Giants Rumors

Latest On Matt Harvey

By Steve Adams | May 7, 2018 at 5:42pm CDT

5:40pm: While the Rangers have discussed pursuit of Harvey, per MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (via Twitter), the organization won’t trade for him. Indeed, GM Jon Daniels confirmed as much in an appearance on 105.3 The Fan (Twitter link). Of course, it still seems possible the organization could be involved if Harvey reaches the open market.

2:36pm: The Giants have also discussed taking a flyer on Harvey, tweets ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. San Francisco learned today that Johnny Cueto will miss the next six to eight weeks, and Madison Bumgarner remains on the disabled list until late May. They’ve been plugging in a struggling Derek Holland in the fifth spot in their rotation, though it’s not clear at all if Harvey would represent an upgrade.

12:51pm: Following one of the most high-profile DFAs in recent memory, the Mets appear to be generating some interest in former ace Matt Harvey. Andy Martino of SNY reports that that the Rangers and Mariners both have some degree of interest in acquiring the righty. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi wrote this morning that Texas’ interest is “mild,” while Martino indicates that Rangers assistant pitching coach Dan Warthen is pushing the organization to roll the dice on Harvey. Warthen was his pitching coach with the Mets prior to 2018.

While Morosi speculates about the possibility of the Orioles and Mets lining up on a deal, Martino hears that the O’s don’t have much in the way of interest. Baltimore did check in on Harvey over the winter, but Martino reports that the Mets circled back to the O’s prior to designating Harvey for assignment and found “little interest” despite the disastrous results of the Baltimore rotation thus far in 2018.

It’s not a huge surprise to see the Rangers connected to Harvey, given not only Warthen’s presence in the organization but also the team’s general approach to adding arms this offseason. The Rangers shopped for volume this winter, stockpiling veteran arms on low-cost deals (in many instances on minor league contracts) in an effort to bolster their organizational depth. Payroll was a factor in Texas’ approach, so it seems unlikely that they’d take on the full chunk of Harvey’s remaining contract — about $4.43MM — but the Mets will almost certainly be willing to include cash in any deal. The alternative, after all, is to release Harvey and simply pay him the money is owed anyway.

As for the Mariners, they’ve endured plenty of rotation struggles of their own. James Paxton’s 4.19 ERA leads Seattle starters, and their rotation as a whole has pitched to a 5.30 earned run average. There’s likely been some poor fortune at play — both xFIP and SIERA peg Mariners starters at 4.05 as a group — but the bottom-line results have not been encouraging. Erasmo Ramirez just went back on the disabled list as well, prompting the Mariners to move veteran Wade LeBlanc from a long relief role into the fifth starter’s slot.

It seems decidedly unlikely that the Mets would receive much in the way of a significant return for Harvey, whose struggles date back to Opening Day 2017. He’s earning $5.6MM this season, is a free agent in November and has undergone both Tommy John and thoracic outlet surgery — both of which (especially the latter) have contributed to his rapid decline.

Johnny Cueto Out Six To Eight Weeks With Elbow Sprain

By Steve Adams | May 7, 2018 at 12:30pm CDT

12:30pm: Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets that Cueto’s timeline to return is actually six to eight weeks.

12:21pm: There’s been no shortage of worry over the status of Johnny Cueto’s elbow following last week’s placement on the DL and visit to multiple specialists, including Dr. James Andrews. FanRag’s Jon Heyman, however, tweets that the Giants received relatively good news on their righty. While Cueto has been diagnosed with a sprain in the elbow, he’s avoided a major tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. Dr. Andrews prescribed rest for Cueto, and he’s expected to miss six weeks of action, per Heyman.

Certainly, a six-week absence for Cueto, who stormed out of the gates hotter than almost any pitcher on the planet, is a critical blow for the Giants. But Cueto has obviously avoided a worst-case scenario by receiving a non-surgical treatment plan. With Cueto and Madison Bumgarner on the shelf for the time being, the Giants will continue to turn to Jeff Samardzija, Chris Stratton, Ty Blach, Derek Holland and Andrew Suarez in the rotation, with Tyler Beede waiting in the wings at Triple-A Sacramento should another need arise in the starting corps.

The 2017 season was one to forget for Cueto, who was limited to 147 2/3 innings by a flexor strain and struggled to a 4.52 ERA in that time. Last year’s struggles prompted Cueto to forgo the opt-out provision in his six-year deal with the Giants, and early on, it looked like a blessing in disguise for San Francisco. Cueto took the NL by storm in April, tossing 32 innings with a 0.84 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and a 45 percent ground-ball rate. He allowed just one homer in his 32 frames before landing on the DL with what was initially termed inflammation before an MRI and a series of evaluations.

