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Jung Hoo Lee MRI Shows No Structural Damage

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March 18: Fans can seemingly breathe a sigh of relief as Lee’s MRI showed no structural damage, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. He’ll resume rehabbing from his back discomfort.

March 17: Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was scratched from Saturday’s Cactus League contest due to back discomfort, and with the issue still bothering him 48 hours later, he’ll undergo an MRI, manager Bob Melvin revealed to reporters (link via Justice Delos Santos of the San Jose Mercury News). He’ll then have a followup with the team’s medical staff. Melvin anticipates having more information for the public tomorrow.

Lee, 26, signed a six-year, $113MM contract with the Giants after a terrific start to his professional career in the Korea Baseball Organization. He played in 37 games last year in his MLB debut and hit .262/.310/.331 with a pair of homers and some of the best contact skills in the sport (8.2% strikeout rate). Lee played 306 innings in center and drew average marks from Statcast with slightly below-average grades from Defensive Runs Saved. A shoulder injury suffered when colliding with the wall in trying to haul in a deep drive off Jeimer Candelario’s bat ended Lee’s rookie season; he suffered a dislocation and a torn labrum, necessitating surgery.

In his return to the Giants’ lineup this spring, the former KBO standout has looked excellent. He’s appeared in a dozen games and tallied 35 plate appearances with a .300/.400/.567 slash. Lee has homered twice and drawn four walks (11.4%).

Time will tell whether the issue proves serious enough for a trip to the injured list. The Giants initially indicated that Lee was going to miss a game or two not because of a back injury suffered during a game but rather sleeping on it in awkward fashion. Sending him for an MRI would suggest there’s something potentially more worrisome at play.

If Lee does need to miss any time, the Giants have options in center. Luis Matos and Grant McCray are both plenty capable at the position. Matos, 23, is a former top prospect who’s capable of playing all three outfield spots. He logged 19 games in center for the Giants last year. McCray played 37 games in center during his rookie season in 2024. Both young outfielders struggled greatly against big league pitching, but both have had strong performances this spring. McCray is hitting .314/.429/.514 with a homer and four steals in 42 plate appearances. Matos is batting .362/.375/.532 with a pair of homers in 48 plate appearances. Whoever lines up in center field will be flanked by left fielder Heliot Ramos and right fielder Mike Yastrzemski.

NL West Notes: Graveman, Seidler, Murphy

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Diamondbacks right-hander Kendall Graveman has been battling some back tightness in camp and still hasn’t appeared in a Spring Training game. Manager Torey Lovullo tells Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports that the issue cropped up again yesterday after throwing live batting practice. Weiner relays that Graveman appears to be questionable for Opening Day.

The Snakes signed Graveman to a one-year, $1.35MM deal less than a month ago. The modest price is a reflection of the fact that Graveman missed the 2024 season recovering from shoulder surgery. The D’Backs have made a modest bet that he could bounce back to his pre-surgery form. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 187 1/3 relief innings with a 2.74 earned run average, 24.5% strikeout rate, 10.4% walk rate and 48.9% ground ball rate.

If healthy, Graveman would be one of the club’s key leverage relievers, alongside guys like A.J. Puk, Kevin Ginkel and Justin Martínez. This back issue doesn’t seem to be a major concern but isn’t the ideal way for him to start down the comeback trail. Opening Day is still two weeks away, which gives him some time, but it will be a situation to watch for the Diamondbacks and their fans.

More notes from around the National League West…

  • John Seidler is now officially the control person of the Padres, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic. The brother of the later Peter Seidler, John was approved by the league as control person over a month ago. Despite the league approval, it was noted at that time that the transfer would not become official until all the paperwork was complete on John becoming the trustee of Peter’s trust. Lin relays that the process with the trust is now complete, making John the official control person. After Peter’s death, the duties of control person were handled by his previous business partner Eric Kutsenda on an interim basis. There is an ongoing legal dispute over control of the club in the wake of Peter’s passing, with his widow Sheel filing suit against his brothers.
  • Giants catcher Tom Murphy continues to be on the shelf. The club informed reporters, including Justice delos Santos of The Mercury News, that Murphy would require another epidural injection this week. He’ll be doing rehab only for the next two weeks, meaning no baseball activities. That makes him a lock for the injured list to start the season. That’s not a shock, since it was reported in late February that he has a herniated disc in his mid-back area and would be getting an epidural injection that would sideline him for weeks. He’s now getting a second shot and is still not close. Murphy has flashed a potent bat in his career but injuries have often stood in the way. He has nine MLB seasons but only appeared in 50 or more games in two of those. The Giants have Patrick Bailey as their primary catcher. With Murphy out, the backup job could fall to Sam Huff. Non-roster options in camp include Logan Porter and Max Stassi.

