west contenders, to let a very good, cheap and controllable LOOGY slip by.
Where does Brian Sabean find these guys? I think this is a great move by The SF Giants. We need to get Heath Bell in the bullpen. Bell is very available and The Marlins will take the player to be named later.
The Heath Bell of yore and the Heath Bell of 2012 are two completely different people. That said, the 2012 version has been awful.
Bell hasn’t allowed a run over his last 9IP spanning 9 games and has looked vastly different.. Maybe his going to the setup role has done him some good.
Talk now in Miami is they would move him to the closer role again, were it not the fact that Steve Cischek has been unhittable in the role since Bell was demoted.
So, the Giants should ignore the previous 34+ innings in which he posted a 6.75 ERA when considering whether or not to assume $20MM over 2013-14? The Marlins are stuck with Bell for the foreseeable future unless they decide to pick up a good chunk of that figure. How he has fared over the past 3 weeks isn’t going to change that.
Where were the Angels on this one!? We need relief more than anyone and he went right by us.
Solid addition to the ‘pen.
Before everybody flips their lid over this realize he’s a lefty who righties are hitting .295 against this year, and .272/.357/.368 career. His WHIP is 1.267 8.4 H/9 3 BB/9. None of that is good for a reliever, he’s only had a respectable WHIP under 1.2 in his first full season with the Twins in 09.
The move is a bit puzzling as Affeldt is DEALING right now against both R and L and Lopez is doing fine against lefties. They could use more help primarily against righties.
All that said what Dick Tidrow and Righetti might be able to get out of this guy is another story. Just the fact the Giants were able to keep Sanchez’s million $ arm dominant over his 10 cent head is a testament to what they can do with pitchers.
I think they made this move for more flexibility with Affeldt in the 9th inning to take some of the workload off Casilla.
It’s possible but you have to realize at least 1 RH pitcher has to go in order to do that, Loux or Penny likely. The Reds with the best record in mlb have only Marshall beyond Chapman closing in the pen. I’m just not sure if 13 P is going to stick for another month and if so who’s going to be eligible for PS. It concerns me that they might go into PS with essentially 2 closers and fall short of RH arms. Very hard to count on any of their RH RP right now, Kontos and Romo would be the guys but both have shown vulnerability.
Almost every relief pitcher, or really every pitcher, in the league struggles for a time during the season. Romo has had a series of 2-7 appearances where he’s struggled every single year. It just so happens that many of the Giants pitchers are going through this period right now.
I understand the frustration and lack of confidence with the current bullpen, but I think its important to remember the situation could look a lot differently within a week or two without any more roster changes. Kontos and Romo both have incredibly impressive peripheral numbers that suggest theyll be great options the rest of the way. Add in two very effective lefty only options and a lefty who is effective against both righties and lefties and you probably already have enough for the postseason considering there will be more frequent days off and one of the starters in the pen in an inning eating long relief role. Casilla isn’t as good as his first half success suggested, but he’s not as bad as his recent stretch either. If he just pitches to his actual talent level instead of way above or below it, he’s a very good 4th, 5th or 6th arm in the pen. The bottom line really is that Mijares is a better ‘pen option than Penny, Loux or Hensley plus he gives them some bullpen roster flexibility next season. Its not a huge, division race changing acquisition, but it was a slick pick up that will likely improve the team.
He’s a lefty who shouldn’t be put in position to face righties, just like Lopez (whose numbers are much worse vs righties) The K/BB and H/9 are perfectly acceptable for a cheap reliever. As a 2nd LOOGY he’s a great pickup and provides the team with a little more versatility to potentially use Affeldt in the closer role, or simply just have the ability to use either Lopez or Mijares vs a lefty in a high leverage at-bat in the 5th, 6th or 7th inning where they would normally wait until at least the 7th or 8th.
Very smart post would give you two likes if I could. I was thinking the same thing and was about to post this if I hadn’t read what you typed.
But if they use Mijares correctly it lengthens the bullpen and you are now able to use Affeldt in late innings. Rest Casilla and expose him less should do wonders for the bullpen and Giants fans psyche.
“He’s a lefty who shouldn’t be put in position to face righties, just like Lopez…” Exactly. Most teams do not have the luxury to carry 2 LH specialists, especially the way Affeldt is pitching right now against both sides. Lopez’s numbers are highly inflated because of the RH hitters he’s faced but vs LH he’s nearly identical to Mijares. All that just makes me speculate there could be some injury lingering that we don’t know about.
