The Giants announced Tuesday that they’ve designated second baseman Joe Panik for assignment and optioned lefty Sam Selman to Triple-A Sacramento. Southpaws Conner Menez and Williams Jerez were recalled from Sacramento in their place.
Panik’s future with the Giants looked to be in question when the club not only acquired well-regarded second base prospect Mauricio Dubon from the Brewers but also veteran second bagger Scooter Gennett from the Reds. Panik, a former first-round pick, has been the Giants’ regular second baseman since debuting in 2014 but has seen his production crater over the past two seasons. In 780 plate appearances dating back to 2018, he’s managed only a .245/.308/.325 batting line.
Injuries have hampered Panik’s career in recent seasons, as he’s missed time due to thumb, groin and back injuries in addition to (most notably) multiple concussions. Panik made the 2015 All-Star team when he hit .312/.378/.455, but he’s never come close to replicating those offensive heights. He’d have been a non-tender candidate this winter by virtue of the fact that he’d be in line for a raise on this season’s $3.8MM salary.
Normally, the Giants would have a week to trade Panik or put him on outright or release waivers. However, with the elimination of August trades, San Francisco’s only recourse will be to waive Panik — likely in the hopes that another club will save them some money by claiming the remainder of his salary. Panik is owed about $1.12MM through season’s end, and any team to claim him would be responsible for the entirety of that sum. If he goes unclaimed, Panik can become a free agent without forfeiting any of that salary. At that point, any team to sign him would only owe him the prorated league minimum through the end of the year — about $164K.
There’s an obvious connection between the Mets, who have lost Robinson Cano to the injured list, and the New York-born Panik. Whether the Mets deem him an upgrade over internal options, based on his past two seasons of play, remains to be seen though. New York could simply slide Jeff McNeil from the outfield back to second base and pursue an additional outfielder, which figure to be in greater supply in the coming weeks.
Giants fans no need to panik, we will be all right.
Cashman is salivating all over the cabana boy next to him right now over this news.
But the Yanks are like 30 in waiver claims so they won’t get him
#LFGM
Hello hello Me. Van Wagenen!
I was actually thinking he’d be a Met the second I got the notification on my phone, before reading this comment. Cano is out for the season and almost a complete bust at this point. Panik is from NYC, played his college ball at St. Johns and also “unofficially” opened Citi Field in 2009 when St. Johns played Georgetown in an exhibition game, a game I attended just to see the new digs before most other people.
He’d fit with them nicely and can’t be worse than Cano based on pure value for dollars.
Also he’s better than Hechevaria
If you really know baseball you’d simply say he will absolutely help solidify the Mets infield – a constant problem for them. Most fans know where he is from and where he played college ball. Thanks captain obvious
And if sleepyfloyd really knew baseball he’d know the overwhelming majority of mlb fans DGAF about NY, which players originally came from there, or where they went to college – and thus, don’t keep track of that garbage – especially with 1200 players on the 40-man each year not including unsigned formerly relevant ones.
Panik’s been do nothing for a few seasons, but that isn’t to say he can’t be a useful piece for someone to take a flyer on. For those of us who arent NY homers, those are some interesting ties to toss around.
Say bye bye to MLB!
lol not a chance, he needs a change of scenery
Giants will regret dumping Panik when Scooter fails miserably
Scooter failing miserably IS Joe Panik.
Padres need to take a flyer on him.
Objective: play as many players with the last name _e_ez as possible.
Suarez is back and in the pen right now too i believe
Eugenio Velez. Done.
someone will pick him up. he’s got enough talent for a rebuilder to take a shot.
Neifi Perez is coming up to take his spot at 2nd
Scooter Gennett?
Where Eujenio Velez at
Something tells me he’ll be a Met by the end of the week. He’s a local kid, played college ball a few miles up the road from Citi Field and was part of the St. Johns team that soft-opened the stadium in 2009 when they hosted Georgetown a couple weeks before the Metsies officially moved in.
The Mets have the need with Cano’s torn hamstring, so why not?
