Giants skipper Bruce Bochy has announced several notable roster decisions to reporters, including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (links to Twitter). Of particular note, out-of-options players Alen Hanson and Tom Murphy will not be carried on the active roster, meaning they’ll either need to be traded or exposed to waivers.
Recently acquired, right-handed-hitting outfielders Michael Reed and Connor Joe (who also has infield experience) are both slated to have MLB jobs, per Bochy. And the same holds for veteran third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who’s said to be in the club’s plans for the time being.
Hanson, 26, played a big role for the Giants last year. He was excellent in the first half of the season but faded down the stretch, ending the year with a .252/.274/.425 slash. While it’s rarely wise to read too much into spring stats, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Hanson racked up twenty strikeouts in his 54 plate appearances in camp.
As for Murphy, he was only just plucked off waivers from the division-rival Rockies. Evidently, the plan was to nab him in hopes of slipping him to Triple-A through the wire. Whether that works out remains to be seen.
It seemingly remains a fluid situation in San Francisco, with late-spring decisions from other teams potentially still intervening. As Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic notes on Twitter, the evening’s announcements appear to indicate that either Sandoval or out-of-options outfielder Mac Williamson will ultimately need to be bumped from the roster. If the latter is sent packing, that’d seem to leave Joe and Redd (with an assist from Yangervis Solarte) responsible for manning one corner spot while also filling in at times for left-handed-hitting outfielders Steven Duggar and Gerardo Parra.
Giants need more diversity
They need better players. Teams stinks
Don’t you ever mention money to me again, you sorry son of a b, NOT IN THIS OFFICE, NOT EVER !
Nice Shawshank ref bro.
How can you be so obtuse?
Is Pablo expanding out even more?
Gah… it’s like you have two bucks at the dollar store and have to decide between something you don’t really want but need and something you think might be fun but is probably useless.
This is a perfect comp
But if you have two bucks at the dollar store, can’t you get both?
Tax.
You can get them both but you gotta wait on one and someone else could come get it for the same price, and the dollar store is really on it and send an email out every time it gets new inventory
Dip in the take a penny, leave a penny tray for the tax. It’s kinda like revenue sharing
Taxes will get you bro
And keep in mind you’re in San Francisco
Yeah, but this is the dollar store at the beach and the players are beer…
With their budget do they really shop at the dollar store? Their payroll made the Yankees blush…
No sales tax here in Oregon. If something is $1 then it only costs $1 at the register.
Thank god Sandoval made the team. He hit for a 121 wRC+ against RHP in 2018 but was awful against LHP. Based on the AB’s he’s put up against LHP this spring, looks like he’s finally hitting them again.
His life coach made him see the similarity between a powdered sugar donut hole and a baseball.
He sees them coming from a mile off now.
If you’re a Braves fan, yeah your farm system is killer but MLB roster decisions are almost as laughable as the Giants.
Well, at least you tried.
Red Sox, land of the laughable farm – and the inept former GM who gave what I see as a tub of lard his outlandish contract.
I do support the braves as my local team though, it’s nice to pick a NL team to root for in addition to the Sox. Did still buy more Sox tickets than Braves though for this season.
They have won 4 World Series titles in 15 years. Who cares what their farm looks like or what ridiculously bad contracts they signed? The ultimate goal in MLB is not to have the #1 farm system or have the best off season signings, it’s to win the championship.
Can’t argue with their success. When you blow up the farm and don’t win that’s one thing. Not to mention the home grown talent they have is pretty awesome. Even if it was Betts alone that’s really good
Yeah,
Signed,
ChicagoGiant
Lol! Guess they don’t have powdered donut holes in Boston!
he has a wRC+ of 26 over the last 5 years batting righty. unless they’ve finally convinced him to only bat lefty that won’t change.
I have been a Giants fan for 50 years, through good times and bad. You would think they would have recognized they haven’t been good for 2 1/2 years. I understand too, that they have many players and contracts that no one wants. There outfield is a joke! Same with back up catcher. Aramis Garcia should be the backup. If they were willing to sign Harper, at least they could have signed a free agent or a trade for a decent right-handed power hitting outfielder. Parra and Solarte are good bench pieces, bull pen is solid, rotation so-so.
