Giants Rumors

Notable Roster Decisions: Wednesday

By Connor Byrne,Jeff Todd and Steve Adams | March 28, 2018 at 8:46pm CDT

The latest noteworthy roster decisions across Major League Baseball as Opening Day draws ever closer…

The Brewers announced that they’ve selected the contract of Ji-Man Choi, who’ll make their Opening Day roster. (Sung Min Kim of Fangraphs and River Ave. Blues first tweeted that Choi had made the roster.) That means both Choi and the out-of-options Jesus Aguilar will make a roster which also includes first base options Eric Thames and Ryan Braun. However, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel points out (via Twitter), the composition is likely to change quickly — possibly as soon as Friday. Choi has an option remaining, Haudricourt notes. More interestingly, Haudricourt adds that the Brew Crew is pursuing an external pitching addition, and if said move goes through, then Choi could quickly be optioned to Colorado Springs to clear a 25-man roster spot. Also of particular note for the Brewers is that Wade Miley was reassigned to minor league camp and won’t be making the club.

Earlier Decisions & Moves

The White Sox have selected the contract of left-hander Hector Santiago, giving them a full 40-man roster, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times was among those to report on Twitter. In other moves, the club sent southpaw Carlos Rodon (left shoulder rehabilitation) and catcher Kevan Smith (left ankle sprain) to the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to March 26. Santiago will now officially begin his second major league stint as a member of the White Sox, with whom he started his career in 2011 and stayed with through 2013. Santiago was successful during that span, but his career has trended downward lately – particularly last season as a Twin – which prevented him from landing a major league contract over the winter. The minors deal the 30-year-old signed with Chicago includes a $2MM salary in the bigs, which he’s now in position to earn. Santiago’s a longtime starter, but he’ll open 2018 in the Sox’s bullpen.
The Dodgers have optioned outfielder Andrew Toles, as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link). Toles’ demotion means Joc Pederson is likely to be the Dodgers’ Opening Day left fielder, DiGiovanna notes. Toles had been part of a crowded corner outfield battle during spring action alongside Pederson, Matt Kemp, Enrique Hernandez, Alex Verdugo and the just-jettisoned Trayce Thompson. The fact that Toles had options remaining – unlike the expensive, apparently immovable Kemp – probably didn’t do him any favors in his bid to make the Dodgers. The 25-year-old Toles has been successful in Los Angeles since debuting in 2016, having batted .294/.341/.483 with 2.1 fWAR n 217 plate appearances. He missed all but 31 games last season, though, after suffering a torn ACL in May.
Outfielders Gregor Blanco and Gorkys Hernandez will open the season with the Giants, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. The Giants signed Blanco, 34, to a minors pact back in January. Per that deal, he’ll earn a $1MM salary in the majors and have a chance at $500K in incentives in San Francisco, with which he previously played from 2012-16 and won a pair of World Series. Hernandez is out of options, so he was also in a do-or-die position this spring. The 30-year-old rose to the challenge, though he’ll surely need to improve on last season’s showing (.255/.327/.326 line with no home runs in 348 PAs) to keep his roster spot for all of 2018.
Outfielder Matt Szczur and righty Jordan Lyles will be part of the Padres’ Opening Day roster, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets. The out-of-options Szczur, 28, will continue to provide outfield depth in San Diego after coming over in a trade with the Cubs last summer. Lyles, meanwhile, spent a bit of time with the Padres in 2017 and then re-signed on a major league contract in the offseason. The deal also features a club option for 2019 for Lyles, who’ll begin the year in the Friars’ bullpen. Having pitched to a 5.43 ERA/4.55 FIP across 681 combined innings (182 appearances, 107 starts) with the Astros, Rockies and Padres, Lyles hasn’t lived up to the billing he had as a prospect. He’s still just 27, however.
Catchers A.J. Ellis and Raffy Lopez will also be on the Padres’ roster, the team announced. Those two and starter Austin Hedges will give the Padres three backstops on their 25-man roster. Ellis, an established veteran backup, is now set to make $1.25MM after signing a minor league deal in the offseason. The 30-year-old Lopez, who brings just 83 PAs of MLB experience, also signed a minors pact over the winter.
The Marlins will add catcher Bryan Holaday to their 40- and 25-man rosters, per Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Holaday, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in the offseason. He’ll be one of three catchers on their season-opening roster, joining Tomas Telis (out of options) and Chad Wallach, son of bench coach Tim Wallach. It’s not an ideal setup for Miami, which won’t have standout starter J.T. Realmuto at the outset of the season. Realmuto is on the DL with a bone bruise.
The Twins will roster outfielder Ryan LaMarre to open the year, Phil Miller of the Star Tribune tweets. LaMarre, an offseason minor league signee of the Twins, spent last year with the Triple-A affiliates of the Angels and Athletics, combining for a meager .628 OPS. He’s a lifetime .268/.335/.388 hitter at the Triple-A level (954 PAs) who has seen very brief MLB action with the Reds, Red Sox and A’s.
The Tigers announced that they’ve selected infielder Niko Goodrum’s contract, which puts their 40-man roster at capacity. Goodrum, who signed a minors deal with Detroit in November, spent 2010-17 with the Minnesota organization and batted .250/.333/.379 in 2,796 minor league PAs. He saw minimal big league action with the club (18 PAs, all of which came last season).
The Mariners made the DL placements of Erasmo Ramirez, Ben Gamel and David Phelps official, and they also announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence, who will return to the team after spending parts of the 2017 campaign on Seattle’s big league roster. The M’s also optioned infielder/outfielder Taylor Motter to Triple-A Tacoma.

