The Giants announced Friday that they’ve designated right-hander Nick Tropeano for assignment. The move opens a spot on the roster for lefty Scott Kazmir to be reinstated from the restricted list. The 37-year-old Kazmir recently left the team to attend to a personal matter.
Tropeano, 30, has appeared in four games with the Giants and tossed six innings, holding opponents to just a run on four hits and two walks. He’s punched out two hitters as well. The former Angels righty was at one point a prospect of fair note, ranking well within both the Houston and Anaheim farm systems. He’s dealt with some injuries, most notably Tommy John surgery, but at his best Tropeano has looked the part of a respectable fourth or fifth starter. From 2014-18, he pitched to a 4.15 ERA with a 21 percent strikeout rate and a 9.4 percent walk rate in 203 2/3 innings.
San Francisco will have a week to either trade Tropeano, place him on outright waivers or release him. He has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency should he go unclaimed, at which point he’d be able to seek new opportunities with another club — perhaps one with a more pressing pitching need. Then again, the Giants frequently shuffle their pitching mix, which could give Tropeano another opportunity before long if he opts to stick around.
As for Kazmir, he returned to the big leagues last month after a nearly half-decade absence from a Major League mound. The now-37-year-old veteran figures to continue to work out of the bullpen as he looks to channel Rich Hill and reestablish himself as a credible big league hurler. He got off to a nice start, holding the Dodgers to a run in four sharp innings during his Giants debut. Los Angeles got some revenge in their next meeting, however, tagging Kazmir for a pair of runs in an inning of work.
Angels need pitching PDQ.
Bring him back!
yeah he ain’t clearing
I can’t say I understand this move. Tropeano was pitching well, the Giants bullpen doesn’t have much depth, and I don’t see him sneaking through waivers. Maybe he does or they work out a trade and all is well, but I think its far more likely Kazmir gets lit up a few times and then DFA’d before the end of the month anyhow.
Kazmir….Haha How old is that dude ?
Young enough to be in the bigs. Age is just a number, anyway…
Why? Tropeano did well in his brief stint. Honestly feel like he’s a better starting option than Kazmir and he’d be better than Wisler in relief.
I’m wondering if they are just getting ahead of it, because they should have Beede and Brebbia coming up soon. Kazmir is a better option to start over Tropeano.
Angels? I always liked him on the Angels pre-TJ surgery.
With Lucchesi and Peterson being generally awful, I’d love for the Mets to actually give the guy a shot this time.
Lucchesi and Peterson haven’t been awful. Inconsistent, yes. Awful, no. There is no reason to give up on either. Do Mets fans actually follow their favorite team?
I didn’t say they should give up on either, but thanks for putting words in my mouth. Neither should be taking a regular rotation turn at this point for a team that’s hoping to contend. Peterson would be better served working through his control issues in AAA and Lucchesi is then your swing man and second lefty option out of the pen. JMO.
I was kind of shocked the Pirates let go of Tropeano last off-season. Did well with the Bucs in a short stint, and I’m shocked he’s being let go by the Giants now. Some team needs to give him a regular shot. He’s been pretty good the last 2 years.
I watched on MLB.TV when he got the final six outs in a recent game against the Angels. That must have been satisfying for him. He won’t be out of MLB long.
I came here to say the same thing. Even though it was a small sample size last year Tropeano was rock solid on a team with little to no pitching depth. I have to assume that the Bucs thought he would sneak through waivers because of his age.
I agree with both Confy and mlb.I think that this guy does not have power stuff and is a perfect example of a fairly good MLB pitcher who doesn’t make any highlight reels but would do a good job even for a good team.
The Pirates should find a place for him if they can.
There’s likely a lot of these tough decisions coming the Giants way shortly. They’ve got a full 40 with several players coming back from the 60 day IL soon. Not any easy cuts off the 40 man. Zaidi has finally got the roster to a point where it’s starting to hurt losing the teams 39th or 40th best guy.
It was the same thing at Zaidi’s last stop. The Giants hit the jackpot with him.
They still kept Wisler over him. He’s closer to their 60th best guy than 40th; let alone 26th.
Beede and Brebbia are both in rehab stints now. They’ll need added to the 40-mam. I’m guessing that Selman and Kazmir will be the first cuts.
A little hard to understand, but perhaps he’s just the odd man out without SP potential – or maybe he’s a foreign substance abuser and this is a preemptive strike (that’s a joke btw). Someone will make a trade for him. Its seems like forever since the Giants made a trade for a 3rd string catcher
The San Francisco Giants. LOL
LOL must stand for Leader Of League
October 10, 1984, lives forever in TonyGwynnSD19’s head. It was the day the Padres won their lone World Series game out of nine. That kinda success can make a fan cocky.
Get a clue loser
Ya, it’s funny to me too that they’re better than the Padres. LOL
Should have dumped Wisler instead.
I’m sure Farhan already has a trade lined uo for Tropeano. He had a great spring was excellent at AAA and pitched really well in 4 games with the Giants.
Apparently, Tropeano had an opt-out on June 2 so they DFA’d him so that he could get a chance with another team
If anyone saw his last outing you’d understand this move. He’s not fooling anybody. All hard contact and he got a gift unassisted double play at first base.
Not surprised or upset at all.
It really was never about Wisler. Giants made a conscious decision to add Leone to the 40 man despite knowing Kazmir would be back in a few days. For whatever reason, they made the decision on Tropeano a few days ago.
I read that Scott Kazmir was DFA’d by the Giants today. Kazmir, who last pitched in the majors for the Dodgers back in 2016, had a 6.43 ERA while pitching 7 innings, 8 HA, 3 HRA, a 7/1 K/BB, and a 1.29 WHIP. Kazmir was a 3x all star and led the AL with 239 K’s back in ’07. Maybe a pitching starved team (and there should be a few) will take a chance on the lefty.