The Giants made a few roster moves today, relayed on X by Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle. They have recalled right-hander Hayden Birdsong and selected the contract of catcher Jakson Reetz. In corresponding moves, catcher Curt Casali has been placed on the paternity list while right-hander Spencer Bivens has been optioned to Double-A Richmond. The club already had a couple of 40-man vacancies after the flurry of deadline transactions and their count now climbs to 39.
Reetz, 28, will be in his second stint with the Giants this season. San Francisco selected him to the 40-man roster back in May. He went just 1-for-12 in a brief five-game stint, though his lone hit in that run was a big fly. The Giants designated Reetz for assignment and passed him through waivers later in the month when opening a roster spot for veteran lefty Drew Pomeranz.
Between his brief look with the Giants and an even shorter look with the 2022 Nats (two plate appearances), Reetz has just 14 trips to the plate under his belt in the majors. He’s hitting .250/.362/.428 with Triple-A Sacramento this season and carries a career .240/.336/.467 line in parts of four seasons at the top minor league level. With Casali only headed to the paternity list — a three-day maximum — it could be a brief stay in the majors for Reetz. However, he’s in the second of three minor league option years, so he could simply be optioned rather than designated for assignment whenever Casali returns. That’d at least keep him on the 40-man roster.
Birdsong, 22, will come back to the majors after an impressive debut earlier this season. He’s made six MLB starts and posted a 2.97 ERA in 30 1/3 frames, fanning a huge 30.2% of his opponents against an 11.9% walk rate that’ll need to improve if he’s to sustain his small-sample success. The 2022 sixth-rounder is one of the organization’s more promising pitching prospects and has carved up Double-A this season in addition to yielding five runs in nine Triple-A innings (two starts). With Jordan Hicks now in the bullpen and Alex Cobb traded to Cleveland, Birdsong should have a runway to establish himself as the fifth starter behind Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Kyle Harrison and the resurgent Blake Snell in the Giants’ rotation.
Birdsong is already the established 5th starter. He doesn’t need to establish himself. He was optioned to AAA just as a procedural move after his last start. He hasn’t missed a start.
Are they just screwing Birdsong on a MLB paycheck by sending him down after every start even when he pitches great? Not the best impression to make on a player you might want to extend in the future or on players on other teams you might want to sign in free agency.
Ha ha ha. Probably not. Giants have a great reputation for how they treat players. You want something. They get it for you. Players talk about it all the time.
At this stage in his career I’d imagine Birdsong is just grateful for the opportunity they have given him.
The stated reasons for sending him down were:
1. To limit his innings
2. To bring up a fresh bullpen arms
Both of which make perfect sense to me.
A couple of months ago he was a Flying Squirrel. He’s no doubt thrilled to get major league meal money whenever he can get it.
tedtheodorelogan — Not at all. These are necessary roster manipulations that in no way hurt Birdsong.
No.
Somebody really had to dig deep to find something they could try and make sound like a negative.
It made me laugh.
They did a roster thing for fresh arms when the giants also had a double header coming so they used the extra slot for him then re called him up. I think he doesn’t get the pay but by rep the giants usually do the guys a solid
No. Not at all. It was all planned. They had a doubleheader which allowed them to increase their roster to 27 without being charged an option when they sent him down. It’s just part of the chess game that frankly, love him or hate him, Farhan is playing brilliantly.
Just ask JD Davis.
When you ask him, he can tell you that he chose to go to arbitration when his roster spot was far from certain.
Davis wasn’t even good enough for the A’s, who dumped him in June. Then he was DFA’d by the Yankees. So far, no team is willing to pick him up for the prorated minimum salary. But sure criticize the Giants for not wanting to pay a guy almost $7M that no other team seems to want for something less than $240K.
Right. Davis screwed himself. The narrative that the Giants wronged him is way off base. If anything, his agent didn’t know the rules and dropped the ball.
I’m happy for Reetz, even if this is just another couple of sips of coffee.
This roster move says more about how the Giants feel about Blake Sabol and I’m not surprised. If you look at his AAA numbers.They’re not great, but when you look at his triple.Ay numbers from twenty twenty two , they were much better
Sabol was just up and I don’t think he’s met the minimum AAA time before he can get called up again.
Not sure on that one. A player can be recalled early because of an injury and I’d think a paternity leave would fall under the same umbrella.
Irregardless, Sabol hasn’t impressed this year in AAA, which is odd. Sacramento is a great place to hit as is the rest of the PCL.
I’d like to see Sabol concentrate on hitting and less on catching. He’s a big dude with a lot of potential power that he needs to harness. I think catching is holding him back as a hitter