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Latest On Drew Pomeranz

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TODAY: Pomeranz has not been removed from the rotation, Bochy told Schulman (Twitter links) and other reporters today.  Anderson is slated to start on Thursday, which would have been Pomeranz’s normal turn, though Pomeranz could still make a start next weekend.  In the interim, however, Pomeranz could potentially come out of the bullpen if required.

YESTERDAY: Left-hander Drew Pomeranz, one of the Giants’ most notable offseason acquisitions, is changing roles. The team has moved Pomeranz out of its rotation and into its bullpen, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Pomeranz is now the third starter the struggling Giants have dropped from their rotation since the season began. They previously relegated righty Dereck Rodriguez and lefty Derek Holland after they got off to poor starts. With Pomeranz joining those two in the bullpen, lefty Madison Bumgarner and righty Jeff Samardzija are the only survivors from San Francisco’s year-opening starting five.

Along with Holland, Pomeranz was one of just three free agents the Giants signed to major league contracts during a low-spending winter for the franchise. New president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi handed Pomeranz a one-year, $1.5MM guarantee, but the minimal investment hasn’t gone well for either party thus far.

A former Rockie, Athletic, Padre and Red Sox, Pomeranz has racked up 10 starts with the Giants, averaging a bit under four innings per appearance (39 total) while posting a hideous 8.08 ERA/6.45 FIP. Pomeranz has struck out nearly 10 hitters per nine, but that hasn’t been enough to cancel out his other problems – mainly an unappealing walk rate (4.85 BB/9) and significant issues keeping the ball in the park. The 30-year-old Pomeranz’s home run-to-fly ball rate is at a career-worst 26.2 percent, more than double his lifetime mark (12.9). Pomeranz has yielded the majority of his HRs outside of pitcher-friendly San Francisco, unsurprisingly, though he hasn’t been effective there either. He’s also getting demolished by right-handed hitters, who have recorded a .436 weighted on-base average off him (for reference, Christian Yelich’s 2019 wOBA is .440).

Including his work against lefties, batters have feasted on Pomeranz for a .420 wOBA. Statcast paints a less bleak picture, crediting Pomeranz with a still-unimpressive .369 xwOBA against. He’s suffering from poor fortune in the BABIP (.369) and strand rate (67.7) departments, and has experienced a jump in velocity compared to last season. But none of that is of any solace to the Giants, who saw Pomeranz allow 22 earned runs on 25 hits (six HRs) and nine walks in 10 1/3 innings in May.

This is the second straight season a team has taken Pomeranz out of its rotation. The Red Sox did it last year during an injury-limited campaign for Pomeranz, who collected 15 relief appearances out of 26. Among hurlers who have thrown at least 100 innings dating back to 2018, Pomeranz ranks last in ERA (6.77), fourth worst in FIP (5.78) and fWAR (minus-1.0), and fifth from the bottom in BB/9 (5.18). It’s a steep drop for someone who was once a top prospect and isn’t far removed from a terrific run as a big league starter. Pomeranz excelled with San Diego in 2016, when it sent him to Boston that summer in a controversial trade for then-premium pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza, and enjoyed another quality year with the BoSox the next season.

The 2016-17 version of Pomeranz now looks long gone, and barring a seismic turnaround over the next few months, he’ll likely have to settle for a minor league deal on his next pact. Free agency could come sooner than expected for Pomeranz if the Giants release him during the season, which doesn’t seem like a far-fetched idea. In the meantime, Pomeranz will try to rebuild his stock in the Giants’ bullpen. San Francisco will eventually have to pick someone else to slot into its rotation behind Bumgarner, Samardzija, Shaun Anderson and Tyler Beede, but it has enough off days on the horizon to wait on making a decision.

Mac Williamson Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency

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Former Giants outfielder Mac Williamson, designated for assignment for the second time this season by the club last Saturday, went unclaimed on waivers and has elected free agency, Maria Guardado of mlb.com tweets. Williamson previously reported to the team’s AAA affiliate after the first DFA, where a three-week hot streak led to a fifth opportunity with the big club, but this time has decided to test his luck on the open market.

The 28-year-old Williamson – he’ll be 29 next month – was a post-draft favorite in 2012 after being selected in the third round out of Wake Forest. Already 22 at the time of the draft, Williamson’s slow crawl through the minors – injuries often set him back – still had him lingering in Double-A by the time his 25th birthday rolled around.

