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Report: Buster Posey Spearheaded Extension Talks With Matt Chapman

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The Giants’ six-year, $151MM extension for third baseman Matt Chapman marked a departure from the organization’s reluctance to commit to players on long-term deals under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, though perhaps there’s an explanation for that. Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic reports that Giants ownership was “frustrated” by the lack of progress in talks between Zaidi and Chapman’s agent, Scott Boras, and intervened. Franchise icon Buster Posey, who bought a minority stake in the team in 2022 and is one of six members on the board of directors, took a lead role in the talks and negotiated the framework of the deal with Chapman himself, according to Baggarly. Readers are highly encouraged to check out the piece in full, as it contains a slew of details on the unusual nature of the Chapman negotiations.

Posey personally taking on such a prominent role in a franchise-altering negotiation is a potentially damning indictment on Zaidi’s status within the organization. The sixth-year president of baseball operations signed an extension just last year, but what was originally reported as a three-year contract has since been revealed to be a two-year contract covering the 2024-25 seasons and containing what’s effectively a club option for the 2026 season.

It’s not clear that the pair of reports, which surfaced within a week of one another, is evidence that Zaidi is on the proverbial hot seat. At the same time, it seems fair to infer — particularly in light of the revelation regarding his contract — that he’s not on quite as steady ground as it may have seemed even a few weeks ago. Giants ownership has publicly backed Zaidi whenever given the opportunity, but Posey’s prominent role in Chapman’s extension only raises questions of potential dissatisfaction. The Giants won’t be reaching the postseason this year, and they’re tracking toward what would be a fifth losing season in six under Zaidi’s tenure.

While the end result is the same regardless of who’s negotiating the contract, the journey to that agreement is notable. Maybe this was just a one-off where the board felt Posey, as a former player, could appeal directly to a player he’s gotten to know over the course of the current season. If things have reached the point where ownership has genuinely lost faith in Zaidi’s vision and/or his ability to close deals, that would be a far more alarming development and likely the portent for a change of note in the front office.

It’s worth noting, of course, that the Giants have signed plenty of free agents under Zaidi’s watch (MLBTR Contract Tracker link). The majority have been short-term pacts, however. The Giants let successfully rehabilitated pitchers like Kevin Gausman and Carlos Rodon walk rather than pay market price for either pitcher. (The latter decision seems wise; the former is regrettable.) They pursued Bryce Harper in free agency but reportedly stopped just $20MM or so short of Harper’s eventual contract with the Phillies. A pursuit of Aaron Judge ultimately only served to drive up the price for the Yankees, who kept their homegrown star. A massive 13-year deal with Carlos Correa was scuttled when the Giants raised concerns about Correa’s physical.

Center fielder Jung Hoo Lee (six years, $113MM) is the only free agent the Giants have signed for more than Jordan Hicks’ four years or more than Blake Snell’s $62MM guarantee. The aversion to long-term deals has certainly kept the Giants’ payroll outlook clean, but the results on the lower-cost free agent deals made have frequently failed to pan out. Mitch Haniger and Jorge Soler both signed three-year deals and were both dumped in salary-driven trades before the second season of said contracts commenced. Tommy La Stella was released two years into a three-year contract. The Giants dumped the final season of Anthony DeSclafani’s three-year deal on the Mariners along with Haniger. The second season of Ross Stripling’s two-year deal was sent to the A’s in a salary dump deal. Michael Conforto has been a roughly league-average bat over the life of his two-year, $36MM deal. Smaller-scale two-year deals for Luke Jackson (dumped along with Soler) and Tom Murphy have backfired.

Zaidi undoubtedly built plenty of goodwill with home-run signings of Gausman, Drew Smyly, Derek Holland and (the first time) DeSclafani. Low-cost pickups of Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade Jr., Joc Pederson, Darin Ruf, Donovan Solano and Thairo Estrada (among others) have also been unmitigated successes. But many of those early success stories have since moved on, while others have seen their effectiveness fade. And the recent low-cost acquisitions haven’t had the same level of impact on the organization, while the farm has seen several top prospects stall out.

