With rosters expanding from 26 to 28 today, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports that the Giants are recalling outfielder Grant McCray and selecting right-hander JT Brubaker. Fellow righty Randy Rodríguez has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Brubaker, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Rodríguez will likely be undergoing Tommy John surgery, which means he may not pitch again until 2027.
Brubaker, 31, just signed a minor league deal with the Giants a few weeks back after being released by the Yankees. He has had some decent years in the majors but has largely been held back by injuries lately. From 2020 to 2022, he tossed 315 2/3 innings for the Pirates with a 4.99 earned run average, 23.3% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 44% ground ball rate.
Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2023 campaign. He was on his way back to the mound in 2024, after having been traded to the Yankees, but an oblique strain set him back. Coming into 2025, he was hit by a comebacker and fractured three ribs, putting him on the shelf yet again.
He did eventually get to don the pinstripes and tossed 16 innings for the Yankees with a 3.38 ERA, working as a long reliever. That’s likely the role the Giants have in mind for him as well. He can soak up some innings out of the pen as needed. The Yankees are on the hook for the majority of his $1.82MM salary this year since they released him. The Giants will only have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time he spends on the roster. He has at least five years of service time and therefore can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images
I still think the Yankees released him prematurely. He’s better than Blackburn. Good luck in SF JT.
That’s a real head scratcher there. His numbers in his last 5 outings, pitched 9 innings giving up 1 run. Am I not seeing this clearly?
Yankees DFA’d him to make room for their relievers acquisitions on the trade deadline.
How’s that working out for them???
Not trolling. Is Doval going ok ? The fans good with him ? Haven’t been paying attention.
@foppert
Doval has 6 ER, 8 BB in 11.1 IP. Not good obviously but he hasn’t been used in high leverage situations. The real test starts this week against .500+ teams.
All of the relievers that the Yankees acquired gives them some certainty where they’re unlikely to give up 4+ ERs in an outing. I couldn’t say that about JT Brubaker. Devin Williams remains a disaster in high-leverage games. They needed that as they built up Cam Schlitter and Luis Gil.
Thanks. Room for improvement. Ok. Very keen to see him do well. Hope he starts to dominate.
Although not that likely. certainly not as a Closer or in any high-stess situations. Great arm but a headcase.
Ok,thanks, that answers my question. I won’t MM quarterback that decision however..in hindsight, yuck on a few of those relievers, Doval looks like a downgrade and Jake Bird hasn’t been seen on the field in a month? Bednar is working out thus far and that’s a big plus.
Bednar was another steal of Cashman’s from the Pirates.
Not so sure this was a robbery. Buccos got a number 8 prospect Rafael Flores 24 yo with some decent numbers. Plus a # 14 prospect and a third. Didn’t research the later two however the former seems to be a hopeful? Bednar is 30 arbitration eligible next season FA season after. Good time to cut ties if they’re not spending.
They didn’t give up any top prospects and have control of them through ’26. Luke Weaver and Devin Williams will be free agents. These trades were also about trying to save some money. Weaver, their best reliever, will/should command a closer contract in the free agent market. Bednar has been pretty good.
I reading from what’s there on Yankees mlb page and the mlb news says practically the same thing on each players standing in ranking order. If you’re meaning is the Yankees didn’t give up any of their top prospects in general or if you meant not outta the top 5? They did trade away 8,10,and 14* I think it was 14?
Butters-You are assuming that the Pirates development system has actually developed anyone but pitchers.
And how high is the Yankees system ranked?
Correct I didn’t use mlb topped ranked as the reference to my post only the Yankees organizations since that’s the only pool for them to trade from. My post was not intended to include the Bucs farm system.
Right so using MLB top 100 players ranked those prospects from the Yankees farm system were not in there. So on that note YBC is right.
Maybe it’s his 9-28 lifetime W-L record.
He was pitching for awful Pirates teams.
He was a young pitcher,and not a particularly good one.
He since may very well have become a decent pitcher who deserves a good chance after several injury marred seasons.
The Giants were smart enough to pick him up.
Why McCray?? The catcher Rodriguez would be a much better option as the Giants need some offensive output from the catcher’s spot
I think McCray is out of options after this year and they need to figure out if he has real MLB juice.
He has been mostly DHing in Sac, not catching
Marco Luciano hit a 508 foot homer yesterday and we are calling up McCray?
Not sure how McCray fits into the Giants future – especially with Matos & Gilbert getting extended looks
Would have thoughts would’ve wanted to take a closer look at Jesus Rodriguez as possible Bailey backup
I saw McCray’s name on a list of hardest throwers in the outfield at 97 mph. Maybe he and Koss can provide mop up duty on blowouts.
McCray can steal bases… and we’re gonna need that if we’re gonna have a well rounded team next year
Good old McK. Hes not doing anything but whiff
Let’s just hope he can help replace Randy for the next year also.