His first three Triple-A forays, occasionally interrupted by month-long stints with the big club, were mediocre at best – Mac, in fact, seemed on verge of release after an especially poor 2017 showing with Sacramento. A swing change the next season reaped dividends, though, and Williamson seemed primed to seize the everyday left-field job for San Fran after a hot early-season ’18 start. Hopes were derailed when a collision with a wall near the bullpen mound in SF’s Oracle Park resulted in lingering concussion symptoms, and Mac could never quite recapture his early-season sizzle upon return.

2019 hasn’t been kind to him – the 6’5 righty managed just a 14 wRC+ (86 percent below league-average) in 57 plate appearances with the club before his designation. It’s unclear which, if any, clubs will be interested, but Williamson should get a Triple-A opportunity if so inclined. Perhaps a Japanese or Korean team – clubs notoriously interested in the so-called “Four-A” sluggers, many of which, admittedly, sport more impressive AAA numbers than does Williamson – will come calling, though the overseas market is never easy to predict.

Panda For Sale Or Rent

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The Giants have some obviously appealing trade candidates. They also have some undesirable contracts. And then there’s the Kung Fu Panda … one of the most unique players in recent memory. He has had some low lows on the ballfield, but he did not start out as some woeful novelty. And he isn’t one now.

We’ve already seen the suggestion floated by some Giants reporters, so … can I interest you in a gently used Pablo Sandoval?

Let’s start on the contract side. Sandoval is way too expensive. But he’s also dirt cheap! He’s earning a cool $19MM this year. The Red Sox are paying all but $545K of it. They’re also on the hook for a $5MM buyout next year, at which time Sandoval will be back on the open market and searching for a much more modest contract than the $95MM deal he inked in November of 2014. It doesn’t get any cheaper than this, folks. You’re paying at least that much to fill the roster spot regardless, so this rental player comes with an effective cash cost of absolutely nothing.

The question remains … do you really want a rental Panda? If so, how much value should you really give to make this happen?

If you’ve followed the Giants from afar, you might assume that Sandoval has slumped with most of the rest of the roster. In fact, he’s leading the team in wRC+ (minimum 10 plate appearances) and fWAR (he’s tied with Buster Posey at 1.0 apiece, but Sandoval has done it in just over two-thirds the plate appearances).

Yep, it has been a vintage performance thus far — a deep cut, in fact. Sandoval hasn’t produced at these kinds of levels since way back in 2011, before he settled in as a solidly above-average but comfortably sub-elite hitter and then ultimately collapsed in Boston. Through 109 plate appearances, the switch-hitting Sandoval carries a .288/.321/.596 slash with seven home runs. He’s delivering well-graded glovework at the hot corner. Oh, and he has not only filled in at first and second in recent years, but he’s even making occasional scoreless appearances on the mound just for kicks.

No money down. Zero maintenance. Versatile. Stout. Below Kelley Blue Book?!

That’s the dealer’s pitch, anyway. Almost sounds too good to be true. Just to be safe, let’s check the Carfax and have a gander underneath the hood …

Hmm well there is one catch you ought to be aware of right off the bat. Sandoval is a switch-hitter, true, but he has been absolutely dreadful against left-handed pitching. And that’s really not a new thing, if we’re being honest. But hey … at least he’s good on the heavy side of the platoon!

Yeah, okay, you’re a little worried about the sample size? If we’re focusing on what he has done against righties … yeah, it’s eighty plate appearances of a thousand-plus OPS hitting. But yikes … a 4.8% walk rate to go with a 27.4% strikeout rate? A .360 BABIP is the only thing supporting his .345 OBP. And that 31.8% HR/FB rate … not gonna last. He’s feasting on some pitchers that aren’t all at the tops of their games. Hard to put too much stock in this kind of showing from a part-time player.

To be fair, Sandoval is legitimately ripping the baseball right now, at least when it is being thrown at him from someone’s right arm. Statcast it. 14.9% barrel rate … about triple what he was averaging during the Statcast Era. 45.2% hard-contact rate. The results are outstripping even that impressive contact (.385 wOBA vs. .362 wOBA), but not by a ridiculous margin. He’s hitting the ball to the opposite field more than ever, which perhaps hints at a change in approach that is helping to produce these results.

That’s all well and good, but the bottom line is that it’s just not a terribly sustainable formula. At his best, in his first stint with the Giants, Sandoval was a model of K/BB consistency, with solid walk rates (average for that era; around 8%) and low strikeout rates (between 13.1% and 13.5% in every season from 2009 and 2014). Now he’s at half that walk rate and twice that strikeout rate — well on the wrong side of current league average in both respects. Sandoval’s 15.9% swinging-strike rate is by far the highest of his career. The newly aggressive approach is working for now, but it doesn’t feel like it’ll last.

