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Marco Luciano

Yankees Claim Dom Hamel; Designate Marco Luciano, Jayvien Sandridge For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that they have claimed right-hander Dom Hamel off waivers from the Rangers. They also designated left-hander Jayvien Sandridge and outfielder Marco Luciano for assignment. The two DFAs open roster spots for Hamel and for Cody Bellinger, whose five-year deal was made official yesterday. Texas designated Hamel for assignment a week ago when they signed Jakob Junis.

Hamel, 27 in March, just made his major league debut not too long ago. He tossed a scoreless inning for the Mets on September 17th, which is still his only big league appearance. Shortly thereafter, the Mets put him on waivers, with the Orioles and Rangers claiming him in quick succession. Texas held him for a few months but put him back on the wire this week.

The righty came up through the Mets’ system as a starting pitcher but a lack of control pushed him to the bullpen in 2025. He logged 67 2/3 innings over 31 Triple-A appearances last year. 11 of those were officially starts but they were mostly in opener style. His 5.32 earned run average wasn’t great but he did strike out 25.2% of batters faced and showed improved control with a 7.4% walk rate. His four-seamer and sinker both averaged in the low 90s while he also mixed in a cutter, slider and changeup.

Hamel still has a couple of options, so the Yankees could keep him as depth in the minors. They could also try putting him back on waivers in the future. He doesn’t have a previous career outright and has less than three years of service time, which means he would not have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Speaking of players getting put back on waivers, that’s been the story of Luciano’s offseason. Once a top prospect, his stock has dropped as he has exhausted his option years. That has pushed him to a fringe roster position and it seems that there are several clubs hoping to be the one to pass him through waivers, at which point he could be kept in the minors as non-roster depth. He finished the 2025 season with the Giants but has subsequently gone to the Pirates, Orioles and Yankees via the waiver wire.

He has a rough career batting line of .217/.286/.304 in his big league career while striking out in 35.7% of his plate appearances. His Triple-A line of .227/.351/.401 is better but came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and still saw him strike out 29.6% of the time. He was moved from the middle infield to left field last year, which only put more pressure on him to produce offensively.

The numbers have not been great but Luciano is only 24 years old and was a top 100 prospect not too long ago. His service time is still under a year, meaning he can theoretically be retained for six full seasons by some club. It’s understandable that teams would hope to have that player on hand in case he does finally break out. Now that he’s in DFA limbo once more, he will be on the move again or outrighted in the next week.

Sandridge, 27 next month, got a major league roster spot for the first time with the Yankees last year. He made just one appearance, which came against the Mets on July 5th. He was given a rude awakening, as he walked Juan Soto and then allowed a home run to Pete Alonso. He settled down somewhat by striking out Brandon Nimmo and Mark Vientos, but then walked Luis Torrens and hit Jeff McNeil with a pitch before being removed.

That one appearance has some commonalities with his minor league track record, which has featured lots of strikeouts but a lack of control. He tossed 36 2/3 innings on the farm for the Yankees last year with a 4.66 ERA. He struck out 32.7% of batters faced but issued 19 walks, an 11.4% pace. He also hit three more batters and tossed six wild pitches. He averaged around 95 miles per hour with his four-seamer and sinker while also throwing a splitter and slider.

He will now be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Yankees could take five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on the wire sooner. Since he has a couple of options, he could have appeal if there’s a club that is both intrigued by the arsenal and looking for some extra relief depth.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Yankees Claim Marco Luciano

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The Yankees have claimed outfielder Marco Luciano off waivers from the Orioles, according to announcements from both clubs. Baltimore designated him for assignment a week ago. The Yankees technically have a 40-man spot open for this claim, but their agreement to re-sign Cody Bellinger is not yet official. This moves fills up the 40-man, so a corresponding move will now be required for Bellinger.

It’s possible that corresponding move could involve Luciano himself. The once-vaunted prospect is pinballing around the league this offseason, going from the Giants, to the Pirates, to the Orioles and now the Yankees.

Luciano, 24, was originally signed by the Giants as a teenager out of the Dominican Republic. He spent five seasons residing on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect list, topping out as their No. 12 prospect following the 2020 season. Luciano was productive throughout his run in the lower minors but has yet to hit beyond Double-A.

Through 1017 plate appearances in Triple-A, Luciano is a .227/.351/.401 hitter with a glaring 29.6% strikeout rate. Those tepid rate stats come despite an overwhelmingly hitter-friendly environment in the Pacific Coast League — and specifically in West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park (currently the temporary home of the A’s.)

