Luis Arraez Open To Extension With Giants
The Giants are one of the few clear sellers and have one of the most obvious trade chips in Luis Arraez. However, he’s also open to staying around via an extension. “Yes, why not?” Arraez said to John Shea of The San Francisco Standard about the possibility. “Especially because this organization gave me a big opportunity to improve my defense. I would love to come back here. We’re still in the season, and I don’t think about that right now. But in the future, let’s see what happens. I’m open to listen to whatever they want to say to me.”
For Arraez personally, he should be looking to cash in on what could be a career year. He has long been known as the league’s best contact hitter. He doesn’t draw walks or have huge power but he’s tremendous in the batting average department. He racked up three batting titles from 2022 to 2024, hitting between .314 and .354 in those seasons. He dipped down to .292 last year but is back up this year, currently sitting at .326.
The big jump is on the defensive side of things. Arraez came up to the majors playing a decent amount of second base but never got good grades for his glovework. In 2024 and 2025, he spent more time at first base.
The Giants took a shot on him by giving him a one-year, $12MM deal and a chance to return to the keystone. He has responded by being better than anyone really expected. Defensive Runs Saved still considers him to be subpar but Arraez has been credited with ten Outs Above Average this year. JJ Wetherholt is the only player in the majors ahead of him in that category. With the improved glovework and his bat bouncing back, FanGraphs has credited him with 3.5 wins above replacement. That’s already a personal best even though barely half the season is in the books.
Arraez is set to return to free agency and should have greater earning power than he did last winter. It’s hard to pin down a value on him since he’s such a unique player but a multi-year deal at a comparable salary should be viable. If the Giants are interested in something like that, perhaps the two sides could have some conversations.
However, it’s also possible the Giants are looking to sell high on Arraez after they bought low on him. They are 39-54 and clearly going into the August 3 deadline as sellers, with Arraez being easily their best trade chip. Logan Webb is off the table. Their other impending free agents aren’t too enticing. Robbie Ray will get interest but his $25MM salary detracts from his appeal. The big names like Matt Chapman, Willy Adames and Rafael Devers are reportedly available but those contracts are underwater.
Arraez is having a great season and is playing on a relatively affordable salary. The Giants could even eat some of that money if they want to maximize the prospect return. Though Arraez is playing second base now, some clubs could put him at first base or designated hitter, depending on their own needs. He will be the Giants’ best path to extracting some future talent from a lost season.
Trading Arraez could also have other benefits for the Giants, as it could open up a spot for Casey Schmitt. He is having a breakout season at the plate but doesn’t have a great defensive home. A natural infielder, he was recently forced to learn left field on the fly in order to keep his bat in the lineup. Devers, Arraez, Adames, Chapman and Bryce Eldridge have the infield and designated hitter spots covered. Schmitt is temporarily at third base while Chapman is on the injured list but Chapman will be back eventually. The Giants could trade Arraez and give Schmitt the second base job, for the rest of this year and next season as well.
Theoretically, a Chapman trade and an Arraez extension would be another route the club could take, with Schmitt moving to third. Chapman is much harder to trade, however. He is owed $100MM over the next four seasons, plus the remainder of this season’s salary. For a guy who is now 33 years old, that’s not an enticing contract for other clubs, especially since his offense a bit down this year. He’s also a California native and has a full no-trade clause, so he would need to be on board with any trade and it’s anyone’s guess how he feels about the possibility of leaving.
Trading Schmitt is another possibility but he is controlled for three seasons beyond this one and hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration. He could be an affordable part of the club for the next few seasons, a notable feature for a club apparently concerned about the current payroll commitments.
The Giants will presumably ramp up trade talks after the upcoming draft, like all clubs. They could explore various different scenarios but the most straightforward path is for them to trade Arraez. If they do want to try something different, such as a plan that involves Arraez staying in San Francisco, he’s open to talking about it.
Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images
Giants Reportedly Moving Towards Selling At Deadline; No Plans To Trade Logan Webb
The Giants are in a tough spot, currently sporting a 29-43 record. The Rockies are the only team in the majors below them in the standings. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the club hasn’t fully committed to selling but is moving in that direction. They have started “testing the waters” on potential deals and have “put out feelers” on some of their players. Rosenthal mentions infielder Luis Arraez and left-hander Robbie Ray as guys likely to be available, with third baseman Matt Chapman another possibility. One player not expected to be available is right-hander Logan Webb, as Rosenthal reports that the Giants have no plans to move him.
