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Giants Activate Mike Yastrzemski

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The Giants will activate Mike Yastrzemski from the injured list and designate him the 27th man for today’s doubleheader against the Nationals, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chroncicle (via Twitter).

Yaz has been dealing with a number of different injuries this season, twice landing on the injured list. This latest stint was because of a thumb sprain. When healthy, Yaz has batted .222/.332/.456 in 184 plate appearances. LaMonte Wade Jr. and Mike Tauchman have split time in right field in Yaz’s absence.

Curt Casali could be activated from the injured list for the second game, but the Giants are going to wait to make an official decision on him or their game two pitching plans, per Slusser (Twitter notes). Kevin Gausman will take the bump in game one of the twin bill.

Giants Outright Scott Kazmir

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JUNE 11: Kazmir has cleared outright waivers, the Giants announced. It remains to be seen if he’ll accept an assignment to Triple-A Sacramento or elect free agency.

JUNE 5, 5:25 PM: Kazmir has officially been DFA’d by the Giants. Camilo Doval has been recalled to claim his roster spot, per Maria I. Guardado of MLB.com (via Twitter). Doval owns a 7.59 ERA/7.54 FIP in 13 appearances covering 10 2/3 innings on the year.

JUNE 5, 1:51 PM: The Giants have designated left-hander Scott Kazmir for assignment, The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser reports.  The move could end Kazmir’s comeback attempt after three appearances and seven total innings.

Kazmir last pitched in the majors with the Dodgers in 2016, and his career had seemingly drawn to a close before the southpaw announced a comeback attempt in early 2020.  His efforts led to a minor league deal with San Francisco this past offseason, and Kazmir then found himself on a big league mound once more after the Giants selected his contract two weeks ago.

As one might expect, it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing for Kazmir after his long layoff, as he posted a 6.43 ERA over his seven innings and was tagged for three home runs.  Kazmir started two of his three games, and only just returned to the Giants to start last night’s contest after spending a few days on the restricted list.  Slusser reports that Kazmir stepped away from the team to mourn the death of his best friend, who passed away last Tuesday.

It’s possible another team might be intrigued by what they’ve seen in Kazmir and could make a waiver claim, though probably the likeliest outcome is that the veteran clears waivers.  Assuming Kazmir is open to continuing his comeback attempt, he would likely be willing to accept an outright assignment to the minors, or the Giants could conceivably just release him if they feel he doesn’t offer much more to the team.

Logan Webb was placed back on the 10-day IL just two days ago with another shoulder issue, while Aaron Sanchez is also still sidelined recovering from biceps tightness.  Sanchez had reportedly been throwing side sessions, however, so the Kazmir DFA could be a sign that the Giants are expecting Sanchez back relatively soon.  San Francisco also has a chance to reset its rotation due to an off-day on Monday.

Mets Claim Nick Tropeano Off Waivers From Giants

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The Mets announced they’ve claimed right-hander Nick Tropeano off waivers from the Giants. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. Reliever Tommy Hunter was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list to open 40-man roster space. The Giants designated Tropeano for assignment last week.

This marks the second time in nine months the Mets have snagged Tropeano off the waiver wire. New York claimed him from the Pirates after the conclusion of last season. Ultimately, they decided not to carry him over the winter, non-tendering him a little more than a month later. Tropeano then signed a minor league deal with the Giants and was selected to the major league roster on May 21.

The 30-year-old wound up appearing in four games with San Francisco, tossing six innings of relief. He only allowed one earned run in that time, but Tropeano also managed just a pair of strikeouts. While he didn’t punch many batters in his limited work in San Francisco, he flashed some bat-missing ability with Pittsburgh last season. Tropeano struck out a strong 28.8% of opposing hitters in 15 2/3 innings with the Pirates, allowing just a pair of runs in that time. He generated swings and misses on a strong 14.9% of his offerings in 2020, and that bat-missing ability and recent run of strong run prevention clearly holds some appeal to the Mets front office.

While Tropeano has only worked in relief at the major league level the past two seasons, he could serve as either rotation or bullpen depth for New York. He was a decent back-of-the-rotation arm for the Astros and Angels earlier in his career, and he’d started all three of his appearances with the Giants Triple-A affiliate this season (albeit without ever working into the sixth inning).

By claiming Tropeano, the Mets assume the remaining balance of his $1.1MM contract. He remains under team control via arbitration through 2022, so he could be a multi-year piece for New York if he performs well enough for the club to tender him a contract. Tropeano is in his final minor league option year, so he can be shuttled back and forth between Queens and Syracuse for the rest of this season if he sticks on the 40-man roster.

Hunter was placed on the IL on May 19 with the rather nebulous diagnosis of lower back pain. It’s not precisely clear when the team expects him to return this season, but he’ll now be out of action until at least late July. He has made four scoreless appearances in 2021.

Giants Trade Matt Wisler To Rays

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The Giants have traded righty Matt Wisler to the Rays in exchange for minor league left-hander Michael Plassmeyer, per a pair of team announcements. Tampa Bay has designated catcher Deivy Grullon for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Wisler. The Giants designated Wisler for assignment earlier in the week.