San Francisco has remained afloat in the division with a 19-15 record, four games back from the Diamondbacks for the NL West lead, and just completed a sweep of an exciting young Braves team over the weekend. The loss of Cueto for an extended period will give the club a lengthy look at Suarez, who has admittedly been quite impressive in his first three starts as a big leaguer (3.06 ERA, 18-to-2 K/BB ratio, 53.3 percent ground-ball rate in 17 2/3 innings). The former second-round pick could position himself to seize a long-term starting job for the Giants if he continues at anywhere near that pace.

Quick Hits: Harvey, Giants, Red Sox, Orioles, Soroka, Cubs

By Mark Polishuk | May 6, 2018 at 11:58pm CDT

As the legendary Willie Mays celebrates his 87th birthday, here are some notes from around the baseball world…

The Giants could be a potential fit as a suitor for Matt Harvey, as the former Mets ace’s arm intrigues some members of San Francisco organization, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (via Twitter). Rather than take on the extra salary that would come with claiming or trading for Harvey during his DFA period, Schulman figures the Giants will wait until he hits the open market before considering a pursuit. The Giants have little salary room to spare as they aim to stay under the $187MM luxury tax limit, so their obvious preference is to sign Harvey for a prorated minimum salary.
While a Matt Harvey-for-Blake Swihart trade doesn’t seem to be in the cards, The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey (subscription required) wonders if the Red Sox could still have interest in Harvey as a reclamation project given assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister’s recent success in reviving struggling veteran starters. The Sox also have some experience in dealing with pitchers returning from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in the form of Tyler Thornburg, though Bannister notes that “we’re all kind of still learning about” how to best rehab pitchers after the TOS procedure.
With an 8-26 record, it’s seemingly only a matter of time before the Orioles start making some necessary changes, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes (subscription required) in a follow-up to his piece last month about Baltimore’s evolving front office and ownership dynamic. Since executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette seems to be losing influence within the organization, Rosenthal asks “why would they keep Duquette at all?” as the team approaches some critical long-term decisions at the trade deadline. Duquette considered firing pitching coach Roger McDowell after last season in the wake of the poor performance of Baltimore’s arms, though it isn’t known whether moves like coaching changes are still under consideration, or if Buck Showalter could step in to prevent firing members of his coaching staff. Whatever changes are made, fans aren’t buying into the current (lack of) direction, as attendance is way down at Camden Yards.
Braves pitching prospect Mike Soroka’s second career MLB start wasn’t nearly as impressive as his first, as Soroka allowed four earned runs over four innings today against the Giants. Manager Brian Snitker told MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (Twitter link) and other media that Soroka is scheduled to make his next start, with an implication being that Atlanta isn’t planning to demote the 20-year-old anytime soon. Anibal Sanchez is still sidelined with a hamstring injury, and will likely be moved to relief pitching when he returns so the Braves can give Soroka a fuller look in his first taste of the majors.
Phillies hitting coach John Mallee “was totally surprised” at being replaced as the Cubs’ hitting coach after last season, he tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Though manager Joe Maddon praised Mallee’s work, the Cubs’ decision to part ways with Mallee and hire Chili Davis seemed due (as Maddon and Theo Epstein explain) to an organizational preference for more of a well-rounded hitting attack, as opposed to Mallee’s more launch angle-based philosophy. It seems like there could be a bit of a learning curve to the new approach for Cubs hitters, as the team’s offensive numbers are down over the first six weeks of the season.

NL Notes: Dodgers, Mets, Braves, Padres, Giants

By Connor Byrne | May 6, 2018 at 4:30pm CDT

Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig is slated to go on a rehab assignment Monday and come off the disabled list Wednesday, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets. It has been a short stay on the DL for Puig, who suffered a hip pointer and a bruised foot on April 28. Meanwhile, third baseman Justin Turner took batting practice Sunday for the first time since suffering a broken left wrist on March 20, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register was among those to report. Both the Puig and Turner updates are much-needed positive news for the Dodgers, who have been victimized by key injuries all year. Ace Clayton Kershaw became their latest cornerstone player to hit the DL on Sunday.

Giants Sign Ryan Hanigan

By Connor Byrne | May 6, 2018 at 12:58pm CDT

The Giants have signed catcher Ryan Hanigan to a minor league contract, Jon Heyman of FanRag tweets.

