The Giants are in agreement with catcher Stephen Vogt on a minor league contract, reports Janie McCauley of the Associated Press (via Twitter). She notes that he’s yet to begin throwing from a crouch following shoulder surgery last year. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets that Vogt is expected to be in MLB camp but adds that Vogt has yet to take his physical.
While the timing is sheerly coincidental, it’s nevertheless a bit odd that the news of Vogt landing in San Francisco comes on the heels of the Athletics’ announcement of a minor league deal with veteran backstop Nick Hundley. Vogt was a wildly popular catcher across the bay with the A’s a few years back, while Hundley had become something of a fan favorite among Giants fans from 2017-18. The two will now suit up on opposite sides of the bay, both hoping to ultimately secure roster spots with their new organizations, although it’s not fully clear exactly when Vogt might be full-go for baseball activities just yet.
Vogt, who turned 34 this offseason, didn’t play in 2018 due to the aforementioned shoulder procedure — one he feared at the time to be a career-ender. That, it seems, is not the case for the affable veteran, who is a known commodity to Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi dating back to the pair’s days together in Oakland, where Zaidi was an assistant general manager at one point.
Back in 2013, Vogt was a castoff from the Rays organization whom the A’s picked up in a minor, unheralded swap that merely sent cash considerations back to Tampa Bay. Vogt, however, went on to hit .255/.316/.416 with 49 homers in 1652 plate appearances for the Athletics across parts of five seasons there. His peak seasons, 2015-16, saw him hit a combined .256/.322/.424 and earn consecutive All-Star appearances. Along the way, Oakland fans embraced the catcher with open arms and made no secret that they “believed in Stephen Vogt.”
The Giants are currently navigating some uncertainty surrounding their own veteran catcher, as Buster Posey is on the mend from hip surgery, leaving Aramis Garcia as the only fully healthy catcher on the 40-man roster. Vogt will have company in MLB camp, though, as the Giants have also previously added veterans Rene Rivera and Cameron Rupp on minor league contracts of their own this winter.
A’s get Hundley, Giants get Vogt. Gonna be pretty weird seeing Vogt in a Giants uni. Best of luck to him, hope it works out for both sides.
Guess no Harper now.
Yes, I think Vogt is getting Harper’s contract, he will get $30m for a minors deal
Like it!gives the Giants more versatility and not rush Garcia
I think the A’s may have got the better of this backup catcher swap.
I’ll wait and see. Neither one is that good defensively at catcher. Vogt has been slightly better with the bat. But it will come down to health. If Vogt has recuperated fully I’d choose him.
Vogt is only a few years removed from being an all star (something hundley has never done). If Vogt is healthy, he is the better player
After Posey, they Garcia, Rupp, Rivera and now Vogt. I imagine the four backups can combine like Autobots and form a Transformer.
I’ve liked Garcia since his days in the minors. He’ll be a good fit as part of the next generation of Giants.
That isn’t how the Transformers work. You may be thinking of Voltron. C’mon now…
Transformer do combine. There are dozens of Combiner teams. G1 included Devastator , Superion , Menasor , Computron , Defensor , and Bruticus.
Dang I am out of touch. It wasn’t like that back in my day. It was just Optimus prime and Company versus Megatron who transformed into a gun for some reason and the other one that transformed into a ghetto blaster for some reason.
Not sure when your day was but even in the 80’s I remember some transformers could combine to create huge robots.
The construction vehicles and the dinosaurs are a couple I can remember off the top of my head.
I am from the year 1525. Transformers only existed in my head. I invented time travel and arrived in 2019 yesterday. I chose my target year randomly.
Why the attitude? I’m not the one that doesn’t know my afternoon cartoons.
How is it that you perceive that obvious joke from me as attitude? I did invent time travel, but the year I chose was specific. I needed to respond to this topic. Darn you and your afternoon cartoon arrogance!
LOL That’s Funny
If he was any good he’d still be playing for the real team across the bay.
Who? The Warriors?
It wasn’t long ago that current Warriors fans were saying “who are the Warriors?”
Da fuq u talkin bout 22leo? While you where watchin transformers me and thousands of diehard Warriors fans were supporting our team through all the tough years. Warriors has a huge fanbase who rolled with them during Run TMC and before
In an effort to get some new perspectives from their catcher, Giants sign Bob Ueker to a minor league contract.
What about Mr. Belvedere? That could give Giants fans some false hope as well.
why didn’t they give Salty a call? he’s out of a job now. former all-star, too
Does anyone think the Giants are designating players to AAA so they can free up cap space to get Harper? They have also designated other players to AAA as well. Just a thought.
That’s a sheer possibility! It might just be Boras’ blowing smoke tactic to get the asking price up for the inevitable Phillie’s contract. I guess time will tell.
Yeah that definitely is true. Harper can be a huge d-bag sometimes as well. I believe that Harper is looking for money no matter what the caliber of the team is. So whoever asks the most for him, he is going to take it no matter how good or bad the team is.
If the Giants equal or make a little worse offer to Harper, Harper may take the Giants offer because of their playoff power and playoff capabilities though. But again, who knows.
It is normal for teams to sign players to minor league contracts. They can help you sometimes. What is the highest offer for Harper? Players don’t take the highest offer all the time.
Of course that’s true. The largest offer for Harper was $300 MM over 10 years from the Nats. He rejected that. So going off of that, Harper is probably going for an outrageous contract from anyone. Im not saying that he is going to take a huge offer from anyone except the Nats but he did reject the largest free agent deal in US history from the Nats. That says something about what Harper wants in a team as well. He probably wants a playoff caliber team where he can maybe get a ring. Who knows though.
Harper was offered 10/300 before the season ended. Harper rejected it because the money was deferred. The Nats pulled the offer off the table. I have not seen any reports on what the Nats and Phillies have offered. The Giants jumped in late because the market came to them. I have no idea what Harper was offered and who he wants to play for.
Is Vogt going to pass the physical? He hasn’t thrown from the crouch yet.
Sounds like one of those Orioles physical jokes people have made because of that time when Grant Balfour failed his with them.
If Vogt makes the roster it could be as a LF as well. He has some experience in the OF along with catching and the Giants may be just desperate enough to try that. If his shoulder is healthy enough to play both positions he would add some versatility to their roster plus a veteran left-handed bench bat
Wow, how could the budget conscious Dodgers miss out on an opportunity to improve their current catching situation by passing on Vogt and Hundley.
Probably because neither one of those guys matters.
Much like Russell Martin.
Im sure he loves this since hes closer to his visalia home.
Just wondering how anxious the Phillies are to lock in a big name for such a long contract that’s sure to be record-breaking. Wasn’t it just a couple of seasons ago that the Phillies finally got out of the Ryan Howard contract which was a complete bust! I didn’t want the Giants to sign Harper, but if they’re able come up with a short-term deal that allows Harper to opt out after two or thee seasons, then I’m all for it. Otherwise this is going to be a horrible season and it needn’t be.
Isn’t it strange not to even mention his time with the Brewers? You know, the last team he played for? He was rather well-liked during his time here in Milwaukee, too!
Vogt will probably win the backup job but it should be Garcia. Remember Zaidi, the plan was to get younger!!!!!
I dont want to hear any Giants fans complain they didnt sign Hundley, Vogt is wayyyy better, has a better history (a 2x All Star), and versatile.