The Giants are acquiring reliever Tony Watson from the Angels, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). The Giants will send Sam Selman, Jose Marte, and Ivan Armstrong to Los Angeles, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter).
Watson is well known in San Francisco, of course, having only recently completed a three-year run with the Giants from 2018 to 2020. It’s been a bit of a down year for Watson, who owns a 4.64 ERA/4.10 FIP in 33 innings with the Angels. His walk rate, in particular, has bothered his performance, ballooning to 10.4 percent from a career 6.7 percent.
That said, the understated veteran has been remarkably reliable throughout his 11-year career. Giants’ President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi said of the acquisition (per Slusser), “He’s a battled-tested relievers, and we’re going to have a lot of important games down the stretch. His influence, his demeanor, is really an example we want to have set.”
The Angels, meanwhile, continue in their mission to add pitching to their organization. After using their entire draft to add pitchers, the Angels now add three more in the form of Selman, Marte, and Armstrong.
Selman has the best chance of simply taking Watson’s roster spot. The 30-year-old southpaw has appeared in each of the past three seasons for San Francisco, totaling 37 2/3 innings with a 4.06 ERA/5.00 FIP. Selman has been a fine option for the Giants, though he doesn’t come with the same track record that Watson does.
As for the youngsters, Marte, 25, made it as high as Double-A this season. He’s marked a 3.57 ERA in 19 appearances totaling 22 1/3 innings. Armstrong, 21, is a burler 6’5″, 247-pound right-hander pitching out of the bullpen in Single-A. He’s impressed with a 1.88 ERA in 38 1/3 innings while striking out 28.7 percent of opponents.
#FOREVERGIANT
Clearing out one of the worst pitching staffs is a good start for us.
FINALLY dropping some dead weight off the pitching staff
The Giants actually got worse over the deadline lol
Have fun with the least clutch pitcher in the league
How does adding a former MVP make a team worse?
It was a dig watson
He was ripping the Bryant trade as well in the other thread. Watson was a quality arm for the Giants the past few seasons, adding him too doesn’t make a team worse.
He’ll be fine in SF… Like before…. There’s a bounty of lefties that’ll continue to shut down in the NL.. Angels are a disgusting dumpster fire – Giant swooped in and rescued the poor lefty… Hum baby let’s do it again
It’s ok. We all know that this Fletcher guy is just a joke and a troll and a moron. Not worth our time
Who is this dude? Got worse with bringing back Watson? A reliever? With Bryant? This dude is insane!
Clearly he knows nothing about baseball. Just wants to flame for some reason, probably out of frustration.
Joey Bart in red gonna look crisp
ptbn or cash! it would be great if we get back the infielder we traded.
No chance you’re getting Will Wilson back for Tony Watson. Especially after we took on all the Cozart money
we will pay watson’s money.
Who’d we get?
The Angels are getting 30-year-old LHP Sam Selman from the Giants. He has a 4.06 ERA in 37.2 MLB innings. This year at AAA, he has a 4.03 ERA in 22.1 IP.
Ok. Those numbers are better than our BP numbers as a whole.
Watson was the only pitcher in the Angels pen who didn’t throw gasoline on the fire.
He came into the game with 23 runners on base, 2 scored.
I don’t think Perry has a clue what he is doing
That was his m o with the Giants too… very good w inherited runners
Actually, I hate to see Selman go, but I think this trade will work out for both teams—the Giants in the short run, the Angels long-term.
Yep, cash is a good thing to get in return for this guy.. Our pitching staff can only get better…
run it back!
Angels pitching coach staff sucks. So wouldn’t be surprised to see him flourish in SF again.
Not a surprise when your pitching coach gets knocked for sexual assault a month into Spring Training.
SF gives up Sam Selman
We got Sam the Used Car Selman and Junk all in the same day. Our pitching prayers have answered.
Sam sellman to angels
You mean future MVP Sam Sellman? 😉
Watson adds veteran depth to the bullpen.
Watson would come in and clean up the mess Cishek makes night after night.
Notice how nobody is trading for Cishek?
HH, you are 100 percent correct. Watson is the reason Cishek ERA is 3.83 in spite of a WHIP of 1.590.
His walks are up this year’s and strikeouts a bit down, maybe poseys framing can help him a bit. Other than that his whip seems about normal. Really you just got a ton of out of options depth due to a roster crunch. Similar to why it was ideal scenario for giants to include Canario (40 man also) in the Bryant deal.
Sucks to see some perfectly fine pitchers move to other teams with a bit of a gamble with some prospects but that’s life. Pretty sure Farhan and Harris just snagged all the talent they could on the waiver wire and minor league depth last few years. And let their brand new development system take hold of the talent and mold it into feasible MLB players very similar to what happens in Tampa Bay and Los Angeles every season. Then you face roster crunches , Canario would’ve occupied a roster spot for a few years before he could make impact due to shoulder surgery, then it comes to selman and the others for Watson. Do they deserve roster spots over Ruf, Wade Jr, Duggar, Slater, I would argue they don’t with the quality of Garcia, Leone, Rogers, McGee have done a very decent job of closing out games for us. Watson is a pitcher who’s a veteran that has played big games and can guide the young bullpen. Plenty of value in that for a stretch wrong, and like someone else said… he’s left handed!
Stretch run* oops
Watson is a good ground ball lefty, has always been decent with them
I think its good deal for the Giants
Zaidi gets Tony Watson and Kris Bryant for Sam Selman and two mid-level prospects.
The guy is a damn magician!
🙂
A magician? Although I like these moves for SFG, you clearly do not understand the financial implications of these 2 moves if you are so impressed you’re praising the guy like this. It’s ironic how often people don’t understand many of the players acquired in deals are insignificant to the burden of financial responsibility or rather the expulsion of said financial responsibility
What financial responsibility? 7 million for Bryant and some low level prospects heading out? Great pick ups for the G men
CJCue:
It’s not ironic, and not at all surprising, how many times the word “ironic” is misused.
You apparently r someone who likes to hear himself talk.
SMFH
At least the Angels received three arms in this one. Sam Selman, Jose Marte, and Ivan Armstrong… I didn’t say they were good arms.
Watson makes an old team.much older.
Old team is such a tired warhorse for anyone wanting to criticize the Giants. It’s just so easy, and yet lazy, since it’s not really true.
Longoria is the oldest guy on the team and he hasn’t played in 2 months. The Dodgers have 2 older than Longoria, one significantly so. The R Sox, Cubs, A’s, Twins, and Nats, all have older pitching staffs by average. The average age of the Giants pitching staff is all of 0.2 years older than the Padres, Angels, and Braves, and only 0.1 year older than the Yankees.
Plus it doesn’t matter that much even if it were true. The oldest team in baseball in 2019 won the W.S. The Giants have some issues, and if you want to criticize them, maybe talk about one that’s relevant.
And the oldest team in baseball has the best record.
Giants are getting back Longo, LaStella, Belt and Moronta with Watson/Bryant coming in for prospects.
We have a deep squad but I’m worried about the regression from Gausman
He’s nothing of what he was….. We are grabbing
Agreed! what is thinking with this one? Let him be a ForeverGiant after he retires
Why? he proved to be at the end of the line in his last season with the Giants. He’s toast if he’s not painting the outside with his slider
I get that pitching acquisitions were at quite a bit of a premium but its hard to see what the Giants are thinking with this move.
3 pieces for watson again. Okay then!
Essentially they swapped a 40 man spot with Watson for Selman, Marte has to be added to the 40 man this offseason or he’s rule 5 eligible and no way was he being added to the giants 40 man with their roster crunch coming up. So Armstrong rally is the lotto ticket piece for Angels are picking up.
Really is the lotto piece the angels are picking up*