All of that is vital context when trying to ascertain what the Chapman report signals for Zaidi and his future with the organization. Zaidi himself downplayed the scenario to Baggarly, suggesting he and ownership worked “in sync” and telling Baggarly that ownership involvement is to be expected on a contract of this magnitude. That’s true, broadly speaking, though ownership circumventing both the front office and the player agent to hammer out a deal is not typical business.

Given the Giants’ likely interest in keeping Snell — another Boras client — the manner in which the Chapman deal came together is all the more intriguing. The Boras Corporation also represents a significant number of free agents this offseason: Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, Yusei Kikuchi, J.D. Martinez, Nick Martinez, Sean Manaea and Tyler O’Neill are among the most notable Boras clients that could be on the market this winter (as can be seen in MLBTR’s Agency Database).

Nori Aoki To Retire At NPB Season’s End

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Former big league outfielder and current member of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yakult Swallows Nori Aoki is set to retire following the 2024 campaign, per an announcement from the Swallows yesterday (hat tip to The Yomiuri Shimbun). Aoki, 42, spent parts of six seasons in the majors in addition to a lengthy career in Japan.

Aoki’s career first began with the Swallows back in 2004 when he debuted at the age of 22. He made it into just ten games with Yakult that year, going 3-for-15 at the plate with a walk, a stolen base, and six strikeouts. That tiny sample size did nothing to suggest what Aoki would go on to do in his first full season with the club, however, as he slashed an excellent .344/.387/.417 in 144 games during the 2005 season, becoming just the second player in NPB history (after Ichiro Suzuki) to collect 200 hits in a single season.

He improved to even greater heights throughout his mid-20s, slashing 15-to-20 homer power to go along with fantastic contact and baserunning skills. As his plate discpline developed, he even began to walk more than he struck out, leading to a dominant stretch of seasons from 2007 to 2010 where he walked at a 10.6% clip against a minuscule 9.8% strikeout rate in addition to his aforementioned solid power and impressive base-stealing abilities, and even crossed the 200-hit barrier for a second time in 2010 to become the only NPB player in history to achieve the feat twice.

Given the excellence he had demonstrated throughout his time with the Swallows, it was hardly a surprise when he was quickly snapped up by the Brewers on a two-year deal after being posted for major league clubs prior to the 2012 season. In Milwaukee, Aoki was a slightly above average hitter with a solid .287/.355/.399 slash line. While he only hit a combined 18 home runs over his two seasons with the Brewers, he swiped 50 bags while hitting 57 doubles and 7 triples in that same period. That was a strong enough performance for Milwaukee brass to pick up Aoki’s club option for the 2014 season, but he did not last the offseason with the club and was swapped to the Royals in a deal that brought lefty Will Smith to the Brewers.

After departing the Brewers, Aoki wouldn’t stick around with an MLB club for more than a season at the time for the rest of his time in stateside ball. After acting as the regular right fielder in Kansas City for the club’s AL pennant-winning 2014 season, Aoki departed in free agency to sign with the Giants but was limited to just 93 games when he suffered a broken leg and a concussion in two separate hit-by-pitch incidents. Aoki then signed a one-year deal with the Mariners in 2016 but began to show some signs of decline, notably stealing only seven bases in sixteen attempts with the worst strikeout and walk numbers of his MLB career, though he did display his best power numbers since his rookie 2012 campaign with the Brewers.

Aoki’s final season in the big leagues came back in 2017 and saw him change uniforms several times. The veteran outfielder was claimed off waivers from the Mariners by the Astros during the 2016-17 offseason. Aoki struggled somewhat through 70 games with Houston, however, and ended up traded to the Blue Jays at the deadline that year alongside Teoscar Hernandez in a deal that brought Francisco Liriano to Houston. Aoki managed to catch fire down the stretch, however, and while his playing time was further split between the Blue Jays and Mets over the final two months of the season he slashed .281/.294/.594 for Toronto in August before slashing .284/.371/.373 in Queens that September.