Offseason In Review: San Francisco Giants

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While not the blockbuster offseason some fans expected from the Giants' new front office, a couple of big names landed in San Francisco.

Major League Signings

2025 spending: $36MM
Total spending: $197MM

Option Decisions

  • Blake Snell, SP: Opted out of final year of contract ($30MM in 2025)
  • Robbie Ray, SP: Declined to opt out of final two years of contract ($50MM over 2025-26 seasons)
  • Wilmer Flores, IF: Exercises $3.5MM player option for the 2025 season

Trades & Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

Willy Adames' $182MM contract represents the largest deal in Giants history, and perhaps marks an end to the narrative that the franchise is unable to attract top-tier talent to the Bay Area.  Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa (though that situation was rather unique), and Shohei Ohtani are a few of the major free agents who the Giants pursued but were unable to sign when Farhan Zaidi was the club's president of baseball operations, leaving fans perpetually frustrated at Zaidi's roster-building endeavors.

Things changed even before Zaidi was officially replaced by Buster Posey last September, as Posey (then acting in his capacity as a member of the Giants board of directors) took a very direct role in negotiating Matt Chapman's six-year, $151MM contract extension.  It is rare to see such extensions signed when a player is as close to Chapman was to the open market, and finalizing that deal indicated that Posey might be moving with more aggressiveness once he took the reins as the new PBO.

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Giants Notes: Eldridge, Luciano, Villar, Rogers, Stroman

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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.

Salary Details For Several Minor League Deals

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Every offseason, the primary focus for baseball fans is on trades and free agent activity. Naturally, major league free agent signings garner the majority of the attention and generate the most buzz. Minor league signees come with less fanfare, typically with good reason. They tend to be older veterans who are looking to extend their playing careers or perhaps younger names looking to rebound from an injury or a disappointing showing the prior season (sometimes the prior few seasons).

As spring training progresses, we’re seeing an uptick in minor league signings. Free agents who’ve lingered on the market and felt their leverage in negotiations dry up begin to concede and accept non-guaranteed pacts to get to camp in hopes of winning a roster spot.

Salary details for minor league signees isn’t as prominently reported on as it is for players signing guaranteed big league deals. The Associated Press just published a list of free agent signings throughout the winter, including within salary details for a handful of (mostly) recent minor league signings. Many of the salaries reported by the AP were already known and reflected here at MLBTR, but the report does include more than two dozen previously unreported base salaries for players on minor league deals. Here’s a quick rundown (player salary links point back to prior MLBTR posts detailing that minor league signing):

Blue Jays: Jacob Barnes, RHP, $1.4MM | Ryan Yarbrough, LHP, $2MM

Braves: Curt Casali, C, $1.25MM | Buck Farmer, RHP, $1MM

Brewers: Manuel Margot, OF, $1.3MM | Mark Canha, 1B/OF, $1.4MM

Cubs: Brooks Kriske, RHP, $900K | Travis Jankowski, OF, $1.25MM | Chris Flexen, RHP, $1.5MM

Diamondbacks: Garrett Hampson, INF/OF, $1.5MM | Scott McGough, RHP, $1.25MM

Dodgers: Luis Garcia, RHP, $1.5MM

Giants: Lou Trivino, RHP, $1.5MM

Mariners: Shintaro Fujinami, RHP, $1.3MM | Trevor Gott, RHP, $1.35MM

Padres: Yuli Gurriel, 1B, $1.35MM ($100K higher than initially reported)

Rangers: Nick Ahmed, SS, $1.25MM | Jesse Chavez, RHP, $1.25MM | David Buchanan, RHP, $1.375MM | Kevin Pillar, OF, $1MM

Red Sox: Matt Moore, LHP, $2MM

Royals: Luke Maile, C, $2MM | Ross Stripling, RHP, $1.75MM

White Sox: Brandon Drury, INF/OF, $2MM | Mike Clevinger, RHP, $1.5MM

A few things bear emphasizing. First, this is clearly not a comprehensive list of minor league signings throughout the league — nor is it even a comprehensive list of the listed teams’ non-roster invitees to camp. Secondly, many of these sums are of little consequence to the team. They’re not even guaranteed, after all, and even if a player makes the Opening Day roster and earns the full slate of his minor league salary, most of these salaries aren’t going to carry significant payroll ramifications.

