The Giants have signed catcher Tyler Heineman, he announced Monday on Twitter. It’s presumably a minor league contract for Heineman, who comes with little experience in the majors.
Now 28 years old, Heineman entered the pro ranks as an eighth-round pick of the Astros in 2012. The part-time magician has since been a part of the Brewers, Marlins and Diamondbacks organizations. Heineman owns a respectable .287/.353/.430 line in 1,004 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, where he has played almost all of the past few seasons and shown an ability to avoid strikeouts. And Heineman did debut in the majors last season with 12 plate trips to the plate in September as a member of the Marlins, but they outrighted him off their 40-man roster in the middle of October.
Heineman will now join a Giants roster whose starting catching job is taken by the venerable Buster Posey. They also have Aramis Garcia on their 40-man, while high-end prospect Joey Bart shouldn’t be too far off from the majors.
Why is this not under the tab “Minor Transactions”?
It’s a major transaction for the Giants these days.
This guys gonna be the next Gary bonds
The great Gary bonds
No one can possibly match Gary U.S. Bonds.
Here come the Giants catcher signings? Immediately flashing back to last year
When your starting catcher is regularly injured and no longer very good …
Zaidi’s masterful plan at work. 12 MLB at bats. Zaidi must not think Bart is ready.
Bart is definitely not ready. You don’t need to be a pres of bb ops to know that. Catchers need more time in the minors than any other position, and Bart hasn’t played a single game at AAA. We might see him in a Sept call-up, but with the new rules limiting the number of guys that can be added, we might not.
^this
If he’s a part-time magician, presumably he’s a great framer….or at least good with the hidden ball trick.
Giants will need a magician this year.
Haha
good depth option
For a catcher to put up a slash line like that in AAA and not be considered a top prospect, or kept on the 40 man at least, is odd. Is something horribly wrong with his defense?
He’s almost 28 so he’s past the point of really being looked at as a prospect
Scratch that, he is 28
slash line like that? what are you talking about? Oh yes the OPS of .783 is screaming promotion.
Wow! A blockbuster signing for sure. We are now, finally guaranteed an exciting 2020…minus the fact that are rotation is super weak, most of our infield guys are about ready for joint replacements, and we don’t have a center or a left fielder. But, wow, an impact signing…
Without the sarcasm, how does this signing help us in our rebuild?
Please. Why get all out of sorts for what is simply a depth signing? It’s a low risk deal for a guy with intriguing numbers in MiLB. If there’s something there, great. He could then provide back up in case of injury, since Bart should not be exposed to the majors until September.
And how do you know the rotation is weak? You don’t know what cueto or gausman are gonna be, the shark had a good year outside of the first 2 months, and we have quite a few young arms that can break out. It’s also about the time you’ll start seeing Farhan grab some guys with value. There may be another rotation guy in there. And there’s quite a few valuable outfielders out there that I’d love to watch at Oracle.
Big glove. The Giants are rebuilding.
Looks like a career minor leaguer already, was this headline really necessary?
Yes. Any news is interesting for starved Giants fans during this rebuild.
Good observation. They still want and have to try and be competitive. It’s about getting names that attract fans, along with younger players that help transition to the prospect that come up over the next few years. You hope some of those cheap vets become trade pieces in July and you continue to build your minor league system.this is a franchise that can’t just sit on their money. They will sign some players that can make this year bearable and the trade deadline exciting.
@Big glove, if Farhan was going to “get names that attract fans,” for 9m he would’ve kept Pillar (as we presently still need a CF) or signed Castellanos who is young enough to still be relevant when our rebuild starts to take hold in 2-3 years. I don’t think we’re getting any “names” this offseason. I’m ok with that, and yes, if we’re lucky he can trade Belt asap. I don’t think Crawford will have much trade value. Maybe Cueto or Shark at the deadline if they’re tossing it well. The only real excitement I’m expecting is watching Mauricio play 2nd/SS, and if we’re lucky, watching Yaz hit a few more long balls over the slightly shorter wall that’s a few fewer closer to home plate. We’ll see!
Pillar might still come back. I personally feel like if can can overlook castellanos defense, you can do the same with Santana for less money. You can get king Felix on minor league and he makes the club, that would bring fans for next to nothing. they will get some guys worth watching. It’ll start in the next week or two. Mark my words.
@Big glove, I don’t really disagree with you. The longer Pillar sits out there unsigned, the better chance we can get him for way below 9m. I just don’t think we are going to get any real impact guys right now, nor should we. At this point, it is clear, we are in a full rebuild, so there is no point in spending money on “big-ish” signings for another year, two or maybe even three. I just don’t think the Giants Brass cares about filling seats right now……which I’m ok with. Just do the rebuild the right way, which I think Farhan is already doing…..
It’s time to move posey to first base
He can’t hit well enough anymore to play first, not that Belt can. All of Posey’s value is behind the plate, unfortunately.
It’s amazing how long it takes people to see this for what it is. Zaidi picked him up, so he could trade him to someone else, and thus, get something more valuable. This isn’t rocket science, people.
Why is Jim treating the magician poorly?
Solid backup option at a low cost
Awesome! Now we have 4 Tylers! That’s gotta be worth a few more wins. Now if we could only get Ty Blach and Tyler Austin back…
Anderson
Beede
Heineman
Rogers