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Giants Notes: Ruf, Pence, Dubon

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Darin Ruf’s loud bat is making a play for a roster spot in San Francisco, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. Ruff, 33, made major-league appearances for five consecutive seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies from 2012 to 2016, totaling 833 plate appearances. He was mostly used as a pinch-hitting option off the bench while seeing time at first base and in both outfield corners. The Giants are pretty settled at first base with veteran Brandon Belt, but there’s room for Ruf to make a play for an outfield spot where Michael Yastrzemski, Alex Dickerson, Austin Slater, Joey Rickard, Joe McCarthy, and Hunter Pence are his top competition.

  • Pence, of course, will line up as the regular designated hitter, assuming he can stay healthy. After missing some workouts due to pain in his right foot, Pence underwent an MRI but results returned nothing more serious than inflammation, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s not expected to miss a significant amount of time. The fan favorite returned to the Giants this year just in time to resume his role as a designated hitter, a role in which he thrived last season for the Texas Rangers. Pence enjoyed a real resurgence in 2019, making the All-Star team and hitting .297/.358/.552. the 36-year-old outfielder was limited to 83 games, however, and it’s safe to assume he’ll be a part-time player moving forward. That should leave plenty of at-bats for a crowded veteran infield or any of the names above to snag some extra ABs from the DH slot.
  • In preparation for a hectic season, Giants manager Gabe Kapler is encouraging players to cultivate as much flexibility as possible, per Kerry Crowley of the Mercury News. Joe McCarthy is spending more time at first, Yastrzemski, Austin Slater and others are seeing time in centerfield, and former Brewer Mauricio Dubon has moved all over the diamond, from second to center to right to first. When Dubon was acquired from the Brewers, there was some question as to exactly where he’d fit in, given the veterans stocked in the Giants’ infield. Well, the answer is anywhere and everywhere.

The Giants’ Options For Replacing Buster Posey

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The Giants are in true limbo behind the plate. Organizationally, they have one of the better catching situations in all of baseball. On the one hand, they have a tried-and-true franchise legend still under contract in Buster Posey. Not only was he the backbone of three, count ’em, three World Series titles, but he’s a class act and a fan favorite. In his prime, he was the platonic ideal of a franchise catcher. Admittedly, he is on the decline. Last season was the first since 2011 that the then-32-year-old didn’t make the All-Star team. He’s gone from a 130-start powerhouse behind the plate to more of a true timeshare 100-start guy. He also fell below 100 wRC+ for the first time in his career (save for his 7-game stint as a 22-year-old in 2009). And more to the point, he opted out of the 2020 season to care for his newly adopted twin baby girls. Again: class act.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Giants are blessed with two of the top catching prospects in all of baseball. Joey Bart, the #2 overall pick from the 2018 draft is ranked by Baseball America as the second best catching prospect in all of baseball. Then, with the 13th pick in this year’s draft, they snagged the top NCAA catcher available in Patrick Bailey.

So, yes, big picture, the Giants have an enviable catching corps. But they need to field the position for 2020, and that’s where things get a little sticky. Bailey, 21, has zero chance of jumping straight to the majors from college. He needs time in pro ball to develop. Bart is closer, but all indications are that the Giants want to give him more time, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s close, appearing in 22 games at Double-A last year and raking to the tune of .316/.368/.544. But a talent like Bart is worth the wait, and though he might be ready at some point this season, the Giants aren’t likely to contend. They don’t want to punt the first part of his career in sub-optimal conditions.

Enter Russell Martin? Schulman put forth Martin’s name as a possibility, noting that Justin Turner lobbied for the veteran to return to the Dodgers recently. Even in a part-time capacity, the well-respected Martin would certainly make some sense. The 37-year-old backstop proved he still had a role on a ML club last season with the league-leading Dodgers. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said that the Giants will have to evaluate their internal and external options, and if nothing else, they’re likely going to need someone else in camp just to catch the pitchers on hand.

Without him, the Giants are looking at Chadwick Tromp, Tyler Heineman, and Rob Brantly as the top options from their player pool. Combined, they have 464 big-league plate appearances (429 from Brantly, 11 from Heineman). Brantly, 30, is by far the most experienced of the three, but he hasn’t seen substantive time in the majors since 2017. For the rebuilding Giants, they’re probably most concerned with their ability to handle pitchers and less concerned with contributions at the plate – which is the best argument in favor of pursuing a vet like Martin.