With starters 5 starters who almost always go 6 innings, the Giants are one of the few teams who could actually afford to carry two true LOOGYs and another, more versatile lefty too. It should be noted that they’re carrying a 13 man pitching staff right now, and its possible they could continue to do so for a while even after Sandoval gets back. Mijares is also going to be cheap for next year as well. While I expect them to make bringing back Affeldt something of a priority (Sabean loves bullpen depth in general, and the team and Affeldt seem to have a mutual desire to keep him around) it wouldn’t completely shock me if he simply gets too expensive with a strong stretch run. Even if he were to return they could seek to deal Lopez for some salary relief, or just carry 3 lefties again.
See my comment on the 13 man below, basically you have to envision PS within that group and right now there’s few RH arms I trust completely. Having the 3rd lefty won’t be an issue in Sept it’s just a matter of getting through Aug when P are tiring and it will be tougher to get the quality starts from even the big 3 now. It will be a test for Hensley, either Penny or Loux (likely 1 has to go), Kontos and Casilla to see how much more closing he can really do. Romo is battled tested enough to be ready for PS but I’m not sure about the rest of the RHRP.
This may sound like a dumb question but if someone is acquired off Waivers, does that mean the losing team gets nothing in return for them??
It all depends on the time in the season. In August the team with the player on waivers has the negotiating rights with any team that’s awarded the claim (revocable waivers). They then have the choice within a certain few days timespan to work out a trade with the claim team. Otherwise they can release him outright with his contract in which case they get nothing back, or pull him back off waivers and retain his contract. The Giants acquired Cody Ross in 2010 the same way. The Marlins put him on waivers and released him outright when the Giants claimed him. Because Mijares is arb eligible it’s logical that the Royals didn’t find him worth the probably significant pay raise he’ll get next year.
Why would KC do this?
Clearly the FO needs some help but it’s logical that the Royals are in such need of rebuilding that they didn’t want to have to pay Mijares in arbitration and any team that they traded him to in the offseason would be in the same position of having to work face arbitration which would decrease his trade value significantly enough to not make it worthy. The question should be why didn’t they trade him prior to the deadline, and maybe they offered him up but GMs figured they wouldn’t keep him anyway so they didn’t bite.
Maybe Mijares doesn’t have a lot of value, but he has some. And to the Giants he has quite a bit of value. Affeldt may become the closer as Casilla has been shaky. That would leave them short a setup lefty. Enter Mijares. Even if the Giants don’t offer Mijares arbitration (most likely they will) Mijares has value to the 2012 Giants who are trying to win the division with a shaky pen. He’s worth more than $300,000 in salary relief.
Giants know where to get a good deal.First Melky now Mijares.
How the hell do the Mets not make a claim here? I can understand not wanting to make a big move, but adding some BP help for this year and next in any form would be a god send.
Seriously. The Mets should be taking a chance with just about any second chance pitcher that comes their way.
If there’s something more to it, like maybe Mijares is difficult to deal with, well I say man up and figure out a way to deal with him. Free LOOGY is a valuable thing!
No post.
So I’m hoping this will be another example of Brian Sabean’s black magic at work. This could be will be a shot in arm for the bullpen. His WHIP is pretty terrible but if there’s one thing I trust about the Giants pitching staff it’s that Dave Righetti is a miracle worker when working with pitchers.
Giants continue to build their contingent of Venezuelan players. Are the Royals a farm team for SF now?
This is all about Montero, Kubel, Ethier, and a handful of other good hitters who can be neutralized by a lefty. It’s smart for the Giants to have a deep capability to get them out late in games.
As a royals fan, I don’t even care about him. He was a good LOOGY, affordable, controllable. But Ned Yosts little interview about finding 25 good guys who care about being there and winning may have also had something to do with Mijares. There was some speculation he has a bit of an attitude, if that’s the case then let the guy walk! We don’t need him, stacked in relief in the majors and at AAA.
Salary and a bad attitude gone, good deal.
it seems the angels didn’t claim Mijares because if they did so they would have to send a player to AAA. I dont think they were willing to do that. With Jerome Williams out of options and Takahashi I’m thinking they’d rather have… That’s the only explaination I can think of, and if this wasn’t the case it might have been a botch by the Halos as well as Dodgers.
This is now a move that the Giants have clearly benefitted from.