That’s not true across the board, though. For instance, the Rangers are fully intent on remaining under the $241MM luxury tax threshold. At present, RosterResource projects them at $235.7MM of luxury obligations. Opting to select the contract of Buchanan or Chavez rather than allocating those innings to pre-arbitration players who’s being paid at league-minimum levels (or a few thousand dollars north of it) would inch the Rangers’ CBT number forward. They’re not going to hit the tax line even in if they wind up adding multiple NRIs to the actual roster, but selecting their contracts will further narrow the resources president of baseball ops Chris Young will have at his disposal for midseason dealings.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, are effectively seated right at the tax threshold. RosterResource has them with $241.4MM of luxury considerations. Team president Sam Kennedy said after signing Alex Bregman that he expects his team will be a CBT payor in 2025. As things stand, the Sox could duck back under that threshold, but selecting the contract of Moore, Adam Ottavino (also $2MM) or another prominent NRI would further signal ownership’s willingness to return to luxury tax status for the first time since 2022.

There’s probably no getting back under the tax line for the Blue Jays, who currently have a $273.3MM CBT number. However, the front office would presumably like to avoid reaching $281MM in tax obligations, as that’s the point at which Toronto’s top pick in the 2026 draft would be dropped by ten spots. In-season trades will have more of an effect on their tax number than decisions on NRIs like Barnes, Yarbrough, Eric Lauer and others, but it bears mentioning that the Blue Jays are around $8MM shy of what many clubs consider to be the most detrimental impact of straying to deep into CBT waters.

Poll: Giants Backup Catcher

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Entering Spring Training, there was some belief that veteran catcher Tom Murphy’s job backing up Patrick Bailey in San Francisco wasn’t entirely assured even in of the $4.25MM guaranteed remaining on his contract with the Giants. The door has opened for other alternatives even more since then, as the club announced yesterday that Murphy will miss multiple weeks with a herniated disc in his mid-back.

While Murphy is still tentatively expected to be available at some point in the first half, his availability for the start of the season is in serious doubt. With the club’s incumbent likely to miss at least the start of the season due to injury, the Giants have little choice but to seriously consider the number of alternative options currently in camp with them. The club has four catchers in camp aside from Bailey and Murphy as things stand: Sam Huff, Max Stassi, Logan Porter, and Adrian Sugastey. Sugastey is just 22 years old and slashed a meager .210/.241/.304 at Double-A last season, leaving him extremely unlikely to be called up to the majors until he’s had more time to develop. Huff, Stassi, and Porter all appear to be legitimate contenders for the job, however.

To the extent that there’s a favorite for the job, it seems that status would fall to Huff now that Murphy is out of commission. Unlike the other options in camp with the club, Huff is already on the 40-man roster after being plucked off waivers from the Rangers shortly after the new year. A former consensus top-100 prospect, Huff was a seventh-round pick by the Rangers in 2016 who blossomed into an intriguing bat-first catcher during his time in the minor leagues. Above-average offense isn’t necessarily a must from a club’s backup catcher, but given Bailey’s light-hitting, defense-first profile it’s easy to see why the Giants might be attracted to Huff as a potential complement.

A career .263/.334/.480 hitter across all levels of the minors, Huff has 78 games in the big leagues under his belt across four seasons with Texas. Unfortunately, that big league playing time has been something of a mixed bag. While he’s posted a solid 112 wRC+ in 214 career MLB plate appearances, he’s struck out at a massive 33.6% clip and largely been buoyed by a .353 BABIP that seems unlikely to be sustainable. Huff has generally been regarded as a below-average defender behind the plate as well despite a strong throwing arm and decent framing ability. That lack of defensive excellence puts more pressure on Huff’s bat, and it can be difficult for a high-strikeout profile like Huff’s to offer consistent production in a bench role.