Latest On Giants’ Pitching Injuries

By Mark Polishuk | March 27, 2018 at 6:29pm CDT

The injury bug has continued to attack Giants pitching, as manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (including NBCSports.com’s Alex Pavlovic and Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group) that right-hander Julian Fernandez has suffered a UCL sprain and is headed to the disabled list. Furthermore, closer Mark Melancon’s availability for Opening Day could be in question, as his arm is still bothering him after making back-to-back appearances last Thursday and Friday.

Fernandez was selected out of the Rockies’ farm system in last December’s Rule 5 Draft, and would’ve had to remain on San Francisco’s 25-man roster all season or else be offered back to Colorado. Placing Fernandez on the DL would keep him in the Giants organization for now, though the larger concern is the 22-year-old’s health status. The timeline for such UCL injuries vary greatly due to the severity of the sprain, though Fernandez will likely be sidelined for at least a few months.

If Fernandez did require Tommy John surgery, that procedure would have an interesting big-picture impact on the Giants. As The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly observes, Fernandez would be placed on the Major League disabled list and clock a year of service time while recovering from a TJ procedure, and he would also earn the $545K minimum salary. Even that small payroll addition would be an added stress for a Giants team that has very little space under the $197MM luxury tax threshold, after the team made a point this offseason of somewhat limiting its spending to get under the threshold and reset its tax overage counter. That $545K would be an expense that the Giants weren’t planning to make at all for Fernandez, as he struggled (13.50 ERA) over 7 1/3 spring innings and potentially could’ve been considered not worthy of a 25-man spot.

Melancon’s back-to-back outings marked the first time he’d pitched in consecutive days this spring, as the veteran reliever continues his recovery from forearm surgery last September. Needless to say, any further soreness is a red flag for both he and the team, though Bochy said that Melancon’s roster status wouldn’t be determined until after he tests his arm further by playing catch over the next day or two. Melancon has been bothered by some arm fatigue throughout camp and pitched in just five games throughout Spring Training as the team tried to bring him along slowly.

The closer is trying to rebound after a disappointing and injury-marred first season in San Francisco that saw him post a 4.50 ERA over 30 innings. If Melancon does go on the disabled list, the Giants could turn to setup men Hunter Strickland or Tony Watson for save situations, or potentially again use Sam Dyson as closer as they did in 2017. Dyson, however, has struggled through a very rough spring.

