The Giants announced Monday afternoon that they’ve reinstated outfielders Alex Dickerson and Darin Ruf from the injured list. Infielder Jason Vosler and, more surprisingly, outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. were optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to open space on the 26-man roster. It’s a tough break for Wade, who has hit quite well in his first season with San Francisco — albeit in a tiny sample of 94 plate appearances. Acquired in a lopsided deal that sent righty Shaun Anderson to Minnesota — the Twins already lost Anderson on waivers — Wade is hitting .265/.344/.470 with four homers, three doubles, a triple and a pair of steals in his limited time as a Giant.
That’s a far cry from anything Wade has done previously in the Majors or in Triple-A, particularly in the power department, and it’s worth noting that Wade has batted a tepid .220/.273/.390 over his past 11 games. Still, the overall numbers are solid and ought to earn the 27-year-old another look before too long. The Giants are quite active when it comes to roster turnover, and Wade only needs to be down for 10 days (or less, if recalled in place of someone going on the injured list) before he can return.
More on the Giants…
- Many Giants fans expressed immediate frustration to see Wade optioned out when hitting so well — particularly with veteran outfielder Mike Tauchman struggling so much at the plate. Tauchman hasn’t started a game since June 14, and he hasn’t tallied a multi-hit game since collecting three knocks in his Giants debut back on April 28 after he was acquired from the Yankees. He’s also out of minor league options, however, meaning he’d need to be designated for assignment and passed through waivers if the team hopes to send him down. Given Tauchman’s .171/.287/.271 slash through 150 plate appearances with San Francisco, there’s a straightforward argument that that’s the route the team should’ve taken, but clearly the front office isn’t quite yet to that point. As Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News points out, the Giants also have several left-handed opponents on the horizon, and the left-handed-hitting Wade’s production thus far has come entirely against righties.
- Giants CEO Larry Baer discussed the trade deadline on this week’s Giants Talk podcast (link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). As one would expect from most MLB execs, Baer was a bit guarded and rather vague, so as not to reveal too much, but he made clear that ownership is prepared to greenlight the front office to make some additions to bolster the roster. Baer effused praise for president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi, GM Scott Harris and the rest of the recently reworked front office, stating that the group has quickly garnered “so much credibility” with ownership and expressed a desire to “do what’s right by the club and [the front office’s] recommendations.” While Baer didn’t foreshadow any potential target areas for the front office, it’s no doubt encouraging for the fanbase to hear ownership state that the “number one factor” at this year’s trade deadline will be: “how are we best set up to win this year?”
- Right-hander Anthony DeSclafani spoke with John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle about the league’s forthcoming crackdown on foreign substance usage. “I’m not a user, so they can come check me whenever they want,” the righty said. DeSclafani noted the extremely low spin on his curveball and said he’s tried in the past to increase the spin and do so legally, but without much success. It’s been interesting to hear various players around the league weigh in on the foreign substance policy, and DeSclafani had several quotes on the matter in his chat with Shea for those who are interested. Lack of spin notwithstanding, the 31-year-old DeSclafani has been nothing short of excellent for the Giants. Since signing a one-year pact over the winter, he’s started 14 games and pitched to a 3.01 ERA with a 22.1 percent strikeout rate and 6.9 percent walk rate in 80 2/3 frames. Like many of his rotation-mates — Kevin Gausman, Alex Wood, Johnny Cueto and the currently injured Aaron Sanchez — DeSclafani is slated to become a free agent at season’s end. (San Francisco holds a $22MM option on Cueto, though the accompanying $5MM buyout looks likelier at present.)
I guess the complaints about the Yankees jettisoning Tauchman look better in retrospect. He didn’t hit in the Bronx and is not hitting by the Bay.
It’s looking as if third baseman Adujar is a decent outfield replacement over Tauchman..
Not like Peralta has been any good for us either. The (baseball) Giants fans on the board were pretty excited about getting rid of him. Kinda see why.