Wisler, 28, was long one of the game’s best pitching prospects, both with the Padres and the Braves. He never found his footing with either club, but he enjoyed something of a breakout campaign in the Twins’ bullpen during last summer’s shortened season, when he pitched to a 1.07 ERA with a 32.7 percent strikeout rate in 25 1/3 innings. Wisler walked far too many hitters last year (13.1 percent), but it was still rather surprising to see Minnesota non-tender him in spite of a very modest arbitration price. Wisler landed in San Francisco on a one-year, $1.15MM contract over the winter.

Things haven’t gone as hoped with his new club. Wisler has been tagged for a 6.05 earned run average in 19 1/3 innings with the Giants, but he’s actually maintained his huge uptick in strikeouts while also refining his control (7.3 percent walk rate). A great deal of Wisler’s success in Minnesota stemmed from a remarkable use of his slider, which he threw at an almost comical 83.5 percent clip in 2020. Wisler has incredibly thrown the slider with even greater frequency so far in 2021, using his slider at a 90.3 percent rate.

Wisler give the Rays an intriguing and fairly low cost arm who can be controlled through the 2022 season if he rights the ship in his new environs. He’s the type of low-cost acquisition who seems to thrive with great frequency in the Tampa Bay ’pen. Injuries to the Rays’ relief staff have pushed them to the trade market multiple times already in 2021. They also acquired righties J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen from the Brewers in a trade that sent shortstop Willy Adames to Milwaukee.

The Giants will net a nicer return than one would expect from a player who’d been designated for assignment. Plassmeyer, 24, was a fourth-rounder in 2018 who went from Seattle to Tampa Bay in the Mike Zunino trade. He ranked 30th in a perennially stacked Rays farm system at Baseball America last year, and FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen has him 31st in the Tampa Bay system in 2021.

Plassmeyer isn’t an overpowering arm, but he’s walked just 4.6 percent of the hitters he’s faced in pro ball and has ascended to the Double-A level in 2021, making him a relatively near-term prospect. Plassmeyer’s 2019 season saw the lefty post a 1.91 ERA with a 21.2 percent strikeout rate, a 4.5 percent walk rate and a 45.2 percent ground-ball rate in 132 frames across three levels. He’s pitched to a 3.64 ERA so far in 29 2/3 frames  of Double-A ball, enjoying a nice uptick in strikeouts (26.1 percent) while maintaining his typically stellar control.

Giants Designate Matt Wisler For Assignment

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The Giants shuffled up their pitching staff Wednesday, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link), formally selecting the contracts of lefty Sam Long and right-hander James Sherfy (as previously reported, in the case of Long). Right-hander Matt Wisler was designated for assignment in one corresponding move, while outfielder Alex Dickerson was placed on the 10-day injured list due to an upper back strain with another.

Wisler, 28, was somewhat of a surprise non-tender by the Twins on the heels of a 1.07 ERA and a 32.7 percent strikeout rate in last summer’s shortened slate of games. Wisler has maintained that bat-missing prowess and actually made a dramatic improvement in the problematic 13.1 percent walk rate that likely contributed to his non-tender — he’s down to 7.3 percent in 2021 — but he’s once again become alarmingly homer-prone. In 19 1/3 frames, he’s been tagged for four long balls — a rate of 1.86 per nine innings pitched. The resulting 6.05 ERA prompted the Giants to move on.

San Francisco will now have a week to trade Wisler or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, but doing so would require forfeiting the remainder of his $1.15MM salary, so he’s likely to accept an assignment if he passes through waivers unclaimed.

Sherfy, 29, has spent parts of three seasons in the division, appearing with the 2017-19 Diamondbacks and tallying a total of 45 1/3 innings pitched. He’s logged a combined 2.98 ERA in that time, punching out a quarter of his opponents against a 9.9 percent walk rate. So far in Triple-A Sacramento, he’s rattled off 7 2/3 shutout innings with an 11-to-1 K/BB ratio.

Dickerson, 31, was a revelation for the Giants from 2019-20 after coming over from the division-rival Padres in a trade, but he’s scuffled in 2021 and dealt with some all-too-familiar durability concerns. Dickerson topped a .900 OPS in his first two partial seasons with San Francisco, but he’s mustered only a .226/.295/.398 output so far this year. This will be the second IL stint of the season for him, as he previously spent 10 days on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement.

Giants To Select Sam Long

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The Giants will select the contract of left-hander Sam Long, according to Robert Murray of FanSided. He’ll start their game against the Rangers on Wednesday.

Long was an 18th-round pick of the Rays in 2016 who signed a minor league contract with the Giants entering the current season. He has since recorded a fantastic 1.99 ERA with 37 strikeouts against five walks in 22 2/3 innings divided between Double-A and Triple-A. Overall, Long has pitched to a 2.83 ERA through 178 1/3 minor league frames.

Once he arrives, Long will join a contending San Francisco club that’s currently without Aaron Sanchez and Logan Webb, who have combined for 15 effective starts but are on the injured list at the moment. Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Johnny Cueto and Alex Wood have been good in their own right, and their efforts have helped the Giants to a two-game lead in the National League West.