Lineup needs at least two power hitters. Buster is a great catcher at calling games, but not a clutch or power hitter anymore. If they get to .500 this year that would be a success.
I agree with many of your points as a long time giant fan but, you kind of slam Posey harder than you should. His power is definitely not what it was even then it wasn’t amazing or Oracle kills it. But to say he’s a bad hitter is completely false! His plate discipline is still solid he gets on base and can hit all over the diamond! If it’s a clutch at bat he’s near the top of the list! Especially in regards to this lineup.
So you believe they should DFA Buster Posey. You haven’t said any other thing that Buster Posey should be DFAd. Am I being to politically correct?
There were no good RHH OFer’s avail without giving up a king’s ransom. Giants don’t have anything but Bum to trade.
I agree about Buster. In a clutch situation, either a double play ball to 3rd/short or strikeout. Terrible Spring at the plate. Giants should have moved him to 3rd or 1st two years ago. Now he’s damaged goods.
Harper, glad he’s not a Giant. .240 last year and a festering Head case in the clubhouse.
you seem to be starting from a place where the giants are going to compete this year. you can’t really do that, this year isn’t really about building a winning team as much as it is about building depth and filling holes with the hopes of taking advantage of incrementally improving the team and hopefully then, swinging some trades and upgrades will give you an improved team rather than improving just that position
There will be quite a few players joining these guys on waivers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Giants make more claims then bump a few more guys.
These two like clear, though.
You are right. The Giants should dfa there entire roster.
What are you going on about? Put the drink down.
Why did they get rid of the thumbs down, some of these comments are ridiculous.
Probably because we are living in the world of hurt feelings.
I miss the down vote feature, too. not as much fun now. some of these comments are so ridonkulous…
Mac Williamson’s batting stance looks just like Justin Turners. Would be an interesting pick up for the Dodgers… could use some righty pop off the bench..
I’m sure the Dodgers will trade Justin Turner for Mac Williamson, that is obvious trade. It is not politically correct. So, it should pass mlbtr standards.
the offseason before last Mac spent time with turner’s hitting coach so it probably isn’t a coincidence
maybe the batting stances are the same, but the performance, not so much
surely old friends, A Jax or Denard would help this OF and can be had for next to nothing
They should resign Willie Mccovey.
This guys dead.
Well then cross him off the list.
Nice Major League reference.
Williamson took a 93 MPH sinker off his right wrist tonight. They may DL him to buy some time. The next 36 hours will be intriguing. Tough to be in the 24th and 25th spot right now, more moves are sure to come. Struggled horribly against the A’s offensively the past 3 nights. Hoping for the best come Thursday and over the next 6 months. Baby Jesus, please help us!
yeah that was my thought watching the game last night – as soon as he got hit i was thinking that it would be a way to buy him time and see who else can perform or they think can pass through waivers or that you can swing a trade to make space.
Mac simply can’t catch a break with the injuries.
If Williamson is placed on waivers, I guarantee the Angels will put a claim on him since Upton is injured
No they won’t. They have better options. Probably end up calling Calhoun back up though.
Calhoun was never optioned
Panda is money grabbing faux ball player. I dunno how he can sleep at night after taking the Redsox money coming into the season unable to bend over to pick a ball up, n break his belt swinging at a pitch he can’t hit. He he had any conscience he would return the money they gave him in good faith n basically holding them up for the money n not playing. Disgraceful he should be ashamed, so I hope he runs m hides for the thief he is. Good riddance from Boston fan living in the Bay Area
Why. Boston was so willing to pay Pablo Sandoval $90 million dollars. You guys screwed up.
Agreed. And that’s coming from a Sox fan.
They paid him in all good faith. HOW they messed up was to not put a physical clause in the contract to cover his outta shape, unable to bend over to pick a ball up, n finally in shape enough to not break a belt. THE WORSE signing ever!!!!
I don’t blame him for taking the money they offered him in the contract, however, I do understand why people are disgusted by his inability to actually get into playing shape as a professional athlete making mega bucks. It is an embarrassment when you look that way and you call yourself a professional athlete.
Sumo wrestling is a professional sport. Way I see it, he is in shape, just trying to play the wrong sport
By your reasoning anyone who fails should return their money they were paid.
Heck, the Giants would love to get money back from Samardzija.
Pablo signed and failed as a team it is the chance you take with FAs.
He did NOT fulfill the contract by being unable to play his position, it is not just a poor performance it was his being outta shape.
Parra. Duggar. Reed. Joe. Solarte. Sandoval. Kratz. Longoria. Crawford. Panik. Belt. Posey
Williamson. ? Or 13 Pitchers. . . We shall see…
What makes no sense is letting go over Matt Joyce who made the braves team. I see so little power in the lineup no relief pitcher would be afraid of it. If they kept Joyce they would have 1 power hitting PH on the bench instead a bunch of weak hitters besides Belt or Longoria .
Williamson and Shaw ARE power hitters. Unfortunately, they are also prone to a lot of Ks. Parra & Reed are slight power improvements over last year’s team, so as someone above said, it is an incremental improvement. If Belt can stay healthy, he will add some power to the lineup. Ditto with Longoria. Posey might not ever reach his past potential, but he will be a much improved hitter this year, for average if not HRs. Unfortunately, those improvements only gets them to a third place finish, if that.
If Williamson has even a 15% chance of hitting 0.240 with 20 hrs with half his games in a tough home park, I would rather find out this year one way or the other. Given that they won’t successfully complete in 2019, Giants can take chances not need to get the best 5th outfielders cut form other teams.
My other thoughts, don’t count out MadBum and Posey, recovery from injuries happens.
I really thought Will Smith and Tony Watson were HUGE bargaining chips that could be traded for a league-average young outfielder. Maybe mid-season.
Solarte would have led the Giants in HRs last season with 17.
Heck, the Giants are still paying AJax so why not use him
I wish my team had 3 rings this decade.
No team has 3 rings this decade. The Giants first ring was last decade. The 0 year (2010) is the last year of the 2000s decade, not the first year of the 2010s. When you count to 10, you don’t start with 0, you start with 1.
Semantics. They still have 3 in the last 10 years, which is what OP meant.
Except not really, no. Do you think 1990 is considered part of the ’80s? No.
The very first 10-year decade went from year 0 through year 9.
this has to be the dumbest point ive seen someone struggle to make, in a really long time. first off, there was no reason for you to make the point other than just being a troll. 2nd, wether or not your right or wrong, nobody says a decade is 1-10. everyone goes by 0-9. like someone above me pointed out, 1990 was not considered to be the last year of the 80s. the year 2000 and all that Y2K nonsense was not the last year of the 90s.
This thread seems like it has gone on for a decade.
This is probably one of the worst teams the Giants have fielded over the past two decades. The Giants have a fragile first baseman, a second baseman who will be on the DL at least twice this year, a shortstop who never break spring training in shape, and starts his season in June, a third baseman whose better days are in the rear view mirror, time for a second career as a chef, a catcher with no power who can catch 50% of the time. A left fielder who will trip over his feet and land on his head during one of his plethoras of strike outs. i can deal with Duggar and Parra but neither have power. The bench has a three hundred pound third baseman who will probably stroke out this season. Pablo where is your pride? Buy some Jenny Craig you pig. Joe, Reed, Solarte I can accept. Did I mention Pablo is a pig? A typical Bochy move. Keep the old guy send the young kids to Sacramento.
The starting pitching is a joke. Samardzija can’t toss four innings but Suarez has options. Holland, Pomeranz are journeymen. Rodriquez is 0-4 in spring training. Bumgarner is simply not Bum anymore, but he is a bum.
I can’t wait for Melanoma to trot out and blow a lead. This Howdy Doodie clown should be DFA’ed, yesterday. The rest of the bullpen is good but they are wasted on this high priced, do nothing, faux baseball team.
A burning question. Does Pablo get extra per diem because he weighs 300 pounds?
I’d imagine Pablo could never be a chef – he’d eat all the ingredients.
I briefly thought taste tester, but, I don’t picture him eating slowly enough to properly critique the food (portion size may also be an issue there.)
However, ever see Flintstones the movie? They had that living garbage disposal under their sink. THAT’S a job Pablo would excel at, IMO.
Him and “Big Sexy” Colon.
You made me laugh over the Flintstone comparison! When I think of Panda the piggie it puts me in a lousy mood.
Crawford batted .419 in May last year. Put the crack down son.
Terrible looking team from an outsider. Sandoval would not make the team with any other organization. 2019 is over for the Giants.
For what they pay him, I’d imagine he would actually. In fact, Baltimore seems a perfect fit.
Really, you look at last year’s batting line and project it out to similar games played in giants (not sox) years past and he actually put up numbers near historic production.
Pablo was great in postseasons. More so-so okay, solid but not spectacular, in the regular season games historically
The month of May a season does not make. During April he was at least ten pounds overweight and his fielding showed it. Once he returned from maternity leave, he was terrible at the plate. Maybe it was the thought of having 12 kids that distracted him.
Maybe look into grabbing Ben Revere.
The Panda is back…
Yesterday, I drove to USF and caught the Sacred Heart vs Bellermine high school game.
I parked across the street, walked right in and sat behind the plate. No $ for parking, no $ for tickets. Very good entertaining game.
Now tell me why I want to go to see the Giants again?
@digi – there are going to be many more examples like that this season.
These past 3 games seem to have given us a preview of the feeble offense the G’s will be offering up. I realize it’s the end of a long spring training, but where’s the fire or even a spark?? The team era will need to be well under 3 for this team even sniff 80 wins – takes the wind right out of you and we haven’t even seen opening day yet. And no Larry Baer to talk up the team during the season? Krukow will have to do double time on KNBR to keep any positive PR going. Without on-field excitement to spark the everyday fan, apathy could overcome the city. My only hope is that the team can muster up some kind of fire to send Bochy out in style.
Prediction – first team HR won’t come until the second road series in Washington and the conversation to alter the ballpark to make it more hitter-friendly will gain traction.
I was there too. good game
You would rather watch high school kids than major league baseball? And the team you’re a “fan” of as well? Okay….
Hey Kirk, you should come with me next time. I’ll buy your ticket!
The .core is getting old. Unmovable big contracts. Let the big contracts expire and build up the farm system with the draft. There is no quick fix here.
I firmly think that the majority of this roster and the players that Zaidi has acquired are stop gaps until next year when he can really work the roster the way he needs to.
Most Giants fans aren’t used to seeing this kind of rosterbation, turnover and waiver wire moves so there’s panic. The fact is, most teams outside of SF have manipulated their rosters like this for a long time.
Instead of complaining, freaking out, and acting like spoiled brats, show some patience, give the process some time, and accept that the Giants aren’t a playoff team this year. It’ll make them easier to watch.
Yes, thank you. Not sure what people expected this off-season.
Honestly, where the team is at right now reminds me of the 2005-2009 years. Let’s just be thankful that the Giants never stay down for very long. Fun fact: the Giants franchise have never had more than 4 losing seasons in a row, not in their entire 137-year existence.
Go Giants!
JRJAIR- After 2 1./2 years of absolutely terrible baseball, how patient do you expect fans to be. We are now heading into the third year of rebuilding and we still have the albatross contracts. The Giants have the money aqs shown by their offers for Stanton and Harper. Time to swallow Longoria, Crawford, and Belts contracts. While they are at it add Samardzija and Melancon. Trade the bum Bumgarner and get some young kids. Let’s get younger and stop tantalizing fans with the compete now mantra. If we have to lose 90-100 games, then bring up the kids and dump the old and weary.. How much more patience do you require? I have been a ticket holder since 1958. Somewhere around 2016 the front office started to drink their own kool-aide. They became fans instead of baseball executives. Get young now.
The last two years plus were run by that idiot Evans. I’m saying give the new regime a chance. MLB isn’t run like video games. The Giants are competing with 29 other teams to sign/draft/trade players.
Jrjair,
The last two and 1/2 years were run by Baer, Sabien, and Evans. Do you honestly believe Bobby Evans had the sole authority to bring Samardzija to SF for 5 years at $90M? The ownership group should have bounced the entire crew. Once Sabien stepped aside and put his boy Evans in the hot seat anyone could see that Evans was in a no-win situation. If he won it was Sabien who gave him the core. If he lost he was an idiot for tossing money at mediocre players. Blaming everything on Evans is simply looking for a scapegoat.
Now for 2 1/2 years the fans have been screaming for younger talent. Where is it? At least Farhan brought in the kid from Minnesota and he hits for average in AAA ball. BTW where is the great white dope Shaw? How many more years do we have to sit and wait to find out that he is a 230 hitter, who strikes out a ton. Sounds just like Mac Williamson.
Let’s face it. The Giants management got lazy. They didn’t scout. They drafted garbage. But they always found time to stand in front of the camera and say “Look at me. Look what I built.” You don’t see Larry or Brian running to the camera anymore. Brian has found a cave. Larry is allergic to cameras.
Sabian is completely out of the picture now. He has no say to how the roster is built. And good luck getting younger with Bochy as manager. He’s a HOF manager for sure but loves his vets. Main reason Pablo is ruining a roster spot.
You make some good points, but if you can’t have patience to let the new front office build this team, then what are your options? Find a new team? Or just have a bitter year of watching the Giants? I’m simply lowering my expectations and hoping the major changes begin happening this year and years to come.
Let it play out before you whine. This team was 5 games out 8/1/2018 and 6.5 games out on 8/31 and playing .500 ball. Baumgarner and Samardzija are healthy. If Pomeranz returns to 2017 form and Rodriguez and Holland duplicate 2018 for a full year (all of which is possible) then its a big improvement over 2018. Giants already have top ten bullpen. If the lineup can just stay healthy and play to what they are capable of and have done in the past then this team may surprise. Having multiple position players on the bench will help with keeping players fresh. Does this team need a power hitter? Sure, but remember for the 2010, 2012 & 2014 seasons, the Giants had 5 total players with 20+ HRs (no more than 2 per season) and only 1 with 100 RBIs. So given what they did last year up to August before they imploded with a AAA lineup, its very conceivable they should be a .500 team. The 2019 OF is no worst than the 2018 OF. So be a fan. Watch out for them negative waves.
My bet, injuries, injuries, injuries for 2019. These guys are old, injury prone, and out of shape looking (Crawford) etc. I hope I’m wrong. Either way, I’m glad baseball is back!
I hope Bumgarner is a stud this year and is traded to a competitive team. I’d like to see MadBum playoff baseball again.
Great posts today, makes me think only one thought….the sky is falling, the sky is falling!
For me after a health scare around Christmas, this will be my 55th season watching Giants baseball so play ball.
All of us are born equal but some of us become Giants!
If people want a signing and power upgrade for cheap, there are 2 guys out there that can play left field although theyre probably defensive liabilities. Matt holiday is a great clubhouse guy , has some power, and a clue at the plate. Joey bats has a ton of power and had a small stretch last year with atlanta that looked good.
Giants should be embarrassed with the PandaBaer.
I’m embarrassed even when I rip that thief!
Williamson has the physical ability to play in the majors but not the right mentality. He plays well in the minors where he is confident but shuts down when he’s in the majors. Maybe a trade and a change of scenery will do him good.
People used to say the same about belt. Then he had a good stratch and stuck in the bigs. We still havent seen the best of belt yet.
I’m a fan of Belt. And I think you’re probably right about Williamson too. I’m sure the last few years of bringing up and down outfielders every other week has shot the confidence in almost every outfielder in the Giants system.
Williamson was crushing big league pitching last year until he hit his head on the bullpen wall.