There are catchers out there they could acquire via trade, but with 60-man player pools, catchers fill a very particular need, and player movement has never been more complicated than it is now. Still, they could engage the Rockies’ for Elias Diaz or the Rangers for Blake Swihart, Tim Federowicz, or Nick Ciuffo. Those are just options from teams in their regional pool because, again: player movement is not simple anymore. For those reasons, Martin probable represents the best outside option.

The Giants support Posey in his decision, and they’re going to continue to work with Bart and Bailey to get them ready for their big-league debuts. Maybe Bart will find a way in intrasquad play to prove himself ready. Or maybe one of Tromp, Heineman, or Brantly will seize the opportunity. What we know for sure, the Giants have 60 games ahead in the 2020 season, and they’re going to need a catcher for every one of them.

Buster Posey Opts Out Of 2020 Season

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Giants catcher Buster Posey has decided to opt out of the 2020 season, he announced in a Zoom call with reporters today. Posey explained that he and his wife have adopted twin girls who were born prematurely at 32 weeks. They’re in stable condition but will be in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for the time being. Both manager Gabe Kapler and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi have voiced full support of Posey in his decision.

“With these babies being as fragile as they are, for the next four months at minimum,” Posey said, the decision was easy from a family perspective. The former NL Rookie of the Year and MVP acknowledged that from a pure baseball standpoint, the decision to sit the season out did weigh on him, but he feels strongly that he’s making the best decision for his family. Posey had been absent from Giants Summer Camp for the past two days.

Though Posey himself is not a high-risk individual, his decision serves as yet another reminder that there’s far more to consider than individual well-being when it comes to the current pandemic. We’ve seen many players with family decisions grapple with the same issues that Posey articulately described in his announcement. Ryan Zimmerman was the first such player to opt out with those concerns in mind, but Posey now becomes the tenth veteran to do so. Others, including Sean Doolittle and Mike Trout, have voiced some reservation about playing due to concerns within their own families.

Because Posey himself isn’t high-risk, he won’t receive service time in 2020 and won’t be paid the prorated version of his $21.4MM salary (roughly $7.9MM). His absence will leave a sizable hole in the team’s clubhouse — a fact that both Zaidi and Kapler have emphasized — and will also leave the Giants severely thin behind the plate. Presumptive backup Aramis Garcia had hip surgery that could sideline him all season, and the only other catchers in the organization who have called a big league game are Rob Brantly and Tyler Heineman.

It’s true that the Giants have one of MLB’s best catching prospects, 2018 No. 2 overall pick Joey Bart, but he’s yet to play a game above Double-A (where he played in just 22 games last season). Posey’s absence could certainly open the door for Bart, but Zaidi also cautioned against expecting Bart to be thrust into a starring role (Twitter link via Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic): “This is a tough environment to evaluate young position players when you went in thinking they needed more competitive reps at Double-A or Triple-A.”

The Giants will add another catcher to their player pool, Zaidi continued (via the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea), be it an external acquisition or a promotion from within the Giants’ ranks. There aren’t many free agents of note who have gone unsigned. Russell Martin is a notable exception and was said to be seeking a team back in February, though it’s possible that what has transpired since has altered his plans. Veteran Jesus Sucre also went unsigned this winter, and the Dodgers recently cut Jose Lobaton loose. Given the thin supply in free agency, the Giants could simply stay in-house or look into acquiring a non-roster veteran who is in camp with another club.

Giants Place Billy Hamilton, Jarlin Garcia On Injured List

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The Giants have placed outfielder Billy Hamilton and left-hander Jarlin Garcia on the injured list, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters Thursday (Twitter link via Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News). Kapler could not specify beyond acknowledging that the moves were for “medical purposes.”

The immediate speculation will gravitate toward COVID-19, though it’s certainly possible that one or even both are dealing with other issues. Teams generally disclose injury details, but broader medical concerns that force players away from the field are often kept vague. It should also be pointed out that even when a player is placed on the COVID-19 IL, that does not necessarily indicate he has tested positive. Players can be placed on the IL after exhibiting symptoms or coming into contact with someone who has tested positive. The exact circumstances surrounding the IL placements of Hamilton and Garcia are unknown, but the hope, as always, is that both can return to the field swiftly and in good health.

Both Hamilton and Garcia are newcomers to the Giants organization. Hamilton, the longtime Reds center fielder, is among baseball’s fastest players and brings a superlative glove to a team that plays in one of the game’s most cavernous stadiums (Oracle Park). He signed a minor league deal with an invite to Major League Spring Training back in the offseason but was widely expected to win a roster spot from the early days of camp.