It has undoubtedly been a disappointing season for the Giants, who have been trying to push over the hump of contention for a while now. Late in 2024, they signed Chapman to a six-year, $151MM extension. Buster Posey was reportedly instrumental in orchestrating that deal even though he was merely a member of the club’s board of directors, not officially running the front office. The club then decided to fire president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and give the job to Posey.
Since taking the helm, Posey made a couple of other bold moves that involved big financial commitments. He signed Willy Adames ahead of the 2025 season, giving him a seven-year, $182MM deal. One year ago today, they acquired Rafael Devers after he had a falling out with the Red Sox. Devers was still owed more than half of last year’s $27.5MM salary plus an extra $238.5MM in the eight remaining years on the deal.
Coming into 2026, they didn’t spend anywhere near that level, but did give eight-figure deals to Adrian Houser, Harrison Bader, Tyler Mahle and Arraez. They also made a notable expenditure in the dugout by bringing in Tony Vitello from the college ranks. They fired Bob Melvin, eating his $4MM salary. Then they had to pay a $3MM buyout to the University of Tennessee, on top of paying Vitello a $3.5MM annual salary on a three-year deal. Effectively, that means the Giants are paying $10.5MM on the manager position this year.
Despite all those investments, the Giants haven’t been able to gain much momentum. They hovered around .500 for most of the Zaidi era and finished 81-81 under Posey last year. As mentioned, this year is out to an even worse start. They are already nine games back of a playoff spot and 12 games under .500. With seven weeks to go until the deadline, it will be hard for them to avoid selling, so it makes sense that they would start canvassing other clubs.
Arraez and Ray would be the most clear-cut trade candidates, as both are impending free agents. Arraez should have more value since he is having a better season and getting paid less. The Giants effectively bought low on him. He won three straight batting titles from 2022 to 2024, with his batting average finishing between .314 and .354 in all three of those campaigns. That dipped to .292 last year as he battled a thumb injury. With that lesser offense and some questions about his defensive home, the Giants were able to sign him for a relatively modest $12MM one-year deal.
Arraez is back to his old self at the plate, hitting .319. He doesn’t take many walks or have much power but he’s the best in the game at putting the bat on the ball and finding some grass. Perhaps more remarkably, the Giants have put him at second base and seen him flourish. In previous years, his work at the keystone had been poor enough that he essentially became a full-time first baseman. But this year, he has been credited with nine Outs Above Average, second only to JJ Wetherholt at the position. Defensive Runs Saved has graded him as league average but even that is an improvement for him.
By the time the deadline rolls around, that deal will have about $4MM left to be paid out. That’s still a notable amount of money for a club to take on midseason. If the Giants are willing to absorb some of that, they could improve the prospect package they receive in return. Contenders such as the Rays, Dodgers, Rangers, Reds, Orioles and others have some current questions at second base and could be interested. Some clubs might also just want the bat and could acquire Arraez to play first base or serve as a designated hitter.
Ray is a former Cy Young winner but he’s a different pitcher now. Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2023 and 2024 seasons. He was back on the mound last year put up a solid 3.65 earned run average. This year, his age-34 season, he has a 4.42 ERA. That might not even accurately depict how rough his campaign has been. His 21% strikeout rate is below average and miles away from his peak. His 11.5% walk rate is more than two ticks above average. He’s had some help from a fortunate .263 batting average on balls in play and 75.2% strand rate. His 5.26 FIP and 4.82 SIERA suggest he’s actually a bit lucky to have a mid-4.00 ERA.
Considering that performance, his age and his $25MM salary, he doesn’t have much value at the moment. Given his pedigree and the rate of injuries around the league, perhaps some club would take a shot, but the Giants would have to likely eat most of the money for a negligible return. About $8MM will be left to be paid out when the deadline rolls around.
While those would be pretty obvious guys to sell, Webb would be a tougher pill to swallow. He is 29 years old and one of the better pitchers in the league. He would certainly have plenty of interest around the league if the club made him available. However, he is the face of the franchise. He’s a bit of a local boy, as he grew up in Rocklin, California, a few hours outside San Francisco. He was drafted and developed by the club.
He is also signed through 2028, so making him available would be a signal of a much deeper rebuild project. Presumably, with all of their investments, the Giants are hoping to add some young talent at this year’s deadline and then try for contention again in 2027.
