Giants Rumors

Quick Hits: Nats, Bell, Zimmerman, A’s, Giants, Codify, White Sox, Vaughn

By TC Zencka | December 26, 2020 at 2:28pm CDT

The Nationals accomplished a big part of their winter to-do list when they acquired Josh Bell from the Pirates on Christmas Eve. “He exemplifies everything we’re trying to do here in Washington,” GM Mike Rizzo told NBCSports’ Todd Dybas and others during a Zoom call this afternoon (via Twitter). Bell fits the clubhouse ethos the Nats work hard to maintain while being a near-perfect on-field fit to join Juan Soto in the middle of the lineup. Ryan Zimmerman could still return to the Nats, per the Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli (via Twitter), as Rizzo notes that a right-handed bench bat remains an area of need [UPDATE: A new contract between Zimmerman and the Nationals “seems inevitable,” Ghiroli hears from sources.]

Michael Fisher is helping pitchers take a proactive approach to retiring hitters through his data-analytics firm called Codify, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Rather than telling pitchers what they’re doing wrong, he creates heat maps to help pitchers find the right areas to target. He focuses on where they should throw the ball instead of where they shouldn’t. Fisher’s approach works for a number of Oakland A’s pitchers like Jake Diekman, Jesus Luzardo, and Sean Manaea, Giants’ hurlers Tyler Beede and Logan Webb, as well as free agent closer Liam Hendriks.
Despite the additions already made this offseason, the White Sox could use some more rotation depth, a closer, and a designated hitter, writes Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. Andrew Vaughn could be called upon to fill that designated hitter role or to spell MVP Jose Abreu at first base. Vaughn figured to be a fast-riser when the White Sox made him the No. 3 overall selection of the 2019 draft, and he made it to High-A in his first professional season. Had there been a minor league season in 2020, Vaughn might be ready for the Show, but under the circumstances, the Sox could look for a stopgap solution to give Vaughn some seasoning time and further build their offensive depth.

Giants Sign John Brebbia

By Connor Byrne | December 21, 2020 at 3:07pm CDT

The Giants have signed right-handed reliever John Brebbia to a major league deal worth $800K for next season, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group reports. It’s fully guaranteed, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.

Brebbia came available when the Cardinals non-tendered him earlier this month. They would have owed him a projected $800K in arbitration had they kept Brebbia, but after he missed all of last season because of Tommy John surgery, the Cardinals decided to go in another direction. He could be a member of the Giants for the next three seasons, as he’s under arbitration control through 2023.

Because he went under the knife in late June, Brebbia will not be able to help the Giants for at least the first couple months of next season – if it starts on time or anywhere close, that is. But the Giants are nonetheless taking a low-risk chance on a pitcher who posted terrific numbers out of the Cardinals’ bullpen from 2017-19. Brebbia, now 30 years old, combined for 175 innings of 3.14 ERA/3.39 FIP ball with 10.18 K/9 and 2.79 BB/9 during that span. Despite a paltry 28 percent groundball rate, Brebbia has allowed just 0.98 home runs per nine during his career.

Giants Sign Anthony DeSclafani

By Connor Byrne | December 18, 2020 at 2:06pm CDT

DEC. 18: The Giants are deferring half of DeSclafani’s salary, including incentives, to the first quarter of 2022, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

DEC. 16, 4:06pm: The Giants have announced the signing. The deal comes with up to $250K in performance bonuses based on innings pitched, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.

3:27pm: The two sides have agreed to a one-year, $6MM contract, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. That comes in north of MLBTR’s one-year, $4MM prediction for DeSclafani.

3:08pm: The Giants and free-agent right-hander Anthony DeSclafani are nearing a deal, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. DeSclafani is a client of VC Sports Group.

This figures to be a buy-low pickup for the Giants, who are set to add a starter who has gone through an up-and-down career since it began in 2014. DeSclafani was a member of the Marlins during his first season, but he moved on to the Reds after that in a trade that sent fellow righty Mat Latos to Miami.

Cincinnati received rather impressive production from DeSclafani from 2015-16, during which he accrued 308 innings and notched a 3.74 ERA/3.79 FIP with 7.48 K/9 and 2.48 BB/9. DeSclafani missed the next season because of elbow problems, though, and didn’t return until June 2018. His production from then through 2019 was fairly respectable, but DeSclafani fell on hard times last season. Despite posting a career-high 94.9 mph on his fastball, the 30-year-old logged personal worsts in ERA (7.22), FIP (6.10), K/9 (6.68) and BB/9 (4.28) across 33 2/3 innings. He also had a rough year by Statcast’s standards, ranking closer to the bottom of the league than the top in most of its categories.

