The Giants have agreed to a minor-league deal to bring righty Chris Heston back into the fold, according to a report from Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Other terms of the contract are not yet known.
Heston, 29, is a former 12th-round pick who debuted in the majors with the Giants back in 2014. He went on to turn in a strong rookie campaign in the following year, etching his name permanently into organizational lore with a no-hitter.
Unfortunately, Heston’s career has largely sputtered since. With mounting injuries and marginal output on the hill, he has thrown just 11 MLB frames over the ensuing two seasons. Heston spent time with three organizations last year after San Francisco dealt him to the Mariners in advance of the 2017 campaign.
While expectations won’t be very high at this point, the move could certainly help bolster the Giants’ pitching depth. The team has parted with a few MLB pitching assets to improve in other areas, so non-roster players could play an important role if needs arise during the course of the season. While it’s hard to imagine Heston earning a roster spot this spring, he’s said to be healthy and could take up a key spot on the Giants depth chart.
I thought this guy was gonna be Rookie Of The Year back in 2015 after that no-hitter.
What’s your point?
What’s your point?
Teddy, my point? I just thought he’d have a better career than he’s had so far.
The points on the top of both your heads. Pinheads.
Shut up and talk ball.
And we continue to build our 2014 championship team…
Lol
Heston pitched 177 innings for the Gs in 2015…..
The point is this team would be lights out in 2012 for the most part
Now? Fighting for forth place in the west.
what makes the rockies and d backs so much better than the Gs? What have those other team done to get better? The answer is nothing.
Rockies? Legit hitters with lights out bullpen
Dbaks pitching and hitting
Giants
Avg pitching avg hitting
Doyuers complete
Padres better and more powerful hitters
the dbacks lost their best hitter. look at their OF now. Look at their middle infield. Giants lineup is better at this point. ROckies rotation is highly questionable, which is a big deal. D backs probaly have the best roation out of the three. Rockies lost CarGo and Reynolds. whose playing first? Desmond? Whose playing the OF then? The giants have improved significantly, LETS GO
Oh, and im not even touching the Padres.
Lmao Dude, the Padres are easily the worst team in the league (as usual). They were extremely “lucky” to not end up with the worst record last year. Their pitching was well below average and their scored the fewest runs in all of baseball by a substantial margin. And all they’ve done to improve is add Chase Headley? Good luck with that.
Also Rockies rotation is not great and probably coming back down to earth a bit this year, leaving that great bullpen overworked and worn out.
D’Backs are strong, but not improved at all.
Yes, Dodgers are all-around legit… but didn’t they win the division in 2014? How’d that work out for them and the Giants that postseason?
The Padres aren’t easily the worst team in the NL when the Marlins are in the same league.
That is true. Forgot about that mess.
Padres will still suck though. No way the Giants finish behind them in 2018.
“the dbacks lost their best hitter.”
Nope, Goldschmidt is still there.
Wouldn’t surprise me if the D’backs weren’t all that great this year. That’s a team with a lot of question marks. If they don’t bring JDM back I don’t like that lineup a whole lot. Who knows if guys like Robbie ray or zack Godley can pitch like that again. Not loving their bullpen outside of Archie Bradley either. If I had to bet on which one of those teams in the West misses the playoffs I’d take them. Rockies have their question marks in the rotation too. Giants have a shot, but I like the cardinals getting one of the wild card slots so it’s gonna be tough.
The fact that you’re comparing this
Padres are a better offensive and more powerful team than them the giants
Their pitching is awful
Go ahead and break it down
The giants got them beat at catcher (offensive)
Short could be a push
Right field renfroe or cutch
Shoot I’d take headley over longo
5 years ago I would have reversed this
Pitching they got bum everyone else is declining
Padres got lemet he is better than you’re 3rd 4th and 5th pitcher
Same goes with Perdomo. Especially with the improved defense and he is a ground ball pitcher
I think Ray is a legit stud. Godley has a great curve, and if his arm holds, he will be very good. Hard to say with him, as he logged a lot of innings, and might be headed for the dreaded sophomore slump. But after watching him last year, I think he will still be good. Greinke should be able to hold his numbers close to last year. I think the big things are can they replace JDMs bat and protect Goldy and will Eaton continue to struggle after his injuries, or get stronger with time removed from his major arm surgery. But I do expect a slight regression from AZ, maybe a game or two…about same as last year. They will compete for WC.
