The Giants have placed outfielder Billy Hamilton and left-hander Jarlin Garcia on the injured list, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters Thursday (Twitter link via Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News). Kapler could not specify beyond acknowledging that the moves were for “medical purposes.”
The immediate speculation will gravitate toward COVID-19, though it’s certainly possible that one or even both are dealing with other issues. Teams generally disclose injury details, but broader medical concerns that force players away from the field are often kept vague. It should also be pointed out that even when a player is placed on the COVID-19 IL, that does not necessarily indicate he has tested positive. Players can be placed on the IL after exhibiting symptoms or coming into contact with someone who has tested positive. The exact circumstances surrounding the IL placements of Hamilton and Garcia are unknown, but the hope, as always, is that both can return to the field swiftly and in good health.
Both Hamilton and Garcia are newcomers to the Giants organization. Hamilton, the longtime Reds center fielder, is among baseball’s fastest players and brings a superlative glove to a team that plays in one of the game’s most cavernous stadiums (Oracle Park). He signed a minor league deal with an invite to Major League Spring Training back in the offseason but was widely expected to win a roster spot from the early days of camp.
The 29-year-old Hamilton batted just .218/.289/.275 in 353 plate appearances between the Royals and Braves last year, but he was flat-out excellent in the field, as usual. Despite playing a career-low 826 innings in the field, Hamilton logged eight Defensive Runs Saved, a 7.9 Ultimate Zone Rating and seven Outs Above Average (per Statcast).
Garcia, meanwhile, was claimed off waivers in February. The 27-year-old was somewhat of a surprise DFA by the Marlins, as he’d pitched to a 3.02 ERA in 50 2/3 frames the prior season. Garcia’s peripheral numbers weren’t quite as pretty; he posted a 3.77 FIP and 4.74 xFIP while averaging 6.9 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9. Garcia also benefited from a .248 average on balls in play, although that’s right in line with his career mark to date. Even if there’s some regression in store down the line, he’s controllable for another four seasons, so it’s easy to see why the Giants were happy to take a risk-free flier on the southpaw.
They have corona for sure cuz they said that two players on the giants tested positive but haven’t said who yet
“He’s controllable for another four seasons, so it’s easy to see why the Giants were happy to take a risk-free flier on the southpaw”
Everything the Giants do these days is “risk free”. I would love a GM with the balls to make a few moves that were a little on the risky side and I don’t mean spending 10 million dollars on a guy who couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag in low A ball.
Over 100 moves last year and none of them were “risky” and none of them have done anything other than help keep the payroll down. This would be fine and dandy during rebuild but the problems are that the Giants aren’t bad enough to get a top 5 or 10 pick over the rebuilding years and they aren’t bad enough because they keep blocking their young players by signing all these “low risk” guys.
Let Dubon, Davis, and Yaz play full time without losing playing time to Pence, Panda, Flores, Hamilton, Sanchez, and even Solano. Those guys are going to keep the Giants selecting draft picks in the teens every year.
Yaz wasn’t a good pick up? Or Dubon? Or trading away Melancon and his salary? Signing the best International shortstop who should make his way by 2022?
Bobby Evans signed Luciano
So glad Bobby is gone my goodness!
He is still around just not as the GM. What did Bobby ever do to you?!? His moves were consistent with Sabes and we won 3 world series under their leadership. Very little if any of the Giants current problems are Bobby’s fault and stop giving Farhan credit for building the farm when he hasn’t added one significant piece. Bart, Luciano, and Ramos as well as the other 4-5 latin stud prospects (Canario, Pomares, etc) were all Bobby’s work.
Let me know when you realize that spending 10 million to trade for a guy who hit .260 in the peanut league isn’t a good move. Let me know when Dubon and Davis wash out because they didnt get playing time and then what prospects do you have that Farhan has brought in? Hunter Bishop and Patrick Bailey will need to end up being core pieces to this team for years to come for me to change my tune on Farhan.