Although last season was no doubt a disaster for DeSclafani, the Giants have done well recently in signing starters to low-risk contracts. They added one of DeSclafani’s former Reds teammates, Kevin Gausman, on a one-year, $9MM pact last offseason. That couldn’t have worked out much better for the Giants, who were so impressed that they issued Gausman a qualifying offer a few weeks back. Gausman accepted that $18.9MM offer and will be atop their rotation in 2021. Along with picking up Gausman a year ago, the Giants signed Drew Smyly to a $4MM guarantee. Smyly also exceeded expectations, though he left for a raise with the Braves earlier this winter.

Assuming DeSclafani is part of the Giants’ rotation next year, he should join a group that will include Gausman, Johnny Cueto and likely Logan Webb. The other spot will probably be up for grabs, especially with Andrew Suarez nearing an agreement with a team in the Korea Baseball Organization.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Zaidi On Giants’ Pitching Plans

By Jeff Todd | December 16, 2020 at 10:54pm CDT

While they’ve already done a fair bit of heavy lifting in the pitching arena, the Giants may not be done yet. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters, including Alex Pavlovic of NBC News Bay Area (Twitter link) and Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (via Twitter), that the team is still looking for arms.

The rotation just picked up a new piece when the club inked Anthony DeSclafani to a single-season pact. He’ll join Kevin Gausman, who made good on his own one-year deal with the Giants and ultimately elected to accept the qualifying offer extended by the club.

Despite those additions, Zaidi says the Giants still “have room to add another guy” to the starting staff. That’s not exactly surprising, as the rest of the unit comes with questions. Diminished veteran Johnny Cueto will take one spot, while Connor Menez, Logan Webb, and Shaun Anderson are the current 40-man options to fill out the staff. Tyler Beede could challenge for a role, but he’ll first need to polish off his Tommy John rehab.

It’s certainly possible that the Giants could still pursue a significant player to buttress the rotation. The organization is said to have kicked around the idea of pursuing top available free agent Trevor Bauer. The market still contains a variety of hurlers with differing profiles and there are some interesting trade possibilities as well.

In the bullpen, it seems there’s less reason to wonder about a big strike — at least on the right-handed side. Having already plugged in one piece with Matt Wisler, Zaidi suggests the Giants will primarily be looking for value opportunities. The right-handed relief market is “probably an area where we seek to be more creative and out of the box,” he says.

Andrew Suarez Close To Joining KBO’s LG Twins

By Mark Polishuk | December 16, 2020 at 7:46am CDT

The LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization are close to signing left-hander Andrew Suarez to a one-year contract, according to Daniel Kim of ESPN and DKTV (Twitter link). It’ll be a $600K pact, Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News tweets. The deal would have to be tied into a purchase of Suarez’s rights from the Giants, as Suarez is still controlled by the San Francisco club.

Suarez was a second-round pick for the Giants in the 2015 and seemed to be emerging as a rotation candidate during a 2018 rookie season that saw him post a 4.49 ERA, 2.89 K/BB rate, and 7.3 K/9 over 160 1/3 innings. That debut was followed up, however, with only 32 2/3 frames of big league work in 2019 (at a 5.79 ERA), as well as some unimpressive numbers at Triple-A, albeit in the very hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. This past season, Suarez made several trips back and forth from the Giants’ alternate training site to the active roster, posting a 3.72 ERA over 9 2/3 innings of relief work, but with more walks (six) than strikeouts (five).

Since Suarez is out of minor league options and seemed to becoming an afterthought in San Francisco, it isn’t surprising that he and his representatives explored opportunities elsewhere. Pitching in the KBO League would allow the left-hander to both earn more money than he would have as a pre-arbitration player in the big leagues, and also presumably give him a chance to start games and re-build his value. Suarez only turned 28 last September, so there is plenty of time for a potential future return to North American baseball.

NL Notes: Posey, Scherzer, Stanek

By Connor Byrne | December 15, 2020 at 9:42pm CDT

After a year off, Giants icon Buster Posey will return as their “primary catcher” in 2021, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle) on Tuesday. Posey opted out of last season over family health concerns (he and his wife had just adopted twin girls who were born prematurely), and he discussed his decision this week with Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. The 33-year-old told Baggarly he’s “comfortable” with the choice he made because of the unknowns at the time, including whether Major League Baseball would even be able to get through its season. Posey added that he’s “confident” he’ll play next year, which will be the last guaranteed season of his contract. The Giants may have an heir apparent in Joey Bart, but he and the rest of their catchers had rocky seasons in 2020. It now appears they’ll take a backseat to Posey for at least one more year.