This makes too much sense.
i dont see him reaching the Mets. Very good chance Marlins claim him anr designate Castro.
Is he can upgrade over Castro, though? It seems like a lateral move for a struggling club unless it would be a pure salary move with the hope that another team claims Starlin and gets the Fish off the hook for whatever’s left on his contract.
The Marlins also aren’t going anywhere for the next half-decade at least, so I can’t see that move making sense. Panik may not reach the Mets, but they’d be wise to find a replacement for Cano somewhere seeing as they have a winning record and are back in the wildcard hunt.
I doubt the Marlins will spend the extra money to claim him. They’ll gamble he clears waivers, then it’ll be up to Panik where he wants to go.
Fish won’t be good ever again. They abandoned their franchise model; build a contender around youth and then spend spend spend to go over the top for a year and then firesale.
Isan Diaz is up. No need for Panik.
Don’t worry..the Orioles only have like 15,000 infielders. They will SURELY pick him up.
McNeil will just shift to 2B, Hechavarria is IF depth. Idk if he’ll end up a Met
From a baseball perspective, this was a long time coming and the case could be made that he should have been non-tendered last offseason. Once the defense slipped this year, there was nothing to offset his declining bat. Somebody will take a flyer on him no doubt.
In the big picture though, this season has really solidified how quickly the Giants “core” has regressed to sub-replacement level.
His glove isn’t what it once was, but it’s still pretty good, as his contact rate. I’m sure he gets a shot with another Major League club (probably the Mets), and will actually spike a little from the move. Always one of my favorite Giants as he came from a town neighboring mine, but the Giants already have enough bats with holes in them attached to untradeable contracts.
What’s even more interesting is that his line drive and hard contact rates are higher than career average this season, much higher in the case of the latter. Wonder how much of his drop in BABIP is shift-relayed bad luck.
If his BABIP numbers are down due to the shift it has nothing to do with bad luck. That’s applied math. His inability to adjust is 100% on him.
Apparently the Rays are interested in him.
I know he hasn’t been good for awhile, but this still seems wrong for some reason…
Oh well, not my team. Good luck in Queens Joe.
I agree. I really found it hard to understand how, with his swing he wasn’t hitting better for average.
He is still one of my favorite players and hope he does well with whomever he goes with. He’s a solid and classy dude.
Yeah, I think it’s hard because, if not for the concussions, he’d probably have been a perennial all star candidate and longtime Giant
That has to be it @ABStract. That concussion thing just ruins players man, it sucks because I want to see everyone at their best. I don’t even want the players I don’t like to be injured.
I was listening to Joe Namath being interviewed by Howard Stern and he claims that he did some therapy for concussion and he swears by it and (I think) he said that it’s rarely used these days. I wonder if MLB players are trying it?
Amen
This would be a perfect fit for the Mets.
So when they designated him, was Panik at the Disco?
This comment is underrated…I applaud thee lol
Dbacks
No way Jose.
You don’t see a lot of guys with a lifetime 0.271 batting average get DFA’d.
But you do see a lot of guys posting an OPS of 633 over the past two seasons getting DFA’d
Sure you do. Batting average, obviously, is a poor measure of overall player performance. Jonathan Lucroy and his career .275 BA were just designated the other day.
Career BA is an even worse measure of overall player performance. Yasmany Tomas would know.
Panic has 2600 plate appearances, Tomas has 1100. Hardly a comparison.
Stop being so pretentious and using words like “obviously” in these types of arguments. This is all opinion based on someone’s interpretation of events that have occurred. The facts are career batting average and all other statistics that have actually occurred on the field. The importance of that fact is someone’s opinion. Not matter how well informed the opinion is, it is still just an opinion. Opinions are not obvious.
In 20-25 years, someone younger that you will come up with a new set of stats and claim that WAR and FIP and wOBA are archaic and completely irrelevant. And you and others will feel exactly like those of us that grew up with BA, RBI, and ERA as the main judges of baseball talent. I can only hope that the next generation treats you with a little more respect than you truly deserve.