At one point, Luciano was considered the Giants’ shortstop of the future. His status as Brandon Crawford’s heir wilted as he stumbled in the upper minors, however, and in 2024 the Giants began moving him to other positions. Their signing of Willy Adames on a seven-year deal sealed the fact that if Luciano was going to be a key piece in San Francisco, it’d need to be at another position. The Giants tried him in the outfield as well, but without much luck.

In addition to his Triple-A struggles, Luciano has seen 126 plate appearances in the majors and posted a .217/.286/.304 slash. He’s fanned in 35.7% of his trips to the batter’s box in the majors. There are still plenty of loud tools in his skill set, but Luciano’s jarring swing-and-miss tendencies have proven too prominent to surmount thus far in his career. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll need to either break camp with the Yankees or be removed from their 40-man roster — most likely via yet another DFA. If it comes to that, the Yankees can try to slip him through waivers in hopes of keeping him Scranton as a depth option in the event that he clears.

Orioles Claim José Suarez, DFA Marco Luciano

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The Orioles announced they have claimed left-hander José Suarez off waivers from the Braves. It wasn’t previously reported that Atlanta had bumped Suarez from their roster but they apparently tried to quietly sneak him through waivers. The Orioles have swooped in to claim him and have designated outfielder Marco Luciano for assignment as the corresponding move. Atlanta’s 40-man count drops to 39.

Suarez avoided arbitration with Atlanta on a $900K deal in November. The 28-year-old southpaw had seemed a non-tender candidate after spending the majority of the season in Triple-A. Acquired from the Angels in a Spring Training swap for former third overall pick Ian Anderson, Suarez made just seven MLB appearances for the Braves. He pitched 19 1/3 innings and surrendered five runs (four earned), albeit with a middling 16:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Injuries hampered Suarez for much of the season, but he pitched well when healthy at Triple-A Gwinnett. He posted a 3.53 ERA over nine appearances, fanning 28% of opponents against a 5% walk rate. Suarez is out of options, however, meaning the O’s cannot send him to Triple-A without exposing him to waivers.

There’s a decent chance they’ll do that eventually. Baltimore is the most active team in MLB in claiming depth players only to look to run them through waivers themselves. Suarez has a little over four years of MLB service time. That means he could refuse a minor league assignment if he clears, but he’d forfeit his salary to do so. If the O’s keep him on the roster into Spring Training, he’d compete for a long relief role.

Luciano has found himself amidst the aforementioned waiver churn. The one-time top prospect has gone from the Giants to Pittsburgh to Baltimore this offseason. He’ll very likely be waived again within the next five days. Luciano once ranked among the sport’s top 15 minor league talents at Baseball America. He was then a teenage shortstop with massive raw power upside in a 6’1″ frame. His bat has stalled against higher level pitching and he has moved to left field after struggling with errors on the dirt.

San Francisco gave Luciano limited looks in 2023 and ’24. He hit .217/.286/.304 while striking out 45 times in 126 trips to the plate. The Giants kept him in Triple-A for the entire 2025 season. Luciano connected on 23 home runs while walking more than 15% of the time, but he struck out at a near-31% rate. He whiffed on more than 35% of his swings against Triple-A pitching. While Luciano hits the ball hard when he makes contact, the swing-and-miss and limited defensive profile have dropped his stock. He’s also out of minor league options, so he’ll need to stick on an MLB roster or continue bouncing around via DFA limbo.

Orioles Designate Jhonkensy Noel For Assignment

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The Orioles announced that they have claimed outfielder Marco Luciano off waivers from the Pirates, a move which was previously reported. To open a 40-man spot, outfielder Jhonkensy Noel has been designated for assignment. The O’s also announced that left-hander Josh Walker, who was designated for assignment last month, has cleared waivers and been sent to Triple-A Norfolk.

Noel, 24, was just claimed off waivers two days ago. It may seem strange to acquire a player and then immediately cut him from the roster but this sequence of events is becoming more common in baseball and the Orioles are one of the more aggressive teams in attempting it. The ideal outcome for the team is that the player eventually clears waivers and stays in the organization as depth without taking up a roster spot.

Baltimore fans should be familiar with the upside of the move. The O’s acquired Ryan O’Hearn from the Royals in January of 2023. He was designated for assignment two days later and cleared waivers. A few months after that, he hit his way back onto the roster and was a productive member of the club for over two years.

Up until he was claimed by the Orioles, Noel had spent his entire career with the Guardians. With that club, he has shown huge power potential but also a poor approach at the plate. He has 351 big league plate appearances to this point with 19 home runs but his 4.8% walk rate and 32.8% strikeout rate are both awful numbers. Despite the long balls, he has a .193/.242/.401 batting line and 79 wRC+, indicating he’s been 21% worse than the league average hitter.