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said Tuesday he was unaware of any extension talks between the team and ace Max Scherzer. It appears those could get underway soon, though. Agent Scott Boras said he’ll get together with Nationals owner Ted Lerner after the new year, and “we’ll see how that goes” (via Todd Dybas of NBC Sports Washington). That doesn’t necessarily mean the two sides will just discuss Scherzer – Boras does represent other Nats, not to mention current free agents – but the three-time Cy Young winner does seem likely to be a key part of the discussion. Scherzer’s entering the last season of the seven-year, $210MM he signed with the Nationals in 2015.
The Reds are among the teams interested in free-agent reliever Ryne Stanek, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic reports. The 29-year-old right-hander spent last season in Miami, where he yielded eight earned runs on 11 hits (including three homers) and eight walks in just 10 innings. The Marlins non-tendered the hard-throwing Stanek after that ghastly showing. To Stanek’s credit, he isn’t far removed from a strong run from 2018-19 as a Ray and Marlin. He frequently worked as an opener then and combined for a 3.52 ERA/3.94 FIP with 10.67 K/9 against 4.14 BB/9 across 143 1/3 innings. Stanek will have another two years of arbitration eligibility left after 2021, so he could be a multiyear piece for the Reds or someone else if he bounces back.

NL West Notes: Bauer, Giants, D’Backs, Arenado

By Mark Polishuk | December 13, 2020 at 9:04pm CDT

“The Giants have discussed” signing Trevor Bauer, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports, though this isn’t necessarily indicative of a full-fledged pursuit since “they discuss the top free agents every year.” There are many reasons Bauer would make sense for the Giants, as Shea illustrates in his pros and cons piece, including the point that Bauer might represent a better upgrade than any of the pitching options available in the 2021-22 free agent market.

However, Shea ultimately opines that Bauer wouldn’t be an ideal fit “for a team that’s not close to championship caliber and is waiting for its top prospects to emerge over the next couple of years.” The Giants certainly face an uphill battle in going against the Dodgers and the Padres in their division alone, though since San Francisco has to some extent overachieved over the last two seasons even while overhauling the roster, I would argue that the Giants could position themselves more firmly into the wild card hunt with some pitching upgrades, and Bauer would certainly qualify in that regard. For what it’s worth, Bauer’s most recent YouTube video listed Giants fans fourth on his list of the fanbases that have done the best job of trying to sell him on joining their team.

Giants Sign Dominic Leone, Several Others To Minor League Deals

By Steve Adams | December 9, 2020 at 12:52pm CDT

The Giants announced a series of minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training today, with right-handers Dominic Leone, Silvino Bracho and Rico Garcia among them. Lefty Anthony Banda, whom the Giants outrighted at season’s end, is also back on a minors pact. Others invited to camp include right-handers Melvin Adon, Daniel Alvarez, Yunior Marte, Raffi Vizcaino and Sam Wolff, as well as lefty Sam Long and infielder/outfielder Jason Krizan.

Of the group, Leone comes with far and away the most big league experience. The 29-year-old reliever has appeared in parts of seven MLB seasons, pitching to a combined 4.09 ERA with 9.6 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 over the course of 253 innings out of the bullpen. Leone’s peak season came with the Blue Jays in 2017, when he racked up a career-high 70 1/3 innings and struck out a hearty 29 percent of the batters he faced (10.4 K/9).

Following that strong effort, Leone was traded to the Cardinals alongside righty Conner Greene in the deal that sent Randal Grichuk to Toronto. Things didn’t pan out in St. Louis for Leone, who limped through a pair of injury-plagued seasons and ultimately record a 5.15 ERA and 4.77 FIP in 64 2/3 frames as a Cardinal. Although he’s been inconsistent, Leone makes for a sensible enough flier by a Giants club looking high and low for bullpen depth after seeing several key relievers depart in recent years.

Others in the group with MLB experience include former Bracho, a former D-backs reliever, Garcia and Banda. Garcia tossed 10 innings with the Giants in 2019 but has generally been hit hard between his brief time between San Francisco and Colorado. Banda was at one point considered to be one of the game’s top overall pitching prospects but has since had his career derailed by injuries, including Tommy John surgery. He was with the Giants org late in the season but did not pitch in a big league game.