It’s not hard to imagine the Panda changing hands this summer. He could be a functional piece for the right team. But my expectation is that it’ll be for a rather minimal trade return, even though an acquiring team won’t have to come out of pocket for his services. You may be a buyer, but I’m walking away.

This Date In Transactions History: One Giant Acquisition

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It was May 29, 2010, nine years ago today, that the Giants made a decision which helped propel them to a National League West title and a World Series championship. Sitting a few games over .500 and facing their seventh straight season without a playoff berth, the club sought a right-handed spark for a lefty-heavy outfield. The Giants found their answer in 33-year-old veteran Pat Burrell, whom they signed to a minor league deal that came with no risk but ultimately paid significant dividends.

Burrell began his career in 2000 with the Phillies, who drafted him first overall in 1998, and wound up enjoying a successful run with the organization. Between his debut and his final season with the Phillies in 2008, Burrell headed to the plate 5,388 times and batted .257/.367/.485 (120 wRC+) with 251 home runs and 16.8 wins above replacement. Burrell’s Phillies tenure concluded with a World Series win over his next team, the Rays.

Tampa Bay brought Burrell in on a two-year, $16MM contract in January 2009, but the deal proved to be an unmitigated disaster for the franchise. Burrell was among the majors’ worst players in Year 1 of the deal; after Burrell got off to a similarly poor start through 24 games in 2010, the Rays designated him for assignment before releasing him with $9MM left on his contract.

Tampa Bay likely figured Burrell was shot when it parted with him. Little did the Rays know he’d end up as a dirt-cheap contributor on a title-winning club just a few months later. San Francisco owned a 29-24 record when it promoted Burrell to the majors on June 4, and it went 63-46 the rest of the way to win its division by two games over San Diego. Pat the Bat played an instrumental role in the Giants’ narrow defeat of the Padres. During a 96-game, 341-plate appearance renaissance, Burrell slashed .266/.364/.509 (136 wRC+) with 18 HRs and 2.8 WAR as the Giants’ primary left fielder.

Burrell’s numbers dropped in San Francisco’s playoff series wins over the Braves, Phillies and Rangers, but it didn’t faze the Giants. The franchise took home its first championship since 1954, back when it was the New York Giants, and went on to win two more in the ensuing four seasons. Burrell wasn’t part of either of those 2012 or ’14 clubs, but he did return to the Giants for his final season in 2011 – this time on a major league contract – and log solid production in 219 trips to the plate. Almost a decade after the Giants first signed Burrell, it’s fair to say he still ranks as one of the best in-season minor league signings ever.

Injury Notes: Astros, Lyles, Vincent, Reid-Foley

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Astros stars Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are both being evaluated by the team’s medical staff for potential injuries, the team told reporters Tuesday (Twitter links via Jake Kaplan of The Athletic). Altuve was already on the injured list but reported feeling fatigue and soreness his right leg after playing minor league rehab games on consecutive days. That’s all the more notable given that Altuve underwent right knee surgery following the 2018 season. As for Correa, he was scratched from tonight’s lineup due to discomfort in his ribs and is being evaluated back in Houston. President of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow downplayed the potential for a serious issue, however, stating that he doesn’t expect either issue to be a long-term problem (Twitter link via the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome). It’s possible that either could be out “a couple weeks,” per Luhnow, although obviously an exact timeline is impossible to gauge until the medical staff has completed its tests.

