The Giants announced a flurry of roster moves on Tuesday, most notably requesting unconditional release waivers on second baseman Scooter Gennett. San Francisco also promoted infield prospect Mauricio Dubon (as had been previously reported), selected the contract of right-hander Tyler Rogers (the twin brother of Minnesota closer Taylor Rogers) and recalled outfielder Joey Rickard. Furthermore, Abiatal Avelino was optioned to Triple-A, while righty Trevor Gott was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right elbow strain.
Gennett, 29, enjoyed a pair of excellent breakout seasons with the Reds in 2017-18, hitting a combined .303/.351/.508 with 50 homers in 1135 plate appearances, but his 2019 campaign has been a forgettable one. Gennett began the season on the injured list due to a severe groin strain and, after an absence of nearly three months, struggled to regain his footing in Cincinnati.
A deadline trade sending him to the Giants in exchange for a player to be named later didn’t prove to be a spark, either. In 139 plate appearances, he’s posted an ugly .226/.245/.323 batting line with an enormous spike in strikeout rate (19.6 percent in 2018; 29.5 percent in 2019) and a significant dip in walk rate (6.6 percent in ’18; 1.4 percent in ’19). With Gennett and the recently released Joe Panik out of the picture, Dubon (covered at greater length earlier today) will quite likely be in line for regular work at second base.
While another club could technically claim Gennett off release waivers, there’s almost no way to fathom that outcome. Gennett’s two excellent seasons in Cincinnati bolstered his salary to $9.75MM, and he’s owed the balance of that sum — about $1.78MM — between now and season’s end. Any claiming team would be on the hook for that amount. By contrast, signing Gennett after he clears would only cost Gennett the prorated league minimum — about $95K as of this Thursday (when he’d formally clear waivers).
Turning to the 28-year-old Rogers, this’ll be the first call to the big leagues for the former 10th-rounder. While he’s watched his twin brother rise to prominence as one of the game’s top lefty relievers, he’s been biding his time in Triple-A for parts of four seasons. In that time, the right-handed Rogers has worked to a 3.27 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a whopping ground-ball rate north of 64 percent.
The sidearming Rogers features a funky delivery that has at times made him unhittable by opposing righties. While he’s not in the midst of his best season — what pitcher in the supercharged offensive environments in Triple-A is? — he held righties to a putrid .161/.239/.238 line through 159 plate appearances in 2018. For a Giants team that figures to have some extensive bullpen turnover moving forward, it’s worth getting a look at an intriguing righty who could be a piece in future seasons.
Oh Scooter. Maybe the A’s can sign him?
I wasn’t too impressed with Gennett to date and think Solano is far superior but wouldn’t have cut him loose this early. What do i know?
Acquiring Gennett was a low risk, win now move for the Giants. Now that they’re completely out of contention, there’s no reason to keep a veteran who is struggling (not to mention on an expiring contract) when you can give a young guy (Dubon) ABs and see how he fares in his first go in the majors
Wow. Did not see this coming. If they were going to call someone up why wouldn’t they call love Jaylin Davis
Davis is an over hyped B level prospect. He will not sniff a major league call up with the Giants. There was actually recent talk he would be the ptbna in the Scooter deal. Davis will likely be traded this off season before he eventually arrives in Japan or Korea where his skillset might thrive. One thing is certain- look at the Giants record. If Jaylin Davis were viewed as legitimate he would have been called up long ago.
Davis has a 1300+ ops and you say he is a B level prospect who won’t see the majors with the Giants? He isn’t on the 40 yet but he will be up in September no doubt.
He is 25 years old and could never crack the Twins 25. AAA introduced a new baseball this year and he is in the PCL. Do you really think the Twins gave away the next Babe Ruth or Mike Trout? Look at his numbers with the Twins- far from impressive. You heard it here first- this guy’s future is in Japan. Use last year’s Luke Voight trade as an example. He is a very solid player but not the guy who was so hot last year. He had been on the Cards 25. Davis is no place close to Voight in talent and they are the same age and spent same time in minors.