Following the end of his MLB career, Aoki returned home to the Swallows and has played for the club in each of the past seven seasons. Now 42, the veteran is the league’s oldest active player and has collected more than 7,000 plate appearances with a .313/.392/.445 slash line in 1,713 NPB games. Between NPB and MLB play, Aoki has stepped up to the plate more than 10,000 times with 2,765 hits, 470 doubles, 51 triples, 179 homers and 279 stolen bases. We at MLBTR congratulate Aoki on a fine career and wish him all the best in his post-playing pursuits.

Giants Select Donovan Walton

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The Giants have selected infielder Donovan Walton’s contract from Triple-A Sacramento, the team announced. To make room for Walton on the active roster, the club optioned outfielder Luis Matos to the minor leagues. The Giants already had an open spot on the 40-man roster.

Walton, 30, will get the start in tonight’s contest with the Padres, playing second base and batting ninth. Brett Wisely, who has gotten most of his playing time since the All-Star break at second base, will slide over to short. Walton’s promotion is most likely related to shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald’s back tightness, which forced him to exit yesterday’s game in the third inning. Thankfully, Fitzgerald’s MRI showed no signs of structural damage (per Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle), and there is no indication he will require a trip to the injured list. Walton will be around to cover until Fitzgerald is ready to return to action.

This will be Walton’s first trip back to the majors since 2022. Selected by the Mariners in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, the versatile infielder (and occasional outfielder) made his MLB debut with Seattle in 2019. He appeared in 37 games for the M’s from 2019-22, going 18-for-92 (.196) with a .575 OPS. The Mariners sent him to San Francisco in May 2022, and he appeared in 24 games for the Giants, going 12-for-76 (.158) with a .482 OPS. Unsurprisingly, San Francisco non-tendered him at the end of the season, but he re-signed with the club in December 2022. After an injury-shortened 2023 season, he signed another minor league pact to return to the Giants in 2024. Following an impressive showing at Triple-A – he’s hitting .306 with an .821 OPS – Walton has finally made his way back to the major leagues. He could get at least a few starts while Fitzgerald is on the mend. After that, he will presumably be DFA’d at some point in the coming weeks before electing free agency again this offseason.

Giants Notes: Snell, Yastrzemski, Conforto

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The Giants already extended one potential free agent by when they inked third baseman Matt Chapman to a six-year, $151MM contract that overrode the remaining two years and $34MM on his previous pact and negated the opt-out clause he was sure to exercise. Now, the recruiting pitch for another likely opt-out candidate is on. Giants righty Logan Webb appeared on Chris Rose’s podcast this week and suggested he’s doing everything he can to convince Blake Snell to re-sign on a longer-term deal and plant roots in the Bay Area (YouTube link, with Snell talk beginning at the 18:15 mark). Asked by Rose how he can help make sure Snell is back with the Giants in 2025, Webb replied:

I’m going to do everything [I can]. I don’t know how that’s all going to work out. I kind of hope they do what they did with Chappy — start conversations now, so we’re not bidding against other teams. I’m sure there’s teams in our division that are going to try hard to get him. Teams need good starting pitching, and he’s been the best in baseball since the beginning of July. It’s been awesome to watch, and he’s one of my favorite teammates. Hopefully we do everything we can to get him back.

He didn’t have a spring training, right? … He was kind of scuffling. I think he was doubting himself a little bit. And then, all of a sudden, look what happens when he gains some confidence. He’s back to Blake Snell. He’s a two-time Cy Young Award winner. Not many guys are two-time Cy Young Award winners, and you can see it when he throws. He’s throwing pellets. It’s unbelievable, as a lefty. I don’t know how anybody hits this. We’ve got to do everything we can to get him back. I do think he should be a big part of our future going forward.

Webb noted to Rose that he doesn’t plan to campaign to the front office in unprompted manner — though public-facing comments of this nature are in a way indirectly doing so — but would offer his opinions and any feedback if asked. It’s clear that Webb, a perennial Cy Young candidate himself, values Snell’s on-field contributions as well as the left-hander’s presence in the clubhouse.