Was honestly shocked the Yankees went for Peralta of all options. I feel like at the time, Jarlin Garcia and Matt Wisler were struggling just as bad but at least had good peripherals and indicators that they’d turn it around. Jarlin Garcia has now gone from 9.00 ERA to a servicable option, Yankees could have used him.
There is a reason the giants moved peralta and wisler and kept Garcia, you act like the Yankees were being approached with the giants asking what would it take for tauchman and not, what will you give me for peralta
Tauchman won the Giants 3 different games. He made 2 game saving catches and hit a go ahead grand slam. He sees the most pitches per plate appearance out of any Giant. Even when he’s not hitting he has slight impacts everyday with his defense and discipline. LaMonte Wade has been great but since he has options, it makes sense to give Tauch/Dickerson a couple weeks to try and figure it out. If they can’t, I’m sure they’ll be flipped at the deadline for cash or a RP.
Yeah he isn’t without value for sure, I think people wanted more wade is the issue, he is a fun player to watch out there
Teaching my boys about baseball (watching it) that some players offer a team more than what the stats can show and I applied that to Tauchman. Then when he stole those 2 games my kids think I’m way more insightful than I actually am, but I’ll take it! Pillar was another one that brought a work ethic and professionalism that seemed effective but didn’t add to his BA.
Scott Harris is one of the best execs in baseball. Giants are lucky to have him.
Harris and Evans deserve credit for this team. Yes, Evans too.
Evans doesn’t deserve any credit for this team.
Evans???? What? What did he do, besides get rid of Bryan Reynolds, who looks pretty darn good to me as of now. He also wasted money and talent on Longo and Cutch, yes I know Reynolds left for Cutch but still; a waste.
How bout’ SF Giants wife beater CEO Larry Baer or their racist Owner Charles Johnson . Pretty good. LOL
Oh so you realized you can’t joke about the Giants success, or lack thereof, so you decide to try other avenues to make them look bad! Wow, what a guy!
Sending Wade down is absurd. That’s not how to show your fans or your team you’re serious about winning now
you know what does though? winning games, and that’s what they are doing.
They are for real. Removing myself from the rivalry, I am extremely impressed with that team. I think they’re in the race for the long haul.
Something to keep in mind: Of the Giants’ 58 post-trade deadline games, 19 are against the Rockies and Diamondbacks. Both of those teams will have expansion team rosters by then. Go something like 15-4 in those games and 90-plus wins will be a snap. To get to 90, they would only have to win 29 of the other 71.
Nice job there Cey Hey, scheduling matters and when you play teams matters(which I know is beyond control) but post deadline the rocks and d-backs will be spring training 2.0. Curious as to how many the pads and trolley dodgers play against those 2 post deadline for comparison.
dodgers with 10
pads with 16
My bad LA with 15
drtymike0509, yes, those are the Dodgers and Padres numbers. I should have posted them. Edge Giants. As much as people scoff at the Rockies, it’s remarkable to consider the Diamondbacks are 10 games behind them. Dreadful Snakes. Even as a Dodger fan, it was no fun seeing that sea of blue in Phoenix over the weekend. It’s not good for a franchise or the players in the dugout to go through that. Some terrible planning in constructing that team and you’d have to think a housecleaning is forthcoming. The Bumgarner deal was never going to work.
With some of the older Giants players, I’m wondering if the short 2020 season might have done them a favor. Some of those guys seem to have regained a spring in their step. They entered 2021 in baseball shape, perhaps unlike some players on other teams. An unspectacular roster at a glance but deep when you take the time to break it down.
Cey Hey:
Thanks for the encouraging words to this Giants fan. I am enjoying this season immensely, but still have memories of the horrible 2016 season, when they had the best record in baseball in the first half, and, what I assume, was the worse record in the second half.
