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Giants Reinstate Evan Longoria From 60-Day Injured List

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Evan Longoria is back with the Giants, as the team announced that the veteran third baseman has been activated off of the 60-day injured list.  The Giants also placed righty Jay Jackson on the COVID-related injured list and optioned Thairo Estrada to Triple-A, while calling up left-hander Sammy Long from Triple-A to start tonight’s game.

Longoria suffered a sprained shoulder in early June, which halted a major comeback year for the 35-year-old.  After posting a below-average 94 wRC+ from 2017-2020, Longoria exploded for a 140 wRC+, nine home runs, and a .280/.376/.516 slash line over his first 186 plate appearances of the 2021 season.  Small sample size notwithstanding, the advanced numbers backed up Longoria’s improvement, as he had a whopping 61.3% hard-hit rate (per Statcast) at the time of his injury.  There were some earlier hints of a breakout, as Longoria greatly underperformed his xwOBA in both 2019 and 2020, though his underperformance this season (.380 wOBA to a .401 xwOBA) is at least a fairer representation of how well he has been hitting.

The Giants have kept on winning in Longoria’s absence, and his return as the regular third baseman will create some shuffling around the roster.  Wilmer Flores and, most recently, Kris Bryant have been seeing action at the hot corner, and it’s safe to assume that those two and Tommy La Stella could get the odd start at third base to spell Longoria.  Bryant will be playing everyday in some capacity around the diamond and will likely see more time in the outfield with Longoria back, while Flores, La Stella, and Donovan Solano will jostle for playing time at second base.

This surplus of talent falls into the “good problem to have” category for the first-place Giants, and Estrada is going to Triple-A despite hitting .300/.371/.438 over 89 PA this season.  Estrada, however, still has minor league options remaining, which makes him the unlucky odd man out on the rather stacked San Francisco roster.

Jackson’s absence is due to vaccine side effects, according to Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link).  That should mean a very brief absence for the 33-year-old, who has a 3.77 ERA and 37.5% strikeout rate over 14 1/3 relief innings this season.

Giants Sign Brandon Crawford To Two-Year, $32MM Extension

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The Giants announced they’ve agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension with shortstop Brandon Crawford. It’s a $32MM deal, with Crawford slated to receive matching $16MM salaries between 2022-23. The three-time All-Star had been slated to reach free agency at the end of the season. Crawford is represented by Wasserman.

The deal will tack on another two seasons for Crawford, who turns 35 years old in January, in orange and black. The Giants selected the Bay Area native in the fourth round of the 2008 draft after a standout career at UCLA. He made his big league debut three years later and has been an organizational fixture ever since. Crawford has been San Francisco’s starting shortstop for the past decade, contributing to the franchise’s 2012 and 2014 World Series titles.

While Crawford broke in as a light-hitting defensive specialist, he put together three consecutive solid seasons with the bat from 2014-16, earning the NL’s Silver Slugger award for shortstops in the second of those years. Beginning in 2017, he started to fall off at the plate and eventually bottomed out with a .228/.304/.350 line in 2019. Crawford looked destined to end his career as a bottom-of-the-order type, but he’s posted a remarkable turnaround over the past two seasons.

The left-handed hitter bounced back to put up a quality .256/.326/.465 line in 2020. It might’ve been easy to waive that away as a small sample in the shortened season, but he’s been an absolute force at the plate this year. Crawford enters play Friday carrying a .296/.364/.540 mark with nineteen home runs over 371 plate appearances.

That’s far and away the best offensive showing of his career, and it’s among the best production of any player in baseball. Crawford’s 139 wRC+ suggests he’s been 39 percentage points more productive than the league average hitter after accounting for Oracle Park’s pitcher-friendly nature. That’s the #27 mark among the 282 hitters with 200+ plate appearances. At shortstop, only Fernando Tatís Jr. has been better at the plate.

