The Giants announced they’ve claimed corner outfielder Austin Dean and left-hander Joe Palumbo off waivers from the Cardinals and Rangers, respectively. San Francisco also confirmed the previously-reported claim of righty Hunter Harvey from the Orioles.
Dean has appeared in parts of four big league campaigns with the Marlins and Cardinals. Most of that action came between 2018-19, as he’s tallied all of 45 plate appearances with St. Louis over the last two years. In 356 plate appearances, the right-handed hitting Dean owns a .225/.282/.391 slash with eleven home runs.
That’s below-average production, but Dean has hit extremely well at Triple-A. In parts of three seasons at the minors’ top level, the 28-year-old owns a .322/.394/.535 line. Assuming he sticks on the 40-man roster throughout the winter, he can factor into an uncertain Giants’ outfield, which manager Gabe Kapler has mixed and matched heavily based on the opposition in recent seasons.
Palumbo has been regarded as one of the more intriguing pitchers in the Texas farm system for years, but he’s battled injuries over the past couple seasons. His big league resume consists of 19 innings of 9.47 ERA ball between 2019-20, but Palumbo had posted very strong minor league numbers through 2019. Entering the 2021 campaign, Baseball America ranked the southpaw 26th among Rangers’ prospects, praising his low-mid 90s fastball and curveball but raising questions about his control and durability.
Never boring to be a Giants fan in the offseason nowadays because they claim like 20 different guys and it’s always fun to hype each of them up as the next “big find”
And even though 75% don’t work out at least we get a few Wade Jr’s or Dom Leones out of them, and who knows, maybe a Yaz?
So true. I’ve penciled both in as All Stars in 2022. Also, Dominic Leone and Joey Palumbo can take turns makin’ the gravy for the clubhouse next season.
This is exactly why I hate when people get genuinely mad over their teams claiming players or signing minor league deals. Depth in itself is important, but you definitely increase the odds of finding a legitimate contributor the more chances you take.
It’s not a matter of taking chances…….
It’s a matter of people in the organization having followed the players they pick up. They saw something in the players games that they believe their coaching staff can adjust to make them productive players.
The Giants, Rays, Brewers and others are very good at this. The Dodgers knew that Justin Turner and Max Muncy were adjusting their games, and their coaching staff worked with them. I’ve read books about what goes on in industrial park rented spaces full of video cameras, computers, and self-taught instructors that work with players in the offseason for a fee. With the possible money to be made many players have spent periods of time in the offseason working with these people to try new approaches with their swings, throwing the ball for distance and/or speed, and getting some of their pitches to move. Franchises saw the progress being made and many now do the same thing in-house with their extended coaching staff (some teams have hired the instructors for their extended coaching staffs). In the Giants case, they have 3 hitting coaches……and keep in mind that Farhan Zaidi was with the Dodgers when they started using these methods to pick up so-so players and turn them into productive ones.
These are called hitting/pitching labs. Bauer used driveline to up his game. There are certain players that appear to look as they would benefit from this.
I mean, for every Yaz there’s at least 2 or 3 Joey Rickards, but it’s not like there hasn’t been a Yaz and a Wade thrown in there♂️
I think it’s wise to pickup Harvey and Palumbo, as they’ve had success as Triple-A starters, and that’s a problem for the Giants now. Every Triple-A starter seemed to be over 27yo or had an ERA over 5.00.
Palumbo did his 2.67 ERA in 2019 in the hitter friendly PCL too, which is the same division as Sacremento, so he’s obviously an upgrade over some of our Triple A guys and who knows if our coaches can help him find consistency in the bigs♂️
I like the Hunter Harvey move the most I think, as he was a 1st rounder at one point and had a largely successful minor league career. 26yo former top prospects are usually worth a look, as there have been several that just needed a change of scenery/different coaching staff. Sometimes just removing the pressure of “top prospect/1st Round Pick” can help a guy settle down.
We absolutely need starting pitching depth, as our starting pitching from Single-A to Triple-A is…underwhelming.