Bracho, 28, was up and down with Arizona from 2015-17 but looked to turn a corner in 2018 when he pitched 31 innings with a 3.19 ERA/3.26 FIP and a 34-to-12 K/BB ratio. However, he missed the entire 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery and had his 2020 return slowed this summer when he tested positive for Covid-19. Bracho did make it back to toss an inning with the D-backs, but he hasn’t had a full, healthy season since 2018. With three-plus big years of MLB service, he’s technically controllable through at least the 2023 campaign if he can crack the MLB roster and seize a spot in the San Francisco bullpen.

Giants Re-Sign Chadwick Tromp

By Connor Byrne | December 9, 2020 at 12:34pm CDT

Dec. 9: The Giants have announced the deal, which is a Major League contract for Tromp.

Dec. 8: Catcher Chadwick Tromp announced on Twitter that he has re-signed with the Giants (h/t: Maria Guardado of MLB.com). The Giants non-tendered Tromp last week.

Tromp spent his first several professional seasons with the Reds, but he signed a minor league contract with the Giants last offseason and earned a major league opportunity. The 25-year-old finished second among Giants in games played (19) and batted .213/.219/.426 in 64 plate appearances in 2020. While Tromp did hit four home runs over that small sample size, a 20:1 K:BB ratio led to a poor overall line. Defensively, though, Tromp threw out 2-of-6 would-be base stealers (which aligns with his 33 percent rate in the minors) and, according to Statcast, finished in the league’s 67th percentile as a pitch framer.

While Tromp is surely hoping to continue as a major leaguer in 2021, it could be more of an uphill battle than it was this year. After all, starting catcher Buster Posey may return after opting out of the 2020 season. The Giants also still have prized prospect Joey Bart, who led their catchers in games played this past campaign, though it’s possible they will elect to send him to the minors and give the season-opening backup role to Tromp.

Giants Sign Matt Wisler

By Steve Adams | December 8, 2020 at 8:12pm CDT

8:12pm: The deal is official. Wisler has a chance to earn an additional $500K in performance bonuses, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets.

9:15am: The Giants are in agreement with righty Matt Wisler on a one-year, $1.15MM contract for the 2021 season, pending a physical, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Wisler was recently a surprise non-tender by the Twins on the heels of a strong 2020 season. The Giants will be able to control Wisler through the 2022 campaign via arbitration.

Wisler, 28, was a waiver claim by the Twins last offseason but emerged as a key bullpen piece in 2020, racking up 25 1/3 frames with a pristine 1.07 ERA on the year. He punched out 35 hitters in that time (12.4 K/9) and recorded a strong 13.9 percent swinging-strike rate, although control issues and good fortune in terms of stranding runners also led fielding-independent metrics to cast a more negative light on his season.

Wisler walked 14 batters (5.0 BB/9) and hit another pair while stranding an unsustainable 99 percent of the runners he allowed. The resulting 3.35 FIP and 4.00 SIERA weren’t quite as rosy as that more rudimentary ERA.

That said, Wisler is still an intriguing addition for a Giants club that is known to be in the market for bullpen help. While he’s not a marquee name by any stretch of the means, Wisler is a former high-end pitching prospect who washed out as a starter but has been more interesting in a bullpen role.

This past season with the Twins, he leaned more aggressively into his slider usage than any pitcher in MLB, tossing the pitch at a ridiculous 83.4 percent rate. The 16.6 percent clip at Wisler threw his four-seamer was just enough to keep hitters off balance, and though they surely knew the slider was coming more often than not, that predictability didn’t matter; in the 92 plate appearances that ended with a Wisler slider, opponents posted a pitiful .148/.250/.222 batting line.

The Twins seemingly weren’t sold on Wisler’s ability to maintain his output. They wrapped up arb deals with all of their players who were tendered contracts prior to or just after last week’s tender deadline. Since cutting Wisler loose, president of baseball ops Derek Falvey has explained that the team couldn’t come to terms with Wisler on a mutually agreeable number but would still be open to a reunion. That won’t happen now, leaving another hole to be filled in the Minnesota ’pen.

With the Giants, Wisler will join a pretty wide-open late-inning mix. Tyler Rogers, Sam Coonrod, a returning Reyes Moronta and rebound hopeful Trevor Gott comprise the team’s top right-handed options at the moment, while Wandy Peralta and Jarlin Garcia are the most experienced southpaw options of the bunch. Wisler could eventually work his way into some high-leverage spots if he can build on his 2020 success, though he also served as an opener in Minnesota and could be an option to do so with San Francisco as well, depending on how their rotation shapes up.

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