Bobby Evans trade Brayn Reynods who would have been a huge piece for their rebuild for 5 months of McCutchen. He traded for EVan Longorias horrible contract. Bobby Evans was GM of the Giants for ZERO of their championships. Farhan is doing exactly what he came in to do. Take one of the worst teams in baseball and rebuild them into a contender. The Giants were not going to be a playoffs team in 2019, 2020 or even 2021 for that matter. Delusion is what got them into the mess they are in new. Farhan has done a great job not adding to the delusion and staying the course to spend when their window actually opens.
@Afk711 Trading Reynolds was the worst trade for the Giants in the 2010s. How do you trade a stud switch-hitting OF who can play all OF positions for a washed up Mccutchen. Bobby Evans really set the Giants back about 10 years. Brian Sabean is the one who deserves all the credit for the 3 WS. Evans destroyed everything.
Not adding to the delusion, you mean by not trading two expiring contracts on valuable players like Will Smith and Madison Bumgarner?
The difference between their rental trade value and draft pick compensation as a result of them leaving is not big.
Well, to be charitable, no one saw Reynolds to have the kind of breakout he did last year and McCutchen played very well before being traded. I think what marks Evans badly is the signing of Longoria who—by any standards—has never been that great, certainly not worth spending $15M, $18.5M, $19.5M & $13M until 2023. A horrible contract that I hope the Giants simply eat to let some prospect play (say Toribio, Wilson or Roby). Cause no one is going to take Longoria off their hands at those prices.
If you followed Reynolds through the minors you would know that he was going to be a hitting machine. The guy has good power as has always had a good hot tool from college-minors.
Expect a lot of platoons this year from the Giants. A lot of the guys you aren’t keen on are there to fill holes and to be backup/depth, which is OK; every team needs that. There will be a DH, too, which is nicely suited a player like Pence at this point in his career.
Yaz was a risk last year. So was starting the season with guys like Connor Joe and Mike Gerber who flopped. Yaz tore up the minors and earned his shot. Davis still has to prove that he can hack it full time in the bigs. If he can’t, Dickerson and Pence are good veterans to have on hand. Dubon’s going to see lots of playing time as a utility guy; I wouldn’t be worried about him.
It sounds like you either want the team to tank hard or to spend $$$ on big fish free agents. You don’t seem to see that the Giants are very much in transition.
Either commit to a rebuild or commit to being competitive (they would have to spend a lot of money for this to happen). This in between thing of trying to compete and rebuild doesn’t work especially if you aren’t getting lucky on any of the 100 moves you have made so far.
Yaz is a nice story but he won’t be around in 2-3 years so isn’t a long term piece to the puzzle. Dubon needs to play and there are going to be very few AB’s to go around. Trading guys like Melancon and Dyson is easy when they get hot and you don’t get much in return. Trading for Clint Frazier last year would have been a signature move for Farhan to show he can eat in the dining hall and not out of the dumpsters. All it would have taken is MadBum and Smith and a GM who knew how to do something other than churn a roster.
Clint Frazier can’t play defense. Why would you want to trade for him?
Maybe the 40 HR potential. We won a couple of world series with Morse one year and Ishikawa another in LF most if the playoffs. I love Bonds but he wasn’t exactly a gold glover the last 5 years. Frazier can play passable D, is controllable for 4-5 years, would be cheap, and could have filled that huge gaping hole in the middle of our lineup. Right handed power bat or do you think we have too many of those guys already?
Frazier can’t play passable Defense. His potential ’40’ HRs aren’t worth it if he is giving up runs left and right. He is a DH only. No real need for him.
Let’s say you are right. Guess which league is going to have a permanent DH within 2 years? Too hard? The National League! The Giants last time I checked were in the National League. If I put 2 and 2 together I get…..
And that role can be filled by players already in the Giants farm system. So, no need to trade for Frazier.
The game isn’t all about tanking… the Giants has the best 40 game stretch of any team in the summer last year, a stretch like that would be enough to make the playoffs in a season like this.
Over a third of the league would disagree with you on tanking. In the last 5 years 3 of the world series champions were built from tanking (Royals, Astros, Cubs). This season will never make it to the end so who cares if they get hot for 40 games? I’m more worried about the next 5-6 years which I wish more Giants fans were as well.
They can’t do full rebuild with 100m in committed money.