Luckily, it seems there’s around 20+ relief guys that appear to have the stuff for bright futures in the bigs, and it appears RP’s are the organizational strength at the moment. Lots of guys with high K/9’s and low BB/9’s, along with sub-4.00 ERA’s.
I actually found it odd how quick the Giants are to turn starters into relievers, as it seems to happen before Double-A at the first sign of trouble, often there isn’t even a full poor season as a starter, rather they just automatically send them to the bullpen.
I understand MOST relievers are guys that used to be starting pitchers, but I just found it odd how many high upside relievers we had that didn’t even have the opportunity to put up poor numbers as a starter before being sent to the bullpen, especially given how bad the rotation is in Triple-A and Double-A.
I’d rather see a guy have a season where he spends the year working things out and is allowed to have a 6.00 era in High A before being sent to the bullpen for the rest of his career, but there’s just so many guys that were either really good in college/A-ball as starters, then bam, no more starts.
While I found it odd, I have way more trust in the giants farm directors and I get that you can never have too many quality relievers. In fact, having 20-30 guys that seem to have legit paths to the big league club as RP’s is valuable, just not as valuable as having a handful of solid starters. I think it’d take 2-3 lights out minors RP prospects to get a guy that a single solid starting pitcher prospect would in a trade, but I imagine they’d like to keep a steady pipeline of above average relievers.
Especially if they can’t find/lock up top tier pitchers, because having a guy pitch 6 innings knowing you have a strong bullpen to take the 7th, 8th and 9th every game is a huge bonus.
Im bummed we couldn’t get Syndergaard as I thought he was a perfect candidate for a 1yr deal in SF, but im still thinking we could land Verlander and Gausman, as well as a Drew Smyly type.
Id REALLY like to trade Longoria for some team’s overlaid starting pitcher in the last year of his deal, as I don’t trust Longo to be healthy+effective for 150+ games anymore.
Seager would effectively hit like a lefty Buster, which would help ease Buster’s departure even if Casali is our everyday catcher, given the likelihood the NL adopts the DH. Inserting Ruf/Wade/La Stella/etc in at DH and Seager at 3B means that even with Casali playing everyday, his bat is replacing the pitcher spot as opposed to Buster, meaning we could swap Buster with Seager, pickup a Marte and/or Chris Taylor and/or Suzuki and still be in a really good spot.
The giants can spend over $100m and not go over the competitive balance tax, and even if they do decide to spend $150m, they wouldn’t be penalized unless they’re over the threshold for 3 seasons.
They’re a big market team capable of paying the penalty for a winning roster, but there’s also the fact that guys like Longo/Crawford and likely Belt in addition to anyone they sign to 3 years or fewer(Semian/Verlander/Scherzer/Taylor/Marte/Canha/etc) will be off the roster before those 3 years are up, meaning they’d be under the threshold.
In theory, the Giants could give guys like Marte a 3yr/$60m+ deal and it would not impact their ability to get under the tax threshold before they’re penalized.
Guys like Cueto and Posey have been a combing $44m the last 6+ years, so adding a Seager at close to $30m a year for 7+ years isn’t as difficult for them as it would be for the Dodgers or someone else, given that guys like Crawford:Belt/Longo/etc would be coming off the books and younger guys like Estrada, Wade, Webb, Luciano, Ramos, Bart, etc would hopefully supplement those larger contracts.
Long story short, there’s never been a better time to be the guy writing checks in SF, as they just had a franchise best record, and have several key contributors still in pre-arbitration/under club control, and the other key contributors will likely be retired or their contract will end before they’d be penalized for going over $210m.
Guys like Ruf and Yaz will never get paid, just like Solano. These guys that make their debut with us at 27, won’t be free agents until they’re 33, and it’s unlikely Yaz for example will be 2019-2020 Yaz as a 33yo, and if he is, it’s likely he’d command a shorter term deal or accept a qualifying offer just because nobody would pay more than $18m a year for a 33yo free agent that doesn’t have a history of being an elite player.