It has already been a brutal spring health-wise for the Giants, with Madison Bumgarner (fractured finger) and Jeff Samardzija (strained pec) both going down with injuries that have badly stretched the team’s pitching depth. GM Bobby Evans told Baggarly and other reporters that “I anticipate we will remain internal” in regards to finding replacements, though Evans is open to the idea of potentially adding new pitchers.

Giants To Designate Jarrett Parker, Select Derek Holland

By Jeff Todd | March 26, 2018 at 6:23pm CDT

The Giants have designated outfielder Jarrett Parker for assignment, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). His roster spot was needed for the addition of lefty Derek Holland, who’ll make the rotation after signing over the winter as a minor-league free agent.

Parker, 29, has seen 382 total MLB plate appearances over the past three seasons and generally acquitted himself well. He has also been rather productive at the highest level of the minors and had a strong showing this spring, with a .220/.333/.561 slash (though also twenty strikeouts in his 48 plate appearances).

Still, the Giants elected to risk losing Parker rather than carrying him on the Opening Day Roster. It seems the organization will instead keep veteran Gregor Blanco as its lone left-handed-hitting outfielder to open the season, unless it goes instead with youngster Steven Duggar.

As for Holland, it has been clear for some time that he was destined to earn a job in San Francisco this year. As the Giants lost several rotation pieces, Holland worked 15 solid spring innings, over which he allowed seven earned runs and recorded 18 strikeouts against five walks. He’ll earn a $1.5MM salary with as much as $2.5MM more in incentives.

Giants Hire Dusty Baker As Special Advisor

By Connor Byrne | March 26, 2018 at 8:55am CDT

The Giants are expected to bring back former manager Dusty Baker as a special advisor to CEO Larry Baer, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Baker will report to executive vice president Brian Sabean in his new role, which the Giants are likely to announce Monday.

The 68-year-old Baker will return to work in his home state of California, where he played with the Dodgers, Giants and Athletics from 1976-86. He has since enjoyed an accomplished career as a manager, and a large portion of his success as a skipper came during his San Francisco tenure.

Baker was atop the Giants’ dugout from 1993-2002, a decadelong span in which the Barry Bonds-led club went 840-715 during the regular season, posted six plus-.500 campaigns and made three trips to the playoffs (Bonds is also a special advisor to Baer nowadays). During Baker’s last season at the helm, the Giants took home the National League pennant before falling to the Angels in a seven-game World Series.

Shortly after the Giants came up short in the Fall Classic, Baker departed to manage the Cubs, with whom he served from 2003-06 (including for the infamous Steve Bartman incident against the Marlins during the ’03 NLCS). He then went on to hold the same position with the Reds (2008-13) and Nationals (2016-17).

While a championship has eluded Baker during his 22-year career as a manager, which is potentially over, his teams have combined for an impressive 1,863-1,363 regular-season record and nine playoff berths. Only 13 other managers are ahead of Baker on the all-time wins list, and 12 are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

NL West Links: Lamet, Giants, Salas, Dodgers

By Mark Polishuk | March 25, 2018 at 9:23pm CDT

Padres right-hander Dinelson Lamet is headed for the disabled list after leaving Sunday’s outing after just six batters due to elbow pain, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. There doesn’t appear to be any structural damage to Lamet’s elbow and a source tells Acee that the righty will miss just “minimal time,” though that absence looks like it could last into May. “The hope is he will miss only the season’s first month,” Acee writes, which is a somewhat ominously vague timeframe for a pitcher who was expected to play a big role in San Diego’s rotation. Lamet posted a 4.57 ERA, 2.57 K/BB rate and a whopping 10.9 K/9 over 114 1/3 innings in his rookie season, displaying some control and home run-allowance issues but impressing many with his ability to miss bats.

