The Giants announced a series of roster moves today, selecting outfielder Bryce Johnson to the active roster and optioning Brett Wisely to Triple-A. The team transferred Luke Jackson to the 60-day IL to make room for Johnson on the 40-man roster.
Johnson, a sixth round pick back in 2017, appeared in a handful of games for the Giants last year, tallying 19 plate appearances and picking up two hits. He was outrighted off the roster but remained with the organization into 2023. At Triple-A, Johnson put together a solid .290/.369/.401 slashline across 352 plate appearances, adding in five home runs and 31 stolen bases. He’ll provide some speed off the bench for the Giants.
Wisely was acquired from the Rays in a trade this winter for Tristan Peters. A 15th round pick by the Rays in 2019, Wisely’s bounced around the diamond a fair bit, earning reps in the infield and outfield. He slashed an impressive .274/.371/.460 with 15 home runs at Double-A last year but was traded just prior to the Rule 5 draft, as the Rays would’ve needed to add him to their 40-man roster or risk losing him in the draft had they not found a trade partner. Wisely did get in to the Giants opener for his first taste of big league action, playing two innings of center field, but the Giants evidently decided to send him back to the minors to continue his development.
Jackson underwent Tommy John surgery in April last year, so is still rehabbing from that. The Giants signed him to a two-year deal knowing he’d likely miss the first few months of the season, so this decision to shift him to the 60-day IL is not overly surprising. It does mean the earliest he’ll return is May 31. Jackson had a breakout year in 2021, working to a 1.98 ERA over 63 2/3 innings of relief for Atlanta.
Why not keep Johnson on the opening day roster if they’re going to do this?
Indecision on Jackson and the 60 day IL would be my guess. Injury report says he just started throwing bullpens so maybe there was a thought he could be back earlier.
Because they didn’t choose Wisely
Wisely’s cup of coffee in the bigs was more like a shot glass.
Hope he crushes AAA and forces his way back.
Well played, sir.
#DCartrow – As usual
Just another example of Zaidi playing games with players
“playing games with players”
I mean… duh, right?
If this kid can leadoff, the Giants should give him every opportunity—they need speed and a disrupting baserunner. Johnson’s the answer if he can hit even .260 with OBP of .350 or above. Plus, he’s a switch hitter.
there’s no way he can get on base that much in the show, lol
You can’t steal first base.
Not with that attitude.
#Pete’s I agree completely. Although Wade is doing well leading off so far.
Giants fans have their panties in a twist because Johnson Bryce wasn’t on the opening day roster. They watched this player steal bases in spring training and the think he’s a blue chip prospect. LOL
This is just laughable given Johnson has one major flaw . He can’t HIT baseballs
Giants fans are the worst.
Says a guy named The Bull,
who is obviously full of himself.
@TheBull,
Big fan of your barbecue at CBP!
Giants fans are great fans. As it would happen to any of us, their expectations were skewed by three championships in five years.
Giants fan here. If the “Giants Fans” in question are still riding the delusion of 3 championships in 5 years, news flash, the last of those was nearly a decade ago. Check back into reality, folks.
The reality dose is much appreciated, @gmenfan. I attend about ten games a year at Oracle Park, and can only tell you about my experience. It’s been quite a hangover for the Giants fan base.
#Bart – I did last year, but I’m not this year. I want to see smarter front office decisions, before spending more on tickets.
While it was a decade ago, winning 3 WS in 5 years is still a major accomplishment for any team. Hell, look at the Yankees, it’s been 13 years since they won a World Series. But every year Yankee fans act like this is their year!
27chumpy – It’s not exactly like that.
Anyway why are you talking crap about the Giants and fans? The Yankees are just a.500 team, just like the Giants.
I heard Farhan on Tolbert & Copes on Thursday. He said they brought Johnson to New York and that the Giants were working on a few potential trades.
I thought it would have been better PR to have Johnson make the opening day roster but Farhan explained they’d have to wait 10 days to recall him if he’s demoted and they wanted to go with the extra middle infielder initially.
Now, since there is no extra middle infielder on the roster IMO Farhan is working on a trade. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to have the Giants leave New York with Kiner-Falefa on their roster in which case they’d likely DFA Beaty.
Good work, Wilmer. Thank you.
Boone also saying Yankees working on a pitcher. Junis or Hjelle maybe ?
I hope Junis. I think Hjelle is a stud.
Agreed. Very appreciative of Junis, but better option. Maybe the Hjelle spring sealed his availability. Probably better for that Yankees as well. Bit more seasoned and able to step right in.
Junis looked pretty damn good today, I hate to see him go
I’d definitely rather lose Junis than Hjelle
Foppert, BTW I’m curious what your connection to Jesse Foppert is? He’s a current high school coach up in Marin County and had a solid rookie year with the Giants before blowing his arm out.
When I first developed a passion for baseball and the Giants, he was the first young pitcher that came up into the rotation. So the first young guy I invested some emotion into. Hope he is doing well.
@foppert and @wilmer
I was curious about this myself! I would’ve loved to have seen him develop as a starter. But he did net us Randy Winn!
Hi foppert, I remember the day the Giants brought Jesse Foppert up to the majors and the guys made him wear a My Little Pony or some pink kids backpack I think as sort of a hazing joke for a rookie. It was all fun in games
Good memory there, Agnes. I do remember the baby face. He looked about 16 from memory. Probably why he got my support.