Crawford’s not making much more contact or drawing many more walks than he has over the prior few seasons. He’s simply hitting the ball harder more consistently. Crawford’s 44.7% hard contact rate is his best mark since 2015, up nearly ten percentage points over his run of poor offense from 2017-19. His barrel rate (essentially how often Crawford hits the ball hard at a launch angle conducive to power) is up to 14.4% — easily his highest clip since Statcast became public in 2015 and a 90th percentile mark leaguewide. He’s hitting more fly balls generally, and it’s no coincidence he’ll certainly surpass his previous career best in homers (21).

Equally as important, Crawford has shown no signs of decline on defense. He’s always been among the game’s most sure-handed defenders, and that hasn’t changed despite his age. Statcast has credited the three-time Gold Glove award winner with 10 outs above average this season, a mark that trails only Nick Ahmed, Francisco Lindor, Matt Chapman, Nicky Lopez and Andrelton Simmons among infielders. Crawford’s reputation and advanced metrics suggest he’s still among the game’s premier defenders.

Crawford’s production on both sides of the ball is a huge reason the Giants have surprisingly posted the league’s best record. Between his stellar production, longstanding importance to the organization, and previous ties to the Bay Area, it’s little surprise both sides were motivated to get a deal done.

Even after signing Crawford, the Giants have an abundance of future payroll space. Evan Longoria ($19.667MM), Tommy La Stella ($5.25MM) and Jake McGee ($2.5MM) are the only other players with guaranteed contracts on the books next season. For a franchise that has previously pushed payroll up near $200MM, there’s plenty of breathing room for president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and the rest of the front office.

That abundance of financial flexibility reflects the huge crop of potential free agents in San Francisco, though. Like Crawford, catcher Buster Posey and first baseman Brandon Belt are franchise cornerstones having great seasons. Posey’s contract comes with a $22MM club option for 2022 ($3MM buyout), while Belt is scheduled to reach free agency at the end of the year. So is staff ace Kevin Gausman, as well as rotation mates Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood and Johnny Cueto. (Cueto has a $22MM club option that looks likely to be bought out). Deadline acquisition Kris Bryant will be one of the top position players on the market.

There’s obviously quite a bit on the offseason to-do list for Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris. They’ve started their winter work early by ensuring that Crawford returns at shortstop. There’s a good chance this extension solidifies Crawford as a one-franchise player. Last month, he told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle he could consider retirement a couple years from now.

“As a competitor, I don’t ever want there to be a year like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is the end for him,’” Crawford told Shea. “I want to still be a good player the last year of my career. That’s why I’d say, ‘Yeah, at least a couple of more years would be nice.’ I don’t want to be 39 or 40 and feel I can’t move around anymore at short. I still want to be a good shortstop when I decide to hang it up.”

Crawford’s previous extension, signed in November 2015, contained a full no-trade clause. This deal does not, but that’s presumably because such a provision was unnecessary. Crawford reached ten years of major league service in June. With it, he locked in full no-trade rights as a 10-and-5 player (one with ten years of MLB service, the last five of which have come with the same team).

The signing removes one of the best-performing impending free agents from next winter’s market. There’s been a huge amount of attention on the star-studded shortstop class, which will include Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Marcus Semien and Javier Báez. Crawford has been as or more productive than all of them this year. His age was always going to keep him from landing any sort of mega-deal, but Crawford could’ve been a target for immediate contenders needing a shortstop. Instead, he’ll forego the open market to stick with the only organization he’s ever known.

Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was first to report the deal’s specific terms. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Giants Release Aaron Sanchez

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The Giants announced this evening that they’ve placed right-hander Aaron Sanchez on unconditional release waivers. That was the expected outcome after the club designated him for assignment last weekend.

San Francisco added Sanchez on a one-year, $4MM guarantee over the offseason. It was a low-risk shot on a reclamation candidate. Sanchez showed plenty of promise early in his career with the Blue Jays but he’d been beset by injuries over the past few years and missed all of last season recovering from September 2019 shoulder surgery.

