The Giants have designated reliever Trevor Gott for assignment, per Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). The move clears space on the 40-man roster for the signing of Aaron Sanchez, whose one-year deal has been made official.
Gott is a bit of a surprising cut after San Francisco signed him to a $700K contract to avoid arbitration last November. Acquired from the Nationals in a minor trade before 2019, Gott looked like a potential long-term bullpen piece after his first season in the Bay Area. He tossed 52.2 innings of 4.44 ERA/3.73 SIERA ball with better than average strikeout (26.6%) and walk (7.9%) rates in 2019. Unfortunately, the wheels fell off last season, with Gott coughing up 13 runs (including a staggering seven homers) over 11.2 innings with eight strikeouts and walks apiece.
The Giants will now have a week to trade Gott, release him or place him on outright waivers. Brutal 2020 notwithstanding, it’s plausible he could attract interest from another club. In addition to his solid performance in 2019, Gott averaged a strong 95.4 MPH on his fastball last season. As a player with three-plus years of MLB service, a potential acquiring team would pick up three seasons of team control via arbitration.
If no other team acquires Gott, he’d be entitled to thirty days’ termination pay (roughly $112K) as a player cut within the first half of spring training. Unlike the vast majority of MLB contracts, most arbitration deals aren’t fully guaranteed until Opening Day.
Dude’s… GOTT… to go. K I’m done.
Oh mein Gott.
Gints gott played…
He gott designated
This makes a ton of sense. He really hasn’t lived up to the hype. If he passes through waivers, maybe he can tweak the obvious talent that he has. But, for now . . .
Gott was a good get for the Giants but as Gott got more time on the mound, it was evident that he wasn’t getting any better, in fact Gott got a lot worse. In the end, it was Gott that gotta go. A good get to get Gott became a good guy to go.
Say that comment 5 times fast
This was a Farhan project that didn’t work out. He probably never should have been put in the positions he was in last year and on most teams would have never sniffed the majors. End result was catastrophic for the Giants playoff chances last year.
Yaz and Dick and Solano are all great examples of players who Farhan has found with the over 200 moves he has made since taking over but then you have guys like this. Imagine if his spot was filled by Rosenthal or Melancon last year. It would have cost a few million more and the impact would have been the difference between the playoffs and missing by one game. Most GM’s understand the value of a good closer and Farhan thought he could turn this guy into one.
Farhan’s a “throw as much stuff at the wall as you can” kind of guy. Of course some of it sticks, a lot of it doesn’t. Those that like him only remember the stuff that sticks; those that don’t see the mess on the ground.
Every GM is a “throw as much stuff at the wall as you can” kind of guy/gal.
Except the Astros, who for the last couple years have eschewed signing minor league free agents.
…or, those who don’t like him only see the ones that don’t stick.
That was easy.
@sadler, you’re the only one that seems to expect every deal to result in all star nods and championships…
Most deals don’t work out for every GM, that’s just the gamble of betting on imperfect human animals to produce robot like consistency.
They’re looking for a needle in a haystack, but you think they should be able to find said needles without looking through the haystack?
Please examine the lack of logic in your argument
“you’re the only one that seems to expect every deal to result in all star nods and championships.”
I think you’re connecting quite a few dots that don’t exist and projecting your own biases on me.
@abstract, And your analogy is wrong. He’s not looking for a needle in a haystack. He’s looking for a needle in a pile of discarded needles. There’s a difference.
Sadler:
So if he’s looking for a needle in a pile of discarded needles, then obviously, there are some good needles in there. Zaidi and others have found some in the past. It seems to me that just because most them aren’t any good, you don’t stop looking. Why advocate for not looking at all?
What would you rather have… a bad move that’s a large contract like Longoria (Evans) or a few bad low cost major league deals like Gott… idiot
Neither…. genius. Are those the only 2 options fathomable in your pee brain?
Baseball 1600 used the word “like”. So, Forlife, his use of the word idiot was dead on for u Forlife. “Like” these are 2 of several examples. Do us a favor and take YOUR pee brain and p*** off. BTW, Zaidi is not the GM.
I can think of many other reasons which were catastrophic for the Giants playoff chances last year other than Gott’s performance.
Giant4Life always has deliciously bad Giants takes, and gives a bad name to the rest of us. Indeed, we were not a closer away from competing last season. EVEN if we snuck into the playoffs, they would’ve been promptly knocked out.
giant4life:
Never sniffed the majors? Before he was a Giant he was in 33 games for the Nat’s, and 48 games for the Angels. He had a 126 ERA+ in those 48 games with LAA.
Look, I can understand that some aren’t happy with Zaidi. His success is not guaranteed. What we’re debating is whether his path to success is the right one.
But at least try to be a bit more objective. Saying things like Gott shouldn’t have sniffed the majors, like Zaidi gave him an undeserved chance, when he had a major league career before coming to the Giants. It just looks like bias on your part, and isn’t going to help bolster your opinion at all..
The Giants are claiming to be positioning themselves for the next free agent class. I that is true, they need to make a serious run at Noah Syndergaard. They don’t have a top pitching prospect with an expected 2022 arrival. They need a top flight starter to compete in their division.
