The Giants have signed righty Ken Giles to a minor league deal, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. He is expected to pitch for one of their teams in the Arizona Complex League tonight.
Giles, 31, has been one of the most dominant relievers in baseball at times during his career. In 2019, he threw 53 innings with the Blue Jays with a 1.87 ERA, racking up 23 saves and striking out an incredible 39.9% of batters faced. He was limited by injuries to just 3 2/3 innings in 2020, eventually undergoing Tommy John surgery in October.
The Mariners signed Giles to a two-year deal covering the 2021 and 2022 seasons, knowing that he wouldn’t contribute in the first year of the deal. The righty made $1.5MM last year and is making $5MM here in 2022. He missed all of last season as expected, but seemed to be on track to help the club on Opening Day this year. Unfortunately, a finger injury suffered in Spring Training prevented him from making his Mariners debut until June 21. He threw 4 1/3 innings over five frames for the M’s before he had to return to the IL due to shoulder tightness.
He began a rehab assignment in early August to begin his return, getting designated for assignment by the Mariners during that rehab stint. Giles eventually rejected an outright assignment and elected free agency. As a player with more than fives years of MLB service time, it was his right to do so without forfeiting any salary. There’s around $1.18MM remaining to be paid out of that $5MM salary for this year, which the Mariners will be on the hook for, in addition to the $500K buyout on the club option for 2023. If he makes it back to the big leagues with San Fran, they will only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, with that amount being subtracted from what the Mariners pay.
The Giants are still hanging around the playoff race, currently six games behind the Phillies for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. If Giles can return to his previous form, he could give a nice boost to the Giants down the stretch.
Giles was a constant name floating around during farhan’s time with the Dodgers. I could see this working for them.
We did it boys.
We did it.
Called it! Finally right for once
Hope he can find his footing with the Giants. No harm in giving it a shot.
His feet aren’t the problem
Buzz saw- Probably the most underrated, hilarious comments posted today. Well done!
Adios – relax.
Way too little, way too late.
Maybe this guy can give the Giants bullpen that extra punch they need.
Don’t count on too much. Saw this guy pitch in the northwest league for rehab and the slider is flat and fastball has lost its life. He was ripped more than a few times. I wish him the best but don’t get to excited yet.
Yeah watching him pitch in Everett was painful. I wish the guy luck and hope he turns it around. There just wasn’t an opportunity for him to figure it out while in the Mariners system.
Giles is worthy! Hopefully he’s healthy and can be a part of the bullpen for the Giants this year.
If he can prove himself, next year will be interesting to see where Giles lands and the success he can have in the right situation.
Only time will tell but low risk take in SF for their bullpen in 2022.
Low risk but probably another Zaidi DFA waiting to happen
Alas, not every TJ surgery creates a rejuvenated Justin Verlander.
(Ken Giles texts Cole Hamels sometime during 2020-22)
Ken: Cole, what’s up?
Cole: Nothing much, rehabbing.
Ken: Me too.
Typical Giants transaction. No knock on Giles … perhaps he can help. But by offering to trade players like Rodon and Pederson – and doing nothing significant to try improving the team – they’ve made it clear they’re not serious about winning. I doubt they’ll even make the playoffs, and if they do I think they’ll be knocked out early. So what are they really trying to do?
I agree with most of what you said. However I have to think the logic being applied here is that they won 107 ahead of schedule and theoretically with a decent farm. Which would have made this season a great time to plug in those future pieces. Unfortunately everyone on the team regressed, even the farm and our top prospects. At a time like that is it really time to sell low on your farm? To make a run in a division with the dodgers and padres at more or less full strength.
I understand the frustration we have had a top tier payroll for a longtime and it seems like those funds just aren’t being used as they were in the championship years. But throwing money at a problem doesn’t always solve it so I understand the more measured approach this season. Not happy my team is playing .500 ball, but was very happy when they unexpectedly won 107 last year. So it evens out for me. The future is the most important , we aren’t wasting anyones prime years at this point let’s make calculated moves I guess.
You mention their “top tier payroll”. The MLB average is $148M & theirs is $155M, barely above average & not even remotely close to “top tier”. Keep in mind also that a high regular-season win total isn’t the objective. The goal is to win the WS, which can be accomplished without a high payroll as repeatedly proven by Sabean. IMHO they’ve way underestimated the impact of losing Posey, even though many of us knew he’s irreplaceable & worth far more to the team than any ridiculous “wins above replacement (WAR)” might suggest.
The goal is partially dependent on the team, some teams DO need to win the WS to put people in the seats. Other teams have a fan base that will come to games no matter what. For them winning the WS isn’t as critical, and the Giants are one of those teams right now. It’s like how if a Yankee has a bad week they get booed, a Giant can have a bad career and be loved.
And in that vein I would like to see the Giants bolster their marquee value even if they can’t compete. Get the big Homer guy, the exciting strikeout guy, don’t just take the fans for granted.
Brad S:
He obviously meant a top tier capable payroll, since he went on to say he was happy that they weren’t throwing money at the problems.
Plus, there’s no way they underestimated the loss of Posey. Just because the team has under-performed, especially at the catcher position, doesn’t mean they weren’t well aware of what Posey brought to the team.
