The Giants picked up RHP Shun Yamaguchi who was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays after a disastrous 2020 season, his MLB debut. Yamaguchi, who turns 34 in July, logged 14 NPB seasons with the Yokohama BayStars and Yomiuri Giants. He signed a two-year deal with Toronto and they still owe him about three million bucks so it is another, I hate to say it, "low-risk" move by FZ & Co.
Yamaguchi features a splitter/forkball, was primarily a reliever in Japan, and had no starts in 17 appearances with Toronto. I imagine that many Giants fans are tired of the "dumpster-diving" and see this move as just another chunk in the churn. He is of course just another chunk in the churn, but I can't see a downside. No one in the Giants system is being blocked. If someone pitches well they will get a job with the big club even if a veteran is in front of them. And if they don't it means the guy in that spot is performing even better. Having hungry, quality arms in the minors is just what you want! Pitching depth is crucial for any team, but particularly crucial for the Giants in the 2021 NL West. Take a look at the Dodgers and the Padres--they have star-studded, talent-rich pitching staffs. The Giants need every tool in the toolbox to compete!
I don't know yet if this move has roster implications. I'll update this post when I see the details. I have a feeling the Jays are going to regret this move, at least a little bit. I think this guy will find his footing in MLB and be an effective pitcher. Spring Training keeps getting more interesting!
--M.C.
update: Susan Slusser tweets that it is a "split" contract, minors/majors. I'm not sure what that means but it must be legal. His guaranteed money from Toronto probably only kicks in if he's on a 26-man roster or something. I don't know, I suspect we'll find out. Either way he's an almost free arm for the Giants.
update (again): Andrew Baggarly tweets "The Giants made the Shun Yamaguchi signing official. It's a minor league contract. Toronto is on the hook for his guaranteed salary so he'd make the prorated major league minimum if added to the roster."
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“We find ourselves in uncharted territory right now,” Giants general manager Scott Harris said on KNBR. “We’ve never had a season in which so many pitchers are coming off a season throwing less than they were accustomed to. I don’t think we fully understand the impact. We’re bringing as many guys as possible to camp because we know we’re going to need all of them. We want to be in position to give that pitcher an extra day between starts or a blow when they need it to make sure they can endure the grind of a 162-game season.”
That's from Baggs' story at The Athletic.
Giants DFA Trevor Gott to make a spot for Aaron Sanchez. We all saw the spectacular meltdowns Gott endured last season. Yet he was still intriguing, and not just for the 95 mph. I guess I like a guy who gets back up on his feet and keeps fighting even after getting his ass kicked.
MLBTR sums up the DFA process:
The Giants will now have a week to trade Gott, release him or place him on outright waivers. Brutal 2020 notwithstanding, it’s plausible he could attract interest from another club. In addition to his solid performance in 2019, Gott averaged a strong 95.4 MPH on his fastball last season. As a player with three-plus years of MLB service, a potential acquiring team would pick up three seasons of team control via arbitration.
If no other team acquires Gott, he’d be entitled to thirty days’ termination pay (roughly $112K) as a player cut within the first half of spring training. Unlike the vast majority of MLB contracts, most arbitration deals aren’t fully guaranteed until Opening Day.
teams with weaker pitchers than Gott should jump on the opportunity. There have been some very good pitchers with nice careers who have had a week or so where they stunk up the place like Gott did last year. I blame part of that on management putting him out there when clearly there was something off with his delivery. I know after one bad outing many managers want to throw the guy right back out there, but often in reality the bad outing was caused by something, either a sudden flaw in their delivery, the other team picking up something that the pitcher is tipping off, or an undisclosed injury. It is an interesting decision to DFA Gott.
I figure it is a good sign that the Giants have to get rid of talent in order to sign talent. The team is in a good place when they DFA a guy and it causes a tinge of regret. It should be hard to cut someone! If the decisions were easy it would mean they were fringe major-leaguers in the first place. Ideally the 40-man roster should have fewer and fewer AAAA-types with each transaction.
Giants want Yamaguchi to be a starter. He started 50 G in Japan (out of 400+ appearances) with a peak of 20 in 2015. He has an opt-out after Spring Training if he fails to make the team. The Giants would only be able to stash him at AAA if he agrees to a new contract. Most likely scenario is that he would try to catch on with another club.
Gausman, Cueto, DeSclafani, Wood, and the newly-signed Sanchez seem to be the five-man rotation right now. If the guys stay healthy it is hard to see Yamaguchi sticking around.
I figure the lefties (Selman, Garcia, McGee, and Peralta) are locks. And if one of those guys go down they'll replace him with a lefty (Menez?). The other four spots seem like Moronta, Rogers, Wisler, and FNG Tropeano. Maybe Moronta (who has options left) would get assigned to AAA to start the season to get fitter and healthier, something like that. That way they could use Yamaguchi as a swing man/6th starter or something like that!
I really need the season to start so I can stop roster-bating.
There seems to be a rule in baseball, and especially with the giants. If there are two guys of equal talent, drop your own and go after the one that is DFA'd by another team. Maybe that is unfair, but are the giants the only team that seems to do that?
I couldn't say as I don't follow other teams closely enough. I'm willing to bet the Giants have a scoresheet, so to speak, on every player. When a guy who scores 75 on the sheet becomes available, and your guy is a 74, you make the move!
I'm being facetious but I do think there is a similar process going on. This F.O. wants to be ready to upgrade whenever they can. Obviously they could be wrong, no amount of scouting, projections, and analytics can predict the future. All they can do is say "we think this guy has a better chance to perform in the roster spot than that guy." More precisely "this guy's skill set and probable outcomes seem better suited to our needs right now."
Gott had a fair chance to stick with the Giants. Kap showed a lot of faith and patience with him and took a lot of heat about it. You never know, a lot of guys get DFA'd and come back on a minors deal to the same club.
The Giants seem to be open and direct with their players. No drama or subterfuge. You don't hear ex-Giants complain about how they were treated in SF. I'm sure Gott was given a professional send-off. Ballplayers understand roster crunches.
Somme of it is clearly rating the performance pros and cons. Sometimes it's costs, sometimes it's team control, sometimes it's trade value. It is, whatever at a particular time what the management wants it to be. Just hoping this year that the giants surprise the baseball pundits and become serious contenders.
Me, too!
LHP Scott Kazmir has signed a minor-league deal with the Giants.
Kazmir last pitched in the majors in 2016. He was the 15th pick in the 2002 draft. Matt Cain was #25. Zack Greinke (#6) and Cole Hamels (#17) were also first-rounders that year.
Kazmir spent some time in A-ball in 2017 and then pitched in an independent league last season after not playing at all in 2018-19.
If you are left-handed and can still throw strikes some team will sign you!
Giants add Jeremy Walker, a RH reliever, on what it presumably a minors deal. He was released by the Braves last week. He has a little bit of ML time but lots of minors and NCAA experience. He turns 26 in June.
Our large collection of castoffs, hopefully will end up finding one or two diamonds in the rough, or stocking our farm system with some proven talent to play alongside some major prospects.
Other than Gausman and Cueto the rotation is a collection of spare parts! That's a little scary but they did as well as they could, I think. The arms they brought in at least are interesting, and there is some real upside.
Logan Webb probably should get little more seasoning in the minors, so if Yamaguchi or Kazmir gets a half dozen starts instead it doesn't really block his progress. And having the vets in the minors does indeed give the youngsters an opportunity to face real pitching.
Trevor Gott cleared waivers and was outrighted to Sacramento.
Giants claim Jordan Humphreys (RHP). He was on the team via the Billy Hamilton trade, but then lost in a waiver claim, now he's back. Tyler Beede goes to the IL (eligible to return May 31) and that opens a spot on the 40-man. Humphreys is from Florida and came up in the Mets system. He is a starter but has not played above A+ ball and he turns 25 in June.
I am a bit surprised that some teams with very weak pitching did not jump on Gott.
He has ML time and thus his "service clock" has started and he makes a little more than the ML minimum. Giants avoided arb with him and signed him for $700K. He's arb-eligible next year and an FA in 2024. There a probably plenty of similar guys who are still rookies or minor leaguers who teams have more control over.
Plus I think the Giants might be one of those "weak pitching" teams!
The giants may be a relatively weak pitching team, but there are teams in worse shape than the giants. The Giants pitching staff seems to be made up of quite a few, un-sure type folks, who have decent upside if they put their games back together. But there are teams in worse shape.
Joe Altobelli, who managed the Giants from 1977-1979, passed away. He got stuck with the "Juggler Joe" moniker because he liked to platoon a few guys. Sportswriters in those days weren't very imaginative, or very tolerant. He managed the Orioles after the Giants, winning a World Series in 1983.
RIP.
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