Giants Rumors

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/14/16

By Connor Byrne | August 14, 2016 at 3:14pm CDT

The latest minor moves from around baseball:

The Diamondbacks have released 2014 third-round outfielder Matt Railey, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (on Twitter). Railey batted just .136/.246/.136 without an extra-base hit in 169 A-ball plate appearances this year before his release. In his time with the D-backs organization, Railey hit .205/.324/.311 in 225 PAs. He also served a 50-game suspension last year after testing positive for an amphetamine.
Twins left-hander Andrew Albers has cleared waivers after his Friday designation for assignment and been optioned to Triple-A Rochester, per Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press (Twitter link). Albers has already thrown 112 2/3 innings this year in Rochester, where he has compiled a 3.51 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9. All six frames Albers has tossed for the Twins this season came in relief Thursday, when he yielded three earned runs on 11 hits in a blowout loss to Houston.
The Dodgers have released catcher Spencer Navin, tweets J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. Navin had been a member of the organization since it selected him in the 11th round of the 2013 draft. The 24-year-old hasn’t yet gotten past the High-A level and owns a .214/.324/.282 batting line in 524 plate appearances across all levels.
The Giants have signed right-hander Connor Overton to a minor league contract. Overton previously spent time in the minors with the Marlins, who chose him in the 15th round of the 2014 draft, and the Nationals. Overton wasn’t particularly successful with either organization, though, as he posted a combined 6.19 ERA, 7.4 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9 across 52 1/3 innings. The 23-year-old opened 2016 with Sioux City of the American Association, an independent league, and threw 36 2/3 frames and recorded a 1.96 ERA, 11.0 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9, leading to his deal with the Giants.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Red Sox, Girardi, Fox

By charliewilmoth | August 13, 2016 at 1:14pm CDT

The Yankees’ aggressive approach to their rebuild contrasts with the path the Red Sox once took, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal writes. This summer, the Yankees have traded veterans and acquired prospects in return, even a number of prospects who aren’t nearly ready for the big leagues. The Red Sox were in a similar position two years ago but took a different approach, dealing Jon Lester for Yoenis Cespedes (who they then sent to the Tigers for Rick Porcello) and John Lackey for veterans Allen Craig and Joe Kelly. (They did deal Andrew Miller for a prospect, Eduardo Rodriguez.) Of course, the Red Sox had a stronger core of young talent than the Yankees did at the time of each team’s series of trades — the Sox’ recent resurgence is due in large part to young talents like Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley who were already in their system. Here’s more from the AL East.

Joe Girardi’s experience with the 2006 Marlins will be helpful in dealing with the Yankees’ increasingly young roster, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Girardi won the NL Manager of the Year award in ’06 for his work with very young players like Miguel Cabrera, Hanley Ramirez, Josh Johnson, Dontrelle Willis, Anibal Sanchez and Jeremy Hermida. The Yankees recently jettisoned a series of veterans and now have youngsters like Tyler Austin, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino and Luis Cessa on their roster, and they’ll likely add more young talents, such as Clint Frazier, over the next year or so. (Austin and Judge, by the way, each homered in their first big-league plate appearances today.) Girardi says he doesn’t mind having so many young players on the roster together. “For young players, I think it is probably easier to do it in a group,” he says. “Many times they have been through struggles together before in the minors. More important, when one young player struggles in the majors, he can feel alone and singled out among veterans.”
The Rays and Giants have resolved their issue concerning infield prospect Lucius Fox’s injury status, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. The Rays acquired Fox two weeks ago in the Matt Moore deal, but Fox ended up having a bone bruise in his foot that would cost him the rest of the minor league season. The Rays had initially hoped to receive additional compensation from the Giants as a result, but the two sides have now agreed that the Rays will not receive such compensation, since Fox’s foot issue had not yet been determined to be an injury.