Those potential question marks surrounding Huff could open the door for Stassi to take the job. The most experienced catcher in the backup mix for the Giants (even including Murphy), the soon to be 34-year-old has participated in parts of 10 MLB seasons, including a three-year run of regular at-bats with the Angels from 2020 to 2022. While the 2020 and ’21 seasons saw Stassi briefly break out offensively with a solid 113 wRC+, Stassi is mostly a glove-first catcher; he hit just .180/.267/.303 across 102 games in 2022 and has a career wRC+ of just 83. With +20 framing runs since the start of the 2018 season according to Statcast, however, Stassi makes up for his lack of offense with excellent defense that could pair with Bailey to give the Giants the best defensive tandem behind the plate in the sport.

Stassi comes with his own flaws, however. Most notably, he hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2022 due to a combination of family considerations and injuries. At nearly 34 years old, Stassi has reached the age where many catchers start to struggle to stay effective due to the toll the position takes on the body, and that concern is exacerbated for Stassi in particular due to both his checkered recent history and the fact that he regressed both offensively and defensively during the 2022 campaign.

Of course, that regression may have also had something to do with his career-high workload that year, an issue that would not come up in 2025 should he serve as Bailey’s backup. On the other hand, Stassi offers little upside, with even a solid rebound from his 2022 season likely ending with him being a below-average hitter. Huff offers significantly more upside, both due to the potential of his bat and because he has less than two years of MLB service time under his belt at this point, allowing him to be controlled through the end of the 2029 season.

Porter, meanwhile, stands as less likely to earn the job than either Huff or Stassi but also represents something of a middle ground between the two. The 29-year-old is the least experienced of the trio at the big league level, having appeared in just 11 games with the Royals back in 2023. With that being said, he has a reputation as a strong defender and pairs that with a bat that showed some life at Triple-A last year, where he slashed a combined .267/.370/.453 (114 wRC+) in 73 across the Royals, Mets, and Giants organizations. Given his lack of big league experience, Porter could be controlled long-term and even optioned to the minor leagues if added to the 40-man roster, while Huff is out of options and Stassi has enough service time to decline an optional assignment.

Assuming Murphy begins the season on the injured list, which catcher should the Giants pair with Bailey? Is Huff’s former top prospect status and offensive upside worth the lackluster defense and potential contact issues? Should the club gamble on Stassi’s track record of MLB success despite his long layoff from big league games and worrying signals in his 2022 campaign? Or should the club take a chance on Porter despite his minimal big league experience? Have your say in the poll below:

Tom Murphy Out Multiple Weeks With Herniated Disc

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Giants backup catcher Tom Murphy was diagnosed with a mid-back herniated disc, the team announced to its beat writers this morning (link via Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle). He’ll receive an epidural injection and be sidelined for multiple weeks. The Giants haven’t formally ruled Murphy out for Opening Day, but things certainly appear to be trending that direction.

Waiver claim Sam Huff and minor league signee Max Stassi will compete for the backup job behind Patrick Bailey if Murphy is indeed sidelined into the season. The Giants also announced that they’ve pulled catcher Adrian Sugastey from minor league camp and formally given him a non-roster invitation to big league camp, replenishing some of the lost depth.

San Francisco signed Murphy, 34 in April, to a two-year deal worth $8.25MM in the 2023-24 offseason. Though he came to the Giants with notable durability issues, the veteran backstop had a track record of stout production when healthy. From 2019-23 with the Mariners, he turned in a combined .250/.324/.460 batting line in 807 plate appearances — despite playing his home games in perhaps the worst hitters’ environment in the sport. By measure of wRC+, Murphy was 16% better than average at the plate during his run with the M’s.

To this point, Murphy’s contract has played out quite poorly. The righty-hitting veteran appeared in just 13 games early in the 2024 season before suffering a Grade 2 knee strain that was originally expected to shelve him for “at least” six weeks but ultimately proved to be season-ending in nature. Murphy logged only 38 plate appearances in his first year with the Giants and posted an anemic .118/.211/.235 slash.

Though Murphy had a history of injuries, the knee troubles were a new development. He’d previously endured lengthy absences due to a forearm fracture, a foot fracture, a dislocated shoulder and a ligament injury in the thumb on his catching hand. Knee problems were not something he’d battled prior — just as this new development of back woes is not something that’s hampered him in the past.

