TODAY: The deal is complete pending physical, Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News tweets.
YESTERDAY: The Giants are “close to finalizing” a minor-league deal with free agent outfielder/first baseman Kyle Blanks, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on Twitter. The oft-injured slugger is expected to have a solid shot at breaking camp with the big club, Shea adds.
Blanks, 29, has at times looked like a possible big league regular. There have been ups and downs, but he owns a useful .241/.322/.416 batting line in 933 career plate appearances at the major league level, spread widely over seven seasons.
There are other reasons to believe that Blanks is worth a roll of the dice. For one thing, he’s dominated the Triple-A level to the tune of a .300/.400/.568 slash line. And defensive metrics have generally viewed him as an average (if not slightly above average) defender in the corner outfield and at first.
The biggest difficulty to date has been health. Blanks has suffered from elbow, shoulder, and foot issues over the last five years, and most recently underwent surgical procedures on both Achilles tendons.
It appears that San Francisco has in mind to utilize Blanks as a right-handed-hitting bench bat, if he cracks the roster. He could theoretically spell Brandon Belt at first, though Buster Posey also figures to see some time there. It’s also possible to imagine Blanks spending time in left field — at least if the club does not add a big-name free agent to play there.
I was going to leave a witty comment but I’m drawing a Blanks.
Boo get off the stage
You can have Larvell Blanks for that one.
It’s interesting that he is described as an oft-injured “slugger” but not one mention of HR totals in the majors or even during his AAA stint last season.
His hr totals aren’t impressive due to his lack of health so his slg is more indicative of his power than hr totals
I like Blanks. Good contact hitter and can get on base at a decent clip. If he can be had for $900k-$1m plus incentives if breaking camp, he could be a steal. Especially with the questionable health of Hunter Pence and the loss of Nori Aoki.
Blanks cant stay healthy himself. Talents there but never stays healthy. Hoping he stays healthy enough to spell is a long shot. He’s got pretty bad feet and has had issues with them.
If Blanks could stay healthy for more than 5 minutes at a time, he could really help a team. The guy can play.
Isn’t Kyle Blanks just a poor man’s Michael Morse? Morse worked out alright for SF in ’14.
Considering Belt was the only 1B on the 40-man last year, sounds like a good depth move.
Buster Posey gets a good chunk of playing time there to keep his bat in the lineup anyway.
Yeah, but when Belt was hurt Posey had to become the full-time 1B. Even Nick Noonan played two or three games there. That’s not an ideal situation.
The guy has hit some rockets. Have to count on him being inured for atleast 1/3rd of the year. Still only 29 years old, wow! Padres spent a lot of time being patient with him. Won’t be happy to see him playing well for the Giants
Blanks on a minor league deal…fine. This becomes news IF the Giants turn the money saved on this low risk move into additional cash to a frontline starter, or use the younger version of Blsnks (Mac Williamson) in a trade for a SP. If we are just talking about Blanks, nothing to see here. Justin Maxwell 2.0
Maxwell played a pretty good RF while Pence was out. Don’t see Blanks as that good of a defender.
Yes folks, news is hard to come by right now
This would still be reported even if all the top free agents were being signed right now as well
Legitimate RH power coming off the bench is hard to find. He plays decent defense, he won’t embarrass himself in RF/LF or 1B, and he has serious power when he connects. All he has to do is stay healthy and platooning/pinch hitting should do that for him.