The 37-year-old Hanigan was most recently with the Indians, who signed him to a minors pact in February but released him a month later. While Hanigan has enjoyed some success during his time in the majors, which began with the Reds in 2007, he hasn’t been able to find a big league deal since the Red Sox declined his $3.75MM option after the 2016 season. Nevertheless, he did reach the majors last year as a member of the Rockies, with whom he hit .267/.324/.347 in 112 plate appearances.

Given the Giants’ depth behihnd the plate, returning to the bigs in San Francisco looks as though it’ll be a tall order for Hanigan. Backup Nick Hundley has been outstanding this year behind all-world starter Buster Posey, and the Giants also have promising prospect Aramis Garcia in Double-A (he’s on their 40-man roster) and veterans Hector Sanchez and Trevor Brown at Triple-A.

NL Notes: DeGrom, Giants, Dodgers, Phillies

By Connor Byrne | May 5, 2018 at 10:38pm CDT

Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom went through a serious injury scare to his pitching elbow on Wednesday, but it turns out he won’t even miss a start. DeGrom will take the ball Monday as scheduled, manager Mickey Callaway told Brian Heyman of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday. The 29-year-old DeGrom’s near-injury didn’t occur on the mound, of course; instead, it came when he was swinging the bat during a third-inning plate appearance. As a result, Callaway would rather the prized hurler take a more passive offensive approach. “No, he will not,” Callaway said when asked if deGrom would be swinging in his next start. “I haven’t told him that, but no. There’s really no reason to. If it were up to me, the [pitchers] would never take BP. They would never swing in the game. We don’t need their spot in the lineup to score runs. And if we do, we’re not going to win anyway.” To his credit, deGrom is actually a decent offensive contributor relative to most other pitchers, evidenced by the .211/.233/.268 line he posted in 77 plate appearances last year.

Here’s more from the National League:

Giants outfielder Mac Williamson won’t come off the seven-day concussion disabled list Sunday, manager Bruce Bochy announced (Twitter link via Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group). Williamson is still “woozy,” according to Bochy. As Crowley notes, that suggests Williamson is continuing to deal with symptoms from the head injury he suffered April 24. The Giants have gone an impressive 7-3 since then, even though Williamson may have been in the very early stages of a breakout season prior to going on the DL.
Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill will also have to wait a bit longer to return from the DL. Hill was scheduled to start Sunday against the Padres, but the Dodgers will instead give the ball to righty Ross Stripling, Pedro Moura of The Athletic was among those to report. The Dodgers don’t want to expose Hill’s injured finger to the high humidity in Monterrey, Mexico, site of their current series, according to Moura. However, Hill pointed out that he’s ready to come back. “I’m good to go. There’s nothing wrong,” said Hill, who has been out since April 14 (via Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times).
Righty Enyel De Los Santos is making a case to join the Phillies’ rotation sometime this year, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com writes. The Phillies acquired the hard-throwing 22-year-old from the Padres in exchange for shortstop Freddy Galvis over the winter, and De Los Santos has since opened the season in dominant fashion with his new organization. Across 19 1/3 innings (four starts) at the Triple-A level, De Los Santos has pitched to a 1.40 ERA with 11.64 K/9 against 2.79 BB/9. Although De Los Santos isn’t on the Phillies’ 40-man roster, which could work against a promotion, they’ve taken notice of his performance, as director of player development Joe Jordan explains at length in Zolecki’s piece.

NL West Notes: Buehler, Padres, Melancon, D-backs

By Connor Byrne | May 5, 2018 at 7:04pm CDT

Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler has pitched his way into the club’s rotation for the foreseeable future, manager Dave Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters Saturday (Twitter link). Although Buehler is a past Tommy John surgery recipient who hasn’t yet thrown 100 innings in a professional season, his workload isn’t the Dodgers’ primary concern at the moment. “Right now we need to win games,” Roberts said of a potential innings limit for Buehler, who has combined for 29 between the majors and minors in 2018. The 23-year-old Buehler is regarded as one of the game’s elite pitching prospects, and he has lived up to the hype during his first three major league starts this season. Not only has Buehler tossed 16 innings of 1.13 ERA ball with 10.69 K/9 and 3.94 BB/9, but he was on the hill for the first six frames of the Dodgers’ combined no-hitter against the Padres on Saturday. His emergence has been especially timely for an LA team that just lost starter Hyun-Jin Ryu until the second half of the season.