NL News & Rumors: CarGo, Utley, Rizzo, Roark, Giants

By Mark Polishuk | August 8, 2016 at 11:01pm CDT

Here’s the latest from the senior circuit…

Carlos Gonzalez was removed from the second inning of tonight’s game due to left ankle inflammation, as noted by several reporters (including MLB.com’s Thomas Harding). The Rockies star sprained that same ankle last Wednesday and has missed two of Colorado’s four games in the interim. It’s a situation worth monitoring given Gonzalez’s checkered injury history, not to mention the Rockies’ attempt to stay afloat in the NL wild card race. Losing Gonzalez for any extended amount of time is an obvious blow for the Rox, naturally, though the club did get some outfield reinforcements when Gerardo Parra was activated off the DL today.
Chase Utley told reporters, including Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times (Twitter link), that he intends to play in the 2017 season. Utley, who turns 38 in December, will be a free agent at season’s end and was still putting up above-average offensive numbers as recently as 2014. He has somewhat rebounded (.250/.327/.372 with seven homers in 395 PA) this season after a very rough 2015, and he is still providing solid glovework at second base. Utley could have a tough time matching the one-year, $7MM contract he got from the Dodgers last winter, though teams will certainly take a look at a respected veteran with Utley’s excellent career track record.
The trade that brought Tanner Roark to the Nationals may be the best of GM Mike Rizzo’s career with the club, as MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman gives his ranking of Rizzo’s top 10 trades. Roark and Ryan Tatusko were acquired in a July 2010 deadline deal that sent Cristian Guzman to the Rangers, and Guzman’s 15 games with Texas ended up being the last of his career. Roark wasn’t a heralded prospect at the time (Tatusko was actually a better-regarded arm) but the right-hander has blossomed into a major contributor on Washington’s staff.
The Giants aren’t likely to add any major pieces during the August waiver trade period, Grant Brisbee of the McCovey Chronicles opines. Exceptions could be made in the case of injury or if the Giants unexpectedly end up with a player they claimed only as a blocking maneuver (a la their pickup of Cody Ross in 2010), though Brisbee notes that there are seemingly few cost-effective players available at San Francisco’s positions of need who would actually be upgrades.

Rays May Seek Compensation For Lucius Fox Injury

By Jeff Todd | August 5, 2016 at 10:09pm CDT

After weeks of build-up, the Rays shipped lefty Matt Moore to the Giants at the trade deadline for a package that included young infield prospect Lucius Fox. As it turns out, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, Fox was dinged up at the time of the trade — which may lead Tampa Bay to seek added compensation from their trade partner.

The 19-year-old is said to have been playing through a bruised foot that was not disclosed to the Rays. While not a significant problem, it may prevent Fox from returning to action before the end of the minor league campaign. That wouldn’t seem to be a major long-term issue, but could take away some valuable developmental opportunities heading into the offseason.

The other two pieces of the pact — infielder Matt Duffy and minor league righty Michael Santos — were both on the DL at the time of the deal, with known injuries. But Fox’s malady was apparently not accounted for in striking the agreement.

It’s important to note that there’s no suggestion that Fox would be sent back to the Giants, who only signed him last summer; to the contrary, Topkin says that’s not on the table. For the Rays to achieve any recompense, they’ll have to “work through MLB,” according to the report.

Fox, a switch-hitting Bahamian shortstop, has not been overly impressive in game action in his brief professional career. He owns only a .207/.305/.277 slash over 331 plate appearances in the Sally League. That didn’t stop the Rays from ascribing rather significant value to him, though, and he certainly comes with an impressive prospect pedigree after receiving a $6MM bonus last year as an amateur.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/5/16

By Jeff Todd | August 5, 2016 at 8:36pm CDT

Here are the day’s minor moves:

The Indians announced that outfielder Joey Butler has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A. Butler, 30, hasn’t seen the majors this year after posting a useful .276/.326/.416 batting line in 276 plate appearances last year for the Rays. Though he once seemingly represented a corner outfield option for Cleveland this year, he hadn’t yet earned a promotion and now loses his 40-man spot after running up a .238/.306/.360 slash at the highest level of the minors — well off of his .841 career OPS in extensive Triple-A action.
Likewise, Giants infielder Ramiro Pena has cleared waivers and is ticketed for Triple-A, Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweets. The 31-year-old did excellent fill-in work for San Francisco, slashing .299/.330/.425 in his 91 plate appearances. But with the Giants welcoming back several players from the DL and re-aligning their infield mix, he was without a spot. Pena is a handy defender — he played at short, second, and third this year alone — but typically isn’t quite as productive at the plate as he has been in 2016. He carries a .636 OPS in his 701 trips to the plate as a big leaguer, though he has been swinging a good stick at Triple-A in each of the last two years.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/3/16

