The Giants agreed to terms with third baseman Jason Vosler on a Major League contract, the team announced. Their 40-man roster now has two open spots.
Vosler spent most of his development years in the Cubs’ farm system after they selected him in the 16th round of the 2014 draft. He spent 2019 with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate. He joined the Friars in a low-key, but notable deal in November of 2018. The Cubs sent Vosler to San Diego for reliever Rowan Wick, who since became one of the Cubs more reliable bullpen arms. At the time, the 24-year-old Vosler was the Cubs’ #25 prospect per Baseball America, while Wick was a 26-year-old converted catcher with 10 Major League appearances to his name.
The Athletic’s resident soothsayer Grant Brisbee included Vosler among his list of minor league free agents that the Giants might target in his article yesterday. Brisbee wrote that Vosler “hit .291/.367/.523 in 2019 for the El Paso Chihuahuas, which isn’t that impressive for the Pacific Coast League. But that was the third year in a row that he hit at least 20 home runs, which isn’t something that you can say about most minor-league free agents. He’s a lefty bat whose primary position is third base, though he’s also spent time at second and first. In a minor-league free-agent class that’s lacking in power, this is one of the only good options.”
The Padres had no room for Vosler with an infield stocked by regulars Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth, and Eric Hosmer. The Giants can use Vosler to spell Evan Longoria or Donovan Solano against certain right-handers. The Giants ran a right-heavy bench last season, giving Vosler a clear path to a role with the big league club in 2021, depending on other transactions.
Vosler has yet to make his big league debut, though he did join the Padres 60-man player pool last August.
A major league deal for someone who’s never played in the Majors?
A major league deal for a minor league team.
Yea well ya know what? The Giants missed the playoffs by ONE win. Yea. A minor league team almost made the MAJOR LEAGUE playoffs. (Ngl tho, the giants had a bunch of minor league, low cost contracts for players that happened to contribute, coming from a Giants fan
If the bullpen was managed as good in the first half of the season as it was the second they would have pulled out at least 6 more wins too
Absolutely. I think Kap could’ve been better with the whole team for all 60
A lot of team “almost” made the playoffs
There’s usually a team or two that does this every offseason. The player doesn’t always make the team though.
This might be a terrific signing. Zaidi is a genius.
signed, Joey Bart
It wasn’t because of a lack of skill so much as being blocked by Machado and Hosmer in the majors.
This feels like a move that’s going to turn into a Mike Yaz/Dickerson/Solano move.
That was my first thought.
Daniel Robertson also a sleeper Zaidi move that may come to fruition next year
It depends. Robertson is out of options and they’d prefer their backup infielder to hit left-handed.
I’d love to see him play, but I’m not sure where he fits going forward. He may well be non-tendered, sadly.
Dickerson was already a mlb player, he couldn’t stay healthy so the padres moved past him.
Yea but who would’ve ever thought he would hit .294/.361/.552 and lead all Giants in wRC+ in the last two years at 140?
Or it could be another Mike Gerber Jaylin Davis.
Could be. Only way to find out is to give him a shot.
they really needed to give the guy a MLB spot?
40 man, not 25. We’ll stash him in AAA if possible.
who?!?
The best Zaidi moves are the ones where everyone asks, “who?”
A 27-year-old wasting away in the minors being signed to a major-league deal?
If that’s not a Farhan Zaidi move, I don’t know what is.
Grant strikes again. Vosler will be a welcome addition if he can field and platoon at third. Guessing there may be a couple others.
Not really the first big league contract I was hoping for from Farhan & Co. but it’s a start I guess. I guess….
Someone once noted that an anagram for his name is beast bringer.
If he can hit ml pitching. Big step.
Let’s see if he can play a good second base
Wick was awful in San Diego
Top 5 revenue generating team in the MLB and we are now going on 3 years of moves like this. It feels like we are in Miami or KC or Pittsburgh until you go to the ballpark and end up spending $500 between tix, parking, beers, and crab sandwiches. Not exactly a bargain to see a AAA team in MLB uniforms. How many losing/rebuilding seasons before the loyal Farhan fans realize this guy isn’t taking this team to the promise land? Can’t wait to hear all the comments defending FZ and all of the shinny garbage he is finding at the bottom of the dumpster.
@pato It is very simple actually just stop watching, following, or commenting anything related to the Giants. I can guarantee you no Giants fan will miss you on MLBtraderunors. Go root for the A’s or the Dodgers.
I’ve been a Giants fan all my life and unlike you don’t have the ability to stop rooting for my team because some idiot named choco tells me to. I’m a Giants fan not a Farhan fan it is possible to be one without the other. Not sure why tools like you think they need to show blind loyalty to a bad decision made by the owners of the team you root for.
@pato looks like I struck a nerve?? When did I say show blind loyalty to Farhan?? I love my team even when they are not winning. They can go without winning another championship and I will still root for them. Little tip for you, don’t go into Oracle Park spending like a millionaire. No one is forcing you to pay for parking at the Giants parking lot, food from the Giants restaurants, or pay for the best seats in the park.