Buehler and three relievers combined to fan 13 hitters Saturday, thus contributing to the Padres’ league-high strikeout rate (27.3 percent) and second-worst swinging-strike percentage (12.6). Padres manager Andy Green has seen just about enough, as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune relays. “It’s well-known that we’ve punched out way too much,” Green said. “We’re at a point in time with hitters here where your opportunity will pass you by if you don’t make an adjustment and start putting the ball in play. The opportunity will start going to somebody else. We’ll continue to churn if we can’t get the job done.” Thanks in part to their swing-and-miss ways, the Padres are off to an 11-22 start – their worst since 2012, notes Acee, who suggests they could soon promote high-end middle infield prospect Luis Urias. The 20-year-old Urias, who has slashed .298/.416/.417 in 101 Triple-A plate appearances this season, would perhaps give San Diego’s offense a much-needed jolt.
Giants closer Mark Melancon threw a 20-pitch bullpen session Saturday and then informed reporters (including Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle) that he’s aiming to return from the 60-day disabled list May 25, when he’s first eligible (Twitter link). Melancon hasn’t pitched at all this season, the second of a four-year, $62MM deal, on account of a flexor strain in his right elbow. Nevertheless, the Giants’ bullpen has fared better statistically than it did in 2017, and fill-in closer Hunter Strickland has performed respectably in Melancon’s place.
Diamondbacks righty Kris Medlen had an ugly outing Friday in his first major league outing since 2016, allowing seven earned runs on nine hits and four walks in a loss to the Astros. The veteran lost his 25-man roster spot Saturday when the D-backs optioned him to Triple-A in favor of righty Braden Shipley, per a team announcement. Fortunately for Arizona, whose rotation will go without Robbie Ray (oblique strain) for several weeks and Taijuan Walker (Tommy John surgery) for the rest of the year, an intriguing reinforcement is making progress. Righty Shelby Miller, who’s on the mend from the TJ surgery he underwent last year, could pitch in an extended spring training game next week, manager Torey Lovullo told Richard Morin of the Arizona Republic and other reporters Saturday. Miller threw live batting practice Friday – and that went “very, very good,” per Lovullo – and is slated for a bullpen session Tuesday.

Giants Place Johnny Cueto On Disabled List

By Steve Adams | May 2, 2018 at 1:48pm CDT

TODAY: Skipper Bruce Bochy did not exactly calm fears over Cueto’s health in his update to reporters today, though uncertainty remains the overarching theme at the moment. As Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets, the skipper says that Cueto is heading out for opinions from multiple specialists — likely including Dr. James Andrews.

The precise nature of the injury, though, is not yet clear (publicly, at least). There’s no indication at present how likely it is that a surgical approach will be pursued, let alone what kind of timeline Cueto could be looking at for making it back to the mound.

YESTERDAY, 8:23pm: Giants GM Bobby Evans tells Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic that Cueto has been dealing with some elbow discomfort for at least a couple of starts (Twitter link). “We are getting our heads wrapped around it now,” the GM said. “We’re still trying to understand where he’s at.”

The organization is presently awaiting MRI results.*

8:04pm: The Giants have placed right-hander Johnny Cueto on the 10-day disabled list due to inflammation in his right elbow, the team told reporters (Twitter link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area).

It’s yet another costly injury for a Giants team that is currently without Madison Bumgarner, Joe Panik, Mark Melancon and Mac Williamson, among others. Lefty Andrew Suarez is up to step into Cueto’s rotation spot, rounding out a starting mix that also includes Jeff Samardzija, Derek Holland, Ty Blach and Chris Stratton.

Even a brief absence for Cueto is a notable hit to the Giants, considering the level of utter dominance put forth by Cueto thus far in what was shaping up to be a rebound campaign. After missing much of the 2017 season due to a forearm issue (and struggling when healthy), Cueto opened the year with a superlative 0.84 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, 0.28 HR/9 and a 45 percent ground-ball rate through 32 innings. With Bumgarner shelved for the first two months of the season, Cueto had stepped up and filled those considerable shoes, providing the Giants with a much-needed ace atop a shakier bunch of two-through-five starters.

*An earlier version of this post mistakenly stated that the team had not yet sent Cueto for an MRI.

Injury Notes: Middleton, Bumgarner, Mariners, Hedges, Orioles, Chirinos

By Steve Adams | May 1, 2018 at 6:12pm CDT

The Angels announced today that they’ve placed right-hander Keynan Middleton on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to April 29, with inflammation in his right elbow. It’s not immediately clear how long the team expects Middleton to be sidelined, though the loss comes as a notable hit to the Halos’ bullpen. Middleton, 24, has handled much of the Angels’ closer responsibilities in 2018, saving six games while pitching to a 2.40 ERA with a 15-to-7 K/BB ratio in 15 innings of work. With Middleton on the shelf, Cam Bedrosian, Blake Parker and (especially) Jim Johnson have experience closing games out at the big league level, though Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register suggests that rookie Justin Anderson could step into the ninth inning spotlight (Twitter link). Eduardo Paredes has been recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake to take Middleton’s roster spot for now.