Farhan took the Giants from cap hell to cap heaven, almost entirely through deals like these waiver wire gems, and I couldn’t be happier with this front office…unless they decide to spend “F*** You” money this off-season;)
Sorry that’s so long, I understand most folks won’t read it so thanks to anyone that does and I hope you have a great day!!
This should be a fun off-season regardless of what happens, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a Semian+Marte+Verlander+Smyly +Gausman+Jon Gray kind of off-season.
None of those guys aside from perhaps Gausman would get anything longer than 3 years, so they’d STILL be in cap paradise, although I’d still love a Seager pickup… I was iffy about the DH in the NL but tbh, I’d love to see a Ruf/Wade platoon at DH to see those guys get more AB’s. Ruf especially, but who doesn’t love a little Late Night LaMonte?
Chris Taylor makes a lot of sense due to his defensive versatility, as he can play all OF spots and all INF spots, pretty much everywhere but catcher and pitcher, and that flexibility would be a great Christmas present for Kapler.
I’d imagine Taylor would play a lot of 2B and OF, but it’d be nice to have him if Longo went down, as then he could start at 3B while Estrada and La Stella platoon at 2B.
Im not a huge Wilmer Flores fan but he’s been a fantastic under the radar pickup, I just wish he was an above average defender. It’s nice having 5+ guys that can play 1B, but it’d be nice to have guys like Semian or Taylor that can play all over.
Okay now I’m done I promise!
I Farhan we trust!
I need help folks. I want to get my 11 year old daughter a Giants jersey, however I’m not sure which player’s jersey to buy? I want the jersey to be a current player and also still be relevant for around 5 years?
Any ideas? Logan Webb maybe? Wait to see if Bryant signs with the Giants? The Giants don’t yet have their superstar of the future that they can market to young fans? I know it’s extremely difficult, but they need that player that will make fans buy tickets, drive a long way to go to their ball park, but their jersey etc.. They need their own Ohtani, Soto, Harper, Acuna, etc…
I’d be going Webb or Camilo Doval. Doval probably gets the across the line with a shade more “cool” for the young lady to get into.
Awesome, thank you. I hadn’t thought of Doval.
webb is probably going t be around since he has at least a couple of years before he is even arb eligible but honestly the crop of guys coming up will be guys that are going to be around like ramos, luciano, harrison, matos, hjelle, etc. you could also wait to see who they sign in the offseason since if someone gets a long term deal it could be them
Thank you
How about Crawford? He was about 10 or 11 when he became a Forever Giant.
yeah I mean as a giant fan you probably won’t regret a crawford jersey unless something horrible and unforeseen happens in the next couple of years
Pretty sure he broke in right after the Giants traded Royce Clayton before the ’96 season. 25 years playing SS for the same team is pretty impressive. No reason to think he’s going anywhere anytime soon.
Think about dressing her up like Farhan Zaidi.
Any kid that wears a zaidi costume wins halloween
Yeah, the Z-look is a good one for an adolescent girl, especially the bald-head part!!
wait for luis matos he is going to be a superstar
Just get her a Buster jersey,
never goes out of style.
Probably best to teach your daughter that nothing lasts forever…even cold November Rain…
Don’t worry about if the jersey is relevant in five years. If you want to enjoy some baseball with your daughter, focus on that. Whomever’s name is on the jersey comes and goes…
For the last seven minutes now I’ve had that song in my head
Your daughter will grow out of that jersey before 5 years are up. Buy a classic jersey that will never age and you won’t regret it, it would have good resale value too. How about a Crawford or Belt jersey (assuming he re-signs).
Watching Dean I think with some regular playing time he could be really good…it takes players time to adjust to the MLB…good luck to him
With regard to the Giants claiming Palumbo……
Just One More Thing !!
Palumbo wants everyone to know that he’s not a driver in the dark.
If Palumbo stays healthy, he’ll be a nice pickup.