By Jeff Todd | August 3, 2016 at 11:22pm CDT

Here are the day’s minor moves:

Outfielder Craig Gentry is a free agent after rejecting an outright assignment from the Angels, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times tweets. The hope was that the 32-year-old would combine with Daniel Nava to provide a solid left field platoon, but both players ended up being designated at the same time. Ultimately, Gentry was limited by injury and appeared in only 14 games, failing to hit in that short sample — much as he did last year. Before that, the veteran had been a sturdy, glove-first outfielder who was capable at times of slightly above-average offensive production.
Fellow Angels outfielder Todd Cunningham, who was recently designated, has been assigned to Triple-A after clearing waivers for the third time this year, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register adds on Twitter. The 27-year-old, who was acquired from the Braves during the offseason, has struggled in limited MLB playing time in three of the last four years. The former second-round draft pick owns a .275/.348/.368 batting line over 1,698 Triple-A plate appearances.
Giants infielder Grant Green cleared outright waivers, Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweets. Now 28, Green was once considered a quality prospect with the Halos but hasn’t managed to gain any traction at the major league level. He slashed .261/.300/.370 in his fifty plate appearances this year with the Giants.
The Giants have agreed to a minor league deal with catcher Tony Sanchez, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). Recently released by the Blue Jays, Sanchez will help bolster San Francisco’s catching depth after the team dealt away Andrew Susac. Sanchez’s prospect star has faded over recent years, and was cut loose by Toronto after putting up a meager .201/.292/.309 slash in 168 Triple-A plate appearances this year.

Deadline Notes: Yankees, Sanchez, Peavy, Moore, Rangers, Liriano

By Jeff Todd | August 2, 2016 at 11:16pm CDT

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner had a long and interesting chat the Michael Kay Show (audio link) in which he discussed his organization’s rare sale-side moves at the deadline. Carrying three ace closers, he said, was an “incredible luxury, but not a necessity,” which seemingly helped to ease his mind in parting with Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman. He further explained that the organization didn’t simply decide at some point that it would undergo a sale, but instead considered each individual move on its own merit as opportunities arose. Generally, he emphasized that he looked closely at every player in every deal and suggested that the group of trades has helped position the organization for the near-future and beyond. There’s plenty more in the interview, which is well worth a full listen.

Here are few more notes coming off of the trade deadline …

As has been expected, the Yankees will call up catcher Gary Sanchez once again, per Shane Hennigan of the Scranton Times-Tribune (via Twitter). It’s not yet clear whether he’ll just provide a temporary DH option — as he did earlier in the season — or stick for good, but Steinbrenner did note that the organization believes he’s ready for extended big league time. The owner emphasized that fans can expect to see several fresh faces down the stretch as the Yankees look to see what they have in the upper-level prospects they have been developing — not to mention those just added over the last several days.
The Giants have moved veteran righty Jake Peavy to the bullpen to accommodate the acquisition of Matt Moore, as Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reports. Though Peavy has worked almost exclusively in the rotation over his long career, he seemingly took the news quite well. San Francisco has liked what it has seen of late from Matt Cain, who was the other candidate to move to a relief role, and thinks that Peavy will be better able to handle the transition, skipper Bruce Bochy explained.
Speaking of Moore, the Rangers turned their attention elsewhere given the Rays’ asking price on the lefty, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Texas would have needed to send not only Lewis Brinson and Luis Ortiz — each of whom were packaged to acquire Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress — but also Jurickson Profar, per the report.
Part of the calculus for the Blue Jays’ acquisition of Francisco Liriano was the opportunity for him to work again with backstop Russell Martin, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca explains. Both GM Ross Atkins and manager John Gibbons noted the importance of that connection, and Martin offered glowing reports of Liriano’s stuff. As Atkins put it: “The experience of Russ and the familiarity, if we come up with a plan we should expect some correction. This is not on Russ Martin by any means, but we did see that as an added benefit.”