Let’s look at the Giants current situation. They’re currently held back by Brandon Belt’s, Brandon Crawford’s, Johnny Cueto’s and Evan Longoria’s contracts. Between them, that’s nearly $70 million, and all three come off the books after 2021. Their top prospects, Marco Luciano Heliot Ramos, Hunter Bishop and Patrick Bailey have ETA’s in 2022 and 2023. Once that ~$70 million comes off the books and their prospects are starting to reach the majors, the Giants are in a fantastic spot. Even more could come off the books if they want to buy out Posey’s option, which would add another $19 million.
They have money now why aren’t they spending just the same knowing they have all that money coming off the books in a year? Whoever they sign will be around when that money is gone so why wait another year or two? I know why, they are F’ing cheap and want to make more money off the fans
Relax dude. It’s been the offseason for like, two minutes
Seriously, this guy’s goin nuts
Cheap? If you’re a Giants fan, you don’t know what cheap is. They owe $92 million to Belt, Crawford, Cueto, Longoria and Posey alone. That’s over 9x as much as the Orioles owe to all of their players. They had the 9th highest payroll in baseball in 2020, and ranked within the top 5 of payroll for a handful of years before ’20.
It doesn’t have to cost $500 to go to a baseball game, even in an expensive city like San Francisco. It’s not Farhan Zaidi’s fault that you can’t manage your finances well enough or know where to find bargains.
That being said, Farhan doesn’t answer to you, and you don’t pay salaries. He answers to owners, who would love nothing more than to get major production on the field without them having to pay a ton in terms of contracts.
That’s why Zaidi scrounges for guys like Vosler. If he can get some value out of him and win some ball games on a league minimum contract, then it’s all the better.
One of the last Giants games I went to I got 8 tickets for 5$ each pretty sure it was a cinco de Mayo promo, yeah they were bleacher tickets but my 4 kids didn’t care too much they are young and just like the atmosphere! Plus bleachers are closer to the slide! Having sat all around that park in boxes,Lexus luxury seats, home opener, NLDS, World Series games. The bleachers aren’t the worst place to enjoy a game, I prefer them to the upper deck for sure!
Did they give you a discount on the parking, beers, hot dogs, and jersey’s or did you tell your kids you would take them to McDonalds after the game? I don’t mind spending money when the product is quality on the field but not for this trash
@@pato349 Please detail what is wrong with Jason Vosler? His minor league numbers are solid. He fills a need.
He is unproven and they have a ton of money they could spend on guys with a track record. When they finish under .500 again in 2021 is that just part of the plan? Only 5 more years and maybe all these scrubs and prospects will turn out to be great. If you believe that I have a bridge I would like to sell you
So you wont be happy unless the Giants sign Bauer Lemahieu Springer Hand etc? Even if they did all of that they wouldn’t be guaranteed to finish ahead of the Dodgers or Padres in 2021 … Would they be better? Yes … But theyd be paying more for most likely another 3rd place finish which is where they finished in 2020 also
It’s basically adding him to the 40-man (he can still be optioned), and his performance would have warranted that with the Padres had he not been blocked to death. Chill out.
@pato it would be cooler to sign a more proven guy like Tommy LaStella. But guess what, this is a backup role and nobody as accomplished as LaStella or even close to it are going to say “hey as long as your paying me I’m good coming off the bench.” It doesn’t work like that. So, since we signed Vosler early now we have all of the offseason to work with him and if they don’t like where he’s at around spring training then Zaidi will move on to plan B, maybe even plan C by then.
The giants have been waiting to shed all the bad contracts we have through 2021. I read all these comments good/bad/trolls and know we’re building a solid base for a good run in the coming years. That’s a true fan.
@pato: I just wonder where you think they should be at this point with the major obstacles that they’re still in the process of overcoming (see: bloated, unmovable contracts coupled with a bad farm system all thanks to the previous regime) – or what realistic moves Z could have made that would have led to the kind of success you seem to expect?
He has to wait until the old team is gone before he can build his own, but those vets have generally underperformed and have negative trade value…so he’s been kind of stuck, right?
At this point they’re far ahead of where I expected, did you really think they’d have turned things around so fast, or that it should have been even faster? What GM could do so much in two years?
And forgive me if I misunderstood, but you’d prefer he balloon the payroll and sign expensive free agents that become more albatross’ contracts for the next GM – to justify your inability to control yourself when you go to a ballgame?
No one has a gun to your head, forcing you to burn your money
I’ve never spent close to half that much there and I’ve been to literally hundreds of games in SF over the years
I think you’d be wise to reset your expectations in terms of your experience with the Giants on many levels, you’d get way more enjoyment from watching and going to games…or don’t
Such a “Big Market” team
You’re definition being…?
Top 5 market in the country easily qualifies
My definition being that they pick up scrap players like the A’s which is the opposite of a big market team. Even when they won the World Series they won with guys who other teams released.