If that is the plan, they wouldn’t have a ton of other exciting things to sell. Mahle and JT Brubaker are also impending free agents. Mahle has a 6.04 ERA on the year and is currently on the IL with a hamstring strain. Brubaker is a 32-year-old long reliever with underwhelming numbers. Guys like Houser, Bader, Sam Hentges and Eric Haase are controlled through 2027. Houser and Bader have big contracts and bad numbers this year. Hentges has a 1.59 ERA but in a tiny sample of 11 1/3 innings while walking 23.6% of batters faced. Haase is having an okay year but is a journeyman backup catcher.
Rosenthal suggests the Giants could look to move Chapman in order to clear some payroll and open third base for Casey Schmitt. The Giants have moved Schmitt to left field in order to keep his bat in the lineup but he’s a natural infielder. He could perhaps play second after Arraez is traded but his metrics at the hot corner are better than at the keystone.
Trading Chapman wouldn’t be easy, however. He is 33 years old. He has a full no-trade clause. He is owed $25MM annually through 2030, which means there will be roughly $108MM left to be paid out when the deadline rolls around.
Perhaps the Giants feel that now is a good time to try regardless. Not too long ago, it looked like the aging curve was starting to swallow Chapman. At the end of May, he had a .232/.310/.323 line and 82 wRC+. He has since caught fire and now has a .261/.348/.414 line on the year, which roughly aligns with his career numbers.
Though his deal doesn’t look quite so onerous after that recent hot streak, the Giants perhaps feel it would only get harder to move in the future. Trading Devers or Adames is even less likely because their numbers are worse this year, so Chapman is theoretically their best chance to clear up some long-term spending capacity. Even if they are interested in swapping out Chapman, actually pulling it off would be quite a challenge for the aforementioned reasons.
Time will tell how it all plays out but it certainly seems like it’s trending towards a notably grim summer for the Giants. FanGraphs puts their Playoff Odds at just 2.7% while the PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospects are even more bearish at 0.6%.
Photos courtesy of Robert Edwards, Kelley L Cox, Stan Szeto, Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images
Giants Notes: Bader, Schmitt, Hentges
4:24PM: Hentges was indeed activated from the 15-day IL today, and San Francisco also called up right-hander Dylan Smith from Triple-A. In corresponding moves, right-hander Ryan Walker and Gregory Santos were optioned to Triple-A. Walker entered the season as perhaps the Giants’ top choice at closer, but his struggles have left the team still looking for any kind of stability in the ninth inning.
11:19AM: The 15-24 Giants are currently tied with the Mets for the worst record in the National League. The Giants’ offense and pitching staff have both been below-average to start the year, with the offense being the bigger culprit of the two for the team’s woes. On the whole, San Francisco is batting .241/.284/.357 with an 81 wRC+, the latter tying the Mets for worst in the Majors. On the plus side, Casey Schmitt has a 144 wRC+ through 128 plate appearances, while Luis Arraez is pairing his old-school hitting style with surprisingly strong defense. However, Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman, and Willy Adames are all hitting poorly. Chapman “leads” those three with a 79 wRC+ in 160 plate appearances.
An X-factor in the Giants’ offense is center fielder Harrison Bader. The 31-year-old has been on the injured list since April 15 with a left hamstring strain, though Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that Bader is likely to come off the IL soon. If so, that would amount to about a month of missed time for the outfielder. Bader only made 55 plate appearances before he went down, but the club is hoping he can show some of his form from last year when he returns. In 501 plate appearances between the Twins and Phillies in 2025, Bader had career-best marks in wRC+ (122), wOBA (.346), and home runs (17).
There were some signs that Bader was lucky to hit so well. He batted .359 on balls in play, which was well above the league average. Bader’s .297 expected wOBA was also well below his actual mark of .346, while his 87.2 MPH average exit velocity ranked in just the 12th percentile in the Majors. There is also the matter that Bader has been a below-average hitter in most seasons, including every season from 2022-24 leading up to his 2025 breakout. In other words, Bader had a career season at the plate in 2025, but no one was expecting him to suddenly become a generational hitter.
The Giants would be happy if Bader was simply an average hitter. Between their starting outfield of Heliot Ramos, Drew Gilbert, and Jung Hoo Lee, only Ramos is even an average hitter. He currently has an even 100 wRC+ through 150 plate appearances, along with an unsustainable .368 average on balls in play. Lee is slightly below-average with a 96 wRC+, and his subpar defense isn’t helping his value either. Gilbert was a first-round draft pick by the Astros in 2022 and has some promise, but he has so far been outmatched in the Majors. The return of Bader wouldn’t be a huge upgrade for the team’s offense, whose fortunes depend on Chapman, Adames, and especially Devers returning to their career norms. That said, swapping in Bader for Gilbert in center would hopefully deepen the lineup with an average hitter, to say nothing of Bader’s exceptional defense.