While the addition didn’t pan out as hoped, it wasn’t a complete bust. Sanchez worked to a 3.06 ERA over 35 1/3 innings across nine appearances (seven starts). His 16.7% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk percentage weren’t especially impressive, but he induced grounders at a strong 52.3% clip. That’s not quite the elite groundball numbers Sanchez boasted at his peak, but it was his best season in that regard since 2016.

Unfortunately, Sanchez’s troubles staying healthy reappeared in early May. The 29-year-old landed on the injured list with right biceps tightness. Between that and blister issues that cropped up on his minor league rehab assignment, Sanchez missed nearly three months. He returned to make two appearances before being let go.

Sanchez is entitled to the entirety of his $4MM salary, about $1.1MM of which remains to be paid out. Any team that claims Sanchez off waivers would assume the remainder of that salary, but it seems more likely he’ll pass through unclaimed and reach free agency. At that point, rival clubs could sign Sanchez for the prorated portion of the league minimum salary, with the rest of the tab falling on the Giants.

Giants Place Johnny Cueto On Injured List

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The Giants have placed starter Johnny Cueto on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 9, with a right flexor strain. Infielder Thairo Estrada has been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to take his place on the active roster. Cueto’s injury is minor, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group), with the team hoping he’ll return after missing just one start.

Cueto has rather quietly put together a solid season for the first-place Giants. The 35-year-old has tossed 104 innings over nineteen starts, working to a 3.89 ERA/4.22 SIERA. That’s an unexpected bounceback since the two-time All-Star struggled in 2020 after missing large chunks of the 2018 and 2019 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. Cueto has seen a bit of an uptick in his swinging strike rate relative to the past few seasons, and he’s had some of the best control of any pitcher in the league. The righty’s 5.5% walk rate is fourteenth-lowest among the 78 hurlers with 100+ innings pitched this year.

With Aaron Sanchez designated for assignment over the weekend, the Giants’ rotation depth has thinned out in recent days. Anthony DeSclafani is expected to return from the IL when first eligible to start on Friday, Kapler told reporters. He’ll rejoin Kevin Gausman, Alex Wood and Logan Webb in the starting five. The Giants don’t have an off day until next Thursday, so they might have to turn to Sammy Long or Tyler Beede to cover for Cueto’s missed time over the next week.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/9/21

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The latest minor moves from around the league:

  • The Royals announced that left-hander Daniel Tillo has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Kansas City had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster, so no additional move was required. Tillo, named the #51 prospect in the Royals system entering the year by Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs, was selected to the 40-man roster in advance of last winter’s Rule 5 draft. The 24-year-old has spent the entire year recovering from a 2020 Tommy John surgery and has thus far topped out at Double-A.
  • The Giants signed right-hander Logan Ondrusek to a minor league contract over the weekend. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Sacramento, where he made his first appearance on Saturday. Ondrusek made 288 MLB relief appearances between 2010 and 2016, the bulk of that time coming with the Reds. The 36-year-old hasn’t appeared in the majors in five years, but he’s worked his way back to affiliated ball after beginning the year well with the Leones de Yucatán of the Mexican League. Now working as a starting pitcher, Ondrusek pitched to a 2.38 ERA with an incredible 50:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 45 1/3 innings in Mexico this season.
  • Dodgers right-hander Yefry Ramírez has cleared outright waivers, according to the MLB.com transactions tracker. Ramírez, who was designated for assignment last week, had the right to reject an outright assignment because he’d been outrighted in the past. He has apparently chosen to accept an assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City, though, as he’s listed on OKC’s active roster. The 27-year-old made one appearance with L.A. but has otherwise spent the year with Oklahoma City, working to a 5.49 ERA across 62 1/3 innings.

Giants Designate Aaron Sanchez For Assignment

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The Giants have designated Aaron Sanchez for assignment, per Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle. Additionally, John Brebbia was recalled, Kevin Gausman was reinstated from the paternity list and Thairo Estrada was optioned to Triple-A.

