The Giants announced a wave of cuts from camp this morning, with top prospect Bryce Eldridge and former top prospect Marco Luciano among the most notable names sent out to minor league camp. (Luciano is on the 40-man roster and was thus optioned, technically speaking; Eldridge was reassigned to minor league camp.) Right-hander Mason Black was also optioned to minor league camp.
Though some fans might’ve hoped the 20-year-old Eldridge would break camp this year, that was always an extreme long shot. The 2023 first-rounder has all of 17 games above A-ball under his belt: nine in Double-A (where he hit quite well) and eight in Triple-A (where he struggled in a small sample). Eldridge’s overall .289/.372/.513 slash across four minor league levels helped propel him to the No. 12 spot on Baseball America’s top-100 list and did nothing to dispel the notion that he’s San Francisco’s first baseman of the future. For now, however, he’ll open the season in the upper minors while veterans LaMonte Wade Jr. and Wilmer Flores platoon at first base.
Luciano’s path to the roster was similarly unlikely. The former shortstop is still learning the ropes in his new corner-outfield environs, and San Francisco’s outfield mix has little room to break in. Heliot Ramos will be in left field after a breakout 2024 season. Jung Hoo Lee will be back in center now that he’s recovered from last year’s shoulder surgery. Mike Yastrzemski is in right field for what will be his seventh straight season. With Luciano still adjusting to the outfield, it benefits him to be in a setting where he can play every day and further familiarize himself with the new position.
The starters for the Giants are largely set. Patrick Bailey is the primary catcher. Wade and Flores will split at first base. Tyler Fitzgerald moves from shortstop to second base in deference to free agent signee Willy Adames. Matt Chapman inked a six-year extension late last season. Ramos, Lee and Yastrzemski round out the outfield. There’s more competition for the bench spots, but one player who’s all but squeezed out barring injuries further up the depth chart is infielder David Villar.
Villar impressed with a .231/.331/.455 showing and nine homers in 181 plate appearances as a 25-year-old rookie back in 2022. He’s since hit .170/.243/.346 in the majors while turning in only slightly above-average offense in a hitter-friendly Triple-A setting. Villar is out of minor league options and has less defensive versatility than fellow infielders Casey Schmitt and Brett Wisely. Both Schmitt and Wisely have one minor league option remaining, and both can play shortstop. Villar has never played a professional inning at short.
As soon as Chapman and Adames were locked in on the left side of the infield, Villar looked to be an odd man out. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area wrote yesterday that for the former 11th-rounder, spring training this year is more about showcasing himself to 29 other clubs than earning a spot on the Giants’ roster.
Speculatively speaking, the front offices in Milwaukee and in the Bronx have been eyeing cost-effective third base options. Former Giants GM Scott Harris is now president of baseball operations in Detroit and has been looking for right-handed bats. His club just missed on Alex Bregman and lost one third base candidate (Matt Vierling) to a shoulder strain. Another, Jace Jung, has only 94 big league plate appearances and is out to a slow start this spring.
Villar is 28, out of minor league options and has a .200/.288/.400 slash in 358 big league plate appearances. There’s a chance he’d simply clear waivers and stick with the Giants as non-roster depth. But he’s a .268/.377/.511 hitter in three Triple-A seasons and can play both infield corners — in addition to more limited experience at second base. A club with a less-solidified infield mix could be interested in a small trade or waiver claim. It’ll be worth keeping an eye on how he performs for the remainder of the spring.
Shifting a bit away from the focus on what’s currently taking place in camp, Joel Sherman of the New York Post provides some context on earlier offseason trade talks between the Giants and Yankees. Per Sherman, the Yankees approached the Giants about a potential deal that would’ve sent righty Marcus Stroman to San Francisco in exchange for lefty Taylor Rogers. The Giants weren’t interested in that framework, it seems, preferring to move forward with a rotation including Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Justin Verlander, Jordan Hicks and one of Kyle Harrison, Hayden Birdsong or Landen Roupp. (Harrison seems like the strong favorite.)
