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Latest On Zaidi/Melvin Contracts With Giants

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Last offseason, the Giants hired Bob Melvin away from the Padres as manager. It was reported at the time that Melvin signed a three-year contract running through 2026. CEO Greg Johnson said at Melvin’s introductory press conference that the team also had an agreement “in principle” to extend baseball operations president Farhan Zaidi through the ’26 campaign (video provided on X by NBC Sports Bay Area).

It seems that’s not entirely accurate. John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the guaranteed portions of Melvin’s and Zaidi’s contracts actually run through the end of next season. According to Shea, both contracts have the equivalent of team options covering 2026.

That isn’t necessarily a big deal. If the Giants are satisfied with their leadership group, they can keep Zaidi and Melvin in place for at least another two years as anticipated. Yet it also means that ownership is only committed to next year’s salaries if they decide to make a change before ’26.

There’s no indication that the Giants are considering a shakeup. Just last week, ownership signed off on a six-year, $151MM extension for third baseman Matt Chapman. That’s the largest contract of Zaidi’s tenure. Chapman has longstanding ties to both Zaidi and Melvin dating back to their time with the A’s. That seems to be a vote for organizational stability on ownership’s part.

That said, there could be more pressure on the front office a year from now. This will be the fifth time in Zaidi’s six seasons that the Giants missed the playoffs. The exception was one of the greatest seasons in franchise history, a stunning 107-win campaign to snag the NL West from the Dodgers in 2021. The Giants have been an average team in each of the three seasons since then, never pulling much above or below .500.

A middle-of-the-pack finish is a particularly disappointing outcome this year. The Giants adeptly waited out the free agent market and brought in Blake Snell, Jorge Soler and Chapman late in the offseason. They signed KBO center fielder Jung Hoo Lee to a six-year, $113MM contract — the largest deal of the Zaidi era until Chapman’s extension. The Giants blew past the base luxury tax threshold for the first time since 2017. Hanging with the Dodgers was always going to be a tough ask, but the Giants at least envisioned themselves as Wild Card contenders.

They’ve instead dropped to fourth place in the NL West and are eight games back of a playoff spot. Losing Lee to a season-ending shoulder surgery in May didn’t do them any favors, particularly defensively. A healthy Lee alone would not have bridged an eight-game gap in the standings, though. San Francisco’s hitters rank 18th in on-base percentage and 19th in slugging.

They entered the season with questionable rotation depth behind Snell, Logan Webb and Kyle Harrison. Free agent pickup Jordan Hicks didn’t hold his stuff over his first full season as a starter. Between Hicks tailing off and the reliance on a few young pitchers (e.g. Keaton Winn, Hayden Birdsong, Mason Black), the Giants have gotten the second-fewest innings from their rotation. That has put a lot of stress on a solid but unexceptional bullpen.

Melvin recently addressed the disappointing year in a wide-ranging interview with Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic. The veteran manager and childhood Giants fan called it “probably the hardest year” of his career and discussed some decisions (pinch-hitting matchups, sticking with Camilo Doval as closer until last month) with which he has wrestled. Giants’ fans, in particular, are encouraged to read Melvin’s comments in full.

Braves Acquire Cavan Biggio From Giants

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The Braves have acquired infielder Cavan Biggio from the Giants, as noted by Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, the Giants are receiving cash considerations in return for Biggio’s services. Biggio is on a minor league deal and as such was eligible to be traded despite the trade deadline having passed. As he was acquired after the calendar flipped to September, Biggio will not be eligible to participate in the postseason with the Braves.

Biggio, 29, was a fifth-round pick by the Blue Jays back in 2016 who made his big league debut in 2019. Once seen as part of a budding core of youngsters in Toronto who were the children of former big leagues, Biggio’s career got off to a strong start as he batted .234/.364/.429 (115 wRC+) in 100 games during his rookie season as the club’s regular second baseman and earned fifth place in Rookie of the Year voting, finishing ahead of then-teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The good times continued for Biggio during the shortened 2020 season, as he appeared in 59 of the club’s 60 games and postd a career-best 122 wRC+.

