The Giants and Rangers have agreed to a swap of position players. The Rangers will send Willie Calhoun to the Giants in exchange for outfielder Steven Duggar, per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (via Twitter). The Giants will also receive cash considerations from Texas, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter).
San Francisco had a decision to make on Duggar, who needed to be added back to the 40-man roster after completing his rehab assignment. Calhoun himself just recently passed through waivers unclaimed.
The plan is for Duggar to join the active roster. The Rangers will designate Spencer Patton for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Duggar, per the team. They will need to make one more move to make room on the active roster for Duggar. Patton, 34, had made seven appearances for the Rangers, posting a 3.86 ERA/5.70 FIP across seven innings.
In Duggar, the Rangers are acquiring a player with more defensive utility than Calhoun, who never really found a defensive home. Duggar can play all three outfield spots. He had been on the injured list since April 21 with a strained oblique, however. He has appeared in each of the past five seasons for the Giants, accruing an overall line of .242/.297/.377 over 805 plate appearances with a too-high 29.4 percent strikeout rate and too-low 7.0 percent walk rate.
With Luis Gonzalez going on the injured list today, the Giants could easily have brought Duggar back to the Major League roster, so it’s interesting that they decided to move on. As a left-handed hitter, Duggar’s skill set doesn’t compliment the Giants’ current cohort of outfielders that includes Gonzalez, Joc Pederson, Mike Yastrzemski, Austin Slater, and LaMonte Wade Jr., who himself is almost ready to return from the injured list. Only Slater among that group bats right-handed.
Of course, Calhoun bats lefty as well, so he’s less of a fit acquisition and more of a rehabilitation project for the staff in Triple-A. Broadly speaking, the Giants work wonders finding roles for players who have been previously unable to find a defined role on a big-league club. Players like Wilmer Flores, Darin Ruf, and Thairo Estrada are players that have found a home in San Francisco’s system. Calhoun has had his opportunities in the bigs, and while he’s no longer a prospect, the Giants are as promising a landing spot as a young vet like Calhoun can hope to find in this league. For now, the Giants can send him directly to Triple-A without adding him to their 40-man roster.
The stoves cookin’ today!
Calhoun has way more upside than Duggar, so I’m all for it.
Higher ceiling, but lower floor IMO. Duggar is a defensive wizard, but not much with the bat. But his time in SF had been running out for quite awhile now.
Both are AAAA but bet money on Calhoun having at least 1 game-winning hit for the Giants this season.
Duggar had a couple hot streaks last year
We thought the same thing. Problem is the kid doesn’t want to take coaching, is emotionally fragile, and really doesn’t have the bat to ball skills that play in today’s game. He wants to be a slashing line drive hitter but can’t beat the shift. He also pounds the ball into the ground. He’ll probably hit the ground running in SF but if he encounters adversity, he shrinks immediately. Ranger fans everywhere say good riddance.
Calhoun LOL . Dude has a bad attitude and he can’t hit enough to stay on a big league roster
CheapAssss Zaidi working the discount section of the Dollar store
LOL — shocker….
Just when I thought you couldn’t get sadder, then a second account comes up. That actually is laughable.
Don’t misconstrue the trollness of this troll….
Tit for tat, nothing crazy here. Calhoun had some homers in the year of the homer (2019), but my grandmother could have hit at least 15 hrs that year. It’s a “he did nothing for me” in exchange for a “he did nothing for me”.
Wait til you see Calhoun play!!!
Calhoun has spent the last 5/6 seasons proving that potential “upside” isnt really there. Not convinced yet, eh? I’ll take Duggar on this one. Neithers swinging a hot bat but at least the Rangers can utilize Duggars flexible and capable glove.
Upside is such an abused concept. For something to have upside it has to be proven to be worth more than it cost. If you buy a stock believing it’s undervalued, and it goes down, does it still have upside?
Ah probably not .Willie has turned into nothing but a head case
Stepping over piles of dozing homeless in puddles of their own urine on the way to his job every day will fix that
Why is he staying at your house?
You haven’t watched Calhoun enough! Can’t play defense, way to slow, no arm, injury prone, hasn’t hit much in a long time. But, good luck Willie.
LH platoon DH with Flores/Ruf
He’s not on the 40 man champ
I assume that Texas wants to give Leody Taveras regular playing time in AAA and that Duggar will now be in that outfield mix for the big league club.