#foppert
I have a Jesse foppert autograph on a hat I took to a game and got him to sign
#agnes gooch
I remember that too. Good times, the rookie hazing of Jesse Foppert lol
Foppert, Jerome Williams, and Kurt Ainsworth were going to be the next big 3 for the Giants. Problem was that their minor league affiliate had a juiced radar gun and everyone thought these guys could throw 96 when they were really closer to 91-92.
Wouldn’t that be disrespectful to Junis/Hjelle? 😉
That’s actually one of the most reasoned lists I’ve seen in a while. The trade would have to be a pitcher on the 26 man roster to make room for Hjelle. All of this begs the question why they didn’t do this before flying into New York and causing all that optical damage, but there you go. It’s always looked as if the Giants are a glove-first middle infielder short.
This off season sealed my opinion on the fact that the Giants don’t give much priority to optics.
#stephaniebpetagnoc
Because Farhan is usually flailing desperately. The Ruf trade with the Mets not withstanding. That was actually a good move. Even though I didn’t like it at first, because I liked Ruf.
Wilmer, I liked everything you said other than the Giants leaving NY with IKF. If the Giants are going to trade pitching, I hope they’re aiming higher than that.
Honestly if they can get a bag of balls for Beaty I’d take it.
IKF plays gold glove caliber defense all over the infield, plus is an emergency catcher. He’s not terrible offensively and can steal a base. I’m sure he’d like to play every day but I think he’d get 400+ PA as a back up. The past 3 seasons his WAR has been 2.0 (in 2020), 3.6 and 3.0.
I going to have to respectfully disagree. While he’s a decent defender, I don’t see him as GG caliber everywhere. DRS likes him at SS, but not OAA. At catcher he would be for emergency only, and given the Giants current roster would be unnecessary.
I’m guessing those are bWAR numbers, since those are high compared to fWAR. which has him at 1.7 for his best year (2021), and shows an accumulation of 3.8 fWAR for his 5 year career.
He has a career wRC+ of only 82, 18% below league average. I can see that he has some utility value, but who do you take off the roster for him.
Plus his trade value is very low right now, and I think any ML pitching would be an overpay. I looked at possible trades on the BTV trade simulator. They have 3 Giants guys with equal value, Hunter Bishop, Will Wilson and Gray Fenter.
My perfect back-up middle infielder would be Ha-Seong Kim. Plus, plus defender at both short and second and a decent clutch bat. Mauricio Dubon almost fit the bill but his offensive game kept sliding and he made too many base running blunders.
Totally agree. I’m a big fan of Kim. Too bad the Giants missed out on signing him.
Thanks for writing this Wilmer, I heard that Farhan interview and I tried explaining this on the other thread but it got kinda buried, I appreciate you taking time to write it out here
Thanks Gooch! Nice game today. Doval couldn’t throw a strike and still got the save. Vintage Crawdaddy!
Super fun game today Wilmer! Doval spent most of spring in the WBC so didn’t get as much experience with the pitch clock, and maybe the rain was messing with his grip plus it was NY. He is always cool as a cucumber out there but he will need to step it up, 2 violations with almost a 3rd if Perez hadn’t run out. I love Doval tho and he will figure it out.
It was Crawdaddy’s game, that blast had to feel good and Stanton hit that double play ball 115.4mph! S
Wilmer the Thrillmer — I’m going to hope HIGH. Make it Oswado Peraza rather than IFK.
Beaty made no sense in the first place.
Beaty is a DFA waiting to happen. He’d be a fine non-roster guy to have stashed at Sacramento.
BTW, I’m pretty sure Farhan was holding out for Peraza last year in the Rodon deadline trade that never happened.
#Pete’sView – I agree, the Beauty trade made no sense at all really. Just Farhan flailing imo.
Personally I’m feeling about ready to see Putila elevated to POBO. His team didn’t do so bad in Houston and it fits the Giants constant churn theme.
Just long enough to keep Wisely’s family from attending his MLB debut… For no understood reason. Way to steal a families wonderful memories, just because you want to feel some way, Mr. Farhan Zaidi.
Farhan knows how to make money that is why he is where he is and why he will get an extension after this year. He doesn’t care how many rookies parents feelings he hurts in the process as long as the profit margins are growing. This is a big reason why star players won’t sign with him and fans are going to stop showing up. Giants ownership figures that as long as the team isn’t losing 100 games the fans will continue to have faith and eventually one of the thousands of players who have come through our system in the last 5 years will end up being the next Arozarena/Tatis/Muncy/etc. I was reminded that it took Sabean 13 years to win the WS so there is that. Of course he also made a few playoffs and even had a WS appearance in that time and also an infinitely more entertaining team than this one
Johnson has told us why Farhan will get an extension offer. It’s up to you whether you believe him or run with your own opinion.
At the end of the day, there is hope for you. He has to accept it and I imagine his manager has received plenty of phone calls.
@frugal – I think you may be right. Speaking for myself, I’m one fan that Farhan’s chased away from Oracle park. I’ve been watching them on TV, it’s just not the same. But it’s not as frustrating as looking back and realizing that I wasted my money on crap.