The Giants announced Monday that they’ve designated veteran catcher Erik Kratz for assignment. The organization will have a week to trade Kratz, release him, or pass him through outright waivers if they still wish to attempt to keep him in the organization.
Kratz, 38, has hit just .125/.222/.281 in his 36 plate appearances as a backup to Buster Posey so far in 2019. The Giants picked up in a spring trade with the Brewers as part of a series of acquisitions aimed at bolstering the organization’s catching depth. However, while Posey is currently on the injured list, San Francisco has seen Stephen Vogt reemerge as an option at the MLB level in addition to the much younger Aramis Garcia.
Kratz become a beloved figure in Milwaukee during his late-season run there last season and has often drawn praise for his leadership and clubhouse presence. He’s never hit much at the big league level (.208/.256/.360), but he does have some pop in his bat, a 32 percent caught-stealing rate in his career and a strong track record a pitch framer (per Baseball Prospectus).
He returns to the Brewers and gets unfinished business done #BrewCrew2019Champs
#whenpigsfly
Livestock has been transported by plane for a long time. Pigs have been flying for years.
Lol
Yeah but I saved a ton of money switching to geico
This could be the end for Kratz.
It’s not over till he says it is!!! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor??????
Seriously though, There are 20 other organizations that he never suited up for yet so, yes, he does have a chance.
I like the animal house reference haha
Actually he has only 19 teams that he did not suit up for in their organizations. I missed the Angels.
Andrew Moore: what?
Bring back daddy Kratz!
Another Farhan bust. There was no point in having him with Garcia in AAA to start the season. Farhan proving the Friedman was calling all the shots in LA. Ownership should have forced him to complete the front office rebuild instead of trying to do everything himself. Now he’s just making a mess of trying to have his hands in everything.
At least he’s trying. Would you prefer the Bobby Evans method of poor trades and high contracts for aging players? These players aren’t costing millions like in the past. Also Nick Vincent and Trevor Gott have looked pretty nice. Smh some Giants fans make me embarrassed to call myself a Giant’s fan.
Well, that’s fandom. Every base has it.
I spend thousands on tickets, Gotham club membership, following the team on the road, charitable donations, etc. every year. If you think I should be proud he is penny pinching for the richest ownership group in baseball you’re crazy. There is no need for coupon clipping when you have the luxury to spend at will. So yeah, I do have a right to be upset he has no sense of direction. I could live with a rebuild, but he’s stuck somewhere in the middle. The majority of his pick ups have been knee jerk reactions, not part of a long term plan.
No it’s a rebuild, you are just not paying attention
Farhan was handed a dumpster fire of a roster with bloated contracts and fan favorites not producing value. This is how he has to improve the club, working the outside fringes until he acquires enough depth. A few years of choosing high in the draft and clearing the books of current contracts won’t hurt. It’s not going to be pretty, but he’s definitely not going to be spending how you want him to in the next few years. This is how you suck the poison out of the wound, get used to it.
It’s not a rebuild, yet. They have all their money tied into bad pitching contracts and their core isn’t doing anything to inspire much faith. Once they start trading guys they’ve extended for valuable assets THEN it will be a rebuild.
Yeah, for all that money antibelt spends he still doesn’t seem to understand how the game works.
Be mad that they’re losing, but being mad at Farhan is ridiculous.
Oh, and you may wanna give him more than a couple months before deciding that he doesn’t have a plan or know what he’s doing…reconstructing an entire organization doesn’t happen overnight.
I am also a Giants fan and can’t stand that ignorant tantrum attitude, sometimes you just have to deal with losing.
At least we got a better decade than any other team or that anyone could have anticipated
And to call the Giants of all teams cheap just says that u may attend a lot of games, but u must not pay much attention…try being an A’s fan and then talk about cheap front offices
Poor front offices*
I’m just gonna keeping doing this until people finally get it. I’m like Captain America, I can do this all day.
@ LADreamin: You’re right. It was an ugly situation that he inherited, and I think that it was probably a lose-lose to inherit, and it would have been a lose-lose if the previous braintrust had conducted business as usual. There will be some painful growing years ahead.