Amid the struggles of the Giants’ star hitters, one of the bright spots has been the performance of Schmitt. With a 144 wRC+ in 129 plate appearances, Schmitt has been far and away the Giants’ best hitter of 2026. At the same time, he has mostly served as a DH, and those plate appearances may be hard to come by in the wake of Bryce Eldridge‘s recent promotion. That said, Slusser writes that Schmitt has been taking outfield reps during batting practice this week. That builds on prior comments from manager Tony Vitello, who said that Schmitt is athletic enough to handle the corner outfield if the team handles it “intelligently.”
Slusser clarifies that Schmitt is still an emergency option, and there are no immediate plans to play him in the outfield. Still, giving him outfield reps, even in a low-pressure setting, is a smart move on the part of the Giants. As tantalizing as Eldridge’s potential is, the club simply cannot afford to take Schmitt out of the lineup. For what it’s worth, the six-foot, 215-pound Schmitt’s sprint speed is in the 72nd percentile according to Statcast. He also has above-average arm strength. It remains to be seen how he might take to the outfield, but converting Schmitt into a utility player might be the best way to get him regular reps and leverage his defensive strengths.
Turning to the Giants’ pitching staff, Slusser reports that reliever Sam Hentges‘ rehab assignment is ending today. He is likely to be activated soon. The Giants’ bullpen has a decent-enough 3.85 ERA, although their combined 0.1 fWAR places them in the bottom ten relief units in the Majors. It remains to be seen how Hentges will impact that picture. The 6’8″ lefty pitched for Cleveland from 2021-24 and was generally solid in the latter three years. He underwent shoulder surgery in September 2024 and arthroscopic knee surgery in September 2025, but he now appears fully healthy. The keys to Hentges’ success will be generating groundballs, which he has done 53.4% of the time in his career, and recovering his mid-90s four-seam velocity.
Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images
Giants Infield Notes: Arraez, Schmitt
Luis Arraez has been a rare bright spot amidst a tough start to the season for the Giants. The three-time batting champion is out to a .316/.340/.398 start with a grand total of six strikeouts over his first 144 plate appearances.
That’s about what one expects from the game’s top contact hitter. More surprising is how well he’s taken to a move back to second base. Arraez had graded as a well below-average defender for his entire career and had mostly moved off the keystone last year in San Diego. He prioritized signing with a team that would allow him to return to second base. The Giants obliged, at least in part because of their faith in one of the sport’s most respected infield coaches, Ron Washington.
Even the front office probably didn’t anticipate Arraez playing this well defensively. Statcast has credited him with nine Outs Above Average, the best mark for a second baseman in MLB. Defensive Runs Saved has him at +5, tied for tops in the National League (with Washington’s Nasim Nuñez) and second in the Majors behind Seattle’s Cole Young. Arraez has recorded 110 assists and played nearly 300 innings without committing an error.
The whole package has made him San Francisco’s most valuable player through six weeks. The team around him has not played up to expectations. The Giants have lost eight of their last nine games and sit a season-high nine games below .500.
Their 14-23 record is tied with that of the Mets for worst in the National League. They’re already facing what seems like an insurmountable gap behind the Dodgers and Padres in the NL West. Every team in the NL Central is above .500, cluttering the path for underperforming teams like San Francisco, New York and Philadelphia to pull back from slow starts.
Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle observes that the player’s and team’s respective trajectories point toward Arraez being a valuable trade chip closer to the deadline. They’ve gotten a strong return on their one-year, $12MM deal. Arraez will return to the market next winter in advance of his age-30 season. He’d be a candidate for a qualifying offer if he keeps up this kind of defense and the Giants hang onto him beyond the deadline.
The QO would give the Giants some leverage if they’re on the fence about an Arraez trade. Still, if they get close to the deadline without erasing a good chunk of the early-season hole they’ve dug themselves, they should at least see what’s available on the trade front as a matter of diligence.
Arraez is one of their few obvious potential chips. A lot of their struggles come from underperforming veterans on contracts that’d be difficult or impossible to move. Their top impending free agents are Arraez and mid-rotation starter Robbie Ray, though the latter is playing on a heftier $25MM salary. Tyler Mahle is on a $10MM deal that’d be easier for an acquiring team to eat, but he’s alternating good and bad starts and having a difficult time missing bats.
