- Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, on the DL since April 26 with a right groin strain, could rejoin the team as early as Tuesday, relays John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. Crawford will play a Double-A rehab game Monday, and if he gets through it unscathed, his first career DL stint will end.
Giants Rumors
Five Teams Interested In Doug Fister
A month after they first drew a connection to free agent right-hander Doug Fister, the Mets are still considering signing the 33-year-old, according to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. New York was among four teams to watch Fister throw last week, joining the Blue Jays, Diamondbacks and Angels, reports Cotillo, who adds that the Giants also took a recent look at him.
The Mets’ rotation is in far worse straits than it was when they were eyeing Fister in early April. Ace Noah Syndergaard has since landed on the disabled list with a partially torn right lat, and he’s unlikely to return until after the All-Star break. Meanwhile, Steven Matz and Seth Lugo still haven’t pitched this year as a result of elbow problems, and Matt Harvey, Robert Gsellman and Zack Wheeler have logged subpar results. In the Mets’ view, Harvey also hasn’t been a model member of the organization behind the scenes, evidenced by the three-day suspension he’s currently serving.
The other four teams targeting Fister have also seen their rotations deal with injuries. Two of Toronto’s top starters, Aaron Sanchez and J.A. Happ, are on the DL. Arizona lost Shelby Miller to a season-ending elbow injury last month, leaving it without an obvious solution to team with Zack Greinke, Robbie Ray, Taijuan Walker and Patrick Corbin. Los Angeles is without two of its starters, Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs, both of whom are on the DL. Lastly, San Francisco’s ace, Madison Bumgarner, will sit out until at least midsummer thanks to a dirt bike accident, and fellow starters Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Matt Moore, Matt Cain and Ty Blach have recorded mediocre to poor results in the early going.
Like the Giants’ starters, the soft-tossing Fister hasn’t been all that effective of late. Once a legitimate middle-of-the-rotation arm (if not more), Fister produced like a back-end type with the Nationals and Astros from 2015-16, posting a 4.48 ERA and a 4.68 FIP in 283 1/3 innings. Further, whether he signs a major league deal or a minor league pact, Fister will surely need some time to tune up at the lower levels before potentially contributing in the big leagues this season.
Luxury Tax Could Give Giants Incentive To Sell
- The Giants, off to a miserable start, look like sellers in the making. That’s even more true when considering the luxury tax, Rosenthal points out. The Giants exceeded the threshold in the each of the previous two years, and doing so for a third straight season would force them to pay a 50 percent tax (up from their current 30 percent). But if San Francisco rids itself of enough money to get under the limit, it would reset the tax to 20 percent. Trading right-hander Johnny Cueto would help the Giants’ cause from a financial standpoint, though his looming opt-out clause could complicate his market, observes Rosenthal.
[SOURCE LINK]
Giants Designate Drew Stubbs For Assignment
The Giants have designated outfielder Drew Stubbs for assignment and purchased the contract of outfielder Justin Ruggiano from Triple-A in a corresponding transaction, the team announced.
[Updated Giants depth chart at Roster Resource]
Stubbs was signed to a minor league deal in early April and was promoted two weeks ago, though the veteran provided only two hits and a .258 OPS in 24 plate appearances. While Stubbs posted strong numbers in a regular role for Colorado in 2014 and has a good career slash line against left-handed pitching, he has generally been a below-average hitter for his career, more known for his defense and base-running than his production at the plate.
Both Stubbs and Ruggiano are right-handed hitters with the ability to play all three outfield spots, with Ruggiano offering a bit more pop (in the form of a .258/.322/.438 career slash over 1416 PA). Once Ruggiano appears in a game for the Giants, they will be the eighth different team Ruggiano has suited up for over parts of nine seasons in the bigs.
The Giants entered the season lacking in outfield depth, a situation that has only worsened with Denard Span, Jarrett Parker, and minor league signing Melvin Upton Jr. all hitting the disabled list. Ruggiano’s outfield versatility will help the bench, though he adds another right-handed bat to a Giants roster that is already lacking in lefty-swingers.
Blue Jays Claim Neil Ramirez
The Blue Jays have claimed righty Neil Ramirez off waivers from the Giants, per a club announcement. San Francisco had recently designated him for assignment.
Ramirez, who’ll soon turn 28, was knocked around in his 10 1/3 innings on the year with the Giants, coughing up 15 earned runs. But he retired 18 batters via strikeout while only issuing four free passes. Optimists can also point to Ramirez’s current .500 BABIP and 33.0% strand rate — both of which are unlikely to continue at such extremes.
Toronto will plug Ramirez onto the active roster, as he’s out of options. The club will hope the luck can turn for the righty, who has struggled with injury in recent years but has at times been quite impressive. Thus far in 2017, he has shown an increase in average fastball velocity (to 92.8 mph) and swinging-strike rate (12.6%) as against his 2016 numbers.
Giants Designate Neil Ramirez For Assignment
The Giants have designated reliever Neil Ramirez for assignment and selected the contract of fellow reliever Bryan Morris from Triple-A, according to a club announcement.
Ramirez inked a minor league deal with the Giants over the winter and then made the team’s Opening Day bullpen. Things didn’t go well for the 27-year-old, though, as he threw 10 1/3 innings with the Giants this month and allowed 15 earned runs on 16 hits. However, Ramirez did post a lofty strikeout total (18) while limiting walks (four). His issues preventing runs this season have stemmed from a somewhat high home run-to-fly ball ratio (13.3 percent). The long ball was an even bigger problem last year for Ramirez, who spent time with the Cubs, Twins and Brewers and allowed homers on 21.1 percent of fly balls, leading to a 6.00 ERA across 24 innings.
In 57 2/3 frames with the Cubs from 2014-15, Ramirez only surrendered HRs at a 4.3 percent clip. Thanks in part to that stinginess, and a 10.61 K/9 and 3.59 BB/9, he recorded a 1.87 ERA during those two seasons. Ramirez has long had difficulty generating ground balls, however, as the 2007 first-round pick has done so just 28.3 percent of the time in 92 career big league innings.
Like Ramirez, the 30-year-old Morris signed a minors pact with the Giants during the offseason. Although he has registered below-average strikeout and walk rates per nine (6.4 and 3.77), the former Pirate and Marlin owns an impressive 2.80 ERA in 280 innings. He has helped his cause with a 58.6 percent grounder rate.
Buster Posey Not Changing Positions Anytime Soon
- Giants catcher Buster Posey has long been a workhorse behind the plate, and while moving the 30-year-old to a different position could possibly help prolong his effectiveness, it’s not on the team’s agenda, details Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. “When you have a guy that’s led us to three titles, a lot of it is because of his preparation and guidance of the starting rotation and the bullpen,” said general manager Bobby Evans. “I think it distinguishes him from other positions — and other guys. My mindset is we’re a better team with Buster back there, and as long as we can keep him back there, we want to do it.” Posey wouldn’t fight a position change down the line, saying that “it’s about winning ballgames,” but he notes that “there’s value in having a good hitter behind the plate and being able to put a bat at first base as well.” The Giants plan to start Posey 115 to 120 times at catcher and in 15 to 20 games at first/designated hitter, per Crasnick, potentially putting him on track for a sixth straight 140-plus-game season.
Giants Release Ricky Romero
Saturday’s minor moves:
- The Giants’ Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento has released left-hander Ricky Romero, who first joined the organization in 2015. Romero combined for just 30 2/3 innings with the Giants at two minor league levels, including 14 2/3 frames of 6.75 ERA pitching with Sacramento this season. The 32-year-old had been a highly effective starter with the Blue Jays from 2009-11, a 613-inning span in which he logged a 3.60 ERA, 7.24 K/9, 3.54 BB/9 and a 54.6 percent ground-ball rate. That output led the Jays to give Romero a five-year, $30.1MM contract in 2011, but his performance fell off drastically the next season and he has thrown just 7 1/3 major league frames since. Romero underwent elbow surgery in 2012, perhaps contributing to his on-field woes, and Toronto released him in 2015.
Giants Place Brandon Crawford On 10-Day DL
The Giants have announced that they’ve reinstated shortstop Brandon Crawford from the bereavement list and placed him on the 10-day disabled list with a right groin strain, retroactive to Wednesday.
Crawford left Tuesday’s game due to the groin strain, which he experienced while running the bases. The team then recalled fellow infielder Kelby Tomlinson to take his place on the active roster. Rookie Christian Arroyo has started in Crawford’s place.
Crawford had already been scheduled to leave the club on Wednesday to attend a family funeral, so he has effectively served three of the ten days required for a stint on the DL. There has been no official word on the severity of his injury, although he would, obviously, be able to return quickly if it turned out to be minor.
Crawford was batting .263/.284/.434 in the early going. He has been one of the Giants’ top players in each of the last two seasons, posting a combined fWAR of 10.3 in 2015 and 2016 while batting .273/.335/.431 with outstanding defense.
Madison Bumgarner Won’t Require Surgery
APRIL 28: Bumgarner will indeed not require surgery, but he’s expected to be out for quite some time, as Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reports (Twitter links). With some “partial ligament tears” in the AC joint, it is indeed a Grade 2 sprain that will require about two months of rehabilitation followed by a three-or-four-week buildup on the mound.
APRIL 25: Initial evaluations on Madison Bumgarner, who suffered bruised ribs and a shoulder sprain last week in a dirt bike accident, are fairly positive, per Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News (Twitter links). Bumgarner’s injured shoulder won’t require surgery and has calmed down to the point where he could begin rehab work on it in the next four to five days, Baggarly adds. While that all sounds encouraging, Bumgarner’s layoff will still be considerable; Baggarly notes that he could be ready to begin throwing off a mound in about two months’ time, and he’ll of course need to then build up enough arm strength to rejoin the rotation.
All told, that timeline seems to suggest that Bumgarner won’t be back in the Giants’ rotation until at least mid-July. Of course, that timeline is dependent both on how his shoulder responds to rehab work and on how lengthy of a rehab assignment he’ll require once he returns to the mound. More clarity on Bumgarner’s timeline may soon become available, it seems, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that the Giants will give an official diagnosis on Bumgarner tomorrow.
“He’s going to start some light work,” manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (link via Schulman). “It’s going to be slow at first, nothing major. Things have calmed down a little. There’ll be no surgery or anything. We’re going to rehab this.”
[Related: San Francisco Giants Depth Chart]
The Giants’ rotation without its ace still appears solid, albeit unspectacular, as nominal No. 2 starter Johnny Cueto would be the top arm in most rotations around the league. Cueto will be followed by Jeff Samardzija, Matt Moore, Matt Cain and Ty Blach for the time being, though it’s certainly possible that top Giants prospect Tyler Beede eventually forces his way into the big league rotation mix. That group faces an uphill battle in helping the Giants stay afloat in the National League West, however; San Francisco enters play tonight with just a 7-13 record, and two-plus months without one of the game’s very best pitchers clearly hampers the team’s ability to dig out of that early hole.
On a related note, it seems that the Giants got a bit of good news regarding another member of the rotation. Schulman notes that an MRI on Cain’s ailing hamstring came back clean. The veteran right-hander is expected to make his next scheduled start — a Saturday outing against the Padres.