I grew up with the same stats, my friend. When I learn new things, I adapt. That’s life. Batting average is clearly not a strong measure of player performance for myriad of reasons. When new numbers come along to change the game, I’ll learn to adapt to those as well. I’m not stuck in my ways.
Defense. Speed. Arm in the field. Hitting situationally – As a lot of the big contract guys aren’t doing. . .
At least this gives the open opportunity to improve this area. Positionally. Scooters good for this year. But a Right Handed Bat is needed I think. . .
The contracts will eventually be traded or conclude. The team is building.
More fun to watch now. Than horrible the past few seasons… I hope they can still compete come mid to late September…
This is no time for him to have a panik attack
I see a lot of Mets fans clamoring for Panik, but seems to make more sense they stick with McNeil( where he truly belongs). Panik is a great defensive player who makes consistent contact, albeit bottom of the league weak contact, but seems overkill for a platoon player who doesn’t provide close to the value McNeil does.
If the Mets sign Panik, it would be more about keeping Juan Lagares out of the starting 9: right now, he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.
I do not understand why he would automatically get a raise for next year.
It seems that his salary should be lowered.
If it got lowered to say $3.0 M which is more in line with his average production then the Giants May have wanted to keep him as they are on the hook for essentially his whole salary this year upon the release.
One of the rules in arbitration is that the salary must improve from the previous year’s salary.
Not true. While extremely rare, the same 20% rule for a maximum salary reduction still applies to both arb and pre-arb players alike. I’m not aware of that having been changed in this CBA
It can be lowered. That is what non-tendering is all about. Players that get non-tendered will get salaries lower, sometimes much lower, than they would have gotten through arbitration. It’s a risk for the team in that they might lose the player, but if a player deserves a salary cut, losing them might not be a bad thing.
Injuries really took a toll on Panik. As of now, he has no speed or power. Decent fielding 2B, maybe a utility man out front. Drafted as a SS. Only plus tool is that he makes contact. Hope he lands in a good place and gets to play a few more years in Show.
Maybe the two Brandons will be next to go.
belt defensively supplies a lot of value even though he has been down this year – crawford is yet to be seen whether he stays – neither of which though you want to release because you are on the hook for their contract so you are better off looking for a better day to day guy and relegating them to bench roles
Crawford won’t get moved—he’s both a fan favorite and no longer a league average hitter. He has served the Giants so well, and has been overused for years, leading to his decline. Would love to see Belt moved, but even with his Gold Glove defense and decent OBP, he’s saddled with a tough contract. It’s possible that the Giants move him by paying down his salary, and moving Dickerson or Slater or Pablo to 1B. Wouldn’t even mind seeing Posey moved there but I don’t think he has enough pop anymore to satisfy that move.
Whenever the Giants fans talk bout their underperforming players its always he means to much to the organization
Well now deal with it & let these guys live off prior performances
You missed the boat getting something for MadBum
Let Buster play & get paid while Bart is in the minors
Crawford is still a good defensive SS he has value. Giants should get something for him
Belt stinks you guys are stuck with that nobody wants that contract & even if they ate it he isn’t worth any prospects
Shark stinks & is overpaid but he should at least be able to be moved if they ate some of his contract
But hey Giant fans you know everybody means to much to the organization so keep enjoying those 3 championships til it’s a better time to rebuild
Sounds like you are still mad the Braves got Melancon instead of Mad Bum. As much as AA over paid for 2nd tier relievers you think he could had ponied up for Mad Bum. I guess you can keep the enjoying the only 3 championships your team EVER won. Was the internet even around in 1995?
If SF makes some field adjustments in the off season we might see Belt’s numbers improve and make it easier to move him.