Giants Acquire Matt Moore For Matt Duffy, Prospects

By Jeff Todd | August 1, 2016 at 3:45pm CDT

In their second significant deadline deal today, the Giants have acquired southpaw Matt Moore from the Rays. Tampa Bay has long been said to be pursuing trades involving its controllable starters, and this one comes in right at the wire.

[Related: Updated San Francisco Giants and Tampa Bay Rays Depth Charts]

Currently injured third baseman Matt Duffy headlines the package going to Tampa Bay. Infield prospect Lucius Fox is also included, with righty Michael Santos is heading to the Rays to round things out. There are some complicating factors in this pact that seem likely to cause a delay in an announcement, per reports. Duffy’s DL placement and Fox’s relatively recent international bonus appear to be two possible causes. Sherman tweets that Tampa Bay will cover a portion of that sum, which may require league approval.

The 27-year-old Moore brings plenty of talent, but also a good deal of risk, with him to San Francisco. Entering the 2014 season, Moore was considered one of the best young pitchers in baseball, but he popped his UCL after just two starts.

Since returning from Tommy John surgery in the middle of 2015, Moore has pitched to a 4.52 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 over 193 innings. Those numbers are trending up this year, generally, and Moore has regained much of the fastball velocity that he showed earlier in his career, so clearly the Giants’ scouts saw plenty to hang their hats on. And Moore has run up seven consecutive quality starts, allowing just nine runners to cross the plate in 40 2/3 frames.

That being said, it’s not all rosy for the lefty. Even in his recent string of nice starts, he has managed only 25 strikeouts against 14 walks. And he currently owns a 4.50 FIP, 4.67 xFIP, and 4.41 SIERA on the year, with Moore benefiting a bit from a .280 BABIP against. Still, he should provide a nice boost to a rotation that has two questionable pieces at the back end in veterans Jake Peavy and Matt Cain, and there’s upside aplenty in this contract.

Indeed, the early-career extension that Tampa Bay signed with Moore has proven to be an asset, even if it’s not quite as valuable as it once seemed destined to be. He’s only owed the balance of a $5MM salary this year, and is under control for three more years through club options. San Francisco can keep him through 2019 at a grand total of only $26MM, a pittance in the current market.

For the Giants, Moore is the second significant left-handed pitcher acquired today, as the club also landed reliever Will Smith. The pair came at a steep cost. In this particular deal San Francisco was forced to give up a player in Duffy who entered the year as the club’s regular third baseman.

Duffy certainly hasn’t matched his productivity from a year ago, when he ran up a surprising .295/.334/.428 batting line with a dozen home runs and a dozen stolen bases in his rookie campaign. Thus far in 2016, he has not only battled through injuries, but owns a much less useful .253/.313/.358 slash.

Tampa Bay obviously sees something in Duffy, though, as reports have suggested the team held out for his inclusion before striking the deal. Critically, he delivers a top-quality glove at third. Despite his struggles at the plate, Baseball-Reference credits him with 1.6 WAR on the year due almost entirely to the leather. Plus, he won’t qualify for arbitration until after next season, so there’s plenty of cheap control remaining.

The other two pieces of this deal are of the more speculative prospect variety. Fox signed on with San Francisco for a $6MM bonus as an international free agent last summer, he’s considered a quality prospect despite his struggles this year in A ball, and only just turned 19. Meanwhile, the 21-year-old Santos has a big frame and big arm, and has featured on organizational top prospect lists with the Giants. Pitching this year in the Sally League, he has a 2.91 ERA over 58 2/3 innings (ten starts) with 6.8 K/9 and a sparkling 0.8 BB/9.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported that Moore was going to the Giants (Twitter links). Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter), ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Twitter link), and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) reported the package returning to Tampa Bay.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Giants Acquire Will Smith

By Tim Dierkes | August 1, 2016 at 3:37pm CDT

The Giants acquired left-handed reliever Will Smith from the Brewers, tweets Yahoo’s Jeff Passan. The Brewers will receive minor league pitcher Phil Bickford and catcher Andrew Susac, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. The trade is now official, according to the Brewers.