Some more injury news from around the league…

Giants manager Bruce Bochy told reporters today that Madison Bumgarner could begin throwing off a bullpen mound in a couple of weeks (Twitter link via Chris Haft of MLB.com). Bumgarner, of course, will need multiple bullpen sessions and some rest days between them before he can build up to the point where he’d be able to go out on a minor league rehab assignment. A mid-May target for bullpen sessions and, presumably, multiple outings in a rehab assignment would figure to put Bumgarner in line for a return at some point in June.
The Mariners announced today that both Dan Altavilla and Erasmo Ramirez are headed to the 10-day disabled list, with outfielder Guillermo Heredia and right-hander Casey Lawrence coming up from Triple-A Tacoma to take their spots. Altavilla, who has occupied a setup role for the M’s over the past couple of seasons, has inflammation in his right AC joint, whereas Ramirez will return to the DL with a Teres Major strain after only a brief activation period. Seattle didn’t provide timelines for either right-hander’s return, though Ramirez could be facing the longer recovery time of the two. Michael Pineda and Clayton Kershaw have both missed four-plus weeks in the past with similar injuries.
Catcher Austin Hedges has been placed on the 10-day DL with tendinitis in his right elbow, per a club announcement from the Padres, with Rafael Lopez coming up from Triple-A El Paso to fill his roster spot. The defensively sound Hedges has had another slow start to the season with the bat, hitting at just a .173/.235/.293 pace through 81 trips to the plate thus far. Veteran receiver A.J. Ellis figures to step up as San Diego’s primary backstop in Hedges’ absence. Lopez, 30, hit .222/.306/.463 in a career-high 63 PAs for the Blue Jays last season and is hitting .300/.372/.657 with a whopping seven homers through just 79 Triple-A PAs. He hit 12 homers in Triple-A last year through 223 PAs.
The Orioles announced that they’ve activated Mark Trumbo from the 10-day DL for his season debut, though they also had to place infielder Luis Sardinas on the DL in his place due to a strained lower back. Sardinas’ DL placement is retroactive to April 29, and defensive specialist Engelb Vielma is up from Triple-A to take over Sardinas’ infield duties for now. Pedro Alvarez’s resurgence at the plate could prompt Trumbo to see some time at the outfield in order to keep Alvarez in the lineup at designated hitter. Jace Peterson figures to get starts at second base until Jonathan Schoop returns.
Tampa Bay righty Yonny Chirinos has landed on the disabled list with a right forearm strain, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links). The Rays have brought lefty Ryan Yarbrough back up from Triple-A Durham to take his spot on the roster. It’s not clear yet how long Chirinos will be expected to miss, though Topkin suggests that the organization doesn’t believe the injury to be serious. Chirinos had stepped up as the team’s de facto fourth starter following a series of injuries that initially led the Rays to open the season with three starters and a pair of bullpen days in place of a traditional five-man rotation. Yarbrough has been pitching in multi-inning relief stints with the Rays and could be looked at as a starting option himself in Chirinos’ absence.

Giants To Activate Will Smith

By Jeff Todd | April 30, 2018 at 9:26pm CDT

The Giants will activate southpaw Will Smith in time for Wednesday’s game, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to report on Twitter. Smith worked back from Tommy John surgery that he underwent in late March of last year.

That’s obviously welcome news for the Giants, who entered play today with a .500 record. While the bulk of the relief corps has registered as a positive in the early going — including southpaw Tony Watson, who has been excellent — the added depth will surely not hurt the cause.

It’s tough to know what to expect out of Smith out of the gates. But the 28-year-old racked up 11 strikeouts without surrendering a walk in his 7 1/3 rehab innings, so the hope will surely be that he can hit the ground running.

Smith, of course, has ample late-inning experience and the stats to match, so the San Francisco organization will hope to return him to high-leverage spots sooner rather than later. In nearly 200 career innings as a reliever, Smith has held opposing hitters to a .221/.300/.365 slash line while carrying a 3.13 ERA.

The Giants, who dealt for Smith at the 2016 trade deadline, are paying him $2.5MM for the coming season after avoiding arbitration over the winter. He’ll be eligible for arbitration one final time this coming fall.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Show all

Headlines

Giants Rumors

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect