The Giants have designated righty Hunter Strickland for assignment, making him a surprise free agent. Also heading out the door is outfielder Gorkys Hernandez.
Strickland’s projected arbitration hit was only $2.5MM, which seems quite reasonable for a flamethrowing reliever who has generally been quite successful. Still, he’s known also for his temper and is coming off of his worst season in the majors.
Over 45 1/3 innings in 2018, Strickland worked to a 3.97 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9. A self-sustained finger injury broke up the campaign, with Strickland showing reduced velocity upon his return.
Huh?
On behalf of Giants fans across San Francisco, we’re happy you’re gone Strickland. You didnt rep the Orange & Black well. Punk azz cry baby. Good riddance.
Legit curiosity… What was the issue with him?
Crap personality and anger management skills. I also think it could be cause they want to woo harper? I hope they fall short, we need a rebuild or at least a retool
Hot headed idiot who punched a wall and broke his hand when he had just taken over as the closer and was doing pretty well.
How bout this… post season- he couldn’t get Harper out. Held on to the bitterness for over a year. Then decided to hit Harper and start a fight. Had 2 other incidents. Look it up. Then punched a wall in another tizzy. Please let the door hit you on the way out. You deserve it.
You people know nothing about Hunter Strickland.. It is easy to criticize him from your below average mediocre lives. What is the best thing you have done in your pathetic existence?
Hunter has endured incredible stress and pressure of being in the major league. He has achieved incredible things and will continue to be an incredible talent. He is a wonderful father and husband as well as an excellent role model.
Yes, he has faltered and made poor choices. But all for the passion of the game and passion excellence.
SF Giants was a wonderful first stop for Hunter, but his career is far from over. See you in the future. He has many other offers and will be wearing another jersey soon.
Thanks for chiming in, Hunter’s mom.
A lot of Giant’s fans saw him as selfish. One of the two things he did that really hurt the team was plunking Harper. Not only was Strickland suspended, but the Giants lost both Samardzija and Mike Morse to injury in the subsequent brawl. It basically ended Morse’s career.
Punching the door and breaking his hand hurt the team as well. Not many teams can lose a regularly used RP for as long as he was out (2 months?). It was like he didn’t understand actions have consequences. That, and despite the high heat, he just couldn’t seem to translate that raw talent into actual effective pitching.
nobody forced shark or morse to fight.
I mean morse’s career was over anyway and shark blows ass
He held a grudge for like three years because a player hit a homer off him…. not healthy
Punk azz cry baby is a good description. good heater, though…
Did Barry and BALCO rep the Orange & Black well?
Keep living in that fantasy world where you believe your team didn’t have major users of PEDs. Every team team had them.
My favorite hypocrites are A’s fans that do this to the Giants, considering Canseco, McGwire and company in the late 80s pretty much started this trend and half their team in the early 2000s was on it.
Almost every team has had some player using PED… I bet the team you root for has had at least one… Bonds was using when it was technically not against the rules… PEDs were against MLB rules till 2004.
I don’t believe that’s accurate. Anyone?
It was against the rules in the CBA, but was never inforced and no accual testing done until 2003. In 2003 every player was tested anonomouly. If a certain percentage tested positive manitory testing would begin in 2004. I believe all the white Sox players refused the test so manitory testing would be inforced. Manny, Ortiz, Bonds and a few others tested positive after the Feds confiscated the finds and revealed the results. . That’s the only dirty test involving steroids of Bonds. He passed the tests 2004-2007.
Also Victor Conte’s attorney leaked Bonds grand jury testimony in which he admitted he took “the clear”. Which he believed was a flaxseed supplment. The attorney went to prison for leaking the information.
Steroids were banned in MLB in 1991. And to those that say “Yeah, but they didn’t test for them until 2003,” I say, my job doesn’t test me for drugs either, but I know what I can and can’t do. You can’t cry once you’ve been caught doing something you knew you weren’t supposed to do.
Nope, just you.
I wasn’t justifying anything just giving the history. Many players got Dr prescribed HGH and other legal drugs while others used synthetic black market drug dealers like Balco.
Players union had a ton of power until the Feds started getting involved. Once the Feds got involved the union cracked under pressure to allow testing.
Couldn’t agree more!
Good Moves. . . Strickland, it was time to move on… Gorkys did well in the first half. Not so much in second. . . It opens playing time definitively as the Giants are looking for outfielders. ! ! !