What an absurd comment. First off no team has won more than the giants in the last 15 years. This is the only year Crawford hasn’t been the best shortstop in the league. Belt has never been a fan favorite and most fans wanted him moved years ago. Posey will never play for a different organization, regardless of his Salary or stats. Bumgarner getting traded was always wishful thinking from fans who fail to comprehend how the giants operate. The giants have nt rebuilt in my entire 30+ year life. Bumgarner is the greatest post season pitcher, ever. This is bochy last year, and he’s by far the best manager in baseball. Giants make more money than the Dodgers, own (100%) of their top in league stadium, and are still printing money despite not winning for a couple years. Giants aren’t stuck with anyone. We aren’t the crappy braves who wasted their own super team years in the 90s, failed to win. Built a new stadium, well not really since it was tax funded, and still can’t sell out games. The braves are a joke, you can’t even sign international free agents. Keep drinking the kool aid, while we count them rings….
The way the Giants operate…ended the second they hired Zaidi. Posey likely gets traded next season. Bumgarner might get resigned but not for a $1 more than Zaidi thinks his actual value is. He will not be signed to a “thank-you” contract.
And Crawford? I don’t even know what to say. He could be considered the best shortstop exactly once in the NL over his career. He was a nice player but he’s bad and has been for awhile.
@dodgethis:
SF 2010, 2012, 2014
BOS 2004, 2007, 2013, 2018.
While your achievement is still impressive, you lost that title for now.
Both time to go…period
Once upon a time, he was the golden child. He could do no wrong lol
I remember, even into this year, giants fans thinking he had trade value.
Too bad really; guy has intense in-game skills. And the glove really works.
But man he can’t hit his way out of a paper bag,……Scooter for now, Dubron (Brewers will rue the day…) in 2020…..
Belt, you’re next….
Nobody wants him he stinks
he’s a less than replacement level player, not surprised that he was replaced.
Come on A’s pick him up and replace Profar.
No thanks
Good move. My granddaughter hit the ball harder. Belt needs to be next. He just doesn’t care. I love belts nick name – what about “Bob”
Joe, Thanks for being a Giant !!
You wore the uniform well and made one of the best World Series plays ever. With out that double play we might not have beaten K.C. Besides all that your a class act. Best of luck.
Perfectly said.
The Mets have to choose between what they’ve got (Hechevarria, Lagares and Altherr) or Panik. By that measure, Panik is a no brainer.
But they’ll wait til he clears, to save $1mm…and someone else will grab him.
Wait until after Players Weekend to release A-A-Ron
No need to Panik. He’s gonna end up on a contender sooner rather than later. If not, most likely Mets or Mariners now that Beckham is gone for 80+.
Angels pick him up just to try to get G Cole this offseason to realize they picked the wrong middle infielder married to his sister.
Good luck, Joe! You were a good Giant. Thanks for the help with winning the 2014 WS. Quiet guy, played the game the right way. Injuries took their toll. Change of scenery may be what’s needed to resurrect the career. Best of luck!
How could the Giants do this? I thought they were a classy organization?
Seems so disrespectful to me
Joe Panik deserves better than this. What next? The Giants were hot until the brilliant moves of the trades that have them playing like “nincompoops”. Thanks, FO for making the contending rebuild too grisly to watch. Joe Panik is a forever Giant to many of. Best wishes!
Bobby Evans, is that you ? The “lifetime achievement award” way of thinking is what has the Giants in the predicament they they’re in now. Reveling the the WS years, foolish, big money deals were handed out to the core players and they’ve all fallen off drastically. Just imagine where they’d be if Sandoval had taken SF’s offer rather than bolting for Boston.
Who is playing like nincompoops … the entire core that Farhan inherited from the Evans/Sabean era. Posey, Belt, Crawford, and Panik are all hitting at or below league average. In the cases of Panik and Crawford, both have an OPS+ below 75. Who isn’t … Dickerson, Solano, and Voit – all scrap heap acquisitions by Zaidi.
Yes, in a perfect world, Panik deserves a better than a DFA. He is a stand up guy who who was part of a great era in Giants history. But he’s essentially a wasted roster spot right now so this move was a no brainer. As much as he’s contributed five years ago, he’s also not Cain or Lincecum either so the “stash him on the roster for the rest of the year” treatment isn’t happening.