Jaylin Davis will be a every day OFer in 2020. Guarantee it
The twins traded him because two of their best prospects are outfielders and they have Kepler, Rosario & Buxton already. Twins outfield is accounted for you goof. You obviously don’t know what your talking about
BTW it’s Voit man. And Davis is 3 years younger than Voit. Same age? Please stop with the BS lol. Some of the most useless & inaccurate info I’ve seen in one post.
@Allknowingone
You say 25 year’s old as if he’s ancient. He’s only been in the minors for 4 years. He’s always been a sold hitter that flashed power. He has only logged 21 of his 120 games in the PCL league his year. He did crush 10 homers in that short span but he DID hit 25 homers in the other two leagues. I’m not saying he’s going to be a star but YOU described as a “B” prospect but a “B” prospect is considered to be a mlb caliber player. There would have to be something remarkably off if he’s NOT called up in September.
@Allknowingone
Saying Voit isn’t guy “who was so hot last year” isn’t really saying much. Bellinger, Trout, Rendon and Yelich are the only guys hitting over 1.000 OPS this year. Voit hit .322/.398/.671 w/ a 1.096 OPS last year in 167 at bats. No one with any common sense expected him to duplicate that over a full season. However, most fans would be happy to get a slash of .278/.392/.493 w/ a .835 OPS and 19 homers in 400 at bats. If healthy, he was on a pace to be around 80-90 walks and 28-35 homers. That’s pretty awesome when you’re getting it at league minimum.
Well even if he is that, he’s probably better than Slater in RF.
Slater is the new Duffy/Kelby. I hope we trade him this winter before the lunatic Giants Fans get more attached to him. Cartoon Characters like that tick me off.
???? Slater is a legit player and can soon be that super utility guy like Ben Zobrist. Slater isn’t going anywhere. He will continue to work on his versatility and will get between 350-450 AB’s moving forward. He’s young, can go the other way, plays hard, he’s athletic but yeah, trade him. Get used to him because he is turning into the type of player Zaidi loves
22jclark. U r so cringe. Too bad we don’t have a function to block such cringe.
Sheez, was just giving my two cents on the subject. A thousand apologies for my outrageous thoughts on Austin Slater being a capable and solid MLB player.
22clark I have to agree with you. Slater is a solid player. I can see him being a merrifield type.
Agree with 22clark, Slater is a great all around player. WTF is this other dude talking about?
And, “u r so cringe”?
Did u really type those words in that order intentionally?
I would claim an autocorrect snafu on that post if I were u buddy
Are we in the second grade? Jesus. The cringe is so strong here.
Guys, gotta remember there is no age minimum on the internet. You are likely trashing a 12 year old right now. Just saying.
“Davis will likely be traded this off season before he eventually arrives in Japan or Korea where his skillset might thrive.”
lol you’re so angry.
LMAO your funny. Jaylin Davis will be up on 9/1 and actually Farhan has been pleased with his production and may see how he can handle some in CF.
He was not talked about as being the PTBNL either. So please stop with your miss leading info.. thx
Seriously, that poster pulled that one out of you-know-where.
Davis is just the type of player that Fargan loves to get. Plan on Slater playing in field next year, belt will be cutting his playing time and Crawford also. Bochy gone is going to give other players more chances. They won’t be able to compete having Belt, Crawford, and Posey playing everyday
Why would they play Slater in CF with Pillar under team control for another year?
So much fake news in one post. Have you considered politics in your future ?
Fake news? Absolutely true their fella
Yeah, why they don’t have solano and slater starting at 2nd and 1st respectively is beyond me
Bochy‘s lineups are frustrating
We finally have some guys putting up decent numbers and he benches them or puts them in random places in the batting order
As much as I love him, I can’t wait to see what someone else can do with all these young guys
Yes sir, 2020 is going to be exciting I can’t wait. New manager equals new lineups and new lineups equal W’s in the win column
“If Jaylin Davis were viewed as legitimate he would have been called up long ago.”
Not true. The reason is Davis isn’t on the 40-man roster, and they don’t want to waste a spot when they don’t need to. Even if he was on the 40-man he isn’t going to get playing time and ABs with Pillar, Yaz, Dickerson and Slater.