Eaton? The center fielder? He hasn’t been in az in years
I don’t think they will get a wild card spot but they will finish above the giants
Cards will bounce back
sorry, I meant Pollack. My mistake.
Lamet wouldn’t even be a #3 for the giants. Samardzija’s pitching numbers (not W/L) were elite last year and he was a fly ball pitcher that was hurt by the worst OF defense in the majors. I think all of those talented rookies are going to slump hard in the West now that they have more advanced scouting on them (Rockies rotation, Padres hitter and pitchers) and I think bellinger will regress to normal human numbers (see his postseason stats) and I’m concerned about Kershaws long term back health. AZ lost a huge bat that wasn’t replaced and won’t be replaced whenever Tomas returns.
And don’t forget, Cuetos father was very ill and he spend many off days traveling to be with him and also had blister issues that should be handled better this year so I see a return to normalcy. And let’s not talk about improved defense for the padres until they have someone who has won a gold glove AKA everyone in the Giants infield.
Just my humble opinion
I mean, no. renfroe or cutch? Is that for real? From that point on everything you say is in one ear out the other. paayyyyccceeeee
Rockies? In the last 8 years the Rockies have had a better record than the Giants twice, & your implying the Rockies (& D-backs) are are traditionally better than SF? Every NL West team in baseball would give their left nut to be the Giants. They make more money than them, they sale out (almost) all there home games, & to add a cherry on top..they have 3 World Series titles in last 8 years. Trust me when i say SF is not trying to catch or be more like Colorado or AZ. Obviously last year was terrible for SF, but that’s 1 year. I agree that Colorado has done a nice job with their bullpen but SF will be fine. BTW everyone is a legit hitter that plays in Denver. Do you think Mark Reynolds & Charlie Blackmon would hit 30+ bombs if they played in SF? Posey would hit 35 hr a year if he played in Colorado
Lol that’s a stretch on ol buster there. He’s not going from 12 to 35 if he’s playing in a AAA stadium. He may have hit .330 for his career if he played in Colorado though. Let’s not discredit Charlie Blackmon. He’s a very good player. Sf will improve which will most likely take some W’saway from AZ and Colorado. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to squeak them into the playoffs but they certainly are comparable to those two teams. I think SF being good again will positively impact the cardinals more than anything else. If the West teams beat up on each other it’s likely that they’ll be able to slide in to the postseason. Though, the same argument could be made for their division with the brewers to some extent. It’ll be interesting to see how it works out. By my count there are 5 teams with a WC hope for next season in the NL. Cards, brews, Rockies, dbacks, and giants. Possibly the cubs if the cards or brewers manage to win that division. Should be interesting.
The 2018 giants definitely have their fair share of question marks. Im not going to harp on how “old” they are but they still have holes on a team without any money left to spend. They don’t have a center fielder and they’re relying on pence to bounce back and stay healthy in left field. The bullpen has its issues as well. The back of the rotation is shaky. They lost a ton of games last year for a reason. They’ll be a good bit better but it may not be enough.
You think shark is good? Lol. He is easily one of the most over rated pitchers in baseball
I think it’s funny that giants fans think their team is good.
The padres opened the door for their first playoff run (World Series win) and then they shut that door in 2016. This team will never make the playoffs again
Shark is a Solíd #3
2017= 1st in IP and BB9, 2nd in bb/k rate
5th in whip, His fip was 3.61. Yeah I would say thats good.
Can’t argue with this signing. Giants know Heston, and he was useful in plugging holes in the rotation in recent years. While his results haven’t been great the past 2 years, they haven’t been disastrous. Maybe SF new pitching coach can get the best out of Heston.
Curt Young was fired by the A’s mid-season for being too “if it ain’t broke” to keep around young inexperienced pitching.
well at least we know we have no-hit potential in our minor leagues to bring up……….
Nothing to complain about here.
I was at Citi Field for his no hitter
What is with all these Giants articles lately?
Giants have been signing a lot of players in hopes of being good for the even year
They are the only team that realizes spring training is starting soon.
The Giants are the only team doing anything to write articles about lately
This is the first offseason in which I have read about every minor league signing. Usually skip these, but since the offseason is so slow I’m even looking at these guys stats.