The 29-year-old Hamilton batted just .218/.289/.275 in 353 plate appearances between the Royals and Braves last year, but he was flat-out excellent in the field, as usual. Despite playing a career-low 826 innings in the field, Hamilton logged eight Defensive Runs Saved, a 7.9 Ultimate Zone Rating and seven Outs Above Average (per Statcast).

Garcia, meanwhile, was claimed off waivers in February. The 27-year-old was somewhat of a surprise DFA by the Marlins, as he’d pitched to a 3.02 ERA in 50 2/3 frames the prior season. Garcia’s peripheral numbers weren’t quite as pretty; he posted a 3.77 FIP and 4.74 xFIP while averaging 6.9 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9. Garcia also benefited from a .248 average on balls in play, although that’s right in line with his career mark to date. Even if there’s some regression in store down the line, he’s controllable for another four seasons, so it’s easy to see why the Giants were happy to take a risk-free flier on the southpaw.

Giants GM Scott Harris On 2020 Outlook, Mid-Season Trades

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Giants GM Scott Harris put to rest any doubts as to whether the Giants are looking at the 2020 season as an opportunity to compete, as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. He rejected any idea that the club is looking to the mid-season trade period as merely a chance to move some veteran players.

It remains to be seen, of course, just what kind of transactional action we’ll see in the midst of an unusual and truncated campaign. Harris’s boss, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, has already predicted less player movement.

Whatever the landscape looks like, Harris says, the Giants hope — and even expect — not to be on the sell side. The 2020 sprint is in effect an unprecedented chance for “fast-forwarding to July 23 with a guarantee that the team would be tied for first place,” Harris says.

Under the circumstances, the Giants are looking for ways to take advantage of their competitive position. Per Harris:

“It’s paramount that we get off to a fast start, because if we get off to a fast start the trade deadline is only a few weeks away and we have the opportunity through transactions to turn some of our weaknesses into strengths. Farhan and I are certainly going to be eager to do that if the opportunity presents itself.”

Harris certainly sounds committed to the possibility of a surprise run, citing “a shot to win the division” and a shared determination within the organization “to prove a lot of people wrong out there.” Even in a short-season format, quite a few things will have to go right for the San Francisco organization to topple the powerhouse Dodgers or even to snag a Wild Card. But the potential for surprise will certainly add to the intrigue of the 2020 season.

Giants Add Three To 60-Man Player Pool

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The Giants announced Wednesday that they’ve added lefty Caleb Baragar, outfielder Alexander Canario and right-hander Sam Wolff to their 60-man player pool. They still have one vacancy if they wish to make another addition. Of the bunch, Canario is the most highly regarded prospect, but his inclusion is surely just for developmental purposes, as he is just 20 years old and has yet to play above short-season Class-A.

Baragar, 26, was the Giants’ ninth-round pick in 2016. He’s pitched in three Triple-A games but spent the vast majority of the 2019 campaign in Double-A, where he pitched to a 3.45 ERA with 8.0 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and 0.9 HR/9 in 120 innings as a starter. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher, evidenced by a tiny 28.7 percent ground-ball rate in those 120 frames.

Wolff, 29, is a pure reliever who came over to the Giants organization in the 2017 trade that sent Matt Moore to the Rangers. Despite his age, he’s scarcely pitched in Triple-A (28 1/3 innings), but he posted strong numbers in Double-A last year when he compiled a 1.78 ERA and a 42-to-11 K/BB ratio in 35 1/3 innings of work.

Canario signed as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic in the 2016-17 international class, and the Giants look to have found something of a gem (relative to his meager $60K signing bonus, at least). He ripped through opposing pitchers in Rookie ball and Low-A, posting a combined .318/.377/.623 batting line with 16 home runs, 20 doubles and a pair of triples in just 265 trips to the plate.

Canario ranks in the club’s top 10 prospects at Baseball America (fifth), MLB.com (sixth) and FanGraphs (ninth) thanks to considerable raw power, average or better speed and a plus throwing arm. FanGraphs Eric Longenhagen notes that he needs a lot of work on his approach at the plate but has a “huge ceiling if the hit/approach component improves.”

Giants Resume Workouts

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July 8: The Giants received their test results from Saturday this morning, per a team announcement. All were negative among both players and staff, and workouts will resume today. It’s not clear whether they’ve had an additional wave of results since those now-four-day old tests.