This is a good get for the Rangers.. CF is hardest position to field even backups are scarce..
Anybody trying to fill CF should look to the DBacks for a trade. McCarthy, Thomas, and Varsho are all CF capables and Carroll and Fletcher are right behind them. All LHB, but there’s nothing wrong with being the long side of a platoon in a premium defensive position.
Very unlikely that Carroll, Thomas, or Varsho go anywhere without an absolute haul, but Fletcher and McCarthy look like they have a shot at being capable backups on a competitive roster. Bidding starts at a viable 3B candidate lol
This is a good trade for both sides. Duggar is a gifted CF with premium speed. But he was never really able to put it together in SF. He was a Bobby Evans draft, whereas Zaidi is familiar with Calhoun from his days as an LAD prospect. I don’t know how much playing time he’ll see (SF has a pretty stacked OF), but he’s nice depth to have. I don’t think either guy comes with options, right?
Duggar has an option, Calhoun is not on 40-man. Duggar was on 60-day IL and needed to be added back to 40-man so this is why they traded him. Now Giants will have Calhoun as Triple-A depth but no need to add him to 40-man.
Thanks for the clarification!
They both have one option year according to their fangraphs pages. This trade is about fit (Rangers need CF depth, Giants could use a left handed bat), and whether or not a change of scenery can help each of them get better.
yeah but calhoun may not come up this year – he can be stashed in AAA all year, not on the 40 man and next year freely use his option depending on how things line out. that way he can work with the development staff to see if there is something to work with
The trade had nothing to do with the Giants needing a left handed bat. It was about a 40 man roster spot but it sounded legit
I wonder if Calhoun will follow in the footsteps of all these random Giants acquisitions of the last 3 years who they acquire, then they hit a walkoff in their first game, then are awful until they release them?!
There’s going to be some of that with SF’s roster churn; you bet. But, then again, there’s also going to be Wade Jrs, Yazzes, and Luis Gonzaleses in there, too. That’s what’s helped keep this team competitive in those last three years…
Wade, Yaz and Gonzalez (small sample, has huge BABIP this year) aren’t even good either, they’re mid. Giants make no sense on paper and never do, its always mid guys playing out of their mind for a month. Compare them to the Dodgers and Padres, who have elite players who are annually good, the Giants are always somehow making it happen, its pure luck tbh.
Guess it depends on how you define “good”. If it’s a matter of the most inflated stats on the back of the baseball card, yeah, Dodgers and Pads have a lot more of those than the Giants. But if it’s a matter of how well the pieces fit together to make for a formidable opponent, then the Giants are excelling in that.
I know how you feel about the Giants from your posts here. But if you were an A’s fan in the Moneyball era, you should understand how fielding a competitive team is as much about analytical creativity as it is shelling out for superstar talent. It’s definitely not just an “accident” that the Giants keep competing. They may not win the NL West this year. But don’t be surprised if they finish off whomever does in the playoffs…
Some luck may be involved, as it is with most things. However, baseball is a sport where increased repetitive habits, good or bad, are usually rewarded goodly and badly. I’m more inclined to think that the Giants scouting department/FO sees particular traits in players, and try and unlock those “good” habits. It could be like Yaz, who just needed everyday at-bats to tap into his swing again, or a pitcher, using one pitch more or less, or changing a delivery. I believe the Giants are really good at tapping into these players abilities/tweaking things, in order to get maximum value. To say it’s all “luck” is simply incorrect.
“The absence of bad is a different kind of good.” -grant brisbee
Perfectly sums up what makes the giants good. It’s not “luck” at all. It’s competency all the way down the roster.
I guess you would have bigger names rather than wins. I will take wins any day.
ok so you are saying that trayce thompson is elite somehow? and wade has 25 ABs this year – and you are somehow saying that is enough of a sample? and if not – he has a BABIP below average (avg is .280 he is at .250, which is lower than the entire dodger’s outfield) yaz is only slightly over at .301. Gonzalez is the only one with a high BABIP @ .366. None of these guys have been “good for a month” though, unless the month lasts for a large portion of the season.
Most important stat in baseball… Luck
“Mid” is better than anything the poverty Brokeland A’s could ever dream of having.
Steven Duggar #foreverGiant
Duggar is a 4th OFer bench guy….Calhoun will somehow be reborn and convert into the Giants culture or continue to be a head case.
you are quite observant
Will he quit whining now?