Smith, 27, has a 3.68 ERA, 9.0 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, 1.23 HR/9, and a 33.3% groundball rate in 22 innings for the Brewers this year. He dealt with a torn LCL in his knee in March, making his season debut on June 2nd after rehabbing the injury. Notably, the southpaw is exhibiting nearly a two-tick decline in his average fastball as against his prior numbers, and that remains a concern. The knee is an obvious question mark in that regard, though certainly it’s possible that Smith will just need to continue building back full body strength after the injury.

Health is always an important factor, but never more than when making an investment in a player that goes into the future. While San Francisco won’t be promising any future salary to Smith, they were buying into his control rights and paid to do so. He is under team control through 2019 as an arbitration eligible player. That contract status also conveys some real upside, especially if Smith can get back to his former trajectory. He was particularly tough in 2015, with a 2.70 ERA and 12.9 K/9.

The first-place Giants have received a middling 3.76 ERA from their relievers, and paid a trade deadline premium to acquire the controllable Smith. Drafted in the seventh round by the Angels in 2008, Smith was dealt to the Royals in the 2010 Alberto Callaspo trade. Later, after the 2013 campaign, the Brewers acquired him for Nori Aoki.

Now, Milwaukee has cashed in on the southpaw — in addition to moving late-inning righty Jeremy Jeffress in a separate trade. The haul seems to be rather promising, and swaps out the valuable-but-risky seasons remaining on Smith’s control rights for many more years of control on two solid young assets.

Bickford, 21, was drafted 18th overall by the Giants last year and is currently working at High-A. In their midseason prospect rankings, Baseball America had Bickford 50th overall, while MLB.com ranked him 65th. BA says Bickford’s fastball is known for its movement, and he throws a plus slider. The jury is out on whether he’ll wind up a reliever. Bickford had been drafted tenth overall by the Blue Jays in 2013, but did not sign.

Susac, 26, could take over as the Brewers’ starting catcher if Jonathan Lucroy is traded today. Since being drafted in the second round in 2011, Susac has been blocked by Buster Posey. He did get some Major League experience in 2014 and ’15, but has spent all of this year at Triple-A. He’s hitting .273/.343/.455 in 239 plate appearances at that level.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Deadline Day Rotation Rumors

By Jeff Todd | August 1, 2016 at 2:31pm CDT

While we’ll certainly break out any stories that seem to have some helium, we’ll use this post to keep tabs on less pressing developments in the market for starting pitching:

The Pirates are talking to the Yankees about Ivan Nova, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
The Marlins are now looking for another starter after sending Colin Rea back to the Padres, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets.
Angels lefty Hector Santiago is still on the Tigers’ radar, along with Hellickson, per Morosi (via Twitter). Santiago has been talked about a decent bit in recent weeks, but we haven’t heard very many strong connections. Los Angeles is likely willing to deal him in the right situation, but surely puts a high value on a useful starter who is controllable beyond the year.
The Astros are mostly just “dabbling” in the market for starters, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. Edinson Volquez of the Royals represents one possible target, though Houston is said not to be terribly interested in the veteran righty.
While we haven’t heard much in the way of specifics, the Cubs are said to be eyeing an impactful rotation addition, and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that’s still the case. (He adds that the team prefers not to overpay for a left-handed-hitting outfielder, which is also on their wish list.)
The Phillies may well hold onto righty Jeremy Hellickson, ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark tweets. Philly hasn’t changed its asking price — last we heard, at least one quality prospect — but the market is changing. The Giants and Tigers aren’t in the bidding, per Stark, while the Rangers and Blue Jays have other names higher on their priority lists. With that being said, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets that Detroit is still looking at Hellickson, among other starters, as they seek to add to their rotation.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Show all

Headlines

Giants Rumors

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect