The Giants have recently signed right-hander Corey Oswalt, left-hander Joe Palumbo, right-hander Sam Delaplane and outfielder Luis Gonzalez to minor league contracts, as reported by Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. All four players were minor league free agents, and thus eligible to be signed during the lockout.
Gonzalez and Palumbo are both back for what is technically their second stint with the Giants, as San Francisco claimed both off waivers in 2021 (Gonzalez from the White Sox in August, Palumbo from the Rangers in November) before releasing the duo back at the November 30 non-tender deadline. There was speculation at the time that the Giants would look to re-sign both to fresh contracts post-deadline, and now both Gonzalez and Palumbo are back and clear of the 40-man roster.
Oswalt is the new face, joining the Giants after being outrighted off the Mets’ 40-man in October and opting for free agency. A seventh-round pick for the Mets in the 2012 draft, Oswalt has spent his entire pro career with New York, including 94 2/3 innings over parts of the last four seasons. The majority (64 2/3 frames) of that work came in Oswalt’s 2018 rookie season, and he has since been back and forth between New York and Triple-A Syracuse on multiple occasions.
The righty has a 5.89 ERA and a 17.2% strikeout rate during his MLB career. Oswalt has worked mostly as a starter in the minor leagues, but the Mets experimented with him as something of a swingman or a multi-inning reliever. Given the Giants’ success at unlocking potential in seemingly unheralded pitchers in recent years, Oswalt’s flexible usage could provide the team with an interesting weapon if the coaching staff can get him on track.
Gonzalez underwent a season-ending shoulder surgery in August, which also triggered his release from the White Sox due to some 40-man roster machinations. San Francisco jumped in to claim Gonzalez off release waivers, giving the Giants some extra outfield depth heading into 2022. The 26-year-old Gonzalez was a third-round pick for the White Sox in 2017, and he has hit .266/.345/.414 with 32 home runs over 1539 minor league plate appearances. Gonzalez has appeared in each of the last two Major League seasons, playing in nine total games in a White Sox uniform.
Palumbo is another longtime member of another organization, having been a member of the Rangers since being selected in the 30th round of the 2013 draft. Splitting time between starting and relief duties, Palumbo has a strong 2.92 ERA and 28.4% strikeout rate in 363 2/3 career innings in the Texas farm system, though he was limited to only 6 2/3 frames in 2021 due to injury. Palumbo tossed 19 innings over nine games at the Major League level in 2019-20 without much success, with a 9.47 ERA to show for that brief time in The Show.
Speaking as a Rangers fan, they have to be considered the worst at developing arms, right? Is there any team in MLB that’s worse?
The Cubs.
The Rangers or Giants are?
The Giants three World Series trophies and Logan Webb say otherwise.
He’s referring to the Rangers
Mrnotso, putpeterose said “rangers or giants” and antibelt was responding to “rangers or Giants”.
He’s talking about the Rangers…
Pitching talent is in the system now at lower levels. Harrison, Murphy, Bednar, Mikulski, Dabovich. Doval ain’t bad.
claude:
No one is questioning the Giants pitching development or prospects. It was pretty clear to me that @Tcsbaseball was referring to the Rangers as being bad at developing pitchers.
@PutPeteRoseInTheHall was asking which team was being referred to. The response from @antibelt was a complete non sequitur. Not sure why everyone got defensive about the Giants, when nothing negative was said about them.
Tad, I disagree but it’s not a big deal. TCS asked if there was any team worse than the Rangers. Putpete said essentially that it’s the Rangers or the Giants CLEARLY in response to tcs’ question. Why would he be asking if tcs was talking about the Giants when clearly TCS had said “the rangers” and then said who is worse. Why is that not obvious? And defensive? That sure wasn’t me. I’m not sure why my post caused such backlash. Maybe now I’m being defensive cuz this is time not well spent. I wasn’t defending antibelts overreaction, I was simply stating what antibelt was responding to. Yes, the pitching at the upper levels has not been impressive but there are some good ones coming up. Does that sound “sound defensive about the Giants”?
You’re talking to a bunch of F morons.
I don’t think the Angels have had much success.
I think the Angels conceded they have horrible depth when they decided to use their first 9 picks on pitchers this past year.
I think the Orioles would like to see your bet and raise you.
Has to be the Orioles or the Angels
So is Oswalt more Roy or Patton?
Lee Harvey
Right. So instead of pitching to hitters he just shoots them.
something tells me corey gonna be in the cy young running all the mediocre / experiments leave the mets and become all stars as soon as they leave.
Palumbo has massive upside potential.
Whoa! Luis Gonzalez? Impressive, and he can probably still hit a couple jacks at 54…
They actually did have his son, who was a second round bust.
Oh wow, I didn’t realize that. I always loved watching Luis Gonzales hit. He could crush it in his prime.
He could crush thanks to PEDs. For his first 9 seasons he averaged a 109 OPS+. Beginning in 1999, over the next 5 seasons he averaged a 141 OPS+.
If the players can’t negotiate their future, the owners should not be signing people or doing any business at all until that idiot Manfred stops this bs.
according to baseball reference 47 people named Luis Gonzalez have played in the minor leagues WOW!
Welcome to the new Giants! ⚾️