Unfortunately, that’s the last time Biggio has found success in the majors as a regular player. Biggio’s offense cratered over the next two years as he slashed just .213/.320/.353 (91 wRC+) in a combined 597 trips to the plate. While he drew walks at an impressive 12.6% clip during that time, his strikeout rate crept up to 27.3% and the power he had flashed during the first two seasons of his career, when he combined for 24 homers in just 695 trips to the plate, cratered as he slugged just 13 between the 2021 and ’22 seasons combined. Late in the 2022 season, Biggio even found himself optioned to the minor leagues as Santiago Espinal took over the everyday second base job.

Things turned around slightly for Biggio last season, as he posted his first above-average offensive campaign in a full season since his rookie year. Although he was limited to just 338 trips to the plate as he served as a part time player for the club, Biggio hit a decent .235/.340/.370 (102 wRC+) in 111 games while splitting time between first base, second base, third base, and right field. While Biggio found success in that utility role last year, that didn’t last as he entered his age-29 season. In 44 games with Toronto this year, Biggio hit a paltry .200/.323/.291 as his strikeout rate soared to 32.1%, going over 30% for the first time in his career as a big leaguer.

The Blue Jays had evidently seen enough by the time early June rolled around and opted to designate him for assignment. He was traded to the Dodgers shortly thereafter but struggled with his new club as well, hitting a similar .192/.306/.329 in 88 trips to the plate across thirty games before they released him back in August. Biggio eventually found his way to the Giants on a minor league deal, though he did not appear at the big league level with the club before today’s swap and appeared in just 12 games for their Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.

That’s led Biggio to his fourth organization of the 2024 campaign, where he becomes the latest player who was released earlier this year to be brought in as an injury replacement by the Braves. Atlanta has dealt with a number of injuries this year all throughout their roster, and as such have gotten creative by bringing in the castoffs of other teams such as outfielder Ramon Laureano, reliever John Brebbia as well as infielders Whit Merrifield and Gio Urshela. Now, Biggio is seemingly being brought in as the injury replacement for an injury replacement. It was revealed earlier today that Merrifield sustained a left foot fracture after fouling a ball off his foot last night, and while the club reportedly hopes that he’ll be able to return to action as soon as next weekend, injuries around their infield have left them to rely on questionable options like Luke Williams and Eli White to handle the keystone while he and Ozzie Albies are sidelined.

For all of Biggio’s struggles with the Blue Jays and Dodgers earlier this year, even that lackluster production would be a substantial upgrade for either Williams or White given that the pair have career wRC+ figures of 56 and 58 respectively in the big leagues. While Biggio has struck out at a clip that isn’t befitting of a regular role this year, particularly given his lack of power, his penchant for drawing walks gives him a solid floor of offensive production. He’s never walked less than 11% of the time in a season and sports a 13.6% walk rate for is career, good for 13th best in the majors since the start of his career.

Though Biggio won’t be able to participate in the postseason with Atlanta, it seems as though both Merrfield and Albies are expected to return before then, meaning there’s little downside to giving Biggio a bit of runway down the stretch while the club’s preferred options at the keystone are injured. Of course, as Biggio is currently on a minor league contract, he’ll need to be added to the club’s 40-man and active rosters before he can play for the club. Atlanta’s 40-man roster is full, so a corresponding move will be necessary if the club decides to add Biggio to their roster.

Giants Place Kyle Harrison On 15-Day Injured List, “Good Chance” Season Is Over

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Prior to yesterday’s game, the Giants placed left-hander Kyle Harrison on the 15-day injured list due to an impingement in his throwing shoulder.  The placement is retroactive to September 4.  Righty Austin Warren was called up from Triple-A to take Harrison’s spot on the active roster.

Given the timing of the injury and the fact that the Giants have fallen out of contention, there’s “probably a good chance” Harrison’s season is over, manager Bob Melvin told the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea and other reporters.  Harrison underwent an MRI on Thursday and will get more tests done this coming week, and even if everything comes back clean, it seems unlikely he’d build his arm strength back up just for a sake of a few meaningless innings at the end of September.  Melvin said Harrison had already been battling shoulder soreness for his last few starts.

If this is indeed it for Harrison’s 2024 campaign, the former star prospect will finish his first full MLB season with a 4.56 ERA over 124 1/3 innings.  That ERA was inflated by 11 earned runs in his last two starts and 7 1/3 innings when Harrison was trying to pitch through pain, though for the season, Harrison’s 22.2% strikeout rate was below the league average.  The southpaw also ranked only in the 12th percentile in both hard-hit ball rates and barrel rates, as opposing batters had a lot of success against everything but Harrison’s primary pitch, a 92.5mph fastball.

The 124 1/3 innings represents a new career high for Harrison, topping the 113 frames he threw in the minors in 2022.   Melvin suggested that Harrison’s winter will involve “identifying what he needs to do as far as building himself up, getting a little stronger maybe,” which is normal for a rookie pitcher who now knows the grind of a 162-game season.  Beyond this shoulder impingement, Harrison also spent about a month on the IL due to an ankle sprain earlier this summer.

All things considered, however, it was still a pretty decent rookie season for a pitcher who only just turned 23 last month.  Widely regarded as one of baseball’s best pitching prospects, Harrison did nothing to shake his status as a key piece of San Francisco’s future plans.  Harrison is the most highly-touted of a group of younger arms the Giants hope can continue to develop into rotation reinforcements behind ace Logan Webb, and other more experienced arms like Robbie Ray and (if he returns to starting pitching) Jordan Hicks.  It is safe to assume the Giants will still look into adding pitching this winter considering that Blake Snell will almost surely be opting out of his contract, though re-signing Snell remains a possibility.

Giants Extend Matt Chapman

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The Giants made a major splash overnight, announcing that they’ve extended the contract of third baseman Matt Chapman. The deal guarantees Chapman $151MM over six years and runs from 2025 to 2030, with a $25MM annual salary and a $1MM signing bonus paid out in 2025. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Chapman’s deal contains a no-trade clause.

Chapman, 31, signed with the Giants on a three-year deal worth $54MM with opt outs after each season over the offseason when his market didn’t develop to expected levels last winter. In the months since then, it’s become apparent that the first of those opt-out opportunities would be exercised as the infielder has largely quelled his doubters with his best season in half a decade. His first season in a Giants uniform has seen him post a strong .247/.343/.445 slash line, good for a 118 wRC+, in 136 games. In addition to a strong season at the plate, he’s also put together his most impressive defensive season in years with +7 OAA and +13 DRS, his best showing in either metric since 2021.

With Chapman poised to return to free agency in search of a bigger contract elsewhere, the Giants have now made sure that he’ll remain with the club for the foreseeable future. The third baseman’s deal figures to keep him in San Francisco through the end of his age-37 season, and matches the six-year, $150MM prediction we at MLBTR made regarding Chapman’s contract ahead of the 2023-24 offseason almost exactly. The contract is representative of the potential upside that players who take opt-out laden deals can find if their initial foray into free agency doesn’t go according to plan; Chapman now figures to ultimately walk away from his time with the Giants having pocketed $169MM over seven years, though of course this outcome required not only a healthy season from the 31-year-old but his best season overall since 2019.

By staying in San Francisco long-term, Chapman ensures that he will spend the majority of his playing career in the Bay Area. The longtime Athletic was selected 25th overall by Oakland in the 2014 draft and made his debut with the club back in 2017.  He’d ultimately spend the first five seasons of his career in an A’s uniform, earning three Gold Glove awards, finishing in the top 10 of AL MVP voting twice, and making his first and so far only career All-Star game during that time. When the A’s began a total rebuild following the 2021 season, however, he was shipped to Toronto just before the 2022 campaign began and spend two years in Toronto. Now that Chapman is on a long-term deal with the Bay Area’s other MLB team, one of the stars of the Athletics’ final playoff team in Oakland will outlast the team itself in the community as the club stands poised to relocate following the 2024 campaign.

As for the Giants, the deal represents the second largest financial outlay in the club’s history and is dwarfed only by Buster Posey’s $166.5MM guarantee in his early-career extension with the team. By keeping Chapman in the fold, San Francisco locks up a potential cornerstone after failing in multiple well-documented pursuits of star players in recent years, ranging from Bryce Harper and Giancarlo Stanton to more recent pursuits of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. While Chapman doesn’t have the star power of any of those players, he’s a reliable defender and source of power at third base who offers a solid floor of 3 WAR on an annual basis, with upside much higher than that when he’s at his best.

Of course, it’s worth noting that Chapman’s reliability could decline on both sides of the ball as he enters his mid 30’s, a particularly notable caveat given the fact that he’ll play next season at 32 years old. At the same time, the deal makes Chapman the latest long-term piece put into place by a Giants club that has seemed somewhat listless in recent years as they search for an identity and struggle to contend in the era following the departures of Posey, Brandon Belt, and Brandon Crawford. Alongside Chapman, the club has Logan Webb and Kyle Harrison locked into the rotation, Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos in the outfield, and Patrick Bailey behind the plate through at least the end of the 2028 campaign. That’s a core of talent that could compete for a playoff spot in the coming years if properly supplemented, which is a clear step in the right direction for a franchise that appears to be trending towards its third consecutive sub-.500 finish this year.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Darin Ruf Joins University Of Nebraska Omaha Coaching Staff

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Former big league first baseman/outfielder Darin Ruf has joined the University of Nebraska Omaha baseball program as an assistant coach, the school announced Wednesday. There’s been no formal announcement of retirement for the 38-year-old Ruf, but this certainly seems to indicate he’s turning the page on his playing days and moving onto the next phase of his baseball journey.

“We are thrilled to have Darin join our baseball family,” Mavericks head coach Evan Porter said in a statement within today’s announcement. “Darin’s incredible track record speaks for itself, but his character and work ethic are perhaps more impressive. I’ve been fortunate to know Darin for the past 20 years, his respect for the game and for the people around him is admirable. I couldn’t be more excited to work with Darin, he is a tremendous addition to our program.”

A 20th-round pick out of Omaha’s Creighton University back in 2009, Ruf reached the majors with the Phillies in 2012 and went on to enjoy a nine-year career in the major leagues in addition to an excellent three-year run with the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization (2017-19).

Ruf’s debut campaign with the Phils was brief but showed clear potential for a meaningful big league career. He appeared in 12 games as a September call-up and popped three homers while batting .333/.351/.727 in 37 trips to the plate. The following season saw Ruf tally 293 plate appearances while hitting .247/.348/.458 with 14 round-trippers. He’d ultimately spend parts of five seasons with the Phillies, from 2012-16, batting a combined .240/.314/.433 while serving as a part-time first baseman and corner outfielder who could provide some right-handed thump off the bench.

From there, Ruf’s next stop was overseas. He not only found success with the KBO’s Lions — he took the entire league by storm. Ruf smacked 38 homers in his first Korean season and wound up posting a massive .313/.404/.564 batting line in 1756 plate appearances as a Lion. He belted 86 homers, 105 doubles and six triples during his run in the KBO, with overall offense about 45% better than league-average, by measure of wRC+.

Ruf returned stateside for the 2020 season, taking a minor league deal with the Giants that proved to be an outstanding deal for San Francisco. He cracked the Giants’ opening day roster in the shortened 2020 campaign, his age-33 season, and in 100 plate appearances turned in a .276/.370./517 slash that made him an easy call to keep for the Giants to tender him a contract in arbitration in the 2020-21 offseason. Ruf’s 2021 output was even better than that small-sample 2020 showing; in 312 plate appearances he hit .271/.385/.519 with 16 homers.

That sudden resurgence in the majors prompted the Giants to ink Ruf to a two-year, $6.25MM contract. His bat took a step back in the first season of the deal, but Ruf was still hitting at a slightly better-than-average level when the Mets acquired him at that summer’s trade deadline. His bat cratered following the move to Queens, however, and New York designated Ruf for assignment just before Opening Day 2023. He was released in early April, signed a minor league deal to return to the Giants, and split the 2023 season between San Francisco and Milwaukee, seeing brief playing time at both stops.

It now seems likely that’ll be the final stage of Ruf’s playing career. If he’s indeed shifting his focus to a coaching track, he’ll conclude his time in the majors with a career .239/.329/.427 batting line, 351 hits, 67 homers, 69 doubles, three triples, six steals, 198 runs scored and 205 runs driven in. Between MLB and the KBO, he cracked more than 150 homers and piled up more than 800 hits — all while earning more than $9MM in the majors and more than $4MM in South Korea.

The Omaha native will now help mold a younger generation of players while returning to his hometown. Ruf expressed excitement and gratitude in a statement of his own within today’s announcement:

“I am thrilled to be joining Evan’s staff in Omaha. I have been blessed with amazing coaches throughout my career and I am honored Evan has given me the opportunity to give back and work with these student athletes. I look forward to working with them on the field to become the best ball players they can be and off the field as they continue to develop into great people for the community of Omaha.”

Giants Playing Marco Luciano At Second Base

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The Giants recalled Marco Luciano and Luis Matos from Triple-A Sacramento this afternoon. San Francisco optioned Blake Sabol and Casey Schmitt in corresponding moves. Luciano is in tonight’s lineup at second base against Arizona’s Ryne Nelson. It seems that’ll be a frequent occurrence this month.

Manager Bob Melvin told reporters this evening that the Giants will play Luciano regularly at the keystone for the season’s final few weeks (relayed on X by Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Tonight’s start there will be the 22-year-old’s first second base action in the big leagues.

Luciano is no stranger to the middle infield. He has started 19 MLB games at shortstop over the last two years. He has nearly 2500 shortstop innings in the minors. Luciano has made 27 appearances at second base in his minor league career, all but six of which have come this season with Sacramento.

Despite his ample shortstop experience, the rookie infielder struggled at the position earlier in the year. He was charged with five errors in only 60 innings. Luciano’s fielding percentage sat at a dismal .865, and while that almost certainly would’ve risen in a larger sample, the frequency of the mistakes led the Giants to quickly decide that he wasn’t ready for everyday shortstop work. San Francisco flirted with playing him at designated hitter after the Jorge Soler deadline trade. That didn’t last long either, and he has all of 48 plate appearances over 17 MLB games this year.

The Giants’ playoff hopes have been all but officially ended, so the next few weeks are primarily about evaluation. Luciano’s development is one of the organization’s key storylines. Scouting reports have long touted his raw power, but that has yet to translate against upper level pitching. Luciano has four extra-base hits (three doubles and a triple) in 31 career big league contests. He only has 10 homers with a .250/.380/.380 batting line over 384 plate appearances in the Pacific Coast League this year. A near-17% walk rate has driven a huge on-base mark, but he’s striking out 27% of the time without making much of a power impact.

Luciano is a few days shy of his 23rd birthday, so there’s still plenty of time for him to figure things out. The Giants haven’t given him any kind of consistent run against MLB pitching before now. That said, his pedestrian upper minors production and the ongoing questions about his long-term defensive home leave a lot unsettled.