Madison Bumgarner Diagnosed With Fractured Finger

By Jeff Todd | March 23, 2018 at 6:10pm CDT

6:33pm: Bumgarner has a displaced fracture in his fifth metacarpal (that is, his pinky), Baggarly reports (Twitter links). He’ll have surgery tomorow to place pins that will remain in place for four to six weeks. Once his finger is back in working order, of course, Bumgarner will need to build back up to a starter’s workload.

The hope at this point is that Bumgarner will be be able to return before the All-Star break, per Baggarly, who notes that there is a worthwhile comp to consider. Former Giants righty Ryan Volgelsong missed about 11 weeks with a similar injury back in 2013.

6:10pm: Giants ace Madison Bumgarner has been diagnosed with a fractured left hand after being struck on the hand by a batted ball today, the club announced and Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic was among those to report on Twitter. Details on his anticipated absence are not known, but this is clearly a devastating injury for a player and team that were hoping for a major rebound from a disappointing 2018 season.

The 28-year-old Bumgarner has been one of the game’s preeminent workhorses ever since he took to the big league mound. Between 2011 and 2016, he never made less than 31 starts, threw fewer than 201 1/3 innings, or finished a season with an earned run average above 3.37. Over the past three seasons of that run, he took the ball 99 times and racked up 662 1/3 frames of 2.88 ERA ball. And that’s all before taking into account his legendary postseason efforts.

That all changed early last year, when Bumgarner was injured in a dirt bike accident. But he still made it back in time to finish the year with 111 innings of 3.32 ERA pitching on his ledger. And it seems fair to say that he has looked himself this spring. In his first five Cactus League starts, Bumgarner racked up 27 strikeouts against just three walks while allowing six earned over 19 frames.

In the aggregate, it seemed that the lost first half of the 2017 campaign might end up as little more than a blip on the radar for MadBum, a burly lefty who has long been a paragon of strength on the mound. While his shoulder does not appear to be a significant cause of concern moving forward, though, he’ll now have to work back from another injury.

As noted above, it’s impossible to say at this point how long the Giants will go without Bumgarner. The specifics of the injury, along with the course of treatment, could presumably result in a variety of scenarios. And he’ll clearly need to rebuild his pitch count before going full-bore at the game’s highest level. Position players frequently are able to return from this general sort of injury without terribly lengthy absences — less than six weeks in some cases — but perhaps it could take somewhat longer than usual for a hurler who suffered a fracture to his pitching hand. Regardless, we’ll need to await further word before any kind of timeline is available.

The news comes on the heels of the loss of another key starter, Jeff Samardzija, to open the season. Skipper Bruce Bochy said today that Samardzija is likely to miss something on the order of three to four weeks, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. That knocks out two of the team’s top three starters on the cusp of Opening Day.

As things stand, San Francisco is going to trot out a roster that features Johnny Cueto at the top of the rotation, followed by non-roster invitee Derek Holland and relatively unproven hurlers Chris Stratton and Ty Blach. There are some intriguing young talents that could conceivably take the fifth starter’s spot, once it’s needed, but the club will no doubt be on the look for outside additions. Of course, the luxury tax tightrope walk that the Giants have attempted this winter — which is why they shipped out a notable depth piece in Matt Moore — is going to make it hard to find any kind of impactful arm.

Giants Release Andres Blanco

By Jeff Todd | March 23, 2018 at 2:19pm CDT

The Giants have released infielder Andres Blanco, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Twitter links). He had been in camp on a minor-league deal.

With that decision, it seems the Giants have narrowed their utility infield competition down to two finalists among the in-house options. Kelby Tomlinson, who can still be optioned, is still under consideration along with non-roster invitee Josh Rutledge.

Blanco, a 33-year-old switch-hitter, only ended up taking 22 plate appearances this spring owing to injury. While he sported a .409 OBP in his limited action, he never really got into the competition.

Though he’s not likely to find a team willing to open an active roster spot for the start of the season, Blanco certainly ought to draw interest on minor-league arrangements. He has experience all over the infield and has had his moments at the plate. Though he had a poor season with the stick last year, Blanco posted a .274/.337/.457 slash over 523 plate appearances between 2014 and 2016.

Jeff Samardzija Suffers Pec Injury, Will Begin Season On DL

By Kyle Downing | March 23, 2018 at 6:58am CDT

TODAY: Samardzija’s MRI revealed only a strained pectoral muscle, Andrew Baggarly writes in an updated piece. The right-hander will be rested for 10 days, according to Giants skipper Bruce Bochy, so a DL stint still looks imminent.

YESTERDAY: The Giants are concerned that right-hander Jeff Samardzija may have a shoulder injury according to reports. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle was among the first to tweet the news. There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the situation, but “Shark” had an MRI today and is undergoing further examination on his throwing shoulder. Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic tweets that it’s “pretty clear he will begin the season on the DL.”

We’re still awaiting further news on the subject (including the actual results of the MRI itself), but the absence of Samardzija for any significant portion of the season would prove a huge blow to a Giants club that was expected to contend this season following an offseason overhaul of a roster that lost 98 games in 2017. Baggarly tweets that left-handed non-roster invite Derek Holland is an option to replace him in the rotation. Baggarly also adds that the team is unlikely to pursue any free agents at this point, as Bruce Bochy says the team is looking at internal options.

That would leave just Holland, Ty Blach and Chris Stratton as the club’s feasible options behind mainstays Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto. It’s also worth noting that the club has Tyler Beede (ranked the organization’s fourth-best prospect) set to begin the season at Triple-A. If the club were to explore free agents, they’d be parsing through a thin crop of remaining starters that includes Scott Feldman and Ubaldo Jimenez among the top remaining options.

The Giants were likely expecting another workhorse performance from the 33-year-old Samardzija, who’s one of just two pitchers in all of major league baseball to have thrown at least 200 innings in each of the past five seasons (the other being Max Scherzer). During that span, he’s put up a 4.10 ERA, and his 3.68 xFIP actually indicates that he’s pitched quite a bit better than that. He’s also struck out 8.09 batters per nine innings while limiting walks to just 2.18 per nine.

NL West Notes: Greinke, Thompson, Dodgers, Shaw

By Mark Polishuk | March 18, 2018 at 9:12pm CDT

On a day when the Arenado brothers (Nolan and Jonah) were on opposite sites of a Rockies/Giants Spring Training tilt, here are some items from around the NL West…

Zack Greinke has been dealing with a lack of velocity and a minor groin injury this spring, but after a 40-pitch bullpen session today, the Diamondbacks ace is hopeful of being ready for the start of the season, he told MLB.com’s Owen Perkins and other reporters. “If I felt this good every day for the rest of my career, it would be amazing,” Greinke said. “I’ll definitely be making the next outing. I felt healthy and the pitches were pretty good. Hopefully that continues. It should; it was a good day.” Greinke left a start last Wednesday after just one inning due to mild groin tightness, and though he already seems to be feeling better, manager Torey Lovullo said the club will continue to monitor Greinke’s progress. The setbacks have cost Greinke the Opening Day assignment, though he could pitch as soon as Arizona’s third game of the season.
With several outfielders seemingly ahead of Trayce Thompson on the Dodgers depth chart, the club is expected to explore trading the out-of-options Thompson, Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times writes. Thompson has shown some promise over three MLB seasons but he hasn’t been the same since suffering back injuries midway through the 2016 season. Thompson appeared in just 27 games for the Dodgers last season, contributing a meager .483 OPS in 55 plate appearances. Yasiel Puig and Chris Taylor are slated for starting duty in right and center field, respectively, with Thompson, Matt Kemp, Joc Pederson, Enrique Hernandez, Andrew Toles, and top prospect Alex Verdugo all competing for left field or backup duty. If a trade partner can’t be found, the Dodgers will risk losing Thompson for nothing, as he would have to pass through waivers before the Dodgers could send him to the minors.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed his rotation to reporters (including Bill Shaikin) today, with Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, and Hyun-jin Ryu lined up as the Los Angeles starting five. Beyond those five, however, are some question marks, as Roberts admitted “We don’t have the starting pitching depth that we’ve had in past years.” That depth allowed the Dodgers to reach the World Series despite DL stints for every member of their pitching staff, and now since Yu Darvish and Brandon McCarthy have both moved on to other teams, L.A. now has Ross Stripling, Brock Stewart, and Walker Buehler as the top depth options. Tom Koehler was signed over the offseason to bring a veteran arm into the mix, though Koehler is sidelined indefinitely due to a mild AC strain.
A year after a surprising position switch, Chris Shaw is hoping to eventually crack the majors as a left fielder, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group writes. The Giants already had Brandon Belt at first base, so with Shaw’s natural position blocked, the club began to deploy Shaw in left field as a way of finding a place in the lineup for his intriguing power bat. Shaw was San Francisco’s first-round pick (31st overall) in the 2015 draft and is ranked as the second-best prospect in the team’s farm system by both MLB.com and Baseball America, making him a key part of the Giants’ future. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Shaw make his Major League debut sometime in 2018, with a potential starting job awaiting him in 2019 if Hunter Pence isn’t re-signed.

NL West Notes: D-backs, Salas, Cimber, Padres, Giants, Cabrera

By Steve Adams | March 15, 2018 at 9:21am CDT

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic breaks down the race for some open spots in the Diamondbacks’ bullpen, noting that minor league signee Fernando Salas has outperformed the rest of the competition in terms of pure results. The eight-year veteran has tossed 6 2/3 shutout frames with a 6-to-1 K/BB ratio this spring, though competitors Neftali Feliz, Michael Blazek and Rule 5 pickup Albert Suarez (from the Giants) have all pitched well. Piecoro notes that there appear to be two or three spots up for grabs due to the fact that right-hander Randall Delgado is likely ticketed for the disabled list to open the year because of a left oblique injury. Piecoro also checks in on injured righty Shelby Miller, who had positive reports following a bullpen session and could return from Tommy John surgery in June or July.

One more item of note from Piecoro is that because Suarez has been previously outrighted off a 40-man roster in his career, the D-backs wouldn’t have to offer him back to the Giants if he clears waivers; he could instead elect free agency.

A bit more out of the NL West…

Padres skipper Andy Green tells the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee that right-hander Adam Cimber has pitched his way into consideration for a spot in the team’s Opening Day bullpen. Cimber, 27, spent Spring Training 2017 in minor league camp and by Green’s own admission wasn’t near the top of the team’s list headed into big league camp this year. A sidearming righty, Cimber has hurled six shutout innings with two hits, no walks and five strikeouts. Recently, he’s been facing high-profile hitters such as Edwin Encarnacion, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Willson Contreras and still finding success, Acee notes. The opportunity before him isn’t lost on the former ninth-rounder, who signed for a $5K bonus in 2013. Cimber discusses the opportunity to finally earn a big league salary playing the game he loves, as well as some of the ups and downs that come with being a minor league relief prospect.
Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic reports that Giants outfield prospect Gustavo Cabrera has elected to retire (Twitter links). As Baggarly chronicled in a harrowing story for the San Jose Mercury News in March 2016, Cabrera could have lost his right hand at 17. Then a vaunted prospect who had received a $1.3MM signing bonus a year prior, Cabrera was simply bracing his hand on a glass table as he bent to pick up a spilled glass of water, but he slipped on the wet floor and sent his arm crashing through the table, severing nerves and causing catastrophic damage. Baggarly details the frantic process of saving Cabrera’s limb and his ultimate return to the baseball field in a must-read story. As for Cabrera’s decision to retire, Baggarly notes that the physical challenges simply became too much for his reconstructed wrist/hand. He adds that while the Giants do have a recourse to claim a portion of that $1.3MM bonus due to Cabrera’s early retirement, the organization has no plans to do so. Best wishes to Cabrera in his post-playing days.

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