Giants still trying to be the Dodgers
Dodgers are contenders every year, so whatever strategies they’re running are working out for them. If you’re running the giants, why not try to implement those same strategies?
@em650r
Giants: Three real world championships since 1988.
Dodgers: One fake championship in the same time span.
Who’s trying to be who?
Giants: Three real Team America championships.
Dodgers: One real Team America championship.
@Hexbreaker:
Why was the 2020 title “fake,” exactly?
(Sigh.)
no, the giants are trying to develop players, the dodgers have just been buying them lately
Couple of years behind the Dodgers still but getting there. Need that Mookie Betts type opportunity to show itself.
He was a really good prospect in LA. Maybe the Texas coaching staff was just a bad fit for him? A change of scenery could do him some good.
I’m a ranger fan but there’s something to that. They have trouble developing batting avg out of prospects. They can hit 20-35 homers but struggle to hit above .230. (profar, Gallo, odor, mazara)
Calhoun turned into a butt pain when he didn’t get what he wanted—staying in the majors but—oh, right—he forgot he actually has to play well enough to be there. Let’s see how long before he wears out his welcome in SF.
TC you are not correct, it was not a simple move to bring Duggar back to the roster since he was on the 60-day and needed to be re-added to the 40-man. This is exactly why they traded him today, because Gonzalez going on the 10-day IL does not solve the problem of getting Duggar back on the 40-man.
The rangers have a 40 man roster spot i dont know about? JHernandez will need his spot back soon. One would think acquiring a 18 year old kid with upside who did not need a 40 man spot would’ve been much more prudent. But Duggar must be a stud (heavy sarcasm)
It was stated that Texas will DFA Spencer Patton to make room on the 40-man
I see the updated article now, figured it’ be him or Sborz
Which team was offering an 18 year old with upside? You realize Calhoun cleared waivers a couple weeks ago right?
Lol fair enough
> Duggar’s skill set doesn’t compliment the Giants’ current cohort
Should be “complement”
I doubt we’ll see Calhoun on the Giants ML roster unless there’s a huge rash of injuries. People see the success FZ has had with Yaz, Wade, and Gonzalez, but forget about all the other frogs he kissed, and found them to be just frogs.
They were going to lose Duggar in the numbers crush anyway, so they got what the could. But we would definitely see Ramos called up before Calhoun, and they might even give Dean, or Tom a shot before Calhoun as well. I think this is for minor league depth, without much expectation of anything more.
I concur, Tad. They were probably going to put him on waivers… might as well get something for him. He’s been a AAAA outfielder for the Giants for five years now.
He might hit well for a couple of weeks, but that’s about it. And that might even be generous.
Saw this one coming with Dugger being odd man out but was hoping for a better return. Minor league depth guy probably, so same guy on other side of the plate ?
Should have packaged up for a better return. Or fish ain’t biting..
I agree with this. The giants should be packaging multiple players for better returns. I wouldn’t be surprised if we never see this guy play for the G’s at the major league level.
I think it’s a stupid fish that bites at a baited line when that same bait is about to thrown in the water without the line attached. Surely clubs monitor other clubs roster crunches.
Not sure I agree with you. I don’t think FOs are as cutthroat as your post suggests. Sometimes it seems like teams will help another team out for a return favor later on. I think that that recent exchange of players between SF and Sea was a bit of that.
Duggar may have been slated for waivers, but he wasn’t waived yet. Maybe the Rangers like Duggar, and didn’t want to run the risk of losing him to another team. Plenty of teams are looking for OF help, especially CF.
The Giants probably preferred that he went to the Rangers than the Padres. They’d run that risk had they put him on waivers. And I’d bet the Rangers were probably planning to release Calhoun anyway, so the Rangers probably lose nothing they weren’t willing to lose anyway.
Sure. More saying the return for a man right on the edge of being DFA’d isn’t going to be significant. A jump the queue type swap of one of their edge guys is the best you could hope for.
Yeah, I agree. And I don’t want my comment to imply this trade was anything much of significance.
YES, just what we needed, another .230 hitter. Well hell fit in with semien, seager and the rest of the .230 hitters
This was nothing more than a swap of players, one who needed to be put on the 40 man roster, Duggar, and the other who did not, Calhoun. Injury has always slowed Duggar’s development and later MLB opportunities.