Giants Acquire Bruce Maxwell From Mets

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  • The Giants acquired minor league catcher Bruce Maxwell from the Mets in exchange for cash considerations, the two clubs announced. He’ll be assigned to Double-A Richmond, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). Maxwell spent parts of the 2016-18 seasons across the Bay, appearing in 127 games with the A’s and posting a .240/.314/.347 line over 412 plate appearances at the MLB level. Maxwell signed a minor league deal with the Mets over the offseason, so he won’t require a 40-man roster spot. He’d only picked up 31 plate appearances for the Mets Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse.

Evan Longoria Out Four To Six Weeks With Shoulder Sprain

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7:24PM: Longoria told The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly and other reporters that he isn’t feeling pain in the shoulder itself, as his injury is specifically a dislocated SC joint.  Because of the somewhat odd nature of the injury, Longoria isn’t certain about a timetable.

1:39PM: The Giants announced that third baseman Evan Longoria has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left shoulder. He’s expected to miss four to six weeks, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). Utilityman Thairo Estrada has been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento in his place.

Longoria suffered the injury when he collided with shortstop Brandon Crawford during last night’s game against the Cubs. It’s a brutal development for a Giants team holding a two-game advantage in a highly competitive NL West. Longoria has been one of the most instrumental pieces of the club’s success, putting up a .280/.376/.516 line with nine home runs over 186 plate appearances. After adjusting for pitcher-friendly Oracle Park, Longoria’s 146 wRC+ places him among the top 25 qualified hitters in the sport this season. That kind of production is reminiscent of his peak days in Tampa Bay, when Longoria was one of the game’s most valuable players.

There’s virtually no way for the Giants to replace that kind of production, but San Francisco now seems likely to turn to some combination of Wilmer Flores, Jason Vosler and Mauricio Dubón at third base. Flores has generally been a decent hitter over the past few years. The 29-year-old is hitting a league-average .248/.328/.380 in 137 plate appearances this season.

On the plus side, San Francisco is at least set to welcome one of their other top bats in the next few days. First baseman Brandon Belt is expected to be reinstated from the injured list during the team’s upcoming road trip, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link). Belt, out since May 26 with an oblique issue, has hit .228/.350/.474 over 137 trips to the plate.

Giants Designate Nick Tropeano, Reinstate Scott Kazmir

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The Giants announced Friday that they’ve designated right-hander Nick Tropeano for assignment. The move opens a spot on the roster for lefty Scott Kazmir to be reinstated from the restricted list. The 37-year-old Kazmir recently left the team to attend to a personal matter.

Tropeano, 30, has appeared in four games with the Giants and tossed six innings, holding opponents to just a run on four hits and two walks. He’s punched out two hitters as well. The former Angels righty was at one point a prospect of fair note, ranking well within both the Houston and Anaheim farm systems. He’s dealt with some injuries, most notably Tommy John surgery, but at his best Tropeano has looked the part of a respectable fourth or fifth starter. From 2014-18, he pitched to a 4.15 ERA with a 21 percent strikeout rate and a 9.4 percent walk rate in 203 2/3 innings.

San Francisco will have a week to either trade Tropeano, place him on outright waivers or release him. He has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency should he go unclaimed, at which point he’d be able to seek new opportunities with another club — perhaps one with a more pressing pitching need. Then again, the Giants frequently shuffle their pitching mix, which could give Tropeano another opportunity before long if he opts to stick around.

As for Kazmir, he returned to the big leagues last month after a nearly half-decade absence from a Major League mound. The now-37-year-old veteran figures to continue to work out of the bullpen as he looks to channel Rich Hill and reestablish himself as a credible big league hurler. He got off to a nice start, holding the Dodgers to a run in four sharp innings during his Giants debut. Los Angeles got some revenge in their next meeting, however, tagging Kazmir for a pair of runs in an inning of work.

Giants Activate Scott Kazmir From Restricted List

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TODAY: The Giants will activate Kazmir prior to tonight’s game against the Cubs, and Kazmir will be the starting pitcher.

JUNE 1: The Giants placed lefty Scott Kazmir on the restricted list yesterday, with manager Gabe Kapler explaining to reporters that the southpaw had returned to his Texas home “to attend to a personal matter” (link via Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News). The team didn’t provide additional details, nor was any specification for how long Kazmir might be away from the club provided. Lefty Conner Menez was called back to the big league roster to take Kazmir’s spot.

Kazmir, 37, made an improbable return to the Majors in May after nearly five years had elapsed since his most recent outing. He tossed four innings of one-run ball in that impressive return before yielding a pair of runs in one frame in his second — and, to date, only other — appearance with the Giants. Kazmir’s 91.9 mph average fastball velocity in that pair of appearances was right in line with the numbers he posted during his last MLB run in 2014-16.

Hopefully, the left-hander will be able to return to the Giants at some point and continue what has already been a rather remarkable comeback story. For the time being, his absence from the club opens up a 40-man roster spot, as players on the restricted list don’t count against the 40-man.

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