Yeah but for 1 the 2016 team had horrible depth. When the guys at the top of the lineup were tired or scuffling or hurt all of a sudden you were looking at your Gordon Beckham’s and ehire adranzas and Jarrett Parker’s etc and at least once a series that was pretty much the whole lineup.right now it is hard to feel bad about who they put together in the starting lineup, outside of tauchman everyone performs offensively and defensively outside of some dubon flubs everyone has been tight too
@Cey Hey
I actually enjoy reading your comments. As a diehard Giants fan, I know how hard it is (even though I still do give the Dodgers credit where deserved) to complement the Dodgers. Assuming you are a huge Dodgers fan, which I can tell you are from reading comments in the past, I have to give you some mad respect for complementing the Giants. This season I’ve seen how hard it is for Dodgers and Padres fans, or really any contending team’s fans, to complement the Giants so props to you my man.
So Geoff, with Ruf and Dickerson healthy, do you believe Wade would start over them? And Belt now playing and hitting well? Wade was brought up to fill in at first base and outfield. And Tauchman does not play first. Who else would you suggest go to Sac?
I’d option Dickerson; which very well may happen later on if he continues to struggle.
Problem is he was starting to hit with SF with 2 hrs in 15 abs. And had nothing to prove in Sac going 3for 5 in 2 starts. with a HR. Forget sample size as not a lot of abs are necessary if healthy. He’s not going down.
Dickerson is out of options.
@hopper15
Not according to Fangraphs.
fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/giants
@claude
It’s not about proving anything, it’s about having some kind of depth in case something goes wrong.
But there is no question, whatsoever, that LaMonte Wade, Jr. has been more valuable to the Giants this season than Alex Dickerson.
he’s the depth but in Sac
90 miles away
Dickerson doesn’t have options as far as I know so you would be DFAing him. Dickerson was swinging it well in his rehab starts so I am actually not too concerned about him coming up. I don’t think you are going to see the way things are laid out an outfield to outfield designation, likely this is going to be a situation where we see wade soon but it comes with a trade of slater or Duggar or possibly a phantom IL on a guy like wood who is having issues making roster space, and then balanced out later with pitching if another guy is struggling and move him to an IL or if they have options move them down, it is just how the team has operated so far this season, not a lot of 1-1 swaps by position
Wade has had 84 at bats this season. Nothing to overreact over.
A shame to see Wade get caught in the numbers game. It speaks of the fantastic job Zaidi has done in building depth on that roster. Whatever happens with Wade, his contributions shouldn’t be forgotten should the Giants go onto have a big season. He stepped up at the exact moment when he was needed. That will transcend whatever his finals numbers are. Some good fans in San Francisco. I’m sure they won’t forget.
Word to the wise, you never need to use the word “that” two times in a row. Using it once means the same thing, even if using an apostrophe for contraction with the word “is,” like we see here.
Taking it further, the phrase “on that roster” could have been eliminated. But, thanks for the tips. Self-editing is important, even when anonymously posting on the fly.
It’s funny you should write about using the word “that.” I am writing a book. In my editing, I just finished getting rid of all the unneeded thats. Everything reads so much smoother now. In my dialogue, there are just three instances using “said.” I’m wracking my brain trying to dump all three. I will hire an editor in a couple of months, but not until I’ve done the brunt of the copy-editing myself. Frustrating but fun.
Cey Hey:
What are your feelings about the word ‘re-aggravate? To me that’s my pet peeve, and it bothers me even more than the use of ‘literally’. To aggravate has to do with an existing injury, such as “he aggravated the hamstring he strained last week setting him back”. To me saying ‘re-aggravate’ is saying re-reinjured. I think reinjured again would be better usage. But to me the biggest issue is that it’s unclear. Did the guy actually suffer a re-reinjury, or is it a reinjury, and just poor usage by the writer/speaker?
tad2b13:
I hadn’t thought about it though I see your point. It’s annoying but “literally” transcends sports. It’s everywhere.
Another one is “physicality,” which got so overused I had to stop watching basketball.
@Cey hey
What is your book about? Where will I be able to find it, and have you decided on a title?
Nope, there are times when two “thats” in a row is the only way that makes sense and has a different meaning than just one.
More importantly, why did you even feel it necessary to bring this up?