The assertion that Snell has been baseball’s best arm dating back to early July is hard to argue, too. Snell’s no-hitter gained plenty of attention, but as I explored in a piece for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers a couple weeks ago, Snell has picked up his annual second-half momentum and looks to be back in Cy Young form. He obviously won’t win the award this season after a dismal start to the season that included him twice landing on the injured list, but since returning from his latest IL stint on July 9, Snell has a 1.45 ERA in 68 1/3 innings. He’s punched out a gaudy 36.5% of his opponents, offsetting a higher-than-average 10.5% walk rate, and allowed two or fewer runs in 11 of his 12 starts (the exception being a three-run, six-inning quality start on Aug. 7).

That run of dominance makes Snell’s opt-out an easy call — the alternative would be a $30MM player option for the 2025 season — but it’s not clear whether the front office has engaged with agent Scott Boras (who also reps Chapman). The Giants have been reluctant to make weighty long-term offers to free agent pitchers under the current front office regime. Webb’s five-year, $90MM extension is the largest contract the Giants have given to a pitcher under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi in both years and dollars. They haven’t signed a free agent for more than three years (Anthony DeSclafani’s $36MM deal) or for more than a total of $44MM (Carlos Rodon’s two-year deal). Snell should breeze past both marks.

Snell isn’t the only Giant whose future is uncertain, of course. The Giants have a wide slate of potential free agents but also some borderline arbitration calls. Outfielder Mike Yastrzemski spoke with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle about his own status. The 34-year-old is owed a raise on his $7.9MM salary this offseason and has turned in a fairly typical season by his standards, slashing .237/.310/.441 with 15 home runs and quality defense in right field.

Yastrzemski has been a fine value at his current salary, but an arb raise could push him north of $10MM. For a player in his mid-30s who’s unlikely to return to his standout 2019-20 form, that could be present a difficult decision as the non-tender deadline approaches in November — particularly since the Giants have a number of younger outfield options. Heliot Ramos has solidified himself in the 2025 outfield, and center fielder Jung Hoo Lee will be back next year after undergoing shoulder surgery that ended his season back in May. Grant McCray, 23, has looked a bit over his head in 85 plate appearances so far (.247 OBP, 41% strikeout rate), but he had a decent showing in Triple-A this year. He and/or Luis Matos could push into the picture next season.

Perhaps there’s a scenario where Yastrzemski is more of a part-time player, but his salary could be steep for that role. He made clear to Slusser he hopes to be back, however, even mentioning a willingness to sign a two-year deal that’d lower his contract’s average annual value. We don’t typically see players heading into their final arbitration season voice willingness to sign for only two years, but Yastrzemski is older than most players with five-plus years of service and also spoke of how he’s “grown so in love with” the organization, the stadium, the clubhouse and the city itself.

Slusser also adds that outfielder Michael Conforto, a free agent at season’s end, is hoping to return to San Francisco. It’s difficult to envision a scenario where both Yastrzemski and Conforto are back next year, however, as the Giants will want to earmark playing time for Ramos and Lee and surely want to leave the door open for at-bats for younger outfielders like McCray and Matos. One of Conforto or Yastrzemski, at most, seems feasible.

The 31-year-old Conforto has never regained his star-level form after undergoing shoulder surgery two years ago, but he’s popped 16 homers for the Giants this season while batting .229/.307/.430. He’s been about 7% better than average after weighting for his home park, by measure of wRC+, but he’s also sitting on the lowest full-season walk rate of his career (9.3%) and his highest strikeout rate (25%) since 2017.

Conforto likely won’t come close to the two-year, $36MM contract he received from the Giants two offseasons ago this time around. Familiarity with the player could prompt some interest in a reunion from the San Francisco front office, but he hasn’t been a handily above-average bat since 2020 at this point. A modest one- or two-year deal could be the outcome this offseason, and a Giants club hoping to establish more of an offensive identity moving forward might prefer to shuffle the lineup rather than largely maintain the status quo.

MLBTR Podcast: Matt Chapman’s Extension, Star Prospect Promotions, Bichette’s Future In Toronto

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, pinch-hitting host Mark Polishuk is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • What the heck is up with the AL wild card?  Is Minnesota going to be able to hold off the Tigers, or anyone else?  K.C. made them look pedestrian and Detroit is, scarily enough, beginning to figure things out. (49:25)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

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.”

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