He exhausted his final option season in 2025, which has pushed him into fringe roster territory. The Guards nudged him off and the O’s scooped him up. He’s now back into DFA limbo again, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the O’s could field trade interest for the next five days, but the Guards weren’t able to line up a trade in the previous weeks. Most likely, Noel will be back on the waiver wire.

Despite the rough major league results, he could draw interest from the raw power and also his better minor league numbers. Over the past two years, he has stepped to the plate 536 times at Triple-A. His 7.5% walk rate and 23.7% strikeout rate at that level are still not great but much closer to average. That’s helped him put up a .285/.349/.538 line and 130 wRC+.

If some other club scoops him up, Noel has just over a year of big league service time. That means he can be controlled for five full seasons and is still two years away from an arbitration raise. If he clears waivers, the O’s can keep him. Since he doesn’t have three years of service nor a previous career outright, he doesn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment.

The situation with Walker is somewhat similar. The O’s claimed him off waivers from the Phillies in August. The O’s then signed him to a major league deal in November. Salary terms of that pact haven’t been reported but it presumably pays Walker something slightly above the $780K league minimum, since he still hasn’t qualified for arbitration.

He was designated for assignment two days later. Like with the O’Hearn and Noel situations, the O’s were hoping Walker would clear waivers and stick with the club in a non-roster capacity. It didn’t work initially, as Atlanta claimed him. But that club designated him for assignment a few weeks later, which allowed the Orioles to claim him back. The O’s then tried again, designating Walker for assignment once more on December 19th.

DFA limbo normally only lasts a week at most, but there are different rules around the holidays, so Walker lingered in the ether for a few weeks. Today, he finally has clarity on his status. While he probably isn’t glad to lose his roster spot, he now at least knows which spring training location he’ll be reporting to.

Walker will try to win in the Baltimore bullpen at some point in 2026. His major league track record isn’t amazing, as he has a 6.59 earned run average in 27 1/3 innings. However, he just posted some intriguing minor league numbers in 2025. Split between the Blue Jays, Phillies and Orioles, he logged 42 2/3 Triple-A frames. His 4.64 ERA in that sample isn’t too exciting but he struck out 24.1% of batters faced and got grounders on 52.1% of balls in play.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Orioles Claim Marco Luciano

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The Orioles have claimed outfielder Marco Luciano off waivers from the Pirates, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. The Bucs designated him for assignment last month. The O’s will need to make a corresponding move to open a 40-man spot.

DFA limbo is normally capped at one week but the rules are clearly different around the holidays, even if the specifics of the exceptions aren’t publicly known. Luciano was bumped off Pittsburgh’s roster on December 19th, almost three weeks ago.

The 24-year-old Luciano was once one of the top prospects in baseball. The Giants gave him a $2.6MM signing bonus in 2018 as an international amateur out of the Dominican Republic. He flashed huge power potential from the shortstop position and Baseball America ranked him the #12 prospect in the league in 2021. Since then, his glovework tailed off to the extent that he was moved to left field, putting more pressure on him to provide value with the bat. Unfortunately, significant strikeout issues have plagued him since reaching the upper levels of the minors.

He has taken 939 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level over the past two years. His 16% walk rate in that sample is massive but he’s also been punched out at a 29.1% clip, leading to a .229/.354/.400 line and 101 wRC+. He also has 126 big league plate appearances with a 35.7% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate, .217/.286/.304 line and 68 wRC+.

Luciano exhausted his final option season last year, pushing him to a fringe roster position. The Giants put him on waivers in early December. The Pirates scooped him up but he was nudged off their roster a few weeks later.

The Orioles are one of the most aggressive clubs when it comes to claiming players off waivers, often putting the same players back on the wire later on. The ideal outcome in that scenario is that the player stays in the organization without taking up a roster spot. He can then be retained as depth and be added back to the roster if he earns a spot.

The best-case scenario in that situation is Ryan O’Hearn. The O’s acquired him from the Royals in January of 2023 and then designated him for assignment a few days later. He cleared waivers but eventually hit his way back onto the roster and was a productive member of the club for over two years.

That is perhaps the plan with Luciano, as it’s hard to see a path for him earning a regular role on the current roster. The Orioles have an outfield mix consisting of Colton Cowser, Taylor Ward, Dylan Beavers, Tyler O’Neill, Jeremiah Jackson, Leody Taveras, Heston Kjerstad, Reed Trimble and Jhonkensy Noel. The designated hitter spot doesn’t provide much relief as the O’s are likely going to have Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo sharing the catching duties. There’s also the first base group consisting of Pete Alonso, Coby Mayo and Ryan Mountcastle, which should spill into the DH spot.