Signed to a one-year deal in the offseason, Sanchez’s season got off to a nice enough start. After six starts, he had an ERA of 3.18. But he struggled to pitch deep into games, never going longer than five innings. On May 8th, he was placed on the IL with biceps tightness and then struggled to return because of blister issues during his rehab, something that has plagued him over the course of his career. He was eventually reinstated from the IL July 29th and has made three appearances since then, but evidently not showing enough promise to hold onto a roster spot. Overall, he’s thrown 35 1/3 innings this season with an ERA of 3.06, with his typical mix of low strikeouts but lots of ground balls.

Sanchez is playing on a $4MM salary, of which about $1.2MM remains to be paid out. If some pitching-needy team were to grab him off waivers, they could do so with a modest increase to the payroll and luxury tax ledger. Though it’s also possible that teams will just wait for him to clear waivers, at which point they could pay him the prorated league minimum with the Giants on the hook for the rest of that money. The contract signed between Sanchez and the Giants also came with incentives based on games started, beginning once he reached his 16th of the season. Since he’s currently sitting at seven starts on the year, it seems unlikely any of those incentives will be reached.

Brebbia pitched very well for the Cardinals from 2017 to 2019, throwing 175 innings with an ERA of 3.14, a strikeout rate of 27.4% and walk rate of 7.5%. Unfortunately, Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2020 season, leading to the Cardinals non-tendering him, before he signed with the Giants. In 15 innings thus far for San Fran, he has a 6.60 ERA, though advanced metrics are much more bullish.

Giants Sign Tyler Chatwood, Matt Shoemaker To Minors Contracts

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The Giants have signed right-handers Tyler Chatwood and Matt Shoemaker to minor league contracts.  MLB.com’s official transactions page was the first to report the Chatwood deal, while the Shoemaker news actually came from Evan Longoria, who mentioned Shoemaker had joined the Triple-A team during an interview with Sean Cunningham of KXTV Sacramento.  Both hurlers were released within the last week, with the Blue Jays letting go of Chatwood and the Twins parting ways with Shoemaker.

Chatwood signed a one-year, $3MM free agent deal with Toronto this past offseason, and was initially a tremendous help for an otherwise injury-riddled Jays bullpen.  After allowing just one run in his first 17 innings of work, however, Chatwood was then scorched for 11 runs over his next four outings and 3 1/3 innings.  Another decent stretch followed, but two more rough performances on June 25 and July 1 closed the book on his tenure with the Blue Jays, as a neck strain went Chatwood to the injured list for much of July.

Shoemaker had a similar tale, as a one-year, $2MM free agent contract with Minnesota resulted in an ugly 8.06 ERA over 60 1/3 innings.  His 14.1% strikeout rate was near the bottom of the league and down dramatically from his previous 21.8% career average, while Shoemaker’s 9.5% walk rate was also subpar.  Shoemaker started his first 11 games and a move to the bullpen didn’t help, as he allowed eight runs in 2 2/3 innings of relief work on June 30, in his final appearance as a Twin.

The Giants have recently displayed a knack for reviving veteran pitchers, so it isn’t out of the question that Chatwood or Shoemaker could yet provide some quality work for the team before the 2021 season is out.  Since the Jays and Twins are on the hook for the rest of the two right-handers’ MLB salaries, San Francisco only owes the prorated portion of the Major League minimum salary to Chatwood or Shoemaker if they get called up to the big league roster.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/7/21

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The latest minor moves from around the baseball world…

  • The Giants outrighted left-hander Conner Menez to Triple-A, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic tweets.  Menez cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week.  The southpaw has seen action in each of the last three big league seasons, posting a 4.04 ERA over 42 1/3 career innings.  He’ll now remain in the organization as an extra arm, though the Giants bullpen is already pretty deep in left-handed pitching options.

Giants Activate Brandon Belt From Injured List

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The Giants announced they’ve reinstated first baseman Brandon Belt from the 10-day injured list. He’s starting at first base, hitting seventh in the order this afternoon against the Diamondbacks. To create active roster space, starter Kevin Gausman was placed on the paternity list.

Belt returns after missing around six weeks with right knee inflammation, his second IL stint of the season. In between the injuries, the 33-year-old had been having a quietly excellent year at the plate, hitting .253/.363/.512 with eleven home runs across 201 plate appearances. A career-high 32.3% strikeout rate has knocked a bit of a blow to Belt’s batting average, but he’s again demonstrated a very good combination of plate discipline and power.

Going back to the start of the 2020 season, Belt has a .279/.392/.549 line. By measure of wRC+ (minimum 300 plate appearances), only Mike Trout, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatís Jr., Ronald Acuña Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Bryce Harper have been more productive on a rate basis. However, Belt’s injuries have kept him to a little more than half the playing time of some of those star players.

In other positive news for the Giants, third baseman Evan Longoria is beginning a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento this evening, the team told reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Longoria has been down since June 6 with a left shoulder sprain, but he’s apparently nearing a return. The 35-year-old was enjoying a resurgent season before the injury, hitting .280/.376/.516 through his first 186 plate appearances. The stellar production from Belt and Longoria has been a significant part of the Giants’ league-best 68-40 record, good for a 3.5 game lead in the National League West.

Giants Activate Tommy La Stella, Place Anthony DeSclafani On Injured List

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The Giants announced they’ve reinstated infielder Tommy La Stella from the 60-day injured list (via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). Starter Anthony DeSclafani is going on the 10-day IL, retroactive to August 3, with right shoulder fatigue. To open 40-man roster space for La Stella, reliever Conner Menez was designated for assignment.

La Stella returns after a three month absence. He initially landed on the IL with a left hamstring strain and then suffered a right hand fracture while rehabbing. It’s been a tough first season in San Francisco for La Stella, who has thus far been limited to 75 plate appearances of .235/.297/.353 hitting. That’s far off the quietly excellent .289/.356/.471 line the lefty-swinging La Stella put up with the Angels and A’s between 2019-20.

Despite the slow start, the Giants are surely happy to have La Stella back in the lineup. San Francisco signed the 32-year-old to a three-year, $18.75MM contract over the winter. There’s little question the front office believes in his ability to return to his prior form. La Stella figures to rotate between second and third base, at least until Evan Longoria returns from his own lengthy IL stint. That’ll free up Kris Bryant to see more time in the outfield and offer manager Gabe Kapler a quality left-handed bat to mix in with the right-handed hitting Donovan Solano and Wilmer Flores at those positions.

In addition to La Stella, San Francisco figures to bring back Longoria and Brandon Belt in the not too distant future. They’ll be welcome reinforcements for the 67-40 Giants, who hold MLB’s best record and lead the Dodgers by 3.5 games in the National League West.

It doesn’t seem there’s much cause for alarm with DeSclafani despite the ominous-sounding diagnosis. Kapler told reporters (including Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic) the expectation is that he’ll miss just one start.  The righty struggled in 2020 — his final season with the Reds — but has had a bounceback campaign in the Bay Area. DeSclafani has tossed 126 1/3 innings of 3.28 ERA/4.03 SIERA ball with average or better strikeout (23.3%), walk (6.5%) and groundball (45.0%) rates. He’s already thrown nearly 100 more innings than he did in Cincinnati last season, so the Giants are surely keeping a close eye on his workload to keep him healthy for the stretch run.

Menez is something of a surprising cut, as the southpaw has pitched quite well in his big league time this season. He’s tossed 14 innings with a 3.86 ERA, punching out a decent 24.2% of opposing hitters with a massive 59.1% grounder rate. However, he’s struggled mightily in 22 frames with Triple-A Sacramento, managing just a 6.95 ERA and walking an alarming 15.9% of opposing hitters in the minors.

Triple-A struggles aside, it wouldn’t be surprising to see another team add Menez off waivers. The 26-year-old has a fine 4.04 ERA/4.34 SIERA over parts of three major league seasons and can still be optioned for the remainder of this year.

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