Everyone has run out of excuses for the slow offseason – Otani, Stanton, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, arbitration, MLK Day, etc – and we’ve just accepted this is how it’s gonna be this winter. The only question left is will the offseason end with a bang or a whimper?
It’s got to get interesting soon. Too many talented players that still aren’t signed yet.
There will be a point when these guys are faced with either taking less than they hoped for or being unemployed.
Does this effect their luxury tax issue? Or is it just people on the 40 man roster? Obviously if he makes the OD roster it would I assume…..
Since it’s only a minor league deal, I’d assume it’s not going to make a large dent in their wallet, and make them worry about the luxury tax.
Why is everybody coming down so hard on the Giants? They’ve made moves,they’re gonna have bounce backs from key players,the WC teams from last year will regress,and it’s an even year. So come on now…
Giants could improve by 20 games and that wont be enough for a wild card
I’m not sure you understand how standings work, but if the giants improve by 20 games that has to come at the expense of other teams-so they would get the loss. And since the giants play the dodgers, dbacks, Rockies and padres about 19 times each a year, there stands a chance that each of those teams would have more losses than this year moving them in opposite directions allowing he giants a better chance at a wild card-it may not hurt the dodgers, but hey, I think they missed their chance at a championship-they won’t ever be as good as the Indians, Astros, Yankees, Nationals or even the Cubs (for the next few years until they have to break up the band) from now on barring catastrophic injuries on those teams.
I love how the giants have been discarded so quickly after being so close to the WS in 2016 after having an injury plagued 2017. I guess we will see how well they play as the underdog this year.
How is losing to the Cubs 3-1 in the 2016 division series being so close to the World Series?
The fact that one inning was the difference of it being a 2-2 series…. after that everything could’ve changed. Nobody would be able to know from there though cause anything can happen in the playoffs
What if Mariano didn’t give up that bloop single to lose in 2001,that would have been four straight rings and 5 in 6 years for the Yanks. We can all play the what if game…
Agreed! If you re-read my last sentence is says just that (though not exactly the same way). But the original narrative that they weren’t that close is ridiculous. Every team after the wild card game is close IMO. Baseball playoffs are a lot harder to get into than say basketball where 50+% of the teams make it.
Now they can trade Shark!!! lol
I’ve read 30 or 40 shark trade proposals. He has a full no trade and has repeatedly said he’s not leaving SF.
Lightning in a bottle and Heston becomes the next Vogelsong. We can dream right?
Actually Shark can be traded to 8 teams IIRC. As you say, that doesn’t mean he’s going anywhere, unless the Giants are the mystery Darvish team and they need to clear payroll sufficiently under the CBT level with another move to facilitate that.
The Heston and other moves like this are simply stockpiling fallback options in case Stratton and Blach don’t show enough in spring training to cement them into the 4/5 slots.
While I’m happy to see Heston back with the Giants because of the potential he brings, I have to believe the team will be tons better in ‘18. They have more power at the plate and pitching will be vastly improved. Bumgarner and Cueto only won 14 games between them last year because of injuries.
(Bumgarner: STAY OFF THE DIRTBIKE!)
This is a good move. A low cost, low risk guy that can eat some ML innings when there are injuries/double headers/etc. If he can get back on track, he can compete for the 5th spot in the rotation. The Giants still need a 4th starter, but I feel that is coming soon.
We all must be bored to comment this much on a thread about a minor league signing.
I’m not sure I can take many more “this is a slow off season” or “Hyuck! That signing is gonna win them a WS” comments. That ship has sailed, crashed into an iceberg, sank, killed everyone on board and is now covered in Barnacles at the bottom of the sea.
at the end of the day, I’m still a giants fan, since ’46
I love this move… has Cinderella story written all over it! (Aka Vogey)
I sure hope so
Biff,
You’re right. How’d I miss that? 8 teams is still a really tight window. I don’t see him being moved. The Giants have a weak back of the rotation and a Darvish move probably puts them into the 62.5% tax bracket.
The Sharks is the Shark. Every year he gives you 10 starts that make you think there’s an ace in there, 10 starts that make you think he should be playing football, and 10 that make you go meh. As for Heston, good cheap depth with a little possible upside. The Giants desperarly need starting pitching depth so expect a few more signings just like this one.