Luciano has fewer than three years of service time and hasn’t been outrighted in his career. That means he would not have the right to elect free agency if he eventually clears outright waivers. That may be his fate with the Orioles or some other club but he gets a roster spot for now after a long holiday in limbo.

Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images

Players In DFA Limbo

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When a team designates a player for assignment, he is removed from that club’s 40-man roster. The team then has a period of time with some ability to impact what is next for that player. This is colloquially referred to as “DFA limbo”.

The team can trade the player to another club, unless the trade deadline has passed and the new offseason has not yet begun. The team can also place the player on outright or release waivers. This limbo period can last as long as seven days. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the team has a maximum of five days to work out a trade.

Or at least that’s the case for most of the year. It’s different around the holidays, with several instances in recent years of players being in DFA limbo for longer than two weeks. For instance, catcher Sam Huff was designated for assignment by the Rangers on December 23rd of 2024. He stayed in DFA limbo until he was claimed off waivers by the Giants on January 8th of 2025, 16 days later.

There has never been an official announcement made about what the rules are but it’s clear there’s some sort of freeze on the DFA clock around the holidays in late December and early January.

In this morning’s edition of The Opener, MLBTR mentioned two players who had been designated for assignment on December 17th, expecting those situations to be resolved today. There have been no updates as of the publication of this post. It’s possible the situations have been resolved but just haven’t been reported publicly because of media/communications people taking time off for the holidays. It’s also possible that those players have had their DFA clocks frozen and will remain in limbo into January.

Below is a list of players who have been designated for assignment in the past week without resolution, listed chronologically.

December 17th

December 19th

December 20th

December 22nd

December 23rd

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Pirates Designate Marco Luciano, Tsung-Che Cheng For Assignment

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The Pirates are designating outfielder Marco Luciano and infielder Tsung-Che Cheng for assignment, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. Pittsburgh needed to open two spots on the 40-man roster after this morning’s three-team trade that netted Brandon Lowe, Mason Montgomery and Jake Mangum.

Luciano, 24, was a waiver claim from the Giants a couple weeks ago. It was a no-risk flier on a former top prospect who has yet to show much at the big league level. Luciano once ranked among the sport’s top 15 minor league talents at Baseball America. He was then a teenage shortstop with massive raw power upside in a 6’1″ frame. His bat has stalled against higher level pitching and he has moved to left field after struggling with errors on the dirt.

San Francisco gave Luciano limited looks in 2023 and ’24. He hit .217/.286/.304 while striking out 45 times in 126 trips to the plate. The Giants kept him in Triple-A for the entire 2025 season. Luciano connected on 23 home runs while walking more than 15% of the time, but he struck out at a near-31% rate. He whiffed on more than 35% of his swings against Triple-A pitching. While Luciano hits the ball hard when he makes contact, the swing-and-miss and limited defensive profile have dropped his stock. He’s also out of minor league options, so he’ll need to stick on an MLB roster or continue bouncing around via DFA limbo.

Cheng is also a 24-year-old who had some prospect attention not too long ago. He was never as well regarded as Luciano was early in his career, yet he ranked among Pittsburgh’s top 10 prospects as recently as 2024. A lefty-hitting infielder, he appeared in his first three big league contests in April. He went 0-7 with three strikeouts and was caught stealing in his only attempt. He spent the rest of the season at Triple-A Indianapolis, where he managed a .207/.305/.267 line with one home run in 406 plate appearances.

The Taiwanese-born Cheng is a good athlete and a versatile defender, but he has been a below-average hitter since reaching the Double-A level in 2023. He has one option year remaining. Pittsburgh has five days to trade or waive both players.

Pirates Claim Marco Luciano

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The Pirates have claimed infielder/outfielder Marco Luciano off waivers from the Giants, per a team announcement. Pittsburgh’s claim of the former top prospect fills their 40-man roster. The Giants hadn’t previously announced a DFA for Luciano but were clearly trying to pass him through waivers to free up some roster space.

Originally signed as a teenager out of his native Dominican Republic, the now-24-year-old Luciano spent five consecutive seasons on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect lists, topping out at No. 12 in the game in the 2020-21 offseason. He was a steady producer throughout much of his time in the low minors, but Luciano’s bat stalled out in Triple-A and strikeouts have become a major concern.

In 226 games (1017 plate appearances) at the Triple-A level, Luciano has managed only a .227/.351/.401 batting line — despite those plate appearances coming in an exorbitantly hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League environment. He’s also struck out an alarming 29.6% of the time in Triple-A, including a 30.6% clip this past season. He hasn’t fared any better in brief major league looks, hitting a combined .217/.286/.304 with a 35.7% strikeout rate in 126 plate appearances between the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He spent all of 2025 in Triple-A.

