Infielder Wilmer Flores has new representation. Flores, 28, will now be repped by Cesar Suarez of the Beverly Hills Sports Council, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Flores’ change in representation will soon be reflected in MLBTR’s Agency Database. Flores had previously been repped by the McNamara Baseball Group.
Suarez is a former player himself, though he never reached the majors after signing with the Yankees as a 16-year-old, per his bio on the BHS Council’s website. He hails from Flores’ native Venezuela, as do other notable Suarez clients such as Rougned Odor and Salvador Perez. Heyman did not mention any specific impetus behind Flores’ decision to make a change at this time.
Flores, 28, is coming off a one-and-done year in Arizona. The utility infielder made the most of his time in the desert. After signing a one-year, $4.25MM guaranteed deal with the Diamondbacks, he appeared in 89 games, slashing a robust .314/.361/.487, good for a career-best 120 wRC+. Flores also missed more than a month of playing time after a foot contusion in late May pushed him to the injured list. Arizona declined a $6MM player option, making him a free agent for a $500K buyout instead.
When he was on the field, Flores performed. If you’re looking to poke holes in Flores’ 2019 output, a .332 BABIP is a good place to start, but Flores has long been a strong offensive contributor, so it’s not totally a smoke show. Still, career norms of a .268 BA and .277 BABIP point to some regression. Statcast credits Flores’ 2019 with a .329 xwOBA (league average is .318 xwOBA).
As for his new agent, there’s no immediate contractual work pending after Flores signed a two-year deal with the Giants this offseason. He made back the $6MM he was in line for in Arizona, only it’s spread out across two seasons. Flores will make $3MM in each of 2020 and 2021, while the Giants hold a $3.5MM option for 2022. If Flores can flourish in San Francisco, he should have the opportunity to net another major league contract either before his age-30 or age-31 season.
The Giants haven’t been all that active in free agency recently, so their signing of Flores was notable, especially since there’s not an obvious place to put the contact-oriented infielder. Veterans like Evan Longoria, Brandon Crawford, and Brandon Belt are entrenched around the infield on big-money deals that run concurrently to Flores’. There should be at-bats for Flores at second base, but he’s not alone there either, as Mauricio Dubon offers the Giants a higher ceiling with more team control as a pre-arb player, and Donovan Solano is coming off a mini-breakout of his own (.330/.360/.456 in 81 games last year). The presence of local hero Pablo Sandoval also muddies the waters for Flores – if Kung Pu Panda ends up making the team.
The potential for a Universal DH should give Flores some hope for grabbing a few extra PAs, but the Giants are actually pretty set on that front after bringing back the hugely popular Hunter Pence. Fans will be happy to see Pence’s name back on the lineup card, but even from a baseball standpoint, Pence is coming off a year when he unexpectedly put together an All-Star campaign at age-36. Pence finished the year hitting .297/.358/.552 with 18 home runs in 83 games as the Rangers’ DH. Like Flores, Pence also missed a fair amount of time due to injury. Given the ages of Longoria (34), Pence (37), Crawford (33), Belt (32), Sandoval (33) and even Solano (32), Flores is actually one of the young guys in the infield mix, despite his status as a 7-year MLB veteran. It’s not obvious where his playing time will come from, but there are many paths that lead to Flores seeing time as a regular infielder.
Lol the giants. Just wanted rosey palm to feel special.
Since the Giants found out that they can lose quite well with Crawford, Longoria, and Belt and still pay them handsomely for poor performance (Longo performed at a minimum ML level if not to his salary) and they have to pay them well for their marginal performances, maybe the new regime will write them off as sunk cost.
Pay aside, if you can’t beat a 2 WAR you’re not a MLB regular and should be played for performance not pay.
Zaidi should DFA Crawford. The problem is that they are a last place team so the roster spot isn’t as vital
Also , you have a ridiculously overly sentimental fan base here that would complain
What’s funny is that last year people like you said the same thing, last place team. If your not first your last right? Lol. You must have some serious issues with the Giants. You constantly have something to say when your team probably hasn’t won a World Series in how long? Lol. One thing we can agree on is the Giants don’t have to Dfa Crawford. Because his spot ISNT vital. The rest is for birds. Your team is no better bud.
Bobby Evans is the worst GM in Giants history. When Brian Sabean got promoted, Evans decided to extend all of the aging players, and then trade for Evan Longoria and his terrible backloaded contract. He also tore down the farm system, until he got fired (good riddance) and Zaidi took over.
I just called down the hall to my wife that “Wilmer Flores, the utility infielder, has just changed representatives!” She called back “What? Who? Are you that desperate for baseball news?” “Yes, I am. I’m reading about Wilmer Flores.
I just called down the hall to my wife, “Hey honey, Wilmer Flores the utility infielder has just changed representatives!” She called back “What? Who? Are you that desperate for baseball news?” “Yes, I am. I’m reading about Wilmer Flores.”
I like Wilmer, but I really didn;t understand this signing. As the article mentions, it runs concurrently with the majority of the bad contracts the Giants are trying to play out during this rebuild. They already have a lot of middle infield depth – Solano, Avalino, Dubon, and possibly Sandoval. They had Yolmer Sanchez in camp, too.
Trade chip? A bridge to Doobie? Wilmer is cheap and fills some needs for the Giants.
Except that 3mil/yr is not that cheap. SF refused to pay Pillar, and he ended up taking just a little over 4 mil on a 1yr deal. Doesn’t make any sense to me.
How do you know the Giants didn’t try and sign Pillar for something like $3-$4M? They had to non-tender him or pay him the arb projection of about $10M. Once he was non-tendered he became a FA, and maybe he preferred the RS to the Giants.
Besides, it’s apples and oranges. Pillar plays CF and Flores plays middle IF. In addition to that Pillar is clearly in decline. His defensive skills have eroded, last season he had a -6 DRS and a -1.6 UZR/150. And there’s always those troublesome red flags, too many SOs, and a pathetic OBP.
Flores’ career 102 OPS+ isn’t much to get excited about, but it’s a lot better than Pillar’s 87. It isn’t the head-scratcher you make it out to be.
Astute (and welcome) observations – all.
They don’t really have a right-handed complement to Belt. All those fielder’s you mentioned get the majority of their reps in the middle infield or third base
I think you mean Arizona declined a $6M CLUB option. If it had been a player option Flores probably would have taken it.
Every Giants fan is just waiting for that far system to reload and then compliment that with big market free agents signings. Meanwhile we laugh at the Dodgers trying to get their first title in 30 years.