I can honestly see the White Sox taking a chance here. They can claim him and designate Goins or Sanchez for assignment. Or if he becomes a free agent they could sign him and bring him up in September.
Is he arb eligible after this year or a FA ???
I can see a team in tank mode taking a flier so that if he bounces back they can have a traceable asset next year
Maybe the Orioles or Tigers
One year of arbitration left, I believe.
Free agent after next year.
Very unfortunate to see Joe released, but he stopped hitting. That’s a side of the business that we as fans sometimes don’t like or even agree with. Although not sure Scooter is any better as evidenced by his horrible throw to home plate against the Rockies and his base running blunder last night.
I still scratch my head with some of Bochy’s decisions. Belt is also not hitting yet he remains in the lead off spot. Vogt is hitting over .300 and has been a catalyst in keeping the line moving. How about Buster to first base (even if he doesn’t like it) and Vogt behind the dish??
I think Zaidi deserves some of the blame. He got rid of a couple of bullpen pieces that has clearly changed team chemistry, SMH
The lack of scoring has been an issue all year, outside of that super hot 19-3 streak or whatever it was. The surplus they had was in the bullpen. We’ll never find out what Selman, Sam C, Gustave, etc… can do unless they’re given a shot. Couldn’t pass up dumping that 18M Melancon is still owed. Dyson is on the DL, Dubon for Pomeranz and Black was a steal and Holland had to go after spouting off earlier this year. They can’t score unless Dickerson is playing. Yaz has done a nice job and pillar has had his moments. Solano and Vogt need more at-bats. Crawford, Belt need much less at bats. Longoria has had one good week since he’s been here. Panik had to go, just wasn’t/isn’t the same guy as he was a few years ago. All the guys hitting.220-.240 are to blame for this, not Zaidi. Score some runs on a consistent basis. The bullpen will be fine, they need to score runs consistently
Never forget the Panik / Crawford diving double play in the ‘14 World Series. Ah, good times. Lol
Could have an a major upgrade with addison Russell. the giants blew it.
Umm, no.
Yes. Russell is 100x the defensive player panik ever will be. Panik was never good offensively either.
Nothing to do with talent. Coming off a 40 game suspension for domestic violence. Not going to fly in SF, sorry.
Russell is just better overall than panik. Panik is best compared to connie Gillespie. Came out of nowhere. He was one of the pesky hitters that helped the giants from getting swept. Because let’s face it. The cubs should have easily swept the giants in 2016. Panik isn’t an 8th of addison Russell is. And you know it’s TRUE.
I can’t stand the Giants (because, well, what’s a Dodger fan to do?), but even I wouldn’t wish Addison Russell on them. And SF, regardless of the rivalry, is an organization that I don’t think would welcome Russell.
No direct knowledge of Panik’s health but….
His reduced performance is probably the cumulative effect of back injuries and concussions. Perhaps the best move is to take the rest of year off and heal.
Best of luck to Joe. He is a class act and this is yet another hard one to take.
I waited 50 yrs for the first sf World Series champions. Panik was great but his injuries- and the shift – killed his hitting. The giants must put 9 players who can hit and win. Panik will land and land ON HIS FEET.
Panik at the Disco!
I really hope Texas puts in a claim if he falls that far. He could be a very serious upgrade over Odor. We’re still trying to throw together a miracle and earn a Wild Card spot and I would feel far more confident having Panik as an option.
Maybe the cubs can claim him and put him in the bullpen can’t be much worse than what they got
Would love to see Panik with the Yankees. With Gleyber most likely hitting the IL, Panik could be a good buy low option. Doubt he goes unclaimed on waivers however
Why not just move McNeil back to the IF and start Lagares?
This move was pretty overdue. Panik obviously wasn’t helping the Giants and there are far better options for both present and future. For Panik, hopefully an east coast team will pick him up (Mets or Yankees would be ideal) and he will be rejuvenated from a change of scenery.