Duggar may have a longer leash in TEX and if he can become the left handed side of a CF solution then there’s value. Calhoun + cash are just SF getting something for a player that would have had to been DFA’d and potentially lost for nothing.. SF’s staff have done more with less pedigree talent and will have the benefit of Calhoun simply working in AAA.
At a minimum, Duggar will help Texas defensively and on the base paths. The jury is out on Calhoun, who as others have said may end up being nothing more that filling a AAA roster spot for now.
I do agree that I’d like to see what Zaidi can get by packaging up several of these AAAA players and finding the right match to get back one good AAA player who is blocked.
I don’t see trying to packaging multiple players, especially if they’re AAAA players, going anywhere. Most competitive teams have their own 40 man crunches. And teams like the Pirates and Orioles, who have talent in their systems aren’t going to be interested.
It defies logic to think FZ could have gotten anyone better for Duggar. Duggar hadn’t established much value, and they were probably going to lose him anyway. Every other FO is aware of that. And the idea of packaging multiple players comes down to trying to trade quantity for quality.
Quad A for Quad A
Calhoun was a former top 50 prospect who had one good season.
Duggar is a plus centerfielder who had a surprisingly good season offensively last year.
Bottom line, SF did not have room for Duggar on the roster and Calhoun does not take up a roster spot.
The Giants will try to catch lightning in a bottle if they bring Calhoun up and if he fades they simply DFA him. Not enough defensive prowess to keep him around if he doesn’t hit.
Calhoun had a nice 2-game series against the Phillies this week.
Wrong Calhoun but you sure as heck made me check that
That makes so much more sense. Sorry about that.
I thought TEX is a hitter’s park and SFG is a pitcher’s park?
If so, Duggar should excel while Calhoun flounders
That was true a few years ago, but not now. The Giants made changes to Oracle a few years ago. They put the bullpens in the OF bringing in the CF fence a bit. But the biggest change was they closed off the arcade. The wind used to knock down anything hit to RF, but that doesn’t happen now.
Not sure of Globe Life/Choctaw, or whatever it’s called now, but according to Statcast’s park factors, Oracle is now neutral with a 3 year average of 100. While the Rangers park has skewed towards the pitchers with a 97 over the last 3 years.
That makes sense. I assumed Corey Seager and Marcus Semien numbers were down due to the poor lineup surrounding them. Maybe I’ll he park has something to do with it.
As to Seager and Semien, I think adjusting to the new team, park, city, and for Seager a new division and league, may also have something to do with it. I have no stats to back it up, but anecdotally, it seems like most players numbers suffer when they go to a new team. Although Semien adjusted quite well in Toronto.
Finally got to see Giants play in person today (Thurs 06/23/2022). Given a retirement trip to the game. Major disappointment!
Longoria didn’t look comfortable playing 3B; blew chance for DP in 2nd that opened door for Braves to score 5 runs.
Longoria finally caught a soft liner from Ozuna in 8th inning.
Longoria needs to go on IL
Estrada can’t play SS. Had 2 balls eat him alive.
Estrada never took a real lead both times he was on 2B; didn’t go from 1st to 3rd on single to RF while runner scored from 2B.
Wood looked terrible on the mound. Granted if defense had played behind him he wouldn’t have gotten in as much trouble.
Yaz 0-5 & struck out 4 times; last time with bases loaded.
Didn’t seem like Giants got 14 hits especially since they hit into DP first 4 innings & were 5-13 with RISP.
Braves played with confidence & constantly attacked the ball.
Giants seemed to be just going thru the motions. Playing like they couldn’t wait to catch plane back to SF.
Giants are playing leaderless & need someone or something to kick their rear ends in gear.
Zaidi needs to make some significant changes at trade deadline and not 2nd or 3rd tier players.
The Giants already overworked bullpen allowed just 1 ER after Wood got knocked out early, Wood having pitched only 1+ innings. Meanwhile the Giants offense scored 5 more runs over the following 7 innings, but still came up a run short.
I don’t dispute that the Giants have PLENTY of issues right now, but your opinion that – “the Giants seemed to be just going thru the motions. Playing like they couldn’t wait to catch plane back to SF” – is belied by the actual tale of the tape in this game.
what he said
No offense, but you can’t evaluate a team on 1 game.
Good luck Willie…I truly hope you’re able to turn things around. Just remember…probably not a good idea to trash a team for sending you down when you’re batting a tiny bit over a .700 OPS with almost 1000 PAs. It truly sucks that our Darvish trade looks an absolute joke at this point, but wishing you the best – thankfully we didn’t give up much. Gotta get up that OPS when you’re basically a full time DH…
Your consolation prize on the Darvish trade is that it didn’t do a damn bit of good for the Dodgers either.
Wow. Calhoun must really be on the outs in TX if that’s the return.
It had nothing to do with Calhoun being on the outs, and your assessment is off. Per the Trade Simulator, Duggar had a Median Trade Value of 2.2. Calhoun had a MTV of 0. You must have noticed that TEX also included cash, this apparently to offset Duggar’s higher trade value.
He requested a trade which always put the dealing team in a bind. well, if trade value simulator says I’m wrong, then I must be wrong .
I think Calhoun has a much better bat with limited defensive value but has room to improve. Duggar can’t hit besides last years aberration and that value is solely based on defense, and doesn’t have much room to improve. He is what he is.
So I guess, unlike me, you aren’t a fan of defense. Duggar plays a premier defensive position at an extremely high level. That’s in short supply at the moment.
Plus, unlike Calhoun, he has the ability to steal bases. And while you assert that last season was an aberration, there really isn’t enough data to know if that’s true or not. Duggar played in all of 12 games this season before the injury. Players do develop and Duggar is young enough that we don’t really know yet.
But his defense does have value, and so far Calhoun has not demonstrated any plus value at all. You say Calhoun has a better bat, but I’m not so sure. He has a much larger sample to judge from, and after 253 games and 846 ABs, that 86 OPS+ just might be who he is.
You can quibble with the trade simulator, but the fact that the Rangers kicked in additional cash tells you that both FOs are also in agreement with the assessment of Duggar’s greater value.
Does anybody remember Hunter Pence?
Pepperidge Farms remembers…
Hang Hunter Pence?
There’s a chance, a very small one, but a chance, that this trade winds up being moderately beneficial to both players and both teams. Unlikely as that is, it would be pretty cool if it did.
The only chance is that it works out well for the Giants. Duggar isn’t doing anything in Texas.
Yerminator is now a Giant !!
5’11” is hardly a giant
The name Steven Duggar can now be added to the lengthy list of FAILED Outfielders Drafted and Developed by the San Francisco Giants. He can join: the LEMON LIST that already includes Jarrett Parker, Nate Schierholtz, Marvin Benard, Darren Lewis, Gary Brown, Mac Williamson, Chris Shaw, and countless other MLB FAILURES.
You ok bud?
I wonder if any team ever has also had a failed outfield prospect.
How could any other team possibly have a couple of prospects ever not develop into all stars?
Point being the deplorable record that the Giant organization has for drafting and developing MLB level outfielders. The failure of system OF talent has led to an extended and essential merry-go-round of free agent signings, trades and dumpster diving in the team’s quest to field a MLB talent level outfield.
The Giants are currently fielding a legit MLB talent level outfield. So who really cares about the ones who didn’t work out?
Shierholtz had a decent career
What about Bryan Reynolds? The Giants drafted him, and he spent 3 of his 4 MiL years in the Giants system. I hate to bring up that regrettable trade, but it would seem to belie the contention that the Giants can’t draft and develop outfielders.
I like it.
Spencer Patton lucky to have seen 100 games at the mlb level and well as all those years in Japan. He’s made some coin and should be proud of his career.
John Mozeliak and Mike Girsch will be on line one for this guy. They signed that bum VenHagen, Wittgren and Brooks from the Japanese league. NPB for the cvnts who nitpick at everything on line and make a big deal about what teenage kids in mlb said a few years ago on twitter or wherever they post stuff.
Duggar’s time was limited with the Giants, so I like this move. I don’t think the Giants think Calhoun is a fit on ML roster, but developing him as trade value (where the “upside” is) is smart. At least, better than nothing at all (Duggar).
The Texas Rangers traded starting pitcher Yu Darvish to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Texas announced the deal, revealing it received outfielder/second baseman Willie Calhoun, pitcher A.J. Alexy and infielder Brendon Davis.
What Grade would you give this trade now?
Davis might yet prove some value.
No player signifies the Rangers culture of mediocrity from the last half decade more than Willie Calhoun. The Rangers organization is better today than it was yesterday.