I don’t think it’s likely that they’ll be in contention this year, but I think they can feasibly prepare for the future and contend simultaneously.
They have less than 20 million on the books for 2022, which includes all the buyouts and Longoria’s final year (5m buyout in 2023). If they were willing to use prospects and/or absorb salary to address areas of need with controllable players, they could fill future areas of need via free agency.
Point is, SF has options. I don’t think they’re bent on doing any one thing, I think they’ll see how things start to play out and plan accordingly.
The problem with the current view on tanking is there is a survivorship bias. We only notice the tanks that work, but disregard the tanks that don’t. We also assume that the tanking teams rebuilt because of the tank, rather than from other factors. Rebuilding a team is a lot more complicated than, “tank now so we’re good later.” It also ignores all of the rebuilds that didn’t need total tanks like the Braves, A’s, Twins, Indians, etc.
You don’t know that the Yankees were willing to trade Frazier, and in fact they were quite vocal (in the press) that they weren’t. What’s more, we don’t know if Frazier is a sure thing.
They’ve had top 10 picks in two of the last three years. Last year was a little bit of an aberration because Bochy was in his final year and they had a spurt if I remember correctly. They likely would’ve gotten more for Smith and Bumgarner had they moved them, but I get not wanting to strip the team down in that scenario (especially if the offers weren’t to their liking.)
As far as signing these “filler” guys is concerned, that’s just part of the rebuilding process. Tanking doesn’t draw fans, so they’ve got to say and act like they’re making an effort to put a decent product on paper otherwise people won’t care.
It’s also good to have veterans around to set an example for the younger players. You don’t want to rush or simply hand jobs to prospects, rather they should and will get them when they’ve earned them. There’s a lot that teams see and take note of behind the scenes that we aren’t privy to.
For example, I remember a story a few years ago when the Braves were in a similar transition. There was optional BP before a game and then-rookie Mallex Smith decided not to participate. AJ Pierzynski saw Smith hanging out in the clubhouse. He told Smith that as a young player he hadn’t the right to skip “optional” BP.
Those “low risk guys” (Hamilton, Panda, Pence, etc.) have seen, accomplished, and withstood highs and lows throughout their careers. They’re there to keep the seats warm, hopefully rub off on some of those younger guys (directly or indirectly), and maybe flip for an asset. Rest assured, it’s part of the plan and those young guys will get their opportunities once they’re earned.
I don’t understand where the blind faith comes from. Farhan hasn’t proven anything other than that he knows how to be cheap. He was cheap with the A’s and got credit for their success while riding Billy Beanes coat tails.
He was cheap with the Dodgers and again got credit for what Friedman did. Now he is here trying to show he knows what he’s doing and there are no other coat tails to ride.
The proof is right in front of you, over 100 moves and what do they really have to show for it? Don’t tell me Yaz will be around in 3 years and Dubon is a 2 week slump away from getting traded for more middle of the road prospects.
Giants fans should be smarter than this. The owners make a ton of money off us every year and the least they could do is be honest with us and maybe lower their prices while they are rebuilding.
@pato349 no one is forcing you to watch or support the Giants, there are other teams to support. If you don’t like it then jump off the ship because once the moves start paying off, you’ll be praising Farhan. We already have enough haters/trolls with @DubsDynasty @rightyspecialist.
Keep drinking the kool aid
Nah, I’m just excited about the future of the Giants. Some fans never get to see their team win a World Series in their lifetime. I got to witness my team win 3. That buys the Giants a lot of bragging rights and patience in my book. Like I said jump off if you’re not contempt with Farhan.
I’m not a Giants fan, so I’ve got no dog in the fight. I was just explaining a part of how this stuff works. It may very well be that the Giants don’t figure it out under this regime.
However, it’s still early in the process and their actions reflect exactly where they’re supposed to be. The Giants had no farm and bad contracts on the book, the worst situation you can be in. It’ll take at least a few years before they start winning again because of that. As I’ve said, they missed their chance to get better returns with Smith and Bumgarner last year.
This regime could figure it out. Or they can go the way the Tigers rebuild has gone thus far. Time will tell, but the quickest way to lose your job is to take risks that don’t make sense.
