3:40pm: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that Byrd had cleared waivers as opposed to being claimed by the Giants (Twitter link).
3:25pm: The Giants announced that they have acquired veteran outfielder Marlon Byrd and cash considerations from the Reds in exchange for Double-A right-hander Stephen Johnson.
The addition of Byrd will provide the Giants with some desperately needed outfield depth, as their starting outfield has been ravaged by injuries his year. While Nori Aoki is slated to return from a concussion today, starting center fielder Angel Pagan and starting right fielder Hunter Pence are both on the disabled list. Byrd, presumably, will see time in one of the outfield corners (he’s played left field this year but has recent experience in right field as well), with Aoki manning the other spot.
Byrd, 37, suffered a small fracture in his wrist in early June but made a somewhat surprisingly quick return from the disabled list, returning to action less than three weeks later. Even more surprising than his quick return is the absence of ill effects that he’s shown from a wrist injury; Byrd homered in his first game back from the DL and is slashing .258/.286/.454 with nine homers in 203 plate appearances since being activated. While that OBP obviously leaves something to be desired, he’s shown plenty of pop and managed to hit for a respectable average. He should serve as a relatively productive piece in the middle of the Giants’ ailing lineup, and he could either slide down the order or serve as a nice bench piece down the line once everyone is healthy.
Byrd is earning $8MM this season as part of a two-year, $16MM contract originally signed with the Phillies. Philadelphia picked up $4MM of the tab when he was traded to the Reds in the first place, so there’s only about $1MM remaining for the Giants and Reds to worry about. Byrd is 172 plate appearances shy of triggering an $8MM vesting option for the 2016 season. He’d need to average 3.85 plate appearances per game over the Giants’ remaining 42 contests to reach the 550 plate appearances he needs, which is an attainable rate if he plays every day. Of course, he won’t be with the team for tonight’s game (he’ll join them Friday), and the Giants, though certainly justify benching Byrd against right-handed pitching once everyone is healthy. He’s slashed just .224/.268/.433 against righties this year compared to .280/.344/.500 versus left-handed pitching.
San Francisco selected Johnson, now 24 years old, in the sixth round of the 2012 draft. Baseball America ranked him as the Giants’ No. 21 and 28 prospect following the 2012 and 2013 seasons, but he’s dropped off their Top 30 since and didn’t make MLB.com’s midseason Top 30 for the Giants, either. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs mentioned him in his preseason look at the Giants’ prospects, noting that he hit 100 mph with Division-II St. Edwards College (TX) but has settled into the mid-90s. He’ll flash an above-average curve at times, but he has some command and delivery issues. McDaniel (Twitter link) and BA’s John Manuel (Twitter link) both offered similar takes to that report in the minutes following the trade. Reds GM Walt Jocketty said (via the Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Fay, on Twitter) that Johnson has a “big arm” and the organization projects him as a reliever. He’ll go  Cincinnati’s Double-A affiliate. Johnson had a 3.41 ERA with 10.6 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9 in 58 innings for the Giants’ Double-A affiliate his year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
We need this! He can start until Hunter Pence comes back then be a nice bat off the bench.
When Bumgarner is the best PH you have… something needs to be done!
Bumgarner has a better batting line than Pablo Sandoval this year.
If Bum gets hurt pinch hitting the Giants season is over. As much as I enjoy watching him hit, it isn’t worth the risk.
He’s not made of glass, he is a professional athlete. Hitting is not exactly wrestling bears or swimming with sharks.
Pretty easy to break a hand or some fingers batting. Vogelsong will tell you all about it. Pence and Aoki missed significant time this year due to being hit. You don’t need to get mauled by a bear to miss the rest of the season.
58 PA to 412. Kinda easier to have a higher average with less appearances.
About time. That lineup has been brutal lately. Lucky to get out of STL with a win. This move or a similar one needed to be made a month ago.
Nice trade for the giants, but was this a good trade for the reds?
a 24 year old AA reliever with lots of k’s and lots of walks…
Sounds like if he worked on his command more, he’d be a great reliever in the big league in the future
but you can say that about a lot of 24 year old minor leaguers…and how many do?
Giving him away for nothing would have been a good deal for the Reds. If he plays most of the time for the rest of the year, the Reds would be on the hook for $8M next year for Byrd. If they deliberately bench him (so he doesn’t get the necessary PAs), they risk owing him the $$ anyway (unfair practice unless they can show he wasn’t their best LF option, which he is).
The Reds stink this year, and they will be average at best next year (in 2017, if their young starting pitching comes along, they may be quite good, as all the veterans are still under control). They need Byrd like a hole in the head. They certainly don’t need to be paying him millions of dollars. Anything they got is a plus.
that could get a little tricky with the vesting option, couldnt it?
He needs 168 more ABs I believe. Hard to see him getting it when Pence returns.
It could be very close.. You never know with obliques.. Could take up to 6 weeks..
It’s actually 162 plate appearances. Byrd would get around 4.2 plate appearances per start, so he’d get that with around 38 starts and a few pinch hitting appearances. The Giants have 42 games left. It shouldn’t be hard to justify playing Byrd no more than 6 out of 7 games. He isn’t hitting righties this year. So a platoon with Blanco would make sense.
Should at least be an upgrade from Justin Maxwell’s bat. Good move.
Good move for the giants
This is good for the Giants. Byrd has great success against their division rival.
Good move for both squads. Giants looking strong for a playoff push if they can get healthy. Best team this decade. Gregor and Byrd going to platoon or?
Would imagine so. Byrd hasn’t done very well this year against righties but has been very solid against lefties.
As a Dodger fan I am not happy with this move.
FYI: Bochy has already said that, in this current configuration, Aoki will play RF with Byrd playing LF, because Aoki had played RF regularly last season.
Seems like a good stopgap measure to cover Pence being out for longer than expected (2 weeks don’t seem enough to heal “moderate” oblique strain). And when Pence does return, Byrd is great bat off the bench, and if they make the WS again, can play some DH.
Though, ideally, we should have gotten someone who mashes RHP, not LHP, because that is the area the Giants have had the worse problem beating this season.