Avelino was gone the moment he was tagged out running through that stop sign. I’m kind of surprised Scooter was cut before they saw what Dubon could do in MLB. And I would have liked to seen Davis called up instead of Rickard. I like all the moves though
Taylor and Tyler? Cmon
Thanks for your services, Sean. Here is your replacement.
funny the Twins have a twin in their Major League roster. they also have one of the Wells twins too. curious.
It’s embarrassing how much I’ve been hoping the Giants would call him up the last few years. Makes him the first Twins player whose twin brother also played in the Majors (once he gets into a game, that is :P)
hardly embarrassing. i wouldve done the same if i knew Taylor had a twin.
Could have been Melvin Adon, if he hadn’t forgotten how to pitch since reaching AAA.
The PCL makes a lot of guys forget how to pitch — it’s an extreme hitter’s league.
Gennett also had a 4 homerun game a few years back, sad for him.
He’ll catch on somewhere else. Joe Panik got snapped up right away.
jose ramirez replacement?
Indians sign him.
they need to
On paper he fits with almost every playoff contender except the Yankees and Dodgers.. The Indians may be the best but look at the Cubs, Mets, Cards, Brewers, Twins, Redsox, Rays and A’s. An argument can be made each team can use him. I truly think he is better than Panik and the Mets would be wise to gran him and release Panik.
The Cubs have garcia in the minors raking, he will get more at bats come Sept. He did well when he was up for a short time. Gennette’s career is over. Nobody should sign him
Groin injuries take time to recover from. In 2017 and 2018, he hit 50 home runs and just under 0.300. His defense is unexciting but his bat plays. Some team will sign him for one year look at the Nationals signing Dozier this year. At this point in their respective careers, Gennett > Dozier.
Gennett doesn’t fit at all with the Cardinals. Kolten Wong has been playing extremely well since the break, not to mention the emergence of Edman and the versatility of Munoz on the bench. All the roles he would fill are already taken by better players.
Of course he don’t man. Lol
Remember everyone- no more August trades. Not really a surprise when you look at that and the fact he has no more years of control. If Scooter signs before the first he is eligible for the post season. He is not far removed from a good year and he might very well be able to help a contender down the stretch. Put him in a lineup on a contending team with some protection and he might turn into a useful piece down the stretch. In a way it’s very classy by the Giants. Give him the chance to catch on and maybe a good September or post season gets him a ML deal next year. The Mets, A’s, Redsox, Cards, Cubs or Brewers, Twins or Indians all playoff contenders, all make sense on paper and he really did have a fine year last year. One could argue based on the past and this year Gennett might help the Mets more than Panik.
Absolutely no true. None of those teams need scooter G.
This isn’t surprising. We didn’t give up prospects for him, only took on the remainder of his salary, so expectations weren’t too high. He just didn’t perform.
That’s not quite true. The Giants did not take on the remaining salary. The Reds sent along cash considerations with the return being a ptbnl. With Gennett not working out the ptbnl will not be minimal.
* will be minimal.
A little shocking considering how good his numbers were not so long ago. If ur a rebuilding team, seems like a no brainer to go get him. Might hit the right cord, at worse hold down the fort until a prospect is ready.
Scooter “GABP” Gennett.
No. Do you even stat bro? From 2018:
Split
G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG
Home 74 66 297 274 41 82 15 3 10 51 3 0 17 65 .299 .342
Away 80 77 341 310 45 99 15 0 13 41 1 2 25 60 .319 .371
Hey “bro”, why would you not post his splits from 2017?
I like it. Was wondering what they were gonna do, with second base.
Bold move by Zaidi. But we almost forgot. This is how we got here. In the first Place. !!!
If the Giants make a bad trade, everyone has sadness and wonders what happened to the player.
If Neil Huntington and the Pirates make a bad move, after 7 years of thrifty roster building moves without giving up big names, he’s suddenly the worst GM in baseball history
Armchair experts always come out to pick on teams that are having bad years.
It always amazes me that they think that they know a lot about teams that they do not follow regularly.
Their ignorance can be entertaining and funny.
He’s absolutely not the worst gm in history, but the types of moves he makes are intended to keep the Pirates heads above water, not to rebuild and not to contend.
At least two GMs the Blue Jays have had are worse than Huntington; Atkins and JP Ricciardi.