Luciano was at one point considered the potential shortstop of the future in San Francisco — an heir to longtime shortstop Brandon Crawford. The Giants began to shift away from that possibility in 2024 when they got Luciano some time at second base in Triple-A. Last offseason’s signing of Willy Adames to a seven-year deal officially pulled the plug on any hope that Luciano could eventually claim that spot. The Giants gave him one Triple-A game at first base in 2025 and otherwise played him exclusively as a left fielder or designated hitter.

Luciano is out of minor league options, so the Pirates won’t be able to send him to Triple-A without first passing him through waivers themselves. If he makes it to spring training on the 40-man roster, he’ll have a chance to claim a bench role in Pittsburgh if he can put together a strong performance during Grapefruit League play.

The Pirates don’t have set options at shortstop, second base or in left field, so Luciano could theoretically compete for playing time at any of those spots — though Pittsburgh’s press release announcing the move referred to him solely as an outfielder. He’ll join newly acquired Jhostynxon Garcia as a righty-swinging corner outfield option on the depth chart, though Garcia has a far better chance of carving out regular playing time.

NL West Notes: King, Waldron, Ohtani, Giants

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The Padres provided an update on the status of right-hander Michael King earlier today, as relayed by Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The good news is that King’s shoulder issue, which sent him to the injured list just last weekend, is not structural in nature. Rather, Sanders writes that the right-hander is dealing with a pinched nerve. Less fortunate, however, is that the Padres remain in the dark about what King’s timetable for a return to action will ultimately look like.

“Now that we’ve been able to locate what the issue is … just trying to get a handle on how to release that nerve a little bit that’s preventing that (scapula) from being able to fire appropriately,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said, as relayed by Sanders. “We’ve got some really smart people, including Michael himself, involved with that process that will get that going as soon as possible, and how soon that is is to the discretion of that nerve.”

The cause of the pinched nerve isn’t known, though King was initially scratched from his start last week due to discomfort in his shoulder after sleeping on it uncomfortably the night prior. Sanders adds that King sought a second opinion on the issue earlier this week and that, because he’s already started to improve, the Padres are not yet ruling out him resuming playing catch by the end of next week. That would potentially allow him to return to the rotation shortly after his minimum stint on the injured list expires without a rehab start, although ultimately King won’t be able to return until the nerve issue has completely resolved itself. Sanders suggests that right-hander Matt Waldron, who pitched 146 2/3 innings for San Diego last year but has been sidelined all season so far due to an oblique strain, could be ready to return from the injured list in the near future and take up King’s rotation spot while he’s on the shelf.

More from around the NL West…

  • The Dodgers watched as Shohei Ohtani continued his slow-going return to pitching earlier today, as Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times was among those to report that the superstar threw two innings of live BP against the Dodgers’ minor league hitters this afternoon. Harris notes that’s a slight uptick from last week’s 22 pitches, and that Ohtani recorded one strikeout and one walk along during the session. After the session, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including USA Today’s Bob Nightengale) that the outing was a “positive” one for Ohtani, though his command wasn’t quite as sharp as his last time out. That Ohtani is continuing to make progress in his rehab is encouraging, although he remains expected to not pitch until some point in the second half of the season. Fortunately, rehabbing hasn’t seemed to slow him down one bit at the plate, as he entered play today slashing .294/.394/.670 with a 187 wRC+, 22 homers and 11 steals.
  • The Giants could be looking to make a change at first base in the near future, even with top prospect Bryce Eldridge not yet at Triple-A. As Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle reported on yesterday, the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento tabbed former top prospect Marco Luciano to serve as their first baseman in a game earlier this week. It’s a new position for the 23-year-old, who has already appeared at second base, shortstop, and in left field over the years, but Rubin notes that the River Cats are expected to continue using Luciano at first going forward as concern mounts about the club’s production at the position in the majors. LaMonte Wade Jr. is the club’s starter at the position, but after entering the year with a 115 wRC+ in a Giants uniform he’s slashed just .171/.278/.279 with a wRC+ of 60 across 48 games. Luciano has yet to hit in the majors himself, with a career 68 wRC+ in the majors, but even his meager production in 126 career plate appearances would be an improvement over Wade’s numbers this season. Plus, Luciano is a former consensus top-20 prospect in the sport who may be able to tap into that potential if offered regular reps at the big league level. While Luciano begins to learn the new position, the Giants will hope that Jerar Encarnación’s eventual return from the injured list is enough to help improve the club’s first base production going forward.

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.

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