Come on, dude! Rosenthal looked cooked in 2019. If the Giants had signed him for 2020, you would’ve complained to wit’s end how FZ is making a bad “throwing at a wall and seeing if it sticks” move, just like you did with Yamagauchi yesterday. Sure, with hindsight, Rosenthal would’ve been great… but we were more than a closer away from being a serious threat last year anyways..
Gtfoh with Melancon. He was a joke on the Giants.
Trevor Gott DFA’d.
Wasn’t funny when the first dude said it…
Watch Gott have a healthy season and Sanchez’s hand blister up after 5 starts.
Totally possible
I wonder if he looked bad in his initial bullpens at Spring Training and that’s why it was him who got DFA’ed to clear a spot.
I get that his performance last year was brutal but it seems weird to tender him a contract and then DFA him right after spring training starts up. Like if you knew he wasn’t going to make the team based on last year’s performance, might as well have not signed him to a contract then, right?
@CNichols, I totally agree. I was surprised when the Giants tendered him a contract for this season. But, to cut him so early seems odd. The two don’t match up.
Started out with the Angels. His father was a low minors manager. When called up had a good first season. Sucked the next and was let go. Might have had a great career if he pitches every other year.
old ranger:
Actually, he started out with the Padres, who traded him when he was still in the minors to the Angels. He did not suck the next season, and he wasn’t let go. He played only the one season with the Angels, who traded him in the offseason to the Nat’s, along with Michael Brady, for Yunel Escobar. He was with the Nat’s for 3 seasons until the Giants got him for cash considerations.
Thanks for the correction. Gott was a bad memory like mine.
Good riddance, but remember he is one of Kapler’s “guys”….
He has always been terrible, Kapler’s ego the only reason he stayed on the roster. Should have been DFA’d after the first Angels loss.
But we missed the playoffs by one game on the last day of the season, so who is counting….
SFBay314:
While I agree that it’s good riddance, what evidence is there that Gott was one of Kapler’s guys? Until he was purchased from the Nat’s, there was no connection between the two, except for when Gott faced the Phillies when Kapler was the manager.
As a Nat. Gott made 1 appearance, threw 1/3 of an inning, and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits, with two of those hits were HRs. He did face the Phillies twice as a Giant in 2019 and was more successful. He made 2 appearances, pitched 2 and 2/3 innings, gave up zero runs, only 1 hit, with a walk and 4 SOs.
Still, seeing Gott 3 times in his entire career is not much of a connection What makes you think he was one of Kapler’s guys?
Blisters, huh? Sanchez probably won’t turn out any better than that Nolan dude the Mets had. I urged them to dump him while they could get something for him.
I’m gonna stop helping them. Never a word of thanks.
We gott Vikram!
Need him, Gott him.
Angels love to Pic N Save Angels will get Gott!!
That ship has already sailed.
I’m honestly shocked that it took the Giants this long to get rid of Gott. He was flat out horrible last season and never seemed to have very high upside. The Giants made a lot of shrewd minor pitching signings this offseason, and their bullpen now looks potentially decent.
Trevor’s GOTT to understand that there’s no room for him on the 40 man roster.
Gott was 7-0 with a 3.12 FIP and great strikeout and walk percentages with the Giants in 2019. Then last year he started the season 3 for 3 in save opportunities as their closer before imploding. I personally hope the Giants can outright him and stash him at Sacramento if needed.
Looks like he’s gott some free time now.
They will see if someone claims him and try and negotiate. If no claim he can go to AAA where at the moment he belongs till he can get right.
If he accepts an outright assignment. Pretty sure he would decline and become a free agent. Doubt he has minor league options left, otherwise it wouldn’t be an issue
Jesus you guys, get some originality. Every other comment reads like it was written by my 7yo: “(snicker) trevor GOTT dfa’d, get it?? Get it??”
Yeah, I know. It’s pretty Gott-awful.
He was pitching well until that back to back to back that was so unfair. He came back and pitched better.
KEEP HIM IN SAC
Why is this a surprise? He was statistically the worst reliever in baseball last year. Probably should have just non-tendered him to begin with.
Some of us, me included, are exulting because Gott was DFA’d. I hate to throw cold water on what appears to be a good thing, but being DFA’d doesn’t mean he’s gone.
Best case scenario is some team makes a trade, though the return won’t be that good. Most likely he gets put on waivers, and he probably gets claimed. But if nobody claims him, it’s probable the Giants just stash him in the minors, instead of releasing him.
Personally, I’d like to see him go. If he winds up in Sacramento he could be back serving up gopher balls.
seems like a good value signing for someone.. i pull for the pirates given my bias for them 😉
Joe:
I’m a Giants fan, but I’ve always liked the Pirates. Clemente was my favorite player when I was a kid. I’d hope that the Bucs could pick up someone better. But who knows? maybe he’ll turn it around, and live up to his stuff. If he does, I hope it’s for the Pirates.
Pirates are on the phone now. The price tag fits.
As a Nats fan, I witnessed Gott’s serious inconsistency first hand. Good luck to him, but I can’t see him working out for anybody.