ABstract, probably because I am hard on people who needlessly use the word “literally.” So it might be deserved, though I won’t back down on my anti-literally stance. Sorry, but no team’s bullpen is literally a dumpster fire.
Cey Hey, literally every one and their dog incorrectly use “literally”.
claude raymond, my pet peeve. I was searching for “literally” t-shirts last night and found one I may order. People seem to think it makes their statement more forceful.
In all serious Cey, my son and I argue about literally virtually every day. He said he remembers a recent professor of his saying that usage rules for “literally” have changed to be less restrictive but I disagree. I tell him that I once learned that “virtually ” is not used enough and is often a perfect use in replacing “literally “.
Most times, “literally” winds up being an extra word that isn’t needed.
Thanks guys now I have to rewrite my English lit paper, it has to be 5 pages, once I removed the extra “that’s” and the “literally’s” it’s only two words, my name, what am I going to do now this paper is literally going to have to be re-written. It was so aggravating the first time too, now it’s going to be re-aggravating.
Not a clever name:
I’ll give you credit for the somewhat amusing post, but I need to point out, that there are different specific definitions of aggravation. The one you used is more about irritation/provocation, as opposed to the definition of intensifying, or making something worse, which is about reinjury..
Steve, if you think that that would be incorrect. If you think that would be incorrect. The second sentence says it’s incorrect for you to think.
Thanks, I’ve just learned that that isn’t good write-doing
Wade is everything that Tauchman isn’t.
Giants need to learn how to make the tough choices.
This is sending a bad message to the younger players.
They are making tough choices. The job is to win games, not please fans who might not be looking at the total picture. If Wade is needed at some point, he’ll be recalled. For now, he can stay sharp by playing regularly for Sacramento.
As for Tauchman, struggling players frequently turn things around. It’s a long season and patience is required. If fans had their way, the Dodgers would have cut “scrub” Max Muncy in May 2018 when he was batting .190.
Cey are you tellling us Tauchman is better as of right now than Wade. What is best for the team is having Wade, Duggar, and Yaz in the outfield. Dickerson and ruf are defensive liabilities and Wade gives us a decent lead off and deepens our lineup. The tough decision is to keep a better player on the roster who has options. And waive Tauchman then send him to AAA if no one picks him up.
Cey is saying Tauchman is better than Wade. I strongly disagree.
Paul_25
You’ve really made it simplistic, and unfortunately, the question of who to option, or DFA, it’s not nearly as simplistic as you make it out to be. It’s not a question of who is better. It’s a matter of not just throwing away a player, which is what would happen should Tauchman be waived.
With Dickerson and Ruf back, and not counting Tauchman, Wade is now number 6 on of the OF depth chart, and also with Ruf being back, Wade is number 3 on the 1B depth chart.
If I’m Zaidi, I want Wade getting regular ABs at AAA, keeping himself ready for the next injury, than I would having him sit on the bench, getting only the occasional pinch-hitting opportunity.
And if you’re saying Wade should be playing in front of Dickerson, Ruf and Slater, I also strongly disagree.
talking baseball:
“Wade is everything that Tauchman isn’t.”
You mean being unable to hit LHPs? Well, you’re correct about that Tauchman doesn’t have Wade’s inability to hit lefties. Granted, Wade hasn’t played much against lefties, 27 PAs, for his career, but he is hitless when he does.
Tauchman actually hits LHPs better than RHPs, with a .267 against lefties and a .220 against righties.
Why Wade??? He has been excellent as a lead off and has done everything required to stay up…..Tauchman has not hit except for one or two moments and made a few catches. Wade has been steady and hitting almost 100 points better. If you lose Tauchman on waivers, so be it.
azcrook2:
“Tauchman has not hit…and made a few catches.
Wow. The guy makes two game-saving catches, games the Giants lose if those balls aren’t caught, and they’re diminished to, “a few catches”. He also hit a GS in a game they would have lost if he hadn’t.
