The Giants placed outfielder Alex Dickerson on release waivers this week, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). Dickerson was designated for assignment Monday when the team needed to open a 40-man roster spot to finalize the re-signing of Anthony DeSclafani.
Traded from San Diego to San Francisco in June 2019, the now-31-year-old Dickerson immediately endeared himself to Giants fans with a six-RBI showing in his team debut. He proved to be a godsend for the 2019 and 2020 Giants, hitting at a combined .294/.361/.552 clip with 16 homers, 23 doubles and four triples through 341 plate appearances from the time of that June acquisition through the conclusion of the shortened 2020 campaign.
Unfortunately for both the Giants and Dickerson, the 2021 season was marred by three stints on the injured list. Dickerson missed 10 days with a shoulder issue in May, two weeks with a back strain in June and nearly three weeks with a hamstring strain in September. The extent to which those physical ailments impacted Dickerson’s production can’t be known with certainty, but this year’s .233/.304/.420 slash (312 plate appearances) was a far cry from that 2019-20 output.
The 2021 season was hardly the lone injury-plagued year of Dickerson’s career. After turning in what looked like a breakout campaign as a late-blooming, 26-year-old rookie in 2016, Dickerson missed the entire 2017 season due to a back injury that required surgery, and his 2018 season was lost to Tommy John surgery after he suffered a ligament damage in his throwing elbow. He also missed time in 2019 due to wrist and oblique strains that necessitated separate trips to the injured list.
Dickerson had been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $3MM in arbitration, but if he goes unclaimed he’ll be free to sign with a new club for any amount. Though he has five-plus years of Major League service time, Dickerson has only appeared in 326 games and tallied just 965 plate appearances thanks to those repeated injuries. For the most part, he’s been plenty productive when healthy enough to take the field — evidenced by a career .260/.330/.470 slash at the Major League level (113 wRC+).
This move was a long time coming. Just could not stay off the IL and even when he was active, he was always nursing this or that. Definitely miss hearing the “Dick ! Dick ! Dick !” chants from the dugout. As a Giants fan, wish him all the best in another uniform.
But he did good the year before. I figure he suppose to be a good piece of this team moving forward. Solano is jot too bad either. It looks like some big moves are coming up !
Likely a Reunion with Bryant and perhaps a Starling Marte to lead off and play CF
Up until recently I agreed about Bryant, but the Giants weren’t impressed by Bryant. Therefore, they will not go very deep in negotiations with him I suspect
Agreed. They’ll kick the tires old school, but… And can’t believe I’m saying this… But giant Killer, ex dodger Chris Taylor offers similar versatility, similar production, and at least won’t beat them anymore. All at a fraction of the cost of Bryant, so I’d prefer him.
I think SF will regret not doing what they can to obtain Bryant. A SF executive claims his “swing requires a lot of athleticism which will deteriorate soon.” I am all for analytics & nerds running teams, but this is overkill. Bryant loved SF & can straight up mash. Clutch too (batted over .500 in playoffs)
And, I can’t believe that I am agreeing about Chris Taylor. I would love to get him. I really don’t think Bryant is worth all the extra $$$. I much prefer Playing some CF than Bryant.
@kona
I absolutely agree on both takes. Chris Taylor is a great fit in SF. Same player as Bryant but costs way less. While it would be nice to keep Bryant, as @BondsAway said, because he was a consistent playoff hitter(and had some clutch
in-season moments) but he will cost way too much.
PutPeteRoseInTheHall:
I’d love to see the Giants sign Taylor, but to say he and Bryant are the same player is way off. Taylor has a career OPS+ of 109, Bryant has a 132 OPS+. In Taylor’s best year he had 127 OPS+. Bryant’s best was a 146 OPS+. In fact, Bryant has had 5 seasons where his OPS+ was better than Taylor’s 127.
Too many Giants fans are assessing Bryant on the short sample of his time in SF, Many players see their numbers sag as they adjust to a new team/city. There’s a reason Taylor will be paid a lot less, and it’s not because he is underappreciated.
There is a reason Bryant will cost more. You get what you pay for. Are we smarter than all the GMs? Taylor is a nice player..nothing less, nothing more. But to imply Taylor will give us the same as KB is (in my opinion) inaccurate. I know some nerd will respond with some statistics implying Taylor is as (or more) valuable than KB, but he’s not. If one surveyed 25 GMs on the better player or who they’d rather have, 25 would say KB. Contracts & cost aside, Taylor is not KB.
Not Taylor. See if we can sign Marte.