Giants ownership doesn’t want a rebuild, that’s a big part of the problem. They want to stick with that current core and hope they can pull a miracle Moneyball move that will thrust them back into contention.
Farhan didn’t work under Billy Beane nearly long enough to figure out how to do that, though.
A bust? Can you really call a 38 year old back up catcher a bust? What are the expectations that he didn’t live up to?
I’m not sure you could call him a bust even based on expectations of performance. I don’t know why the Giants even traded for him if they were looking for an offensive upgrade, because everyone that has ever talked about Kratz values him as a clubhouse leader and a solid defender behind the plate.
antibelt you are 100% right! What has Zaidi done to make the Giants any better? The only positive was Harper used the Giants and Zaidi to get a better deal. At least Harper’s money is not on the books to hamper the Giants any further than they already are.
Gotta agree. Why did he sign him in the 1st place only to leave him high and dry like so many others. It is a disgusting process to watch.
I’m not even a Giants fan but Zaidi’s constant churning of acquiring and DFAing guys without really giving them much of a chance to help the organization is kind of irritating.
Kratz is a little different because he’s not a young guy and I remember Anthopoulos used to do something similar in Toronto to acquire depth, but from the outside it really doesn’t seem like the Giants have any sort of plan.
Does Jerry DiPoto drive you crazy, too?
I’m not even a Mariner fan and he drives me crazy.
Any front office spending will drive you crazy. You are an A’s fan. You enjoy suffering.
Honestly, I actually like DiPoto. I wouldn’t want him running my team (I’m not a Mariners fan), but he at least brings excitement to the hot stove. I don’t really see any comparison between him and Zaidi.
The Dodgers used to do the same thing. They basically still do in a sense. You get used to it, because it’s not a big deal. Improving the fringes of the roster to the point where you land on someone is exactly what he should be doing. The problem is the core is very expensive and not really producing. This isn’t a good team, and Zaidi is a bit hamstrung.
I get the strategy, and since most of these guys ended up clearing waivers he’s acquired some depth. But the bigger problem for me is that it just doesn’t seem like he has any sort of a plan.
In the words of the Traveling Wilburys – this might be the end of the line for ol’ Krazty.
Give Kratz credit–dude kept grinding away for years before he got any extended roster time, and he got pretty much every last drop out of his skill set. If he’s done, he has nothing to hang his head about.
That’s about what I came here to say, but you worded it perfectly.
Farhan is a tool. He has no clue what the f he’s doing. He keeps this up he’s going to loose alot of fans.
He’s better tighten their tethers, then, before they become loose.
He’d*
I would feel for him, but he knew what he was getting into when he took the money. The Giants wanted him to be a miracle worker, but they honestly hired the wrong guy.
Should have taken the shot and hired Billy Owens instead. They’re probably regretting it right now.
Kratz the way, uh huh uh huh, I like it.
Hahaha good one!
Ha
All these comments about Farhan jeez. How can anyone have serious expectations for this team? What is he supposed to do. Shuffling through DFA players does no damage to the team. You know what does? Desperate moves like trading for McCutchen and Longo
Preach!
These people are nuts
Since nobody has done it yet, I will leave the standard comment “He might have a career in coaching” ahead of him.
I hear that there is an opening in Visalia…….
If you ever heard him talk in interviews, actually does sound like he could.
Finally. This was a move that Farhan made that never made sense
Good riddance, and dont come back…
Kinda bitter towards a Crash Davis type, aren’t we??
I find this story amusing, not because of anything related to Kratz, but because it’s kind of darkly hilarious to see just how ridiculous the anti-Zaidi hyperbole has already gotten…
A back up catcher that cost all but literally nothing to acquire gets released for hitting like a back up catcher… Giants fans should be thrilled he at least isn’t still owed 20 million…
Well said!
Dang Gnats, you DO KNOW he can pitch, right?
No matter how many times you flush some Krapz just wont sink