Last offseason’s addition of Murphy came after years of former No. 2 pick Joey Bart struggling in San Francisco. Murphy’s two-year deal surely played a role in pushing the out-of-options Bart off the roster, and the breakout he enjoyed after being traded to the Pirates only further adds a layer to Murphy’s health troubles. Bart hit .265/.337/.462 in 282 plate appearances with the Bucs last year, hitting his way to the top of the Pirates’ depth chart as we enter the 2025 campaign.

In Huff and Stassi, the Giants have a pair of experienced options to back up Bailey — who’s perhaps the game’s best defensive catcher (and one of the best defensive players in MLB, at any position). Huff just turned 27 and was at one point a top-100 prospect with the Rangers. He owns a solid-looking .255/.313/.455 slash in 214 big league plate appearances, but the Rangers clearly weren’t bullish on his chances of sustaining that production. Given that he’s benefited from a .353 average on balls in play and fanned in more than one-third of his career plate appearances, that’s an understandable concern.

Stassi, 33, hasn’t suited up in the majors since 2022 due to injuries and a harrowing 2023 ordeal wherein his son was born more than three months premature and spent more than six months in the NICU. Thankfully, the end result was Stassi and his wife being able to take their baby boy home, but Stassi’s return to the diamond in 2024 didn’t go as hoped. He’d missed time with a left hip strain early in the 2023 season, and left hip troubles resurfaced in 2024 — this time requiring season-ending hip surgery.

When he’s been on the field, Stassi has been inconsistent but shown signs of being more than a backup. From 2020-21, he slashed .250/.333/.452 with 20 homers in 118 games and 454 plate appearances. He’s an elite pitch framer who’s also shown quality blocking skills on pitches in the dirt. If he’s back to full strength after a grueling couple of years — both personally and professionally — Stassi is an intriguing backup option. He’s need to be added to the 40-man roster, however.

The Giants have a handful of other health issues to keep an eye on in camp, though to this point there doesn’t appear to be major concern on any fronts. Outfielder Heliot Ramos is dealing with an oblique issue, per the Chronicle’s Susan Slusser, but it’s only expected to sideline him for around a week. Ramos is among the most critical young players on the Giants’ roster. The longtime top prospect broke out in 2024, slashing .269/.322/.469 with 22 homers in 518 trips to the plate. The overwhelming majority of his production came against lefties (.370/.439/.750), but if he can improve his .240/.286/.387 output against fellow right-handers, Ramos has massive everyday potential.

Southpaw Erik Miller is also a bit behind, per Slusser. He’s dealing with some numbness in his pitching hand that has naturally led to some concern. He’s not yet undergone extensive testing, so there’s no telling if he’ll miss any time, but the 27-year-old Miller had a breakout of his own during last year’s rookie effort. In 67 1/3 innings out of Bob Melvin’s bullpen, he logged a 3.88 earned run average with a huge 30.6% strikeout rate but also a bloated 13.4% walk rate. He’s currently projected to be the only southpaw in the Giants’ bullpen. They don’t have another left-handed relief candidate on the 40-man roster, although non-roster players like Joey Lucchesi, Enny Romero, Ethan Small and Miguel Del Pozo all have varying levels of MLB experience.

Giants Showed Interest In Luis Castillo Earlier In Offseason

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The Giants were among the teams that engaged the Mariners earlier in the offseason in trade talks regrading Luis Castillo, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The clubs obviously did not line up on a deal and Castillo is expected to open the year in Seattle’s rotation.

Seattle entertained offers on the veteran righty as a means to potentially adding lineup help and creating payroll space which they could reinvest in the offense. The Mariners seemingly never gave much consideration to moving any of their younger top four starters: George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo. Castillo is in a different spot, as he’s entering his age-32 season and on a significant contract. He’ll make $22.75MM annually for the next three years, while the deal also includes a vesting option for the ’28 campaign.

It’s not a bad contract. Castillo remains a very good starter. He turned in a 3.64 ERA with an above-average 24.3% strikeout percentage over 175 1/3 innings last year. It was his sixth consecutive sub-4.00 ERA showing. He has topped 150 innings in each of the last six full seasons. Castillo has had better than average strikeout rates throughout his career. His fastball still sits in the 95-96 MPH range. His salaries are expensive but in line with what comparable or slightly lesser pitchers like Nathan Eovaldi, Sean Manaea and Yusei Kikuchi landed on three-year terms as free agents.

At the same time, the Mariners were looking both to offload the money and command upper-level hitting talent in return. They seemingly stuck to a high asking price, which aligns with president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto’s repeated assertions that the front office was reluctant to subtract from the rotation.

Slusser writes that the Giants have unsurprisingly been unwilling to entertain including top first base prospect Bryce Eldridge in a trade. That’s not to say that the Mariners were necessarily insistent on including Eldridge in a Castillo deal, but the Giants are otherwise light on impact controllable hitting talent. The 20-year-old first baseman is the only San Francisco prospect to crack Baseball America’s Top 100 this offseason.

Tyler Fitzgerald and Heliot Ramos are coming off impressive seasons, but they’re each ticketed for everyday playing time in San Francisco. Both players have elevated strikeout rates that could have been a concern for Seattle. Marco Luciano’s prospect status has fallen thanks to defensive questions and strikeout concerns of his own. Luis Matos and Casey Schmitt probably project as depth pieces. While the Mariners presumably had varying levels of interest in some of those players, it’s understandable that the sides apparently couldn’t line up on value.

The Giants would up making a big move on the free agent front, signing Justin Verlander to a $15MM deal. The future Hall of Famer slots behind Logan Webb and alongside Robbie Ray in Bob Melvin’s staff. Jordan Hicks seems ticketed for the fourth starter role, with Kyle Harrison probably grabbing the final rotation spot. Hayden Birdsong, Landen Roupp, Keaton Winn and Mason Black are among the other options on the 40-man roster.

MLBTR Podcast: Alex Bregman, The Padres Add Players, And No Extension For Vlad Jr.

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • The Twins had a quiet offseason but projection systems have them winning the division. Are they the best team in the AL Central? (38:25)
  • Why did the Giants have a quiet offseason apart from Willy Adames and Justin Verlander? Was it ownership reluctance or Buster Posey’s conservative stance? (42:25)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Tom Murphy To Undergo MRI Due To Back Spasms

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The Giants got some frustrating injury news today, as manager Bob Melvin revealed to reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle) that veteran catcher Tom Murphy has been dealing with back spasms throughout camp and is being sent for an MRI today to determine the severity of the issue.

According to Slusser, the club believes that Murphy’s back issue isn’t a particularly serious one. Even so, it’s understandable for the Giants to be cautious with Murphy. The veteran will turn 34 in early April, and catchers often struggle to stay healthy and productive as they enter their mid-30s. What’s more, Murphy appeared in just 13 games last year and 74 games total across the past three seasons. Those struggles to stay healthy have defined Murphy’s career to this point, and last year his injury woes were compounded by difficulties at the plate with a .118/.211/.235 slash line with a 36.8% strikeout rate.

That sample of just 38 plate appearances is impossible to draw meaningful conclusions from, and Murphy slashed a sensational .292/.357/.522 with 9 homers in just 201 trips to the plate across the 2022 and ’23 seasons. On the other hand, the Giants already appeared to be open to other alternatives for the job backing up Patrick Bailey behind the plate even before Murphy’s latest injury. Sam Huff is on the 40-man roster and out of options entering 2025, making him a logical contender to supplant Murphy as the club’s primary backup to Bailey.

Beyond Huff, other options who could be in the mix are non-roster invitees Max Stassi and Logan Porter. Stassi is a particularly noteworthy potential option given that he last appeared in the majors in 2022 due to injuries and the birth of his son, who was born three months premature and spent a number of weeks in intensive care. Prior to his layoff from regular reps in the majors, Stassi had emerged as a solid regular for the Angels behind the plate, slashing .250/.333/.452 from 2020 to ’21 with solid defense behind the plate.

Murphy is in the second year of a two-year, $8.25MM deal that comes with a $4MM club option for the 2026 season. It’s hardly an exorbitant price for Murphy’s services should he be able to get healthy and post numbers anything like the .250/.324/.460 slash line he put up during his time with the Mariners from 2019 to 2023. On the other hand, however, it’s also not the sort of hefty sunk cost that could give the club pause about cutting bait should Huff, Stassi, or Porter emerge as a preferable option this spring. With Murphy sidelined at least for the time being, those alternative options for the back-up catcher job could get an opportunity to give themselves a leg up in the competition if Murphy’s injury keeps him from participating in Spring Training games when they begin next weekend.

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