JUNE 5: Ruggiano cleared waivers and has elected free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment to the minors, as first noted on the Giants’ transactions page at MLB.com.
JUNE 2: The Giants announced that they’ve designated outfielder Justin Ruggiano for assignment in order to clear a roster spot for outfielder Austin Slater, whose contract has now been formally selected from Triple-A Sacramento (Twitter link via CSN Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic).
Ruggiano, 35, has failed to receive much in the way of major league opportunities over the past three seasons. At times, though, he has been a quality weapon off the bench against left-handed pitching.
Through 63 plate appearances on the season, Ruggiano managed only a .217/.238/.333 batting line. He was one of the numerous players the Giants have tried in the outfield, none of whom have provided consistent production. Now, Slater will have his shot at holding down a role in left.
@Braves
Token Braves comment I hope. Cause if you seriously think the Braves should sign him you need help lol
Really stupid, should have DFA’d Gorky he can’t do nothing right, with Ruggiano at least he’s done something productive.
*but continues to employ Gorky’s Hernandez*
What does Gorkys have to do to be outrighted? At the very least hopefully he’ll be DFA’ed when Parker returns.
Gorkys is the best defensive CF, so he will stay until they find someone similar with the glove that has a better bat. It’s as simple as that.
If you look at the ratings, he isn’t great at defense either. Don’t quote me on this, I haven’t looked at them for two weeks, but Gorkys just isn’t very good.
That’s true, but he’s still better in CF than Ruggiano. Ruggiano was decent when he was younger, but his numbers have been really bad for the last few years. CF at AT&T is tougher than most, and a 35 year old Ruggiano with limited range makes him the obvious one for the DFA.
PLEASE GORKYS LEAVE
At least Hernandez can play some defense and run a little bit. This move makes total sense, I predict the next one to go is Morse. Nice guys but……
You have to get on base to run! 🙂
Gorkys has a higher OBP than Ruggiano.
lol no way they send down Morse at all, Gorkys. is likely sent down when Parker or Pence returns.
Gorky, Hill, Calixte, Slater all are on the list before Morse. Unless Calixte or Slater prove they belong, then I could see them outlasting Morse.
Choosing between the 2, Ruggiano is the better choice, if you only look at it superficially, and forget that hitting is only half the game. Gorkys is 6 years younger, more athletic, makes about 1/3 the salary that Ruggiano does, and is under team control until 2022. Ruggiano is a FA at the end of the season, and is not a good candidate for AAA depth at CF. Gorkys is the better choice for that until someone better comes along. And, it’s not like Ruggiano is hitting that much better. He strikes out more, and gets on base less. Keeping Ruggiano over Hernandez makes no sense in the big picture.
Feels like we’re cutting hairs here. Hernandez, Hill, Parker, Ruggiano … cut one, cut the other … there’s little difference in the overall impact to this club right now. It’s like rearranging bags of garbage on the Titanic.
I agree: it’s “like rearranging bags of garbage on the Titanic.” LOL!