In the short term, Arraez is part of a fairly rigid infield. The Giants brought up top prospect Bryce Eldridge to split time with Rafael Devers between first base and designated hitter. Matt Chapman and Willy Adames, neither of whom has hit well of late, are locked in on the left side.
That leaves Casey Schmitt without an obvious spot in the order. He has easily been the team’s best offensive player, batting .296/.344/.539 with six homers — twice as many as anyone else on the club. They obviously can’t afford to take him out of a lineup that has scored 17 fewer runs than any other.
Schmitt has started the past two games at second base while Arraez nurses a bruised thumb. The latter is expected to return to the lineup for this weekend’s series against the Pirates. That might be a precursor to the first outfield work of Schmitt’s career.
President of baseball operations Buster Posey and manager Tony Vitello each said this week that Schmitt would bounce around the diamond to get continued playing time (link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). The first-year skipper said that he feels Schmitt is athletic enough to handle the corner outfield, though he cautioned the team would “need to do (that) intelligently.”
Schmitt hasn’t logged a single inning of outfield work at San Diego State or at any point in his minor league or MLB career. He told Pavlovic he’s open to playing anywhere necessary to stay in the lineup. Schmitt is a plus runner who has shown the versatility to bounce around the infield. It’s certainly not out of the question that he could be a capable or better outfielder, though Oracle Park isn’t the easiest home park in which to pick that up.
The Giants made a point of improving the outfield defense with the Harrison Bader signing. That pushed Jung Hoo Lee from center to right field. Bader started ice cold offensively and landed on the injured list on April 12 with a left hamstring strain. Lee has picked up a few starts in center as a result, but he’s still mostly playing right field. Drew Gilbert has been the primary fill-in up the middle. Heliot Ramos has started all but three games in left field.
Lee and Ramos have each struggled offensively. Despite nearly average contributions from Gilbert, the Giants have had one of the game’s weakest center field groups (.176/.212/.272 in 133 PAs). Using Schmitt on the grass could be one of their only immediate options for trying to spark some life into the offense.
Giants Notes: Eldridge, Schmitt, Hernandez
Giants rookie first baseman Bryce Eldridge was the subject of some early-offseason trade speculation. San Francisco entered the winter seeking pitching but didn’t appear poised to spend at the top of the free agent market. That led to chatter about Eldridge being included in a trade package for a controllable starter with a top-of-the-rotation ceiling (e.g. MacKenzie Gore).
That kind of move has always seemed like a long shot, as position player prospects of Eldridge’s caliber rarely get moved. The 21-year-old has taken the rumors in stride, saying over the weekend that he has worked to ignore the speculation. “I try not to get too wrapped up in anything going on. … I don’t know how far those talks got,” Eldridge said at Giants FanFest (link via Maria Guardado of MLB.com). “But I want to be here. I want to play for this team. I don’t plan on leaving here anytime soon. I hope they don’t plan on making me leave anytime soon.”
The 16th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Eldridge spent most of last year between the top two minor league levels. He hit 25 homers while combining for a .260/.333/.510 batting line across 433 plate appearances. The 6’7″ Eldridge struck out in more than 29% of his trips to the plate but was an above-average hitter at both minor league stops at age 20. The Giants called him up in the middle of September. He’s not a lock to break camp because of the strikeout questions, yet they’ll surely expect him to play a big role over the course of the season.
Eldridge underwent postseason surgery to address a bone spur in his left wrist. He said he’s essentially at full strength, noting that he’s in the final stages of his hitting program. Eldridge should enter camp healthy as he battles for the starting first base/designated hitter job in what would be a split between the two positions with Rafael Devers.
There’s also uncertainty at the other position on the right side of the infield. The Giants are reportedly making a push for second baseman, and they’ve been linked to Brendan Donovan and to Stanford product Nico Hoerner (a longer shot to move). If they don’t land a big-ticket upgrade, the starting job would fall to Casey Schmitt. He took over from the struggling Tyler Fitzgerald midseason and turned in a league average .237/.305/.401 line in 95 games.
Schmitt is also working back from left wrist surgery — a carpal boss removal, in his case. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle relays that the righty-hitting infielder resumed hitting off a tee last week. He might be a little behind schedule in March but seems to be well on track for Opening Day. Schmitt would vie for his first career Opening Day start if he’s healthy and the Giants don’t come away with a marquee trade pickup.
If they do land someone like Donovan, Schmitt would probably work as a multi-positional infielder off the bench. He’s a natural third baseman and has some shortstop experience, but there aren’t many reps available in a left side infield featuring Matt Chapman and Willy Adames. Slusser reports that the Giants have gotten calls from other teams about Schmitt in the two years since they signed Chapman, but his versatility and remaining minor league option mean they’re not under any pressure to deal him.
While Giants fans hope for some kind of big swing to improve the MLB roster, they made a notable move on the minor league side last week. San Francisco officially signed Venezuelan infield prospect Luis Hernández on January 15. His $5MM signing bonus was the biggest for any player in this year’s international period.
MLB Pipeline also ranked the right-handed hitter as the best prospect in the class on talent, praising his polish and all-around skillset. Ben Badler of Baseball America writes that many scouts consider Hernández the top amateur prospect though BA itself doesn’t rank international signees. Hernández, who turned 17 last month, isn’t the biggest player at 5’10” and certainly won’t be an MLB factor for years but represents an intriguing add for the player development department.
Giants’ Casey Schmitt Undergoes Wrist Surgery
Giants infielder Casey Schmitt underwent surgery to remove a carpal boss from his left wrist this morning, the team announced. He’ll require anywhere from eight to ten weeks to recover. That could cut into Schmitt’s availability early in spring training, but so long as there are no lingering complications, he should have time to ramp up for Opening Day.
Word of Schmitt’s surgery comes just a day after reports emerged that the Giants were among the teams looking into second base upgrades. That’s hardly a surprise, given that San Francisco second basemen combined for a dismal .217/.273/.343 batting line in 2025. The resulting 73 wRC+ (indicating they were 27% worse than league-average) ranked 27th in MLB.
Schmitt, Tyler Fitzgerald, Christian Koss and Brett Wisely took all of the reps at second base for San Francisco last season. None of them hit well while manning the keystone — though Schmitt’s overall .234/.305/.401 was only a bit worse than average at the plate (98 wRC+). Coupled with 113 solid plate appearances in 2024, Schmitt has been an average bat over the past two seasons, hitting .241/.300/.420 with 18 homers in 461 plate appearances.
As things stand, Schmitt sits atop the Giants’ depth chart at second base. Fitzgerald and Koss both remain with the organization. Wisely was claimed off waivers by Atlanta in September and remains on the Braves’ 40-man roster.
There’s no top prospect breathing down Schmitt’s neck. Gavin Kilen, Josuar Gonzalez and Jhonny Level all play the middle infield, but none will be ready for a look come 2026. The Giants have long stood as a fit to add help at second base, though their stated reluctance to go long-term on starting pitchers this offseason makes it worth wondering whether they’d make a real run at top free agent Bo Bichette. Alternatives in free agency include Jorge Polanco and Ha-Seong Kim, while the trade market presents possibilities like Brandon Lowe, Brendan Donovan, CJ Abrams and buy-low names such as Nolan Gorman and Luisangel Acuña.
For now, Schmitt still profiles as the top option, but news of his injury only further shines a light on the Giants’ need at second base. If the Giants do succeed in bringing in someone from outside the organization, that doesn’t necessarily squeeze Schmitt out of a role entirely. He has ample experience at all three infield spots to the left of first base to go along with decent speed and a strong throwing arm. He’d make a decent utility player and also has a minor league option remaining, giving the Giants the flexibility to send him to Triple-A Sacramento and call him up in the event of an injury elsewhere on the roster. The Giants can control Schmitt for at least another four seasons — possibly five, depending on how much (if any) time he spends in the minors during his final option year.
Giants Designate David Villar For Assignment
The Giants have reinstated infielder Casey Schmitt from the 10-day injured list. As a corresponding move, fellow infielder David Villar has been designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster count drops from 39 to 38. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to pass along the transaction.
It’s the second DFA of the year for Villar. The first one came just prior to Opening Day. He came into the year out of options and without a firm hold on a roster spot. That got him bumped onto the waiver wire, but he passed through unclaimed and stuck in the Giants’ organization. About three weeks into the season, he was called back up when Schmitt landed on the IL with an oblique strain.
Villar hasn’t gotten much playing time since returning to the big leagues. In the one month since his contract was selected, he received just 26 plate appearances over nine games. He put up a .200/.360/.250 line in that time.
Now that Schmitt is back, Villar is likely destined for the waiver wire once again. He has shown some pop at the plate at times but has often been a strikeout victim, which likely led to him clearing waivers a couple of months ago. He has hit 15 home runs in 383 career big league plate appearances but has gone down on strikes at a 31.6% clip.
Given that he cleared waivers last time, there’s a decent chance he will do so again. If that comes to pass, he would be able to elect free agency this time around, as players with a previous career outright have that right.
It’s also possible that some team that passed on him last time will take a flier on him now, perhaps due to injuries changing their roster outlook. Villar has played the three non-shortstop infield positions, meaning he can provide a bit of defensive versatility.
He has shown some home run power in the majors, as mentioned, and has tremendous minor league numbers. He has taken 1,248 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level since the start of 2022. His 25.6% strikeout rate in that time is still a bit high but far more tolerable than his big league rate. He’s also drawn walks at a 13.4% clip and hit 61 home runs, helping him produce a .273/.381/.507 line and 130 wRC+.
Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images
Giants Select David Villar, Place Casey Schmitt On Injured List
The Giants announced a series of roster moves this morning, highlighted by the club selecting the contract of infielder David Villar. Infielder Casey Schmitt was placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain, which clears a spot for Villar on the active roster, and a 40-man roster spot for Villar was created by transferring slugger Jerar Encarnacion to the 60-day injured list.
Villar, 28, has been a generally passable but unspectacular utility infielder for the Giants since he made his big league debut with the club back in 2022. In 109 big league games since then, he’s hit a slightly below league average .200/.288/.400 with a massive 32.4% strikeout rate that he somewhat makes up for with substantial power that could translate to 25-to-30 homers if given a full season’s worth of plate appearances. He pairs that power with the ability to play capable defense at first, second, or third base as necessary despite the majority of his working having come at the hot corner.
He’s always raked against Triple-A pitching, as evidenced by his .273/.381/.507 career line across parts of four seasons at the level. Unfortunately for Villar, however, he’s yet to prove himself in the majors and is currently out of options. That led the Giants to prefer carrying optionable bench pieces like Schmitt and Brett Wisely to open the year, leaving them to designate him for assignment just prior to Opening Day. He ultimately went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to the minor leagues by the Giants, where he resumed hitting extremely well over 15 games before today’s call-up. The right-handed hitting Villar figures to back up Matt Chapman and Tyler Fitzgerald at second and third base, but most of his playing time could come in a platoon with struggling lefty LaMonte Wade Jr. after his previous platoon partner Schmitt hit the injured list.
Speaking of Schmitt, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that he was likely to head to the shelf after he suffered an oblique strain while hitting in the cages just before yesterday’s game. A timetable for Schmitt’s return is unlikely to be available until after he’s undergone testing to determine the severity of the strain, but he’ll be out for the next ten days at least even if the strain turns out to be extremely mild. It’s been a tough start to the year for Schmitt so far, as he’s hit just .174/.208/.261 in his current part-time role with the club. Of course, those numbers came in just eight games and 24 plate appearances. A look at Schmitt’s work in 40 games last year, where he hit .252/.283/.477, is far more encouraging and comes in a more robust (though still fairly small) sample of 113 plate appearances.
As for Encarnacion, his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise. The slugger was ticketed for a regular DH job with the Giants but suffered a hand fracture just before Opening Day and is expected to miss at least eight weeks due to the issue. That means he could be transferred without it impacting his potential timeline for return at all, as his minimum stay on the IL will expire in late May, right away the most optimistic date for his expected return to action. The 27-year-old was a league average hitter for the Giants in 35 games last year and got the club’s attention after raking for the Mexican League’s Guerreros de Oaxaca and the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.
Giants Notes: Stassi, Huff, Villar, Schmitt
Max Stassi won’t exercise the opt-out clause in his minor league contract, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, and the catcher will instead remain in the Giants organization and play with Triple-A Sacramento. Yesterday marked the first of three opt-out dates automatically included in Stassi’s contract due to his Article XX(b) free agent status, and Stassi’s next chance to evaluate his future will come on May 1 if he hasn’t yet been added to the Giants’ roster.
There apparently wasn’t much drama in the competition between Stassi and Sam Huff to be Patrick Bailey‘s backup catcher, as Slusser notes that Stassi “has known the plan for a while and is fine with it.” If anything, playing in Sacramento has particular appeal for the catcher because he lives in the city and can spend more time with his family. Playing in the minors also allows Stassi the more regular on-field action he needs to ramp up after undergoing hip surgery last year.
Tom Murphy will miss the start of the season due to a herniated disc, creating the opening for Huff to eventually win the backup job. Formerly a top prospect in the Rangers’ farm system, Huff’s defense was often called as a question to stick in the catching role, and Jonah Heim ended up passing Huff on the depth chart. After Huff’s numbers dropped off at Triple-A last year, Texas designated the backstop for assignment, and the Giants claimed him away off waivers in January. The change of scenery seems to have helped thus far, as Huff has been tearing it up at the plate in the Cactus League.
The rest of San Francisco’s bench mix has yet to be determined, though Luis Matos will likely claim the backup outfielder role. Since it doesn’t seem like Jung Hoo Lee‘s recent back issue is serious (“I don’t even want to use the word injury, it was so mild,” Lee told Slusser and other reporters), the Giants could take two infielders from the group of Casey Schmitt, Brett Wisely, David Villar, and prospect Christian Koss.
Villar seems to be the odd one out, as Slusser feels the Giants will be designating him for assignment this week since Villar is out of minor league options. The infielder hit a respectable .231/.331/.455 over 181 plate appearances in his 2022 rookie season, but then struggled badly over 140 PA in 2023 and seemed to fall out of favor for playing time. Villar has a very impressive .268/.377/.511 slash line and 60 homers over 1182 career Triple-A plate appearances, with the caveat that that production came in Sacramento in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. A rival team in need of infield depth might be impressed enough by those numbers to take a flier on Villar if he does up on the waiver wire in the coming days.
There would seemingly be a lot more interest if the Giants made Schmitt available, as Slusser reports that multiple teams have expressed trade interest this offseason. The Giants, however, don’t have much interest in moving Schmitt, who is still two seasons away from even gaining arbitration eligibility. He also has one minor league option year remaining, giving the Giants flexibility in sending him back and forth from Triple-A.
Schmitt has a good track record of Triple-A results, and he showed improvement at the big league level in 2024, albeit in significantly fewer at-bats than he received in his 2023 rookie season. Schmitt hit .206/.255/.324 in 277 PA in 2023, and then bumped that up to a .252/.283/.477 slash line over 113 PA last year. In theory, Schmitt should again see limited action now that Willy Adames was signed to bring more stability to San Francisco’s infield, which in turn bumped Tyler Fitzgerald into a regular second-base role.
Giants Place Keaton Winn On Injured List, Activate Jorge Soler
The Giants placed starter Keaton Winn on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 15, due to a forearm strain. San Francisco also optioned infielder Casey Schmitt to Triple-A Sacramento. They reinstated DH Jorge Soler from the 10-day injured list and recalled righty Mason Black in corresponding moves.
Winn has held a spot in the rotation all season. The rookie righty has taken nine starts, tallying 42 1/3 innings of 6.17 ERA ball. Winn pitched well through his first six appearances before surrendering at least five runs in each of his three most recent outings. While a forearm strain is sometimes an ominous precursor to a significant injury, the Giants don’t seem concerned. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters that imaging didn’t reveal any structural damage and the team doesn’t anticipate Winn missing much time (link via Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic).
Black will take the ball tonight against the Rockies opposite Ryan Feltner. Blake Snell is on a rehab stint and could step back into the rotation next week alongside Logan Webb, Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison. Black could hold the final spot until Winn returns.
Soler will lead off tonight in his first action since May 4. He missed just under two weeks with a shoulder strain. One of the team’s biggest offseason acquisitions, Soler is out to a modest .202/.294/.361 start to his Giants tenure. Wilmer Flores had taken the majority of the DH at-bats while Soler was sidelined.
Marco Luciano is starting at shortstop tonight and hitting ninth. It’s the first start of the season for the 22-year-old top prospect. With Schmitt headed back to Sacramento, manager Bob Melvin suggested Luciano is going to play regularly (X link via The Athletic’s Eno Sarris). For much of the offseason, it looked as if Luciano would be San Francisco’s first choice at the position. The Giants added veteran defensive specialist Nick Ahmed late in the winter on a minor league deal and wound up carrying him on the MLB roster.
Ahmed hit .236/.274/.291 through his first 36 games. He went on the injured list with a sprained left wrist last week. While the injury isn’t expected to keep him out for too long, Luciano could get a chance to hit his way into the permanent shortstop job. He had a .266/.399/.344 slash line in 158 plate appearances with Sacramento. Luciano has walked at a massive 18.4% rate in Triple-A, but he’s also striking out at an elevated 27.8% clip. He struck out 17 times in 45 plate appearances last year in his first taste of major league action.