July 7, 2:45pm: The Giants have yet to receive results from Saturday’s batch of tests, manager Gabe Kapler tells reporters (Twitter link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Their hope is to receive those tests today and return to workouts Wednesday.

2:20pm: The Giants announced Tuesday afternoon that Summer Camp workouts at Oracle Park have been suspended, pending results from this weekend’s wave of COVID-19 testing (Twitter link via Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News). It seems the club has still not received results from Major League Baseball’s lab in Salt Lake City, Utah.

They’re not the first team to suspend or postpone workouts due to lags in the testing process. Both the Astros and Nationals called off Monday workouts for the same reason. In a statement on the matter, Nats GM Mike Rizzo offered particularly pointed criticism of the league’s testing inadequacies — apparently much to the chagrin of commissioner Rob Manfred. The cancellations by the Nats and Astros, as well as delays from clubs like the Angels and Athletics, led to broad criticism for the league, prompting Manfred’s office to issue a statement defending their testing procedures.

Notably, the league chalked up the delays to “unforeseen delays” due to the July 4 weekend and concluded that “we do not expect a recurrence.” Expected or not, it appears some kinks in the system still need to be ironed out.

The Giants have been able to get the results of some tests, as outfield prospect Hunter Bishop and minor league righty Luis Madero are both known to have previously tested positive. However, MLB’s testing protocols call for tests to be performed every other day. To this point, collecting, shipping, testing and processing all of those samples in a timely fashion has proven difficult. The league and the MLBPA are in the process of searching for a second testing site, which could help to avoid further issues like the early ones we’ve seen so far.

Giants Nearing Completion Of Draft Signings

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The Giants appear to have all but tied up their draft business. Things aren’t quite official, but the San Francisco organization is said to have deals with its final two unsigned selections.

The club inked fourth-rounder R.J. Dabovich for a $200K bonus, MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports on Twitter. Dabovich is a right-handed hurler out of Arizona State University.

That signing left $300K and change of extra pool money to work with, adding to an already well-stocked pile of untapped cash to utilize in signing third-rounder Kyle Harrison, a high-school hurler who has a commitment to UCLA. Per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (Twitter link), the deal with Harrison is not formally wrapped up but has been agreed to.

The Giants will push right up to the line to ink Harrison. The club is expected to incur a tax bill on the overage, while staying under the 5% excess line past which a team would sacrifice a future draft choice.

Harrison wasn’t widely regarded as a first-round talent by most draft pundits, but the Giants were clearly bullish on him. Keith Law of The Athletic, who ranked Harrison the 54th-best player available, explained that the youngster added heat to his fastball before play was suspended earlier this year.

Two Members Of Giants Organization Test Positive For Coronavirus

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Buster Posey, Sean Doolittle Discuss 2020 Season

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Buster Posey took part in the Giants’ Summer Camp workouts yesterday. Nevertheless, he was reluctant to commit to playing out the entire 2020 season in a teleconference with reporters, including Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic.

“Yeah, definitely, I think there’s still some reservation on my end as well,” Posey said, presumably in response to Mike Trout expressing some trepidation about playing out the season amidst rising coronavirus cases throughout most of the United States.

“I want to see how things progress here over the next couple weeks,” Posey continued (via Baggarly). “It would be a little bit maybe naive or silly not to gauge what’s going on around you, and not only around here but paying attention to what’s happening in different parts of the country. It’s obviously unprecedented times right now. Most definitely, I’ve thought about it and talked with my wife about it quite a bit.”

To be clear, Posey’s comments don’t suggest he’s on the verge of stepping away. As the virus continues to rage, the situation surely remains fluid for even the most optimistic players. As Posey later pointed out, the virus’ unpredictability makes it virtually impossible for anyone to unequivocally commit to finishing the season.

Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle echoed those thoughts on a conference call with reporters (including Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post) this afternoon. The southpaw indicated he’s leaning towards playing this season, but he’s by no means committing to the entire campaign just yet. “At any point, if I start to feel unsafe, if it starts to take a toll on my mental health, with all the things we have to think about and this cloud of uncertainty hanging over everything, then I’ll opt out,” Doolittle said.

Posey’s and Doolittle’s comments are the latest reminder that all players (and non-playing staff, for that matter) have far greater personal and familial concerns outside baseball. We’ve seen a handful of players and coaches, most notably David Price, decide to sit out this season. Even players who’ve already reported to their respective teams could (and, needless to say, have every right to) reverse course and opt out of playing in 2020. Braves right-hander Félix Hernández, in fact, did exactly that last night.

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