The Giants have non-tendered center fielder Kevin Pillar, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). He’ll head onto the open market.
Set to reach his 31st birthday in January, Pillar was slated to earn a projected $9.7MM in his final trip through the arbitration process. That proved too rich for the San Francisco organization, which played Pillar regularly after picking him up early in the 2019 season from the Blue Jays.
Frankly, it’s not surprising to see the Giants pass at that price. Pillar is a gritty performer who still makes his share of highlight-reel plays and has good pop for an up-the-middle player. But advanced analysis suggests he has lost a step in the field and he continues to turn in cringeworthy on-base numbers.
Last season, Pillar slashed just .259/.287/.432 (85 wRC+). That marked his fourth consecutive season of offensive performance more than ten percent below league average. When Pillar was an elite defender in center, that perhaps would have sufficed, even at a relatively lofty price point. However, he’s rated as a mere average center fielder the past two season, combining for -7 defensive runs saved and +2 runs per Ultimate Zone Rating. Statcast, meanwhile, pegged him as a 51st percentile outfielder in 2019. Combined with his lackluster bat, that defensive downturn proved too much for the Giants.
Pillar back to Canada?
The Braves. AA has to have those former Blue Jays players.
Yes please!! They need a center fielder for a couple years. That can actually catch the ball
Pache is coming. They have no need for Pillar
are you kidding me? he was our best player! we could’ve at least traded him later in the season
They could have traded him today if any team wanted him
Not at that price tag.
What is wrong with Giants fans? Pillar is a + 1 WAR guy w/ one of the worst OBP stats in MLB
He was only a Giant for 8 months and fans are mourning his departure and criticizing Zaidi
You people are a bunch of overly sentimental Freaks
We are overly sentimental. We waited 50 years for a championship. We appreciate quality players and are sad when they depart.
Pillar is not a quality player…
Lefty’s comment is spot on. To a great extent the Giants’ predicament is a side effect of their success. Breaking the drought was hugely emotional, and Giants fans have prioritized loyalty over a more logical and practical team-building strategy that would have pared away many of the pieces that are underperforming while sucking up salary.
It’s probably hard for most to recognize that Pillar and his +1 WAR were highlights on the team last year. Posey, Belt, and Crawford were terrible. There’s almost no immediate help from the farm system. Pillar’s range might have evaporated, but it wasn’t necessarily clear with the human eye. He made a lot of great catches. Fans tolerated the low OBP with the timely power. On a bad team, Pillar was a pillar of hustle and stability.
.296 OBP is not quality…
Well I don’t see much in that roster to appreciate right now…
The mvp candidate lol
He was there best player. I don’t see how releasing him improves us at all. Duggar’s play has been subpar and he’s been significantly injured the last two years. Keep being cheap, and start expecting to see a lot of empty seats.
Well pillar is probably gonna be going to a contender so good for him
I wouldn’t say the best but he did contribute – the thing is that pillar isn’t in the long term plans , he is older and more expensive and eventually a blocker. there are a lot of guys that fit his profile for a similar dollar amount especially with his defensive peripherals going down – he was the best center fielder SF has had in a long time but he isn’t the best CF period.
We have no outfielder who can play centerfield and put evn close to Pillars number. He won’t be blocking anyone since it’s only for one year. Just because we’re not favorites doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and win SOME games.
Yaz and Davis can both play CF and Ramos or Bishop is the answer long term. Might be a signal they want to spend the $10M on the corners. Stay patient, fam.
Anti, you are so correct. The Jays learned that lesson too when they traded him for 3 sacks of fungo bats from San Fran early in 2019..
It won’t be Duggar unless he earns it. Almost every OF Farhan acquired last year can play a decent CF. Yaz and Davis for sure.
Agreed. KP is an inspiration who’s fun to watch. I won’t waste anymore
Time watching a revolving door of lackluster players. It just doesn’t end…
Agreed.
Wow, Zaidi
Take a swing Wilpon’s!
Thinking the same thing…
I am praying as a Met’s fan that we get him!
Why give up players for Marte when we can sign Pillar for just cash!
Because Marte is a lot better?
Obviously Marte is better but say Pillar for $5m/year for one or two years, keep the prospects and use the rest of the money to say another reliever like Betances.
Might make sense on a short term deal for the Pirates if they end up trading Marte.
That’s crazy. He was our best player overall last season. Farhan and GM Harris better come up w something good !
in time it will be a footnote.
Wow maybe y’all should acquire better players
The man who got down MVP voted?! What a loss!
1 MVP vote
The Rangers should be all over this. Much needed help and a righty.
this was the big Q for the giants – he was very much a fence guy so I am not surprised though I wouldn’t have been surprised if they tendered one as well
Mets should be all over him
Exactly my first thought
Agreed I’d prefer this to giving up anything for Marte. Platoon him and nimmo in center one plays defense and one gets on base
This is the CF Brodie Van Wagenen should be targeting. Don’t have to trade away assets, has some pop, can steal a few bases, may not get on base at at high clip but he also plays good defense in Center.
Giants avoided arb with Dickerson so that tells me they at least spoke with Pillar bout coming to an agreement.
I guess he thinks he is worth more than they were offering. Had a nice bounce back season but not worth what he would get in arb.
I think he plays better defense than advanced metrics can measure. His ability to catch balls over the fence does not just turn hits into outs but home runs into outs.
I see the Mets in play on Pillar. Makes a ton of sense over trading for Marte.
Worst MVP vote-getter in history lol
Whoever voted for him needs to be forced into retirement.
not as bad as the guy who voted for Scherzer for CY in 2018 IMO.
It was Hank Schulman who gave Pillar the vote. He covers the giants.
Meh it’s not like a vote way down there is ever going to impact who actually wins MVP
That homer Giants beat writer from the Chronicle gave him the vote. Not surprised. Frisco baseball writers are AWFUL
No critical assessment of Giants players or Bochy but were quick to absolutely tar and feather gabe kapler before he managed a single game.
Royals should look into Pillar. Great defense and a solid Bat to fill some holes in the outfield. Possible deadline flip as well.
He was solid in Toronto, I’d take him back
I would take him back in Toronto as well. After seeing what was roaming the Toronto Blue Jays CF position in 2019, Pillar would be welcome relief.
Absolutely the right move by SF. Thanks to Pillar for 2019 (his high-water mark in almost every category). But his 2020 price tag wasn’t commensurate with his projected regression.
Not sure I like this, maybe they re sign him 2/15 or something, a little odd but hopefully FZ has something up his sleeve
Not enough people are thinking along these lines. NO one is going to pay Pillar 10 million in arbitration. SF may offer him a contract at a lesser amount. Of course, so might any other team.
I get why they did it, but he was one of like 3 guys who actually played with heart last season. Wish they could non-tender Crawford and Belt.
Snot…I agree with everything you said….100%
Snot, Pillar, Panda, Yaz & Dubon all had heart and hustle. The rest of the guys looked they died and they forgot to burry them.
As much as I like Crawford, he’s lost bat speed and step in the field, he also needs to loose some weight he’s gained over the last 2 years. As far a Belt, he has more holes in his swing than Swiss cheese and just drives me crazy every at bat. All defense at first base doesn’t play well. Posey, let him ride off into the sunset in a couple of years. He’s a good roll model for the young guys.
An absolute masher against LHP. He would make sense as a platoon guy w/ Heyward or Happ for the Cubs.
Best field player by far last year…….FZ apparently trusts his slide rule and metric crap over having some type of energetic backbone in the locker room…..Buster is the only other veteran presence (although quiet) in the room. Belt and Crawford are over the hill. Wake up Farhan…. you are losing more fans each move you make.
Slow your roll. Pillar can resign once he finds there is no ~10MM per year market for an aging CF who is in decline.
The Giants have plenty of others who are in decline, let’s not add another at that price.
Back bone of the locker room? Of what ? A losing clubhouse that just posted it’s 3rd consecutive below .500 season.
You don’t want loser chemistry.
The non tender doesn’t mean giants won’t resign him. Even with a lack of centerfielder in general right now, pillar isn’t a 10mil player.
He might get signed back for 7.5 mil
Or get a better deal. Farhan rolling the dice early.
The Giants are a mess.
The Giants have 75m to spend in free agency. They’re fine.
75m is meaningless when they don’t spend it.
Who told you that ? Lol. Zaidi isnt gonna spend 75M or even half of that
They are in the beginning stages of a massive rebuild. You don’t spend a lot while rebuilding for the simple fact that you’re not going to compete
Team was 54-50 after June 1 and have 75m to spend in free agency. They might be more competitive than you’re giving them credit for.
Short of the torrid six weeks they had in 2019, they’ve been a losing club since July 2016. Let’s not put too much stock in a month and a half of baseball when three years says otherwise.
Just gets worse and worse. A revolving door. I hate seeing players treated like merchandise. No class
Buster Posey is the Face of the Franchise with 7 HRs and 38 RBIs in 2019…
Brodie??
Mets should look closely at him. Righthanded, center fielder, gamer that plays every day.
“Winning the Willie Mac Award is not so lucky”, said Duffy, Hundley and Pillar
His 1.0 WAR says he can still play.
It’s a tough idea to accept, but veteran players are just placeholders in the Giants’cold new reality- at least until the farm system can produce more of what they need to compete. The veterans’ role is simply to buy time for prospects to develop, while giving the appearance that they care about competing. In that sense Vogt and Pillar did a very good job of buying some time for Ramos and Bart. The players who replace Vogt and Pillar will probably not do as well, but it’s irrelevant. They’re not trying to win and these players are not part of the larger plan.
Don’t get too attached to any new veterans Giants fans, or even the younger acquisitions like Yastrzemski. A slow start in April likely would have him back in Sacramento.
It’s really difficult to follow the Giants right now, but I understand that Zaidi has to work through the wreckage left by so many bad contracts and even poorer drafts. The way I see it Giants fans are just getting a taste of what the have- nots have done for years, albeit with better prospects.
At this point it’s tough to see why anyone would want to witness in person, unless it’s something you’re just doing for the first time.
Yaz is 29 though…
Are Giant fans serious when they say Pillar was their best player last year? Is that a running joke? Was their offense that bad last year????
Yes, no, yes. Check the stats, he was their second best offensive player behind Yaz.
I always liked Pillar. His skills haven’t degrated to the point where he is depth. His numbers still play as a full-time Cf’der.
Managers love to pencil guys like Pillar in the lineup everyday.
Considering there are some holes in MLB clubs in CF, Pillar will land on his feet somewhere.
All the best to him.
While they’re changing things up, can the Gigantes please get some new play-by-play announcers. so sick of Krukow and Kuiper…
As a 30 year Giants fan. I just want to state that 90% of Giants fans are baseball ignorant. They non tendered Pillar for good reason to save payroll. And once he realizes he isn’t getting paid what he wants, he will re-sign with SF MUCH cheaper.