Outfielders NOT named Harper…
He’s going to punch another door for sure
I was hoping sign Harper and have Strickland same teammates
Maybe this is Zaidi’s pitch to Harper?
No way Farhan signs Harper!
Please no
Bryce coming?
Strickland’s ‘release’ frees up room for Harper to sign with the team. =)
I feel like this a good opportunity for the rebuilding Mariners to build up the bullpen and give themselves some trade pieces for the deadline – Strickland, Parker, Avilan.
Add Fiers and Boxberger to this list as well.
can’t have him & harper on the same team
So much promise with Strickland, just never could get control of his emotions. Good luck dude.
He couldn’t get control of his location either. Too many BBs.
He had hints of being a good reliever. When the Season started he looked real good. Established his offspeed pitch over the winter, really became a front runner as a set up man, but due to Melancon being hurt he was a great guy to have to close and did well, but Emotions got in the way.
After this news, every door in Georgia is on edge tonight.
A+
Not at all sorry to see Strickland gone. I thought Gorkys had some value as a 5th OFer. He had good speed and played reasonable defense but I won’t quibble with his departure either..Whether Gorkys had stayed, or is gone, doesn’t move the needle much in either direction.
Lol 5th OFer
What’s so funny about a 5th OFer? Plenty of teams employ 5 OFers and Gorkys’ numbers aren’t that far out of line with other 5th OFers.
Actually last year he had pretty solid numbers for a starting or 4th OF for a good portion of the year but he failed off badly towards the end. He also is actually pretty weak defensively, you’d think with his decent speed he would be better but he cost a few runs.
This should mean Duggar is the opening day CF….hopefully give him a real chance.
Hernandez always seemed to be running away from the ball. He had poor routes, which I blame on the GPS he was given lol. Duggar should definitely be fun to watch.
hopefully do not regret the decision taken with gorkys .. obviously he did very well the first half and the second half almost all the half and the baseball player can not give equal if he does not play every day, obviously here people know very little of baseball
Yep, this is all a Bryce sales pitch
Gorkys played one decent half of baseball during his whole tenure as a Giant. Glad rolling him out there is an option Bochy won’t have anymore, because you know he would end up as a starter for some stretch if he was on the team again next year.
He only started because of injuries, or the occasional day off for the regular. He would have had more value if he could have walked a bit more. That career .295 OBP is probably the main reason he’s gone.
Yes Tad I agree with Gorky and as Far as Strick,he just didn’t do his Job,it’s time to move on
Strickland to the Jays to form a one two punch with Giles. Angry times.
…..Angry Birds
Well done.
Well looks like they’re going to make a run at Bryce. Strickland had trade value but they just dumped him to show off.
Walks, strikeouts, and homers all trending in the wrong direction. Solid when there’s nothing on the line, terrible in high leverage. Cap it off with decreased velocity and the temperament issues. Nobody is trying to show off, this is just business.
Or because he isn’t that good and is a complete headcase. 0 to do with Harper
It’s just silly to think that Strickland’s release has anything to do with Harper. If the Giants sign Harper it will be because they’ve offered him the biggest contract. And if they hadn’t released Strickland his presence would not have deterred Harper from accepting it.
I find it hard to believe SF have a real shot at signing Harper. No serious hitters want to play half their games at AT&T. Sabean has said many times that they need to overpay for hitters because they don’t really want to go to SF. But besides that, Harper is likely going to set many hitting records, playing at AT&T is only going to hamper those stats.
FYI Harper’s stats at AT&T .164/.305/.284… I’m willing to put money down he doesn’t sign with SF.
I also find it hard to think that the Giants will sign Harper, but they have the financial resources to do so if they want. I just don’t think they’ll put so much of those financial resources into one guy. As to whether Harper would sign there, he will no doubt sign with the team offering the biggest contract. The Giants can offer the biggest deal.
Harper will be signing a deal that will cover most of the rest of his career, so I doubt he cares that much about stats. He’s not rebuilding value in a pillow contract, nor looking 4 years or so down the road to his next deal. If Greinke can sign to pitch in an extreme hitter’s park, Harper can sign to play in a pitcher’s park.
And despite the pitcher’s park aspect there is much that’s attractive about playing in front of sell-out crowds every night in SF. Plus the Giants have a reputation among players as a great organization to play for. Again I doubt it will happen, but if Harper doesn’t sign with the Giants it won’t be for the reasons most fans cite.
All good points @tad2b13.
Players like Harper are hyper competitive. He is no doubt competitive about wanting the biggest contract of all time. But I also think he’s competitive about all time stats too. All things being equal he doesn’t sign with SF but yeah if SF blows him away with money, I could see it happening. But more than likely he’ll just tell whatever team he wants to go to, to match it.
Also while I was looking at his stats, Really good numbers at Wrigley, so be interesting to see if he signs there, but I still think Philly.
I agree about Philly. I really don’t see the Giants wanting to spend as much for one player as it will take. My point, that Harper won’t sign in SF, because of the park, is the completely wrong reason why he won’t.
I really hope Harper doesn’t come to SF. Giants need a power-hitting outfielder but that could mean $35 MM annually, and Bryce isn’t worth anywhere near that now, let alone in 10-12 years.
“Sabean has said many times that they need to overpay for hitters because they don’t really want to go to SF”
This is way overstated. First of all he hasn’t said this many times. He did once offer a list of why the Giants sometimes have to overpay, and the fact that AT&T is a pitcher’s park was just one of them. But he also cited the taxes (California and SF), as well as being far from a where a lot of players come from. He also included FA pitchers in the need to overpay to acquire.
You can throw all that out the window when talking about a generational talent like Harper. Whoever signs him will overpay due to multiple teams bidding. The Giants, given their financial wherewithal have as good a chance for overpaying for Harper as any team and better than most.
I’d bet these same fans bashing Strickland give head bat bashing Juan Marichal standing ovations at old timer games.
Juan Marichal was a Hall of Famer, and he was bashing the bat onto a Dodger. Of course we applaud that.
Attempted murder is funny? If he did that now he would be banned for life
They were love taps. Besides, it was Dodger. That’s like killing a old dog with worms.
You’re killing me. Too funny
It’s not complicated, he just didn’t pitch well. He’d come in and give up the long ball. I think this move is a year too late.
I think a few of you are over playing the homerun thing. He actually didn’t give up a ton of homeruns during his time on the teams what he did do was walk too many batters giving up base runners.
Not sorry to see him gone really, but I would have rather they kept him for the 2.5 mil hope he got some of his form back before the broken hand and traded him at the deadline for a couple of good prospects from a contender. If he comes back next season and is pitching to an ERA under 2.5 at the deadline the Giants will have made a big mistake.
or is more than that, it wasn’t just that he would walk guys, but he had a Jekyll and hyde game where when he got in his head he just couldn’t throw a strike and would walk guy after guy. You could see it when it was happening, he would just get angrier and angrier.
This exactly. It seemed like he could come on in a meaningless situation and pitch fine. Next night, he’d pitch in a leverage situation and couldn’t hit the strike zone for his life.
Billy Hamilton to replace Hernandez?
One light hitting OF for an even lighter hitting more pricey one???
its gonna be Duggar.
Strickland is such a head case, but thanks for making the Cubs job easier in 2016 NLDS
Thank the Cubs for making the Giants’ job easier in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Oh wait …
Would love to see Hunter on the Marlins
Problem with Strickland isn’t really on field issues. Yeah he struggled a bit, but his attitude and lack of a grasp on reality are what made giants fans not want what he s selling. His downtick in velocity had little to do with injury. He changed his approach, threw less hard and mixed in some off speed stuff. It was fairly obvious just throwing 100+ fastballs was the cause of his long ball problems.
Well, this certainly wouldn’t hurt the Giants’ potential run at Bryce Harper.
He’s a better pitcher than Dyson. I guess this is to do with player profile, as they say, rather than pitching ability.
Finally Gorkys Hernadez is gone. Thank you Farhan.
Having Gorkys Hernandez on your team is a commitment to mediocrity…
Well I guess if my Cubbies can’t sign Harper we can always try and rehabilitate this Strickland fellow…..
If you get Strickland forget Harper.
Finally Strickland is gone!
I’ll miss dorkys tho lol
Now that Strickland is gone that’s one less issue between the Giants and Bryce Harper.
I was hoping giants sign Harper
Have Harper meet up with Strickland for new teammate
Oh well
Kiss and make up
Yankees gonna scoop him up (y)
Both of those guys will be on a starting roster in 2019
Too bad Giants can’t get something for them
Gorkys Hernandez is a starter? Why do you think so?
The fact that the Giants couldn’t even get a lottery ticket prospect for either of these players shows their true value. Strickland did have a excellent start to the 2018 season and it looked liked he had turned a corner with his off speed pitches. He then destroyed his season in a fit of anger.