The Giants eventually traded Rogers and $6MM to the Reds, ducking out from half the money they still owed to the veteran lefty and adding minor league righty Braxton Roxby to their system in the process. The Yankees spent much of the offseason trying to move Stroman but now might be glad to have hung onto him; Luis Gil is dealing with a shoulder injury that’s thrust Stroman back into the rotation outlook in the Bronx.
Harrison is not such a strong favorite. Roupp has had a strong spring–no runs surrendered–and Birdsong looks good, too.
Just being left handed gives him the advantage.
Nah. Strong favourite. Not sure it matters how well he pitches, Roupp isn’t get past him this spring. Too much time already invested in Harrison. He’ll start in the rotation and be there until he falters.
Twice as many innings pitched, so way more on the way to being fully stretched out to the major league level.
Just can’t see it. Interrupting Harrison over a few spring results seems unlikely to me.
I was referring to Harrison’s innings last year compared to Roupp.
Harrison will get the 5th spot IMO.
I hope you guys are right, but Harrison was lit up today and his lost velocity continues to bother me
Got you.
Has to be the short priced favourite
11-5 win
I’ll take it any day.
Roupp has impressed for two years now and will certainly make the 26-man roster whether or not Harrison is in the rotation.
Harrison is two years from being the top LH SP in baseball. Drop in velo has been attributed to a freak ankle injury. One bad ST start isn’t a factor. You’re right Roupp has looked really good and Birdsong has plenty of promise. If Harrison struggles more things could change.
The Athletic now projects Roupp as the number 5 starter
Fangraphs still has Harrison for now. Really I would be happy with any of the three and they all will likely get some starts. I just thought it was funny how everyone was freaking out over one bad ST start.
I believe that my first post preceded the poor start, but no matter. Roupp has pitched about as well as possible, and Harrison’s velocity drop persists. Obviously, I hope they both become rotation mainstays, but for the moment Roupp seems the choice. I understand that Roupp pitches tomorrow. We’ll see if his success continues.
At this point I’m happy with any of the three. Winn looked good today too. Really interested in Harrison’s next start to see if the velo drop is a blip or something to be concerned about. Harrison’s edge is he’s LH and Ray is the only other LH starter. The main thing working against Roupp is he has bullpen experience but if he keeps pitching like he has no way he doesn’t make the team.
The way some of the rookie arms are throwing right now it’s looking like the need for Verlander is questionable, let alone Stroman. Go away with that crap Yanks !
Warren is a better option at this point than Stroman to replace Gil. Hopefully if he stays strong in ST he’ll get the job.
I doubt that. They’ll send Warren down and use Stroman in Gil’s place and try to build his trade value.
Not sure if he really builds trade value by starting and moving in the direction of vesting his 2026 option. If they can keep him in the pen enough to make that option unattainable I think his trade value might tick up.
Yankees stuck with Stroman. Bad contract and it’ll carry over to 2026. Is there a dumber owner that will want Stroman, Stanton or Lemahieu?
Why would Yankees get rid of Stanton? He’s their best post season hitter and he does it every year
“Why would..Get rid of Stanton”..Most of the time, Stanton is the ONLY one who’s hitting in the postseason for the Bombers.
Stanton has a full NTC in his contract. He’s not going anywhere even if the Yanks wanted to trade him.
Stroman away from YS and paid down our offset to about $10 mil is a safe bet.
If it was one year sure. But, he still has that problematic vesting option. Teams don’t like uncertainty. What does a team do if he pitches well? Limit a guy who’s pitching well to less than 140 IP? That could mean committing to another $18M in his age 35 season. It’s almost as if the team he pitches for will hope he’s not good so they can keep the option from kicking in.
Unfortunately Luciano might be another Villar … AAAA player… but that’s part of the fun of player development – some of the better players come from nowhere and the top pics don’t pan out
Oh well-
I’m looking very much forward to this season !!!
Villar is 28, Luciano is 23. Some were calling Heliot Ramos a bust when he was 23. I’m not saying Luciano will break out like Ramos, but it’s still too soon to say he might be a AAAA player. Luciano actually hit better as a 22 year old, than Ramos did at 23.