The Pirates should sign Gennett just so he can’t play against them. If someone told me that Scooter was a .700 lifetime hitter against the Bucs I would believe them.
He and Dietrich. These guys should just sit on the IR until the Pirates come to town. Doesn’t matter who they play for
Goodness. Tyler Rogers and Taylor Rogers look exactly the same! I assume they are identical.
Given that anyone is likely to pick up Scooter on waivers, and the unlikely situation the Giants make the playoffs, i don’t see why you don’t at least just hold on to him and see if he can get it back for next year. Oh well not my probable
Why hold on to him when he is completely out of any future plans?
It’s more about Dubon on what he’s doing than anyone else,he has risen quickly and can use some more Punch with Speed in the Middle Infield Position.
Exactly – Dubon is a better than average prospect and ready for a shot and Gennett is in the way. Better to cut Scooter loose now and stand some chance that another team will want him bad enough to absorb some cost.
Haven’t heard much about Trevor Gott after he left last night’s game having thrown almost 40 pitches with an arm that looked like a limp noodle by the time he was pulled.
Have to wonder if they foresee a lengthy absence for Gott and have made this move in part to bring Rogers up as a replacement.
Hope Gott is okay; He’s been a solid reliever this season.
Why call up Rickard instead of Jaylin Davis? Don’t want to start his clock, or they don’t believe in him?
My guess is that Rickard was acquired before Davis and he can also play some center field. Davis will get his shot and from what I hear he’s becoming a fan favorite in Sacramento already
This is all simply not true. Are you Davis?
It is true. Rickard played CF and I have friends that go to Sacramento games all the time.You don’t know what your talking about Mr voight lol
@allknowingone …..or is it @allknowingNONE.
Someone may have already made this point, but Davis isn’t on the 40-man and Rickard is. Davis will get his call up when the rosters expand in Sept. and they won’t have to make corresponding moves to the 25 and 40 man rosters
If I’m not mistaken, but I don’t think I am, players still need to be on the 40-man roster to get a September call up. The reason why rosters could expand to 40 was teams were allowed to call up every guy on the 40-man. Now, the rosters expand to only 28, but I assume they still need to be on the 40-man.
So don’t expect Davis in September, They’re not going to use a 40-man spot if they don’t have to, and only 3 guys can be called up anyway. Expect at least 2 of those to be pitchers.
I think you’re absolutely right, my mistake. But I would be a little surprised not to see Davis up for a look. They currently have only 39 on the 40 man per RosterResource, so maybe they’ll find some room for him on Sunday
OF isn’t their problem right now so let’s chill on Davis. Where’s he going to play? Platoon against lefties? Scooter didn’t impress but I’m sure he’ll bounce back next year but the Giants weren’t going to offer him the $$$ he’ll want. Once they got Dubon, it was obvious he was going to be given the chance to claim 2B as he’s younger, cheaper, controllable and more athletic than Panik and Scooter are. Give him these last 35 or so games so Zaidi can see if he’s their future 2b’man or if he needs to rummage more in the off season. Avelino sent himself back to AAA with that base running move last night. His play thus far doesn’t warrant running through the stop sign Wotus put up for him last night. Ruined the inning
Play Davis in the OF and make Dickerson a pinch hitter/4th OF, at least until he demonstrates that he’s healthy enough to hit for power again.
The struggle will continue when they continually run Belt, Crawford and Posey out in the same lineup. Posey catches a great game but he should be batting 6th or lower. Hoping the hip needs more time to recover and that he’s better next year. They’re on the hook for 2 more years with him so hope for the best. Belt or Crawford going to get outrighted this winter if they can’t get creative and move one of them. Can’t start 2020 with all 3 of these guys skated as everyday players. Thanks for everything but they all got paid, got to get younger and more athletic soon
What struggle? This team is so far completely exceding expectations. Who knew they would be playing ..500 ball this late in the season?
Regarding the veterans, I agree it’s a mess but not that bad.
Posey is still a stud behind the plate and with the pitching staff. His bat still plays average at catcher but he needs to bat lower in the order. His bat is no longer worth moving to first base, so just leave him there until his contract ends. That’s when Bart is projected to come up and replace him anyway.