For Bryant’s price tag, it would be nice to get an arm with some accuracy. The hitting is great, but the throw from 3rd to 1st accurately ought to come standard
Taylor is the better fielder hands down. Bryant the better hitter but the difference at the plate is not worth the insane contract he’s (Boras) obviously looking for.
I believe KB will be on the market for a long time. Interestingly enough he might have made an impression that’s he’s more of a super utility man. Decent enough defensively to start at multiple positions like Taylor more than being a true third baseman. A true power hitting third baseman gets paid premium.
The difference money wise/contract length makes Taylor the right move for SF. I also agree that Taylor’s skill set appears to probably hold up a little better than Bryant’s going forward.
RJNarvick:
I totally disagree that “the difference at the plate is not worth the…contract he’s…looking for.”
While I really like Taylor as a player, there are miles of difference between the 2 at the plate. Look at BB Ref and the active leaders in oWAR. Bryant is 32nd, with a 29.5, and Taylor is 95th, with a 14.8.
But, since it’s cumulative I broke it down to the average per season. Bryant averages 4.21, Taylor averages 1.85. Bryant’s average is better than most of guys ranked higher, In fact, the only guys that have a higher average are Trout (6.92), Betts (4.55), Cano (4.30), and McCutchen (4.22).
Granted, Taylor started out slow and is a much better player now. but even looking at his last 5 years only raises that oWAR up to 2.9, still 2.3 less per season. No matter what you look at, OPS+ wRC+, or oWAR, Bryant is well worth the difference he’ll be paid.
Seeya later Dick. Had an insane summer in 2019 and an insane September in 2020. Just never showed up in 2021.
Hey, no reason to call him names…
A’s should try grabbing this fellow…
All they can afford is other team’s scraps, and Dickerson fits the bill
Exactly the kind of move A’s would make. Good call.
Cubs
Last thing the Cubs need, is another OFer. Happ, Ortega and 2 more years of JHey. Plus Brennan Davis and Nelson Velazquez both likely to be called up in 2022. And also this guy they picked up last week.
Remember the DH is coming. There’s another spot. Probably platoon Heyward as a DH against righties. If Heyward struggles he might get sent to the pasture. Its obvious Heyward will stand there with a wood face hitting 165 with no power numbers and collect the rest of the contract rather than retire. One of the largest heists ever. Dickerson is the exact type of player the Cubs have been targeting as of late. Players that got in some experience elsewhere and also are free agents willing to sign for minimum. Duffy, Ortega, Wisdom, Schwindel. I’m sure I missed a few others.
Yes, “Trash”.
Sounds likes a dumpster dive Cubbie move.
A huge fan favorite in San Francisco but unfortunately never got it going in 2021. I’m sure the G’s would welcome him back on a minor league deal but I’m equally sure another team will sign him to a major league deal especially with the universal DH. When this dude gets hot he is really an awesome hitter.
The problem is he looked completely lost at the plate this year. His swing was consistently late and outside pitches had him fooled over and over again. Plus his defense is below average. I wish him well, but his roster spot is too valuable.
The guy I’ll really be sorry to see go, will be Donovan Solano. But some team will DEFINITELY pick him up.
I’ll miss Solano too. I hope he gets paid.
Someone will certainly pick him up for depth
Dodgers will turn him into a superstar.
I honestly agree. Dodgers also need left OFs superstars or not. Sign him.
You obviously don’t know who Alex Dickerson. He can’t stay healthy. How he will become a superstar on the IL is a real mystery.
which reminds me, what ever happened to Franklin Van Gurp?
There is a little Van Gurp in each and every one of us.
Need to grab him gently! He is pretty fragile
Glass Joe from Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out
Gigantes fans loved Dickerson. He crushed the ball in 2019 and 2020 but not very often in 2021. one of the few on the team that didn’t have a career year in 2021…
The big difference between Zaidi’s Giants and his predecessor is that Zaidi moves on from players who don’t produce (for whatever reason) whereas Bobby Evans would have kept him around much too long for sentimental reasons.
Like who? It’s not like the NFL, where you can just cut a guy lose. I don’t know why SF fans continue to rip Sabean. He won 3 titles with him running the show. I think Zaidi is better suited for today’s game, but why do we blast Sabean?
Agree @BondsAway. Sabean gets too much heat. He produced some pretty darn good teams and had some pretty good homegrown players too.
Another case of Farhan foolsgold. He should have been churned out a long time ago but for some reason was given opportunity after opportunity even into the final game of the playoffs where he struck out predictably.
All of these AAAA guys that Farhan finds end up the same. Next year it will be Lamont Wade and Yaz that are given longer ropes than they should before they prove they don’t belong on a major league roster. Farhan’s faithful will say so what since they were low cost moves with little risk but aren’t they all? When will FZ grow a pair big enough to take a chance on someone he didn’t find in a dumpster? Not ready for the criticism from when one of those moves doesn’t work out?
Anthopolous should have won exec of the year. It took balls to do what he did to keep his team in it and he was rewarded with a World Series. FZ traded for Bryant mostly just to appease the fans who were frustrated with the best team in the league not trying to upgrade while everyone else around them did.
Playoffs is when you separate the men from the boys and no surprise that FZ’s dumpster dives all disappeared once the pressure of the playoffs was felt. Like Cinderella when the clock struck midnight. Aside from the Ruf bomb in game 5 they all layed goose eggs when it mattered most. Desclafani included and for some reason he gets 3 years and 36 mil.
3 years ago Bobby Evans loses his job because of all the old guys he was responsible for under long term contract and FZ just extended 2 of those old guys. Now he gives 3 years to a pitcher who he found in the trash and its a good move? All of the prospects that FZ is getting credit for as part of his improved farm system were drafted/acquired by Evans. Meanwhile FZ has drafted uninspiring bats and paid 10 million for Will Wilson to add to the list of prospects FZ has swung and missed on.
One thing FZ did do right was hire Kapler. Thanks for that but it doesn’t make up for your lack of ability to draft, sign significant free agents, and pull off big time franchise changing trades like the Betts and Tatis trades. Of course drafting well and pulling off trades like this go hand in hand and obviously other teams are aware that FZ picks garbage so they don’t want to trade for any of it. Its a shame that last year will buy FZ at least another 4-5 years before everyone else sees what I have seen in this guy.
This comment sounds like a crying Giants hater
Was just going to say the same thing–as a giant4life you seem to not even appreciate or celebrate what happened this last year–this was a team not even expected to finish above .500—i would think you would be happy as a giant4life, unless you are not really a Giant fan—and will Zaidi make and has made mistakes and blunders, yes he has and will–but you seem to want to just put him down no matter what–i would think as a Giants fan, that you would enjoy last year, and even if you dont think it will happen again under Zaidi, not be so crushing on him in all your posts
Yeah, I would take the Giants front office any day of the week and twice on Sundays…
Orange and Black – giant4life always is a downer about the Giants. I doubt he’s really a Giants fan. Perhaps another troll.
Downer about Farhan and the direction he is taking baseball. If you think what he is doing is good for the sport you are wrong. His strategy benefits the owners and makes it harder for established MLB players to make a living. This sport is in a crisis and he is not helping and in fact he is contributing to the erosion of everything a lot of us grew up loving. All of the rule changes are evident that things aren’t going well and they will continue to decline as long as guys like Farhan have success. Why do you love the owners so much that you want to see them get even richer is the real question. We watch this sport because of the players not the owners and they are the ones that benefit from the Farhans in baeball.
Yeah man 107 wins what a loser farhan is.
The Mariners fired Pat Gillick 2 years after his team won 116 games. Regular season wins are as important as your grades in elementary school.
Up the meds
Mate. You are seriously boring.
I realize how incredibly petty my posts about Farhan are but there is a reason behind my frustrations. Farhan and the rest of the nerds who have invaded baseball over the past 10 years are the reason why popularity in the sport has gone down and we are about to have a labor stoppage starting next week. This is the bigger picture none of you idiots can see.
When a top 5 market team behaves like a bottom 5 market team and has success, it just means less money for the players at the end of the day. Less money for the players equals angry players who will likely resist signing any labor agreement put in front of them. You lose the stars in any league and you lose the fans.
Farhan is BAD for baseball! Winning on the cheap only benefits the owners. Did anyone else notice prices going down last year at Oracle Park with the lower payroll? I sure didn’t but I did noticeway fewer fans than any other year that the team was this successful. During the Bonds years they sold out every game at home for tears in a row and last year they had the best record in franchise history and couldn’t sell out one game!
This is simple economics, charge Whole Foods prices and offer Dollar Store quality and it will catch up to you. The owners are making more money than ever and the players are starting to make much much less. Fans are still paying the same prices so something has to give.
Farhan is changing baseball. He and the coaching staff are helping players in ways they’ve never seen. Look at how Gausman went from a pitcher who consistently has an ERA above 4 to a pitcher who had a 3.something ERA in 2020 to a 2.something ERA in 2021, all because of some changes in pitch selection. Zaidi and the coaches are also getting the best out of every player. They soaked the best out of Dickerson, just to start. I won’t keep getting deeper. You can’t tell me you don’t enjoy seeing reclamation projects become successful
“Idiots”? Personal attacks always indicate someone who is lacking a valid argument, so that’s what they resort to.
You seem to miss the fact that the Giants have a lower payroll in large part due to this being their first year winning. Teams often increase payroll when the players that made them successful start to reach ARB and/or FA status – either the teams let them go (cheap ass) or they keep them (payroll goes up). This is simple economics. You can’t charge a team with being cheap after their first winning season until you see if they re-sign guys or let them go, continuing on a cheap track forward. We don’t know that yet with this front office. Also, they lost 20MM+ with Posey retiring.
Agreed. Player preparation on a whole other level is what the evidence suggests to me. It’s great.
Ok. I’ll take your crowd point. There has been a bit going on in terms of concerns over large gatherings of people in close proximity to one another. So I would give the fans another season to re-mobilise.
Can I suggest toning down the Zaidi insults. Bit disrespectful all things considered. Hard not to aggressively defend what seems like a pretty nice, humble sort of guy, that gave a lot of fans a lot of unexpected excitement.
I agree but…I realize it’s a small sample size, but now we’ve won & have all this money & we’ve signed Disco & Wood. Yet we’re going to let Bryant walk because “we’re not going to get in a bidding war.” Why not? You get what you pay for. I don’t want division titles, I want rings. Guys like KB thrive in big games (playoffs) & guys like Disco & Yaz don’t. Disco was irrelevant in the biggest moment of the year.
Giant4life…you make zero sense kid.
Zero sense? There will be a labor stoppage starting next week when the collective bargaining agreement ends – FACT
Over the last 10 years, baseball has gone down in popularity while an emphasis on analytics has gone up – FACT
When a top 5 revenue team like the Giants goes from spending $190 million to spending $90 million it leaves the players market with $100 million less potential earnings – FACT.
Use your brains and compare it to whatever your profession is and how the affect of losing out on potentially $100 million would have. The players are what make the sport and when there is $100 million less money to go around it is going to piss them off! Take an already fragile relationship and add pissed off players on one side and greedy owners on the other who are clearly benefiting from the nerds saving them money and you get a situation that is destined to result in lost games played and continued strained relationships between players and owners. I love baseball and side with the players. If you love baseball you should wake up and realize that the long term affects of Farhan and the nerds is going to be negative for the game.
I’ll take what Farhan is doing over what the Orioles are doing any day of the week. At least FZ finds value at the fringes to improve the depth of the team instead of intentionally fielding a garbage teams in the hopes of getting some draft picks.
Correlation is not causality
Actually G4L, WS ratings were up significantly. I don’t think the game is dying like you believe it is.
Really dumb take giant4life. Guy had a bad year. Period. Dodgers will pick him up and he will be an all star in 2023.
Bad year maybe because of his injuries?
This is an incredibly awful take. In one breath you say he had no nads to do what the Braves GM did, in the next breath they only got Bryant to appease fans.. they won 107 games.. Rays, Bosox, Dodgers, Astros all lost too. It’s a crapshoot in the playoffs. To criticize Farhan’s job performance is your opinion.. but saber/non saber fans .. most recognize the awesome job he did to get the Giants on a winning track..
@giant4life: Was it always your goal in life to be a witless troll, or was that just something you fell into?
Uh. Ok. Both Yaz and Wade have certainly earned a long leash next year so I’m fine with this approach.
Are any of you actually getting the bigger picture here? This sport is in a crisis and you are giving credit to one of the people who is contributing to its demise! Is Fahan really “changing” the sport of baseball or is he just copying what small market teams have done for years? Did I miss something and not realize that regular season records are all thats important? I for some reason thought winning the world series was the goal but so far nobody ever has pulled it off on the cheap so is that just coincidence or is the playoffs really a crap shoot? My guess is that in 5 years when every team is listening to nerds and not spending any money that eventually one of them will win a WS. Problem then will be there won’t be any fans left who want to watch this brand of baseball except the nerds who post here who also coincidentally don’t spend money on tickets. At least you have your moms basement to live in rent free!
So stop watching and leave baseball to us “nerds.” We won’t miss you.
@giants4life Your post shows you know nothing about the Giants. You are making up a bunch of crap about the Giants.