I think that Luciano is still young enough and still can get some type of trade worthy but I don’t see him part of the Giants plans anymore!! Maybe a Luciano and Wisely or Schmidt for Torkelson or maybe a Luiciano and Harrison and another prospect for Sandy Alcantara possibly
I like the idea of Alcantara, but why would the Giants have any interest in Torkelson, with Eldridge waiting in the wings? I’m not sure they’d be interested even if they weren’t anticipating an Eldridge debut relatively soon. Torkelson has been a below league average guy for 3 seasons. I wouldn’t trade Luciano straight up for Torkelson. With Yaz on the way out, there is a place for Luciano.
Giants aren’t trading for Tork—they have Eldridge knocking on the door.
Previous FO badly screwed up his development. Hopefully with the right coaching he can still reach his potential. Still young enough that there’s hope. BTW Jim Ray was one of my favorite players growing up.
I think injuries have robbed Luciano of his once special bat speed.
Luciano has been a disappointment, no doubt. But he’s still very young (23) and if he gets comfortable in the OF his bat may come back too. Not a player you want to give up on too early.
Any opinions on Villar? Is he worth trying to acquire? My Cardinals could kick the tires on him.
He’s out of options
They can try to pass him through waivers and then put them on AAA to start the season but someone will grab him I bet
Sadly he performs well in the minors, but can’t get consistent at the big league level.
Looks like your cards are sending Saggese down
Villar’s opposite field approach is really hurt playing in Oracle. Change of scenery might be good for him. Worth taking a flier on.
If I were the Cards (or any number of other teams) I’d give Villar a shot, but his days with SF are done.
How has Robbie Ray looked with the new changeup?
Looks real good so far, and I’m not talking about tight pants.
He was a Dodger killer in his Dbacks days.
Ray is a stand-up guy. We will miss him in Seattle.
between Ray and Verlander those guys will be lucky to start 20 games each
So they’ll be plenty of starts for those other guys
I’m actually looking forward to that scenario to get the young guns more development. Roupp and Birdsong should be in the 2026 rotation.
You’ll see Roupp and probably Birdsong starting a number of games for the Giants THIS season.
Thankfully Posey was smart enough to pass on Stroman. He wouldn’t been a good fit on the field or clubhouse
Yaz as a starting corner outfielder is definitely a below-league-average fill of the spot.
He’s been worth between 1.5 and 3 WAR every season of his career and has a lifetime 112 wRC+, that’s not a huge hole in the lineup, especially when this is his last year under contract anyway.
2.0 WAR is an average major league player. and his highest WAR was the strike year at 2.7, so yeah, the stats say 3/4th OF on an average team, bench or platoon guy on a good team. You want to go after the Dodgers, need more firepower in the lineup.
True, but stats don’t properly tell Yaz’ value. The guy is almost Gold Glove, can play CF in a pinch, has a very accurate arm, runs the bases exceptionally well and is a great clubhouse guy. Yes, his average isn’t terrific and he strikes out too much, but he’s an asset and hit 18 HRs last season in a park that doesn’t help lefties.
He’d be best as a 4th outfielder. Defense replacement and a fill in for center as you said. That’s how he’s an asset.
Not true. He has a career wRC+ of 112, making him 12 points better than league average. The counting stats aren’t impressive because he plays in one of the worse parks for LHHs.
And one of the most challenging RF parks for defensive stats !
Not to mention Yaz and his 30% K rate or 10% pop up rate. Those aren’t really the parks fault, amirite?
Yaz has never struck out at a 30% rate even once in his career. It’s 25.5%, with league average at 22.8%. Plus stats need to be looked at in context. A higher SO% isn’t that bad if a guy still gets on base. He has a career .322 OBP, and a 10.0 BB%. League average BB% is 8.5. He also has better than league average numbers in HR%, and XBH%, And he has fewer SOs to BBs, and fewer ABs per SO than league average.
Gold glove level defense and 18 bombs would play for a lot of teams.
Dodgers notes…….8 comments
Giants notes………22 comments
The small victory’s will be important this year.