Personally, I think he’s done a mediocre job thus far, but again the Giants aren’t close to the point where they need to make win-now moves. They’re back in establish a culture and acquire young talent for the next 1-3 years. Give it time.
That’s exactly what I’m going to do. The next time I take my family to a baseball game you can bet it will be at the Coliseum where I can at least watch a team with some talent and for half the price. I’m not the only one either maybe you didn’t notice how attendance fell off a cliff last year. I guess there are enough blindly loyal fans like you around that keep showing up no matter what crap they put on the field. That’s why they don’t spend any money. Why should they when idiots like you keep showing up no matter what!
@pato please do what you are saying. The Giants fanbase will only benefit from you leaving to root for the As. The only reason it is half the price is because of that god awful stadium. As soon as the As get a new home, they will bump their prices. Maybe, that will upset you as well and you will want to jump ship again and root for the Dodgers.
It’s all relative. The Giants used to be the A’s when they were in candlestick. No fans because of their stadium and the product was hit and miss. You see the same thing now with the A’s depending on where they are at in their competitive cycle.
I’m not the only one who is going to stay away from the ballpark because of the product on the field. Last year attendance was a joke. The stadium isn’t enough to draw fans all by itself especially with their prices.
Without fans like me and many others spending money the Giants will have a convenient excuse as to why they can’t raise payroll. All these commentators saying this next offseason is when the Giants will make a splash in free agency aren’t considering that this is a permanent not a temporary move to lower payroll.
@Pato349 You can boycott all you want. The same thing will happen when the Giants won in 2010, all the wagons who complained about the Giants will comeback and argue how they were there for the good and the bad years. That is going to be you after the Giants get good again. I’ll see you soon in about two years.
Compensation picks in a deep draft class probably had an impact on any potential trades that would have sent Smith or Bum elsewhere. If the returns weren’t great, there was likely going to be a decent consolation prize.
I didn’t even know billy Hamilton went to the giants.
What’s up with the angry person ? He’ll come back after the Giants win a few games.
What the Giants are doing is old news. Zaidi inherited a dumpster fire with a bloated payroll and a weak farm system. Now the payroll is less bloated, and the farm system has improved. He did what I thought would be impossible- he found a taker for Melancon and managed to acquire two decent prospects (Tristan Beck and Will Wilson- with the money saved). I call that progress; no blind faith needed. You don’t solve a problem like the Giants by throwing more money at it.
Zaidi made it very clear when he was hired that this would be a long process. Many people have either forgotten that or weren’t paying attention in the first place. In the meantime they’re finding some low-cost options to be placeholders while the prospects develop. If some of them stick it’s an unexpected surprise.
It’s very easy to claim you won’t go when fans aren’t allowed to attend anyway. Use the time to calm down.
I’m not gonna stop being a fan I’m just going to stop supporting this team with my wallet! I won’t be “rooting” for the A’s when I go to their games I would just rather pay less to see a better product.
The only reason the Giants were able to have consistently over 3 million fans every year is because they put a product on the field people wanted to see. Even when they sucked they had Bonds and then they won 3 WS.
As a consumer of sports entertainment you don’t have to give a team your money if you don’t agree with their direction. Doesn’t mean you’re not a true fan it just means you care enough to have a strong opinion and sometimes an unpopular one. I may sound like the only person complaining about it now but I guarantee that in a year or two when we aren’t any closer to being competitive you will be hearing complaints from others as well.
You do realize the Giants played above .500 ball after the first two months of the season? It took a couple months to reshuffle the chairs. Now you have a team almost entirely out of their long term payroll commitments; have already demonstrated they’re willing to pay big for the “right” free agent (a la when they finished runner up for Bryce Harper); a massively improved minor league system; and, if they fall out this year, likely valuable trade pieces in Anderson, Gausman, and Smyly.
This team is not years away from being good. They should be respectable this year and competitive next. Not saying they’re the Dodgers; but saying that this team is years away and poorly run seems a bit deaf to what’s actually been happening.
Billy Hamilton rocked the sale of white sneakers in America. This is a serious blow to baseball and the sneaker industry.