Thairo Estrada and Tyler Matzek both went unclaimed on waivers. The Giants announced they’ve assigned Estrada outright to Triple-A Sacramento while recalling Brett Wisely (X link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Matzek, who’d been on the 60-day injured list, was placed on unconditional release waivers. Estrada drops off the 40-man roster, which now carries 38 players.
San Francisco reportedly placed Estrada, Matzek and lefty reliever Taylor Rogers on waivers earlier in the week. The Giants did not announce what happened with Rogers’ waiver process. It’s possible that they didn’t officially place Rogers on waivers until a day later than the Estrada and Matzek moves (and are therefore still waiting on a resolution). However, it seems likely that Rogers went unclaimed and the Giants simply elected to hold onto him.
A team is not required to send a player to the minors after he clears waivers. The Giants would have no reason to do so with Rogers. If the Giants tried to demote him, the former All-Star could elect free agency while retaining his $12MM salary for next season. That’d simply amount to cutting Rogers, a productive reliever, without any financial benefit for doing so.
Estrada does not have that luxury. The glove-first second baseman has between three and five years of service. That gives him the right to decline an outright assignment but would require him to forfeit the remainder of his salary to do so. Estrada is playing on a $4.7MM arbitration deal and isn’t likely to give up the more than $800K remaining on that contract. He’ll almost certainly report to Sacramento, while Wisely could get a look as the everyday second baseman at Oracle Park.
The 28-year-old Estrada was an average or better hitter during his first three seasons with the Giants, combining for a .266/.320/.416 slash. He topped 20 stolen bases and drilled 14 homers apiece in 2022 and ’23. He hasn’t been anywhere near that effective this season. He’s hitting .217/.247/.343 across 381 trips to the plate. Among hitters with 300+ plate appearances, only Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall have a lower on-base percentage.
San Francisco can reselect Estrada onto the 40-man roster through season’s end. He’d technically remain eligible for arbitration if they called him back up, but the waiver process makes clear that the Giants don’t plan to tender him a contract in either case. Whether he returns to the MLB club next month, he’s very likely to be on the open market (either through minor league free agency or a non-tender) during the upcoming offseason.
The Giants acquired Matzek from the Braves as a salary offset in the Jorge Soler deadline deal. He’s playing on a $1.9MM salary that no team was willing to assume. Matzek was on the injured list at the time of the trade and never threw a pitch as a Giant. He missed all of last year recovering from Tommy John surgery. Matzek returned this season before landing back on the IL in May with elbow inflammation.
The 33-year-old southpaw had a tough first month in Atlanta, giving up 11 runs over 10 frames. The Giants sent him to Triple-A on a rehab stint a couple weeks ago. He made five appearances, allowing four runs through 4 2/3 innings. Matzek could be healthy enough to sign elsewhere, though he’d need to do so within the next day to be eligible for postseason play.
Thairo fell off an absolute cliff at the plate this year.
No doubt. That .247 OBP is brutal. Dude had an OPS+ better than league average for 3 years, but this year he’s looking like Javy Baez. Well not that bad, but you get it.
well he isn’t getting paid baez money at least
Hand injuries will do that.
Wisely isn’t a better player though; just cheaper next season; modus operandi since Zaidi took over.
He hasn’t been healthy most of the year. Wisely isn’t the answer and neither is Schmitt. Estrada has “fallen off the cliff” this year but so have others. Thairo is a pretty good glove and his bat was fairly good before 2024. He at least has some track record. I just don’t like this move at all. The Giants are done for this season but Thairo isn’t the reason. The Giants’ biggest problem by far is horrible success with runners in scoring position and that is a team wide issue. They could have absorbed Thairo’s off year if others would’ve played to their capabilities. Way, way too many K’s with runners in scoring position. Same old story.
Why do Giants fans continue to bicker about these C grade scrub players?
Dude, get some proper players to argue about. None of these guys would start on a winning team
I mean Estrada was legitimately an above average hitter just last year
“I’ll have one playoff lefty, please.”
– Alex Anthopoulous
Alex is on a mission to go on a time machine back to 2021
It’s like fireworks go off in his brain when acuna goes down to where he has to acquire members of 2021
What about Taylor Rogers?
I’m assuming he also went unclaimed. The Thairo and Matzek moves probably became public knowledge first because they were involved in a transaction in the wake of not being claimed. If Rogers was claimed, the Giants probably would have announced a corresponding roster move (such as recalling Mason Black) during this flurry of activity. The silence likely indicates that maybe he went unclaimed and merely remains in the Giants bullpen because he’s still a useful (if pricey) reliever.
Agreed. I was in San Jose last summer for 6 weeks because of work and you’re right the baseball writers are terrible. They write puff pieces and don’t ask tough questions post game. If Zaidi would have done in Philly what he’s done in Frisco he not only would have been fired after the 2022 season he also would have risked serious bodily harm in the employee parking lot at the bank.
Phillies fans don’t roll like Giants fans
@TheBull I’m sure you’re being a bit facetious, but anyone who threatens serious bodily harm over a sport where millionaires wear tight pants and play with a ball is a dingus.
It’s pretty funny to say “our fans would have seriously hurt someone if the team team didn’t fire a mediocre front office guy” with pride
lol @ agreed. The champ agreeing with himself. You are a sad creature champ.
But our micropenis doesn’t have us compensating on the internet.
All good.
I like it. Thanks foppert
Wait, did Mike Ropenis get put on waivers?
@chumpy
Can you help me understand your love affair with the Giants, when you took the time to name your profile after the Yankees?
Is it to take your mind off the fact that they FINALLY added some offense outside of Judge, but it’s only for this season, and with Gerrit Cole not looking like himself, you don’t have a rotation to stand up to other teams in the playoffs?
Is “Giants fans think mediocre players like Estrada or ‘Yaz’ are important players. Which of course is ridiculous. But that is just the culture there” thinly veiled projection for “Yankees fans think mediocre players like Torres, Volpe, and Cabrera are important players. Which of course is ridiculous. But that is just the culture there”?
Because we’re in the same division as a team that takes the division and falls in the playoffs, so we can help you with that. We’re all baseball fans here, after all.
You, as usual don’t make too much sense at times.Couple of decent sentences but mostly the same old thing.
@mab
Which part doesn’t make sense? It seems pretty clear to me.
Your “same old thing” bit also doesn’t add up since I’ve never posted any of that before. Unless you’re referring to my responses to @chumpy. Because honestly, you’re coming across like one of @chumpy’s aliases that he uses to like all of his meandering, poorly written Giants troll posts.
Wasn’t directed at you at all. Was replying to chumpy. Same old thing referred to him bashing the Giants. Had no problem at all with your comments.
I don’t quite understand outrighting Estrada at this point. They are almost certainly going to non-tender him, so are they just waiting to September 1 to release him so nobody claims him for a playoff roster? Or are they planning on bringing him back on 9/1 for the extra position player spot?
It is nice to see them cutting bait on players not producing. I’d like to see them turn the page on Yaz in the off-season as well. Slater was well overdue.
Maybe they just need a guy to play the infield at AAA. Especially after bringing up Wisely. Maybe they plan to bring up another infielder September 1 which would increase the need.
Thanks for the laugh. Are you okay? It seems like the Giants being disappointing has struck a nerve. I’m not sure how the Giants media coverage is demonstrably worse than or lacks critical thought in comparison to the majority of sports coverage (national and local), but I guess it’s a San Francisco problem.
Maybe it’s all the homeless people kayaking through torrential currents of human excrement down Market Street that has contaminated the drinking water, leaving the city’s 800,000 residents too feeble minded to use their wittle bwains. If only Giants fans could use their brains!
Thank you for having the courage to speak up against your not-at-all biased outlook on a fanbase. Someday, I hope to have the courage and sharp analytical mind of every Yankee fan who definitely never threw a tantrum over an 82-80 season. I hope I can have the strength of character to boo my favorite players someday, because that’s the one and only way you can prove to other people that your fanbase cares and knows things. But one time, I saw a man in TV say that Mike Yastrzemski isn’t as good as his grandpa and I haven’t stopped crying since. I haven’t been able to put on mascara for weeks, and it’s not going to stop unless Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper show up to my house, kiss me on the forehead, and tell me I’m a big strong boy who’s smart and handsome and knows ball.
Thank you Donald