18 to 60 now.
I’m calling it a sure win !
I wonder if cashman trying to offload stroman to the giants was an example of the reported experienced execs trying to take advantage of an experienced one.
Verlander seems a better fit when it comes to having a respected veteran on the staff.
Posey’s experience in handling young pitchers surely played a part in that. Truly no need for Stroman, with Buster knowing exactly what he has in the pipeline. I can see the Yanks making the call as both teams were looking to offload those specific players.
Eldridge will be interesting to watch in Sacramento.
The Giants big league club are going to need a lot of luck just to be interesting.
Harrison rocked in today’s game. Dbags hit for the cycle against him in the first inning.
Roupe looks great this spring. I wouldn’t be surprised. That fifth spot is open.
What’s working against Roupp in this scenario, is that he has pitched well coming out of the bullpen. Neither Harrison or Birdsong has done that. He might have till next season to get a full rotation spot – unless Verlander or Hicks falter.
Or Ray gets injured.
One ST start is meaningless. Came back the next inning and looked better. A bad day is a bad day, what matters is how he bounces back. Roupp has looked really good. Been a good competition so far.
Really don’t know what to think that Yaz is in the way of Luciano getting MLB reps. Are they that down on Luci or are the Giants just that determined to have defense a priority in right. Because even with his struggles he’d have to out perform Yaz offensively. That downgrade in defense for the meantime would be worth the growing pains.
It’s the major leagues. And RF in Oracle is difficult. Not a way to break in. He’s just learning RF. Little league RF is the weak position. This isn’t little league. He needs OF reps in AAA since it’s a new position. Has nothing to do with SF being “down on Luci”. Besides Matos is way ahead of Luciano on the depth chart. And is having a good off-season.
Matos
Schmidt
Huff
Flores
plus
9 starters that include Encarnacion
13 position players and 13 pitchers. Total of 26. No current fit for Luciano anyway
I feel Wisely may have advantage over Schmitt. LH options off the bench are limited, and Casey might be a better trade value in the near future.
Christian Koss putting in a claim.
That’s a lazy excuse to justify playing Yaz over Marco.
Luciano has shown nothing in the majors or this spring to earn a roster spot, much less a spot in the lineup. He needs to go down and get some regular at bats and learn to play OF. He’s still pretty young.
The giants have a pretty bad history of developing minor leaguers. Maybe take a lead from other teams and let them learn in the bigs. It’s time for Marco to get consistent reps. If we had a better OF it’d make more sense but embarrassing that Yaz who has no future on this team past this year is blocking him. Don’t act like a defensive right fielder is gonna make us a World Series contender. We’re in a position to let the kid learn at the big leaves.
Please explain? Their 3 WS titles were all from homegrown talent…Posey, Bum, Cain, Linecum, Belt, Crawford., etc.
Saying that they haven’t done a good job of developing players in the minors so they should bring them up to face big league pitching is a recipe for failure. The answer is to improve the minor league system. A big part of that is not promoting prospects to the next level until they have earned it. The previous FO rushed players up before they were ready and we’ve seen the results of that. Bart, Luciano, Schmidt, Matos, Meckler and others have suffered from this. Posey has made clear that players will have to earn their way up. That is the way successful teams opperate. To suggest that replacing Yaz with Lucianno suddenly makes them WS contenders is laughable. Seems some fans hatred toward Yaz is so intense it clouds their judgement. Or maybe they just don’t understand baseball.
I was going to come out in favor of Roupp for the 5th spot before Harrison’s start. Now that Harrison got rocked, it’s looking more and more like Roupp time.
Here another reason: Harrison has 3 options left, Roupp only 2. Roupp is also 3 years older. That maturity can make a difference. But it’s really about results; Roupp has looked awesome! Birdsong has all 3 of his options left too so he’s Sacramento bound.
As much as some Giant fans want Harrison to be the 5th starter he’s gotta earn it. He’s not doing that.
He earned it in the big leagues last year. Ditching him for 8.1 stellar spring training innings from Roupp is reactionary.