I trust Zaidi in that Tauchmann, is worth keeping. Teams don’t do well with the philosophy of “so be it” when it comes to losing a player you don’t need to.
In a game where Tauchman, Casalli, and a pitcher are in the same lineup, that’s basically 3 guaranteed outs each time through the order. I get Casalli isn’t there to hit, but Tauchman should have been the one shown the door. When Wade was at the plate, one had hope. Not so with Tauchman.
Agreed. Might have even been able to pass Tauchman through waivers.
Sucks to see Wade sent down, but he’s a versatile player, and now Dickerson and Ruf have something to prove again. So does Tauchman, and a couple of moments for the highlight reel are only going to keep an anemic hitter on the roster for so long…
There is no way Tauchman gets through waivers. Every player has some value, as does Tauchman, and good GMs/PBOs don’t just throw them away. Wade was a victim of the numbers, and the Giants have been able to keep everyone.
Tauchman grinds every AB, makes the pitcher throw a ton of pitches, and plays good defense, including the ability to play CF.
Plus, Wade was going to be riding a lot pine with both Ruf and Dickerson back. He has those two playing in front of him, plus Yaz, Slater (because he’s a RHH), and Duggar in the OF, as well as Belt and Ruf at 1B. Better that he plays regularly at AAA than only occasionally in SF.
Casali’s been a bit better as of late, it seems like maybe his wrist injury was affecting his performance more than anybody thought
Super fascinating team moving forward from the ledger stand-point ….almost no pitching tied down for the future and a bunch of difficult calls to make with aging players on offence (tough roadmap)
They can probably rest easier today knowing they have a steady hand at the wheel and the necessary {cheap} pieces on the side as ready made supplements . That’s all you can really ask at this stage I guess. The wallet will be wide open next offseason,
I’m interested to see how Z goes about deep sea fishing…We know he can catch the minnows off the pier with the best of them but this is unchartered waters for him as the head honcho
I would have loved to see Wade stay in SF, but I can see reasons why he was the guy sent down. It had to have been between him. Slater, or Tauchman. They need Slater’s RH bat, and trying to get Tauchman through waivers probably meant losing him. So Wade made sense in that respect. But also, with Ruf and Dickerson back, there’s less playing time for Wade. Better that he plays every day in AAA, ready to come back with the next inevitable injury, than sit on the bench getting only sporadic playing time.
No way Wade should be sent down. The guy is getting better & better day by day. Trauchman hasn’t hit all season long & is now batting below .200 !! Wade doesn’t deserve this !
Wade hasn’t had a single hit against a LHP in his entire ML career. Small sample, sure, but you would think he could have managed at least a couple hits in 29 PAs. Seems to me that’s indicative of a problem, and AAA is the best place for Wade to work on that problem.
If you think Wade has a problem (don’t we all)), how about an MLB player batting .175 ??
So you think it’s all about BA? Not seeing what Tauchman brings to the table, which admittedly isn’t a good BA, is missing a lot of value.
But, the idea that the Giants should just throw Tauchman away, so that Wade can sit on the bench in SF, is not how teams get through a 162 game season.
In a post on an earlier article about Ruf and Dickerson on rehab assignments, I wrote that I couldn’t see Wade being sent down. But once the move was made I could see the reason why, and the value in keeping Tauchman.
The idea that fans posting on MLBTR are smarter about baseball than Farhan Zaidi, based on one single aspect, batting average, is ridiculous.
He is now hitting .169, has batted 4X & struck out 4X !!
Pinch hit yesterday, got up 1X & struck out. 5 Ks in his last 5 ABs !!!!!!!!!!!
Pinch hit yesterday, got up 1X & struck out. 5 Ks in his last 5 ABs !!!!!!!!!!!
Pinch hit Sunday, got up 1X & struck out. 6Ks in last 6 ABs !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Trauchman struck out again !!! LOL He has now struck out 7X in his last 7 ABs, what a loser! He is batting .168 Yea, lets keep him & send down Wade, we would have won this game already had Wade played.