Some more injury notes from around the league…

  • The Pirates announced that right-hander Jordan Lyles exited tonight’s game due to hamstring discomfort. Lyles has been one of the best one-year signings of this past offseason, but he struggled through a second straight rough Tuesday, surrendering three runs on three hits and a pair of walks in four innings of work. Though his last two outings haven’t been sharp, Lyles still boasts a 3.09 ERA, 9.1 K/, 3.1 BB/9, 0.81 HR/9 and a 43.1 percent ground-ball rate in 55 1/3 innings. The Pirates have placed Jameson Taillon, Chris Stratton and Keone Kela on the injured list in May. If he requires a trip to the IL, the Bucs could turn back to top prospect Mitch Keller, who was recalled for a spot start yesterday but optioned back today.
  • Giants right-hander Nick Vincent exited tonight’s game with trainers, and The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly notes (via Twitter) that Vincent was motioning toward his neck/collarbone area as he departed the game. He’s been used heavily by the Giants, frequently pitching two- or more innings at a time. Prior to the 2019 season, Vincent had never thrown more than 64 2/3 innings in a Major League season, but he’s already up to 30 2/3 frames on the year. Correlation certainly doesn’t equate to causation in this instance, but the uptick in workload is at least worth a mention. Vincent looked like a potential trade chip less than three weeks ago, as he had a 2.25 ERA and a 25-to-6 K/BB ratio in 24 innings back on May 10. Since then, he’s surrendered 13 runs in his past four appearances — a span of just 6 2/3 innings.
  • It appears there’s some concern regarding young Blue Jays right-hander Sean Reid-Foley, as Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com tweets that Reid-Foley exited Tuesday’s start for Triple-A Buffalo in what looked to be “a lot of discomfort.” The former second-round pick loaded the bases and walked in a run before exiting the game with a member of the Bisons’ training staff. Reid-Foley has had a tough season in Buffalo so far, entering play Tuesday with a 6.60 ERA through 45 inning of work. To his credit, he’s picked up 50 strikeouts in that time, but he’s also issued 34 walks, hit four batters and thrown four wild pitches. [Update: Chisholm tweets that the Jays are calling the injury a back strain but hopeful that he can avoid even missing a start in Buffalo.]

Giants Option Andrew Suarez

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The Giants have optioned left-handed pitcher Andrew Suarez to Triple-A, tweets Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Sam Coonrod, who has been recalled from Triple-A.

Suarez’s demotion comes after making just two starts for the Major League club, neither of which yielded particularly promising results. In ten innings of work this season, Suarez has conceded three home runs and ten earned runs while walking as many batters as he has struck out.

Of course, the 26-year-old Suarez is still young and relatively inexperienced, having worked just 170 1/3 career innings in the big leagues. Though the early returns for the 2019 season have been ugly, his rookie numbers were far more encouraging, suggesting that Suarez is at least worthy of consideration for a spot in the rebuilding Giants’ starting rotation. For the time being, though, his tryout for new president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi will be put on hold and Suarez will head to the minors to iron out his issues.

As Baggarly notes, it appears that Suarez’s absence will clear the way for Dereck Rodriguez to reclaim his spot in the rotation. However, that is not certain; Tyler Beede is another candidate to replace Suarez in the rotation. Rodriguez, for his part, has not enjoyed much more success than Suarez in 2019, but after a brief stint in the minors he could be given the chance to show that his rookie success was no fluke. Sam Coonrod, meanwhile, will pitch out of the bullpen as he makes his Major League debut.

Coonrod, a fifth-round selection of the Giants in 2014, is a 26-year-old right-hander who began working out of the bullpen in the minors last season after beginning his professional career as a starter. Coonrod has played at the Triple-A level in 2019, pitching 18 innings in as many games, striking out 30 batters and walking 11. Though his 7.00 ERA is unsightly, his peripherals are considerably more impressive and point to MLB-caliber stuff.

Giants Select Mike Yastrzemski, Designate Mac Williamson

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The Giants have selected the contract of OF Mike Yastrzemski and designated OF Mac Williamson for assignment, mlb.com’s Maria Guardado was among those to report.

Yastrzemski, 28, is famously the grandson of hall-of-fame Red Sox outfielder Carl Yastrzemski, and will make his major league debut tonight after parts of seven seasons in the minors. With AAA-Sacramento this season, the Vanderbilt product slashed a hefty .316/.414/.676, a line perhaps slightly more impressive than some of his PCL peers, given the relative lowlands of his home environs as compared to the moon-landing surfaces of certain division rivals. Still, as with all new arrivals from Triple-A in the dawn of a new, juiced-ball era, caution should reign: a startling 17 players still boast an OPS north of 1.000 in the Coast League, and one must scroll assiduously to finally stumble upon a group that doesn’t check in above the .800 mark.

This’ll be the second DFA this season for the 28-year-old Williamson, who was recalled earlier this month after a brief AAA bash fest of his own. Mac slumped badly in SF, striking out in nearly 32% of his plate appearances on the way to a .118/.211/.196 line in 57 plate appearances for the orange and black. His presence wasn’t the salve for the outfield woes that have plagued the Giants for the better part of three seasons now, though new president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi remains aggressive in the search for a cure.