He had an 85 ERA+ last year, that’s not earning it.
His velocity is down too.
The time for sentimentality is over. And let’s not confuse effort with results. Harrison can find himself in Sacramento and hopefully get his upper 90’s heat back when the rotation has the eventual injury.
Your options point doesn’t make sense. Harrison having more options actually means he should be up to start the year…
I do think Roupp is next man up on any rotation issues this year, but is not ready for a MLB workload this season. Harrison threw over 100 innings last year.
Luciano needs reps, every day reps in the OF and AB’s and he gets that in the minor league camp and not the MLB camp now that Ramos is over his injury. I expect him to appear in B games despite the re-assignment, ditto Eldridge.
I wrote previously that Farhan not getting Luciano off SS sooner was one of his biggest failures. Asking him to handle a position change in games that count, is a lose lose for the player and team. He’s got an option left, this year is a huge development year. You’d like to see his bat force his promotion to San Francisco where he could DH and SF could pick their spots when to play him in the OF.
With health, SF will pitch and play defensive better than 2024. Can the lineup be longer, take more quality ABs to score on a more consistent basis. Like most SFG teams, they should have adequate road power, the question is what power shows up at Oracle. Despite all the injuries to the rotation, Doval melting down, no shortstop, Lee’s injury, Soler’s flop etc in 2024 they went 80-82,
With health it’s not a stretch to think this team wins 85 games on talent, the question is can they “luck” into another 5 games and get to 90. I think in 2025 more than ever, April and May games matter. Their ability to be a clear buyer come the summer is important. The whole “will they sell or will they buy, purgatory” is not the place to be.
Think they will be better this year. Still feels like they are a year away but if the pitching holds up and Eldridge develops faster than they think he will it could happen. Luck is mostly about avoiding injuries. Could use better depth on the bench.
Things like bench depth are and really overall depth are handled at trade deadlines. This is where you add another high leverage bullpen arm, upgrade a position that is underwhelming. Pitching and defense are what win in October, can you get to October.
SD and AZ are win now modes. If either of them get off to bad starts, you could see them become sellers. SD lacks depth and that Cease was on the market at all this off-season is all you need to know about where that team is at.
AZ has more depth but their payroll is stretched, their inability to get out from under the Montgomery deal this off-season could prove problematic at the deadline. They are in a better position to let Kelly, Gallan reach free agency vs SD who’ve emptied their farm to put this team together and require restocking, not comp picks from QO’s.
I think it’s very plausible to think the Giants can push the Padres to 4th in the NL West.
The Yankees ultimately may be happy they stuck with Stroman as Gil being out hurts the depth and there is always the possibility Rodon gets hurt waking up in the morning…
Hello? Anyone home? The Giants have an outfielder named LUIS MATOS. Ever heard of him? Instead we spend half an article discussing Villar??? It’s amazing how Matos is never mentioned. Check out his winter (and Spring) stats, he tweaked some things and is ready for a breakout year. You do recall he won a Player of the Week award last year? His youthful struggles emerged after that, but he’s seemingly fixed things. Yaz is having his usual dreadful Spring and will most likely be hobbled by May, as always. I predict big things for Mr. Matos in 2025.
Chances are good that Matos gets the 4th outfielder spot and ends up platooning with Yaz. I expect good things from him as well.
I agree.
Needs to be a meck update with any giants notes. How’s the stash? Is he wearing proper footwear? Is someone tucking him in at night correctly? Who cares about anyone else.
And they’re giving Meckler reps at 2b, though I still think Wisely gets the nod.
They should give him majority ownership just for being the meck. If you don’t know, he is a celebrity in the baseball card world. Ppl worship the meck! I couldn’t care less about the giants, but how good of a sport he is about ppl making fun of him. Actually made me a fan of his!
Back story. Ppl got sooooo mad paying hundreds for a new box of cards only to pull a meck auto as their “hit” card. With pitch forks ready everyone complained about it until ppl realized it’s awesome. He has a reddit AMA about becoming a MEME and man he was/is a truly awesome person for how he handled it.
English please.