Well said. Why do SF fans continue to rip Sabean? We won 3 titles with him. You’re right, playoffs is what separates the great ones from the posers, & FZs garbage men did nothing. We finally get a big time bat who loves it hear (KB) & FZ won’t keep him because his swing requires too much athleticism. Well that swing batted over .500 when it counted. Do we want to be the Dodgers & have a million division titles with 1 W.S. to show for it (even that 1 W.S. is *)? I’d much rather win World Series. Nobody cares who won the division once the season ends.
If he will sign a minor league contract would be a nice pickup for the Orioles.
107 wins???
How did 116 wins work out for Pat Gillick? He must be the best GM in the history of baseball according to your logic!
What does Pat Gillick have to do with the Giants?
Great regular season and out in first round if the playoffs. I thought the correlation was pretty clear but I guess I assume too much.
The problem with your assumptions is that they are faulty. Your ignorance of the Giants is telling.
Mute
All is not lost. If the DH is coming to the NL, there are 15 more possible landing spots for Dickerson, including the Giants. Although Dickerson is not a very good defender, he is at least passable in left field, and that is another selling point to a potential suitor. Most importantly, a decent LH bat is always in demand>
No, the Giants are done with him. They placed him on release waivers. No way they consider bringing him back. They’ve seen enough
Dick hit less than .230 against RHP, and got on base less than 30% of the time against them. When you say “decent LH bat,” he isn’t one
This has Cubs written all over it…
Yankees will sign him, garenteed
A. Dick to the Oakland A’s
He’ll catch on somewhere, but with his injuries, disappointing 2021, and the emergence of LaMonte Wade Jr., Dickerson was clearly expendable. As a Giants fan, I wish him well – hopefully with a team in the AL.
My initial thought was this might be a cheap option for the Mets to get some OF depth with a little upside. But, I’d only suggest that if they sign a couple better OF options with healthy track records first. Not sure they’ll have the 40 man spot left for Dickerson in that scenario.
Too expensive for the As ! But they need outfield help !!
20/20 hind sight but I would have loved seeing the Giants trade Dick after 2020. His value was at it’s highest. Alex would have been very appealing to an AL team like Cleveland or KC. I think he can still play but he will have to settle for a minor league offer or go overseas.
Good luck Alex!
Nice cheap LF for Phillies next year
Best of luck to Mr Dickerson. He was a great Giant that lit a fire under the team when they needed it most. And funny funny funny!
There is a reason Bryant will cost more. You get what you pay for. Are we smarter than all the GMs? Taylor is a nice player..nothing less, nothing more. But to imply Taylor will give us the same as KB is (in my opinion) inaccurate. I know some nerd will respond with some statistics implying Taylor is as (or more) valuable than KB, but he’s not. If one surveyed 25 GMs on the better player or who they’d rather have, 25 would say KB. Contracts & cost aside, Taylor is not KB.
Always loved me some Dick!
Thank you Alex! You will always be a beloved Giant. Come back as a coach someday
It is time to go…Dickerson is 31 his body acts like he is 35, better to let him earn all he can than to hold a seat where a youngster can prove their worth and Ruf made it an easy choice.
by the way
Taylor for all the trouble Giants had with him he is not better than Bryant. I would take Bryant over Taylor but if Bryant raises value so high that it reduces getting more quality…than taylor is poorboy version.
I would welcome you to the Oakland A’s .
I completely agree with the Chris Taylor signing. Over the last two years, (look at 2020 however you want) Bryant and Taylor have very similar numbers. Bryant was below league average defensively this year but can play multiple positions, as can Taylor. Taylor can give very similar value for a fraction of the cost of Bryant. Even though he’s a giant killer, I would welcome him with open arms to the giants.
At least you recognize that 2020 is questionable. But basically you’re cherry-picking. Taylor had his best season ever in the small sample 60 game season, while Bryant was injured.
To be fair, you should be looking at 2019 and 2021. There’s no comparison:
Taylor, 2019 107 OPS+, 2021 110 OPS+
Bryant, 2019 132 OPS+, 2021 124 OPS+.
Bryant, at a year younger, is worth the difference he’ll be paid.
DIckerson wasn’t traded to the Giants by the Padres. The Giants picked him up after the Padres DFA’d him due to injuries and a (then) surplus of outfielders.
I’m glad he was able to have a few good years with the Giants. Someone will take a chance on him.
Alex had bad luck, which often ends mlb careers.
Why is mlb trade rumors reporting this today, as if it is news? The Giants released Dickerson four days ago when they needed the roster spot for Desclafani.