The Giants have signed reliever Nick Duron to a minor league contract, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. The 26-year-old joins the fourth organization of his professional career.
Duron entered the pro ranks in 2015, selected by the Red Sox in the 31st round out of Clark College in Washington. He spent a few seasons in the Boston system but didn’t advance past Low-A before being released in 2018. Signed to a minor league deal by the Mariners, he pitched his way to Triple-A in 2021 before qualifying for minor league free agency. Last winter, Duron hooked on with the Phillies on a minor league pact.
The 6’4″ hurler would again spend most of the season in Triple-A, but he earned a cup of coffee at the MLB level. Duron was called to the majors in July as a replacement for unvaccinated players in a series in Toronto. He came out of the bullpen once, working around two hits to get out of a scoreless inning. After the contest, Philadelphia returned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he spent the remainder of the season before again hitting minor league free agency.
While Duron only has that one inning of MLB experience, he’s an interesting depth flier for the Giants. He averaged 97.2 MPH on his fastball during his MLB appearance. That strong velocity translated into plenty of whiffs in the minors, as he struck out a strong 29.6% of opponents over 48 2/3 innings for the IronPigs. Duron walked an alarming 13.6% of batters faced, but the strikeouts and a lofty 50.4% ground-ball percentage helped him to a 2.77 ERA.
Duron’s control has been inconsistent, but he’s flashed decent stuff and is coming off a career-best showing in Triple-A. He’ll presumably start next year with the Giants highest affiliate in Sacramento but could put himself in the mix for an MLB bullpen job at some point. Duron has all three option years remaining, so if he cracks the 40-man roster at any point, the Giants can freely move him between San Francisco and Sacramento for a long while.
Liked what he did for LHV last year. Shame to see him go.
So at least we know that he is vaccinated
Which makes him a hero and a lifesaver
And a good teammate
Farhan Zaidi back to dumpster diving after getting Dunked on by Cashman and the Yanks
he’s a minor leaguer 27chumpy
‘chumpy’ lol
Lmao it hasn’t even been a week since they handed out the 2nd biggest FA contract ever. And that’s not even mentioning that Judge signed the deal the Giants offered him. 3 months ago, nobody thought NY wanted to go 9yrs, and that whomever offered him the 9th year would get him. He got the 9th year, and turned around back to NY who matched whatever deal he could find. That’s a whole hell of a lot different than being outbid.
Have the Giants thrown themselves into luxury cap hell? No m, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t spending. Nobody’s spent more in FA I. Fact. While your teams sign guys to high AAV, SF signs 10guys w/potential to $8m-$15m AAV deal in hopes they can improve.
Minor league free agents are like lotto tickets. If you miss, you didn’t lose much, but if you hit, you get a guy who won’t make more than $15m over his next 6yrs of club control.
People forget Yaz had a few MVP finishes in 2019/2020, but he made just as much hitting .289/24HR as he did hitting .219/21HR bc they got him as a 27yo with no MLB experience, which is just what smart baseball teams do.
They didn’t get Rodon bc Cobb had a FIP a run lower than his ERA. Improved defense=better performances from the pitching staff. Oh and they have 7 starters non including their top prospect who projects as a No.1/No.2 starter, so why spend on Rodon when you can get a guy next year who didn’t almost quit baseball due to shoulder problems? Good luck with 35yo Rodon and a 40yo 6’7/280lb Judge, it’ll be interesting to see how those deals pan out, though I wouldn’t want my GM giving out 5+yrs to pitchers one year removed from career threatening shoulder injuries♂️
Don’t confuse chumpy with the facts!
Lmao it hasn’t even been a week since they handed out the 2nd biggest FA contract ever. And that’s not even mentioning that Judge signed the deal the Giants offered him. 3 months ago, nobody thought NY wanted to go 9yrs, and that whomever offered him the 9th year would get him. He got the 9th year, and turned around back to NY who matched whatever deal he could find. That’s a whole hell of a lot different than being outbid.
Have the Giants thrown themselves into luxury cap hell? No m, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t spending. Nobody’s spent more in FA I. Fact. While your teams sign guys to high AAV, SF signs 10guys w/potential to $8m-$15m AAV deal in hopes they can improve.
Minor league free agents are like lotto tickets. If you miss, you didn’t lose much, but if you hit, you get a guy who won’t make more than $15m over his next 6yrs of club control.