They spend
You might want to go back and look at the payrolls over the years, they’re pretty consistently (if not always) in the top ten
The on field product was more a result of who ended up performing and it just coincidentally (or because of our bad front office) happened to be the reclamation project guys. Expensive higher tier free agent signings like Aaron Rowand often weren’t good…I think this is what led to your point of view
Seems like so often when they’d give a guy a big deal he’d immediately suck or get hurt for a few years…another thing Z is thankfully trying to avoid
So I’m not a giants fan and I’m curious, a lot of people seem to really think this a great signing. Would be a great signing if the a’s or dodgers or dbacks had made it as well, or is it simply a good signing because it’s a signing that Zaidi made for the giants? It’s true zaidi has made some great moves like yaz, solano, and Dickerson, but for each of this guys there is a Connor joe, Michael reed, yangerzis solarte, Tyler Austin signing that didn’t work out. Just curious. Thanks.
There’s obviously a very real chance that Jason Vosler is another Connor Joe or Michael Reed. I don’t think anyone would deny that. It would be foolish to think automatically assume Vosler will be some key contributor.
If nothing else, this is just one of those moves that Zaidi has been doing since he arrived in San Francisco: finding guys who can potentially see a career resurgence.
And it’s zero risk for the Giants: if he’s Connor Joe; then you designate him for assignment, and go find the next guy. He costs nothing more than (likely) the league minimum.
But if he works out, and he can be a productive bat off the bench, or fill in for an injury and his bat clicks, then it’s a win for the Giants.
And for what it’s worth, I think it’d be a great signing whether it’s Mike Hazen, Al Avila, or whatever GM. When teams find success in unlikely characters, it’s good for the game.
In my opinion, I tend to enjoy watching guys like Mike Yastrzemski or Max Muncy find a resurgence over watching an elite prospect make his rise through the system. That’s obviously just my opinion, though.
Fair enough. Thanks
I prefer watching stars and winning baseball but thats just me
@pato like I mentioned above, go root for the As or Dodgers. You will be doing us Giants fans a favor.
@pato
It must be nice to expect to get what you want all the time…
You had a very fair question, and made some good points.
It’s nice to see someone have a different idea about something and voice it like an adult and be willing to hear other thoughts.
This is a low risk/high upside sign. MLB minimum salary is just under $600K. Worst case scenario is this kid doesn’t pan out, no biggie.
I was hoping the Giants signed Jurickson Profar as a switch hitting super utility player who can play the infield and OF. Still possible but doubtful. Daniel Robertson will get traded or DFA’ed, there’s just no spot for him which is too bad.
Everyone commenting on here thinks they know what they are talking about including myself. The only way you can really tell who has a clue is by holding people accountable for their previous comments when they are right or wrong about an opinion.
I was critical about the Giants at the deadline when they didnt make any moves to improve the team for a playoff push OR trade pieces for the future. I said they should do one or the other but doing nothing was the worst thing they could do and they were going to end up missing the playoffs and a top 10 draft pick. Hit that nail right on the head.
Some of you still think last year was a success! No playoffs, no moves to improve, and no top 10 draft pick yet finishing under .500 was somehow good enough for some Giants fans to continue to believe in Farhan and his process. This is exactly what the Giants ownership is hoping happens because the last thing they want you to realize is they are ripping you off. This isn’t even something you can argue because the payroll is public knowledge and it is undeniable that all the team needed last season to make the playoffs was a few more players which would have cost either money before the season or prospects to add them before the trade deadline.
How much more proof do Giants fans need before they realize that Farhan was hired for one reason only which is to lower the payroll? I invite anyone to argue otherwise but do me a favor and give me some specific examples of why I’m wrong. I am willing to hold myself accountable for my comments and have provided an example of where I was clearly right. Make sure you come with some proof you have a clue as well please.
Unless you work in the Giants front office, I’d also echo the sentiment that you don’t have a clue. None of us do. We’re just talking baseball. But that’s beside the point.
I’m not even going to address some of the things here, because they’ve been discussed ad nauseum on several posts.
But I will say this: no one is ripping you off. The Giants don’t owe you anything, they are a business with owners and they can do with their money what they please. If you don’t like that, then you have the choice to not support their business.
And you even said, the payroll is public knowledge. If you KNOW that the Giants aren’t paying what you think they should pay, and you choose to attend games anyway, they didn’t rip you off… you just aren’t very wise in how you conduct your financial decisions. That’s no one’s fault but your own.
And lastly, no, Farhan Zaidi was not brought in for the sole purpose of shedding payroll. He was brought in to help put a winning team on the field that also doesn’t cost 200M a year. Owners want to see better value on the field, as it means they don’t have to pay as much for a successful team.
This isn’t unique to the Giants, or even to baseball. Pizza companies will spend thousands to save a penny on every cardboard box. Getting more out of your investment, and not throwing away money is something every person who invests is trying to do.
Zaidi is looking to put a better team on the field. He’ll do it in a way that’s pretty savvy and from my opinion, it’s fun to watch.
If you don’t like it, that’s fine, but don’t insult people because you aren’t able to see what’s taking place. I don’t want to hurl insults, but I’ll say this, there’s someone in these threads who is clueless, and I think everyone except you agrees on who that person is.
Have a good day.
Stop referencing Grant Bisbee lmao. He’s terrible