But oh man, Belt needs to go. I would bet real money Zaidi does whatever he can with his magic wand to pawn him off on another team, even if it’s just for a marginal player and eating a couple million. After what he did with Melancon I would put nothing past him. Belt has worn out his welcome, looks burnt out, and is not what this team needs going forward.
Crawford… I dunno. He looks so much different this year and has definitely lost a step. I know he’s not going anywhere unless he’s released since he has a no-trade clause, so I suspect they run him out again next year with another player right on his butt. Maybe some pressure will be good for him, and if not he’s gonna be seeing a lot more of that bench next season.
The struggle I refer to is the struggle to seriously contend while the 3 we mention keep playing so much. To your point about exceeding expectations, you’re 100% correct and they have been enjoyable to watch, for the most part. They just need to try and phase 1 or 2 of Crawford, belt and Posey out. I’m hoping Posey will be better next year with a full off season to prepare for 2020
All three will be gone before Giants seriously contend.
I’m with you here on Belt. We always hear how great an eye Belt has at the plate—but look at his strike-out rate! And you can always count on Belt to flunk in the clutch—he has weak kees syndrome. Probably a great guy in person, but that’s not what matters.
While I’m at it, Beede and Anderson are awful. Just awful. Might want to try Beede out of the pen but they are both struggling badly. Beede pitched well last night but they make an error behind him and he can’t get past it. He has to get tougher mentally and be able to respond better to adversity
I agree, beede is best suited for the pen.
I’m not sure Beede is suited for MLB, let alone the ‘pen. I almost can’t watch when he pitches. It drives me nuts how he’ll get ahead in the count then start throwing pitches 2 feet off, or short of, the plate, for easy takes. Then he winds up walking a bunch a guys and driving up the pitch count, with those BBs eventually scoring. There’s nothing I hate more than seeing Giant’s pitchers walking guys. Not sure the ‘pen is the answer to Beede’s lack of command.
Mets will be all over Scooter.
Scooter will be picked up quickly. My guess is to an NL contender. Or possibly the rox. Good to see more and more younger players getting a shot!
He may not have it together for the rest of this year, but count on Scooter for a 0.280 average and 20 HRs starting for some team in 2020. I have no idea where at the moment, but I think that he could help most teams. Rockies? Marlins? Cubs? Dodgers? A’s? Indians? Mets? Rangers?
I agree. Tough year because of the injury. He’ll be fine. Giants got him in hopes he would have a Scutaro like 2nd half and that they could make a run. It didn’t pan out, need to see what they have with Dubon. And what’s the best way to do that, let him sit and run Crawford out there. Nice! Anyway, I wish Scooter well, just didn’t happen in SF
Someone I know think Farhan should be fired because Parra is doing ok for the Nats and should have kept Panik while ignoring losing the Melancon contract. Its no use arguing with him.
Yes but yaz and Dickerson are doing better than parra
Which is why you give a lot of opportunities to younger players. Dickerson is due for some serious regression, but Yaz looks like a guy who definitely benefitted from getting a real shot.
I think he’s done really well with the collection of scraps he’s accumulated. We didn’t have the rest of the year to wait for Parra to start hitting .230
Yaz has hit much better than what we had and with some power, plus his defense is on par with Parra and his arm is just as good
Even if moving Parra was mistake, which I don’t think was, firing Zaidi for it would be absurd. No Gm in baseball would last more than a season if they got fired for every little mistake. Every GM makes them, they can’t see into the future. Besides Parra is 32. He wouldn’t be a part of very many future Giant’s teams had he been retained. They’re much better off with Pillar, Yaz, Dickerson, and Slater.
Parra was less valuable than the roster spot he was inhabiting. At some point you have to plan for tomorrow and Parra wasn’t it.
I’d say Scooter is a low-risk high-return piece that is too good to miss for most of the teams out there.
Re: Gennett: It’s curious they would dump Panik, a sentimental favorite, replace him with a known proven major talent, then lose patience suddenly because that guy doesn’t produce all star numbers . . . curious. If I had to bet, I’d expect Gennett’s numbers to make Dubon’s look like Double A in two years. It looks more and more like a money decision, instead of team friendly.