Mets Claim Aaron Altherr, Designate Tim Peterson For Assignment

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The Mets announced Thursday that they’ve claimed outfielder Aaron Altherr off waivers from the Giants and designated right-hander Tim Peterson for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Altherr, who is out of minor league options, will be added directly to the Mets’ roster after today’s game. He’ll step into a depleted outfield mix that is currently without Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo or Jeff McNeil, each of whom is on the injured list.

Altherr, 28, has spent the majority of his career with the division-rival Phillies, but Philadelphia ultimately had to designate him for assignment earlier this month due to a lack of playing time and his lack of options. He briefly landed with the Giants and appeared in all of one game with one plate appearance before his second DFA of the season. Given that the Mets have a whole outfield on the IL at the moment but none of the three is seriously injured, it’s possible that Altherr’s stay with his new organization will also be brief (though it’ll surely be longer than his Giants tenure).

Altherr has had an up-and-down career with the Phillies, showing great promise on multiple occasions but also battling frequent injuries that, at times, hampered his ability at the plate. He hit .241/.338/.489 through 161 plate appearances as a rookie in 2015 and .272/.340/.516 in 412 plate appearances in 2017. Altherr, however, posted miserable seasons at the plate in both 2016 (.587 OPS, 59 OPS+) and 2018 (.628, 68 OPS+), and he’s off to a 1-for-30 start so far in 2019. He possess an enticing blend of power and speed, but he’s also prone to strikeouts and prolonged slumps at the plate.

Peterson, also 28, has a 5.56 ERA and a 28-to-11 K/BB ratio through 34 MLB innings — 6 1/3 of which came earlier this season. An extreme fly-ball pitcher who doesn’t throw especially hard, Peterson hasn’t missed many bats at the MLB level but has a 3.90 ERA with 11.0 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in 60 innings at the Triple-A level. He currently has a 2.89 ERA and a 16-to-2 K/BB ratio in 18 2/3 innings with the Mets’ affiliate in Syracuse. He’s a pure reliever who also has a minor league option remaining beyond the 2019 season, so it’s possible another club could view him as some optionable bullpen candidate.

Rays, Giants Complete Erik Kratz Trade

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The Rays have traded right-hander Matt Seelinger to the Giants as the player to be named later in last week’s Erik Kratz trade, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Seelinger, 24, was the Pirates’ 28th-round pick back in the 2017 draft, but he landed with the Rays as part of last summer’s trade that sent Adeiny Hechavarria from Tampa Bay to Pittsburgh. This season, Seelinger opened the 2019 campaign at Class-A Advanced Charlotte, where he’s allowed 10 runs in nine innings of work.

Inauspicious start to the current campaign aside, Seelinger enjoyed a very strong year in 2018 when he posted a combined 2.80 ERA with 13.4 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 1.4 HR/9 and a 33 percent ground-ball rate in 45 innings of relief. He’s been a pure reliever who’s typically been older than the average competition he’s faced, but he does have 111 career strikeouts against 29 walks in 84 innings as a professional. Given that the trade in question sent a veteran backup catcher who’d already been designated for assignment to Tampa Bay, a relief prospect with a history of missing some bats and decent results against younger competition is a fairly reasonable return.

Kratz has seen just four plate appearances since being acquired by the Rays, but he should be in line for a fair bit of playing time with each of Mike Zunino, Michael Perez and Anthony Bemboom on the injured list. For now, Kratz will team with fellow trade acquisition Travis d’Arnaud to handle the bulk of the Rays’ catching duties.

Giants Designate Aaron Altherr

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The Giants have designated outfielder Aaron Altherr for assignment and activated left-hander Drew Pomeranz from the 10-day injured list, Maria Guardado of MLB.com was among those to report.

This is the second time this month that a team has booted Altherr from its 40-man roster. The Phillies did it previously when they designated Altherr on May 4, leading the Giants to claim him off waivers last weekend. Even though San Francisco’s outfield has been a mess this season, the club didn’t give Altherr much of an opportunity, allowing the 28-year-old just one at-bat before cutting him.

In fairness to the Giants, Altherr hasn’t exactly made a case for a big league roster spot over the past couple years. Altherr was a solid offensive producer in Philadelphia in 2017, when he hit .272/.340/.516 (121 wRC+) with 19 home runs in 412 plate appearances, but he has only batted .165/.272/.304 with eight long balls across 316 PA since then. Altherr’s 60 wRC+ is tied for eighth worst among hitters who have amassed at least 300 trips to the plate dating back to last season.

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