Acclimating well to second base could at least address the latter question. The Giants are going to need a long-term solution at the position. Thairo Estrada has held the job for the past three-plus years. He has had a very poor ’24 campaign, though, and the Giants outrighted him off the roster last week. Estrada remains in the organization for now, but the Giants will almost certainly move on during the upcoming offseason: either by allowing him to elect minor league free agency or declining to tender him an arbitration contract.

Luciano will need to tighten things up defensively if he’s to stick on the infield at all. Scouts’ questions about his chances of playing shortstop have been more about his hands and lateral mobility than any issues with his arm strength. Four of his five errors at the position were of the fielding variety. That’d be problematic no matter where he is on the dirt, though perhaps moving off the infield’s most demanding spot would allow him to be more comfortable.

Giants Activate Tristan Beck, Recall Blake Sabol

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Amid yesterday’s flurry of transactions related to September’s expansion of active rosters from 26 to 28, the Giants recalled catcher Blake Sabol and activated right-hander Tristan Beck from the 60-day injured list to fill the newly created vacancies. No corresponding 40-man move was necessary to activate Beck, and the club’s 40-man roster now stands at 39.

Beck, 28, has spent the entire season on the injured list to this point after suffering an aneurysm in his upper arm back in February. The righty underwent surgery to correct the issue back in early March but was shut down from throwing for the next two months and since then has been slowly working his way back towards a return to the majors. After spending the majority of August on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento, Beck finally made it back to the majors yesterday.

With that being said, Beck’s current role isn’t the one he was expected to fulfill at the start of the season. The right-hander was expected to be a member of the club’s starting rotation this year at the time of his injury after a solid rookie season in 2023 where he pitched to a 3.92 ERA in 85 innings of work as a multi-inning relief arm and spot starter. Beck’s injury derailed those plans, however, and while he started games in the minors during his rehab assignment last month he maxed out at just 56 pitches.

That won’t be enough for him to join a rotation that currently features Blake Snell, Logan Webb, Kyle Harrison, Hayden Birdsong, and Mason Black, but it should allow him to join righties Landen Roupp and Sean Hjelle as a multi-inning option out of the bullpen down the stretch. If Beck manages to post solid numbers in his return from surgery, it’s even possible that he could work his way back to into the conversation for starts with the Giants by next season, with Snell widely expected to opt out of his deal with San Francisco and vacate a rotation spot by returning to free agency.

As for Sabol, the 26-year-old was thrust into a semi-regular role with the club last year after being selected from the Pirates in the Rule 5 draft. He performed admirably in the role, with a decent .235/.301/.394 slash line that was within spitting distance of league average as he split time between catcher and left field in 110 games for San Francisco. This year, however, Sabol has returned to the minor leagues for the majority of the year with just 11 games in the majors under his belt to this point. Triple-A has been a bit of a struggle for the 26-year-old, as he’s slashed just .241/.339/.373 at the level despite the Pacific Coast League’s inflated offensive environment. Still, the versatile youngster should provide the Giants with some depth in the outfield and behind the plate down the stretch, and a strong performance could earn him more regular playing time headed into 2025.

Giants Outright Andrew Knapp

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TODAY: Knapp clears waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (X link).

AUGUST 29: The Giants announced Thursday that they’ve reinstated catcher Patrick Bailey from the 10-day injured list and designated fellow backstop Andrew Knapp for assignment to open roster space.

Knapp signed a big league deal with the Giants just last week, although it seemed clear at the time he’d only be relied upon while Bailey mended from an oblique strain that had sent him to the injured list. The 32-year-old Knapp went 1-for-6 in what was his second stint with the Giants, for whom he also played back in 2022.

With this brief Giants stint, Knapp has now played in parts of seven major league seasons, spending time with the Phillies, Mariners and Pirates in addition to his time in San Francisco. He’s a career .209/.309/.312 hitter in 879 plate appearances as a major leaguer. Knapp spent the bulk of the current season with the Rangers’ Triple-A club, hitting .294/.383/.457 in 81 games and 345 plate appearances. He’s a lifetime .259/.351/.415 hitter in parts of six Triple-A seasons.

Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Knapp will head to waivers and be made available to the other 29 clubs. He’ll likely clear, giving him the right to become a free agent, but a club in need of some catching depth down the stretch could look to bring him aboard on a minor league deal if and when that happens.

Giants Outright Thairo Estrada, Release Tyler Matzek

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Thairo Estrada and Tyler Matzek both went unclaimed on waivers. The Giants announced they’ve assigned Estrada outright to Triple-A Sacramento while recalling Brett Wisely (X link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Matzek, who’d been on the 60-day injured list, was placed on unconditional release waivers. Estrada drops off the 40-man roster, which now carries 38 players.

San Francisco reportedly placed Estrada, Matzek and lefty reliever Taylor Rogers on waivers earlier in the week. The Giants did not announce what happened with Rogers’ waiver process. It’s possible that they didn’t officially place Rogers on waivers until a day later than the Estrada and Matzek moves (and are therefore still waiting on a resolution). However, it seems likely that Rogers went unclaimed and the Giants simply elected to hold onto him.

A team is not required to send a player to the minors after he clears waivers. The Giants would have no reason to do so with Rogers. If the Giants tried to demote him, the former All-Star could elect free agency while retaining his $12MM salary for next season. That’d simply amount to cutting Rogers, a productive reliever, without any financial benefit for doing so.

Estrada does not have that luxury. The glove-first second baseman has between three and five years of service. That gives him the right to decline an outright assignment but would require him to forfeit the remainder of his salary to do so. Estrada is playing on a $4.7MM arbitration deal and isn’t likely to give up the more than $800K remaining on that contract. He’ll almost certainly report to Sacramento, while Wisely could get a look as the everyday second baseman at Oracle Park.

The 28-year-old Estrada was an average or better hitter during his first three seasons with the Giants, combining for a .266/.320/.416 slash. He topped 20 stolen bases and drilled 14 homers apiece in 2022 and ’23. He hasn’t been anywhere near that effective this season. He’s hitting .217/.247/.343 across 381 trips to the plate. Among hitters with 300+ plate appearances, only Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall have a lower on-base percentage.

San Francisco can reselect Estrada onto the 40-man roster through season’s end. He’d technically remain eligible for arbitration if they called him back up, but the waiver process makes clear that the Giants don’t plan to tender him a contract in either case. Whether he returns to the MLB club next month, he’s very likely to be on the open market (either through minor league free agency or a non-tender) during the upcoming offseason.

The Giants acquired Matzek from the Braves as a salary offset in the Jorge Soler deadline deal. He’s playing on a $1.9MM salary that no team was willing to assume. Matzek was on the injured list at the time of the trade and never threw a pitch as a Giant. He missed all of last year recovering from Tommy John surgery. Matzek returned this season before landing back on the IL in May with elbow inflammation.

The 33-year-old southpaw had a tough first month in Atlanta, giving up 11 runs over 10 frames. The Giants sent him to Triple-A on a rehab stint a couple weeks ago. He made five appearances, allowing four runs through 4 2/3 innings. Matzek could be healthy enough to sign elsewhere, though he’d need to do so within the next day to be eligible for postseason play.

Second-Half Snell Is Doing It Again

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Over the course of any given calendar year, Major League Baseball is full of oddities. The Dodgers gave the largest pitching contract ever to a starting pitcher who'd never pitched in the majors. The Marlins waved the white flag on their season after about five weeks. Rich Hill signed his eighth career free agent deal with the Red Sox. Heck, Danny Jansen played in the same game for two different teams. All that said, Blake Snell has had one of the strangest calendar years of any player in the game.

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