People forget Yaz had a few MVP finishes in 2019/2020, but he made just as much hitting .289/24HR as he did hitting .219/21HR bc they got him as a 27yo with no MLB experience, which is just what smart baseball teams do.
They didn’t get Rodon bc Cobb had a FIP a run lower than his ERA. Improved defense=better performances from the pitching staff. Oh and they have 7 starters non including their top prospect who projects as a No.1/No.2 starter, so why spend on Rodon when you can get a guy next year who didn’t almost quit baseball due to shoulder problems? Good luck with 35yo Rodon and a 40yo 6’7/280lb Judge, it’ll be interesting to see how those deals pan out
Lmao it hasn’t even been a week since they handed out the 2nd biggest FA contract ever. And that’s not even mentioning that Judge signed the deal the Giants offered him. 3 months ago, nobody thought NY wanted to go 9yrs, and that whomever offered him the 9th year would get him. He got the 9th year, and turned around back to NY who matched whatever deal he could find. That’s a whole hell of a lot different than being outbid.
Have the Giants thrown themselves into luxury cap hell? No m, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t spending. Nobody’s spent more in FA I. Fact. While your teams sign guys to high AAV, SF signs 10guys w/potential to $8m-$15m AAV deal in hopes they can improve.
Minor league free agents are like lotto tickets. If you miss, you didn’t lose much, but if you hit, you get a guy who won’t make more than $15m over his next 6yrs of club control.
People forget Yaz had a few MVP finishes in 2019/2020, but he made just as much hitting .289/24HR as he did hitting .219/21HR bc they got him as a 27yo with no MLB experience, which is just what smart baseball teams do.
They didn’t get Rodon bc Cobb had a FIP a run lower than his ERA. Improved defense=better performances from the pitching staff. Oh and they have 7 starters non including their top prospect who projects as a No.1/No.2 starter, so why spend on Rodon when you can get a guy next year who didn’t almost quit baseball due to shoulder problems?
Hey Dude don’t worry about us. You’ll have your hands full in a stacked NL West . A division where given the severe lack of talent the Giants have , they’ll flat out lucky to finish 3rd . And that only happens if a young talented D-Back team doesn’t bump Frisco to 4th
Yeah Zaidi spent some money on that cheating scandal hero boy. But I thought the Giants were signing Judge….Wait. BAHAHAHAHAA
Hey chumpy, how many championships have the Giants won since the Yanks last won? What have they done for you lately? Check back when they actually win again. Between Judge, Rodón and Correa, who will have the most quality years over the lifetime of their contracts? My money’s on Correa – over the other two combined.
He’s good finding talent. Go Farhan. Yankees have 3 or 4 bad contracts on your 40 man roster. Giants 1 and this is his last year. Farhan is far better at his job than Cashman.
Better than Cashman ? Let’s see…hmm. How many Rings does Zaidi have ?
Oh that’s right, Zaidi doesn’t have any. As a matter of fact Zaidi’s entering his 5th season in SF and has only posted a team with a winning record above .500 one time. And the team that finished above .500 got BOUNCED in the first round of the playoffs.
If Zaidi would have posted 3 outta 4 seasons with a losing record , he would have been fired. Or worse stabbed by a fan in the employee parking lot
The talent Cashman inherited in 98 vs the talent Zaidi inherited in 2019 is night and day.
Actually, they lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs…since they had the best record in the majors. And the Dodgers team they lost to had the second best record in the majors. And by the way, Giants fans don’t stab people, that is also the Dodgers. And it was that year the Yanks didn’t make it out of the WC game.
The Giants will probably end up sending Judge a Thank You card in about 5 to 6 years for going back to the Yankees anyways.
Seems like Duron could learn from Randy Johnson. Once The Big Unit took a couple MPH off his fastball, finding better control, is when he became the HoF pitcher he was.
tad2b1 — Interesting, I didn’t know that. Thanks.
Unfortunately Fangraphs doesn’t have velocity data going back to his seasons in Seattle, but his first 3 years there he led the league in most BBs. In 1993 he issued 45 fewer BBs and led the league for the first time in SOs with 308. His SO/W ratio went from 1.67 to 3.11, and he only got better from then on. In 2004 at age 40 he issued 44 BBs, and struck out 290 for a ridiculous 6.59 SO/W ratio. At age 43 it was 5.54. It’s hard to believe he wasn’t a first ballot inductee to the HoF.