What do you think the Giants should have done when Posey told them he was going to retire? First of all, there was no adequate replacement to be found anywhere, FA or trade. Secondly, they had a top catching prospect in Bart. They had to give him the job and hope he progresses.
When there’s a problem, and there are no solutions available, it doesn’t mean anyone was caught unaware.
We can agree to disagree about this. The Giants aren’t in it just to fill the seats. Their gorgeous ballpark does that for them. They’re trying to win it all. But Zaidi has yet to show that his obsessively analytics-based approach can do that. Because of their three recent WS titles in just five seasons (in fact three-for-three, which is even more rare & exceptional), expectations are higher than for most teams. Even so, the only organizations that consider the season a failure if they don’t win the WS are the Dodgers & Yankees. Even with their recent success, the Giants aren’t in that category. And Zaidi’s attempted – unsuccessfully in each case – to acquire some of the biggest-money players (Harper, Ohtani, & Soto to name a few). Perhaps he’s just trying to field a competitive team & hoping a WS might result. But – with no offense intended to Zaidi – all one has to do is compare his track record with Sabean’s … it’s not much of a contest.
Luvochka- Barry Zito was not worth that contract and was rough to watch most of his Giants career but, nobody can forget his Game 5 in the NLCS against STL.
I may be the minority among Giants fans but, Zito is an honorable mention for their playoff success that year. And without him I don’t think we win the World Series that year.
Your problem is you, and many others, want immediate success. You, were spoiled by 107 wins in 2021. Winning at that level was well ahead of schedule.
FZ inherited a team with some long term deals on the books, a bloated payroll close to the tax threshold, and a mediocre farm system.
Despite what the Giants did last season, they aren’t really positioned to gamble on an expensive piece in a win now move. The Giants have a top 10 farm system, but most of the talent is at the lower levels.
I think what FZ is doing, is trying and win, while also waiting for the right time for the big deal to put them over the top. Any team that makes the PS can win it all.
As to those FAs you listed. Harper simply chose the Phillies despite an offer with more guaranteed money from the Giants. No PBO can force a guy to sign that wants to go elsewhere.
Same with Ohtani. Because he chose to come to MLB when he did, he could only receive a small deal that all 30 teams in MLB could afford. It was his choice where to sign, and there was no monetary advantage to large market teams. The odds were against every team to sign Ohtani. It’s hard to fault FZ when the NYYs, Dodgers, Red Sox, Phillies, etc. also failed to sign Ohtani.
Given his age, Soto would have actually made sense for the Giants. But SD paid a huge cost. And again it was the Nat’s decision. The SD prospects were closer to MLB, than the Giants prospects are, and that’s what the Padres wanted.
Sometimes you can do everything right, and it still doesn’t happen. I am kind of glad that FZ did not trade an equivalent package of prospects for Soto to what the Padres did.
They wouldn’t have even been in the WS without Zito. He was brilliant for them. Well worth his contract & more.
You’re obviously a Zaidi fan. Nothing wrong with that. And you can make all the excuses you want for him. But he’s much too heavily into analytics. And he’s certainly not in Sabean’s class. Few are.
Excuses? No. Plus, that’s kind of a sleazy take. Like if I said, you can make up all the false allegations you want. Maybe use facts.
A fan? So far, but I’m not devoted blindly. When it’s time for the Giants to win, if they don’t, I’ll be a critic. But it’s still too soon to know.
I’m guessing you must have loved the 107 wins last season. But you seem to think analytics. had nothing to do with that. Ignore them when they work, and hate when they don’t, I see. Plus, Sabean never built a team that won 107 games.
(1) Nothing even remotely sleazy in my comments. (2) What false allegations? All my statements are factual. (3) You’re guessing I loved the 107 wins? Bad guess. (4) Analytics cause far more losses than wins. (5) Yep, Sabean’s teams only won three WS in five seasons. Not nearly as impressive as Zaidi’s continuing failure to even approach reaching the NLCS. 107 regular-season wins = eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
Nationals wanted*
The Giants didn’t have the same talent level package to send as the Padres did with Gore and Abrams plus….no way the Giants could have matched that offer….
All of the Giants top prospects are lottery tickets basically as none have even tasted the big leagues…..minus Bart who is no better than Ruiz….
@usafcop Even with the giants farm regressing they would’ve traded easily with them if the giants had agreed to include Harrison which was the ask. The giants refused removing them from the running and Soto went to the padres. Harrison is projecting very well so far and advancing fast thru the minors. Gore is a huge question mark even with his prospect pedigree I would guess if you asked any club which pitcher they would’ve rather had Harrison or Gore 99 % take Harrison.
Gore got clobbered in 2021 sure but in 2022 he started to show signs of why he was a top 5 prospect….I think he still has upside but it will be hard to see on a weak team….he will have no run support on the Nats….but the MLB talent is there….
Harrison has yet to even pitch in the majors and could be a bust at that level….also with Abrams going to the Nats I don’t see SF beating that package and that wasn’t even the complete package….just the headliners
Not to mention most of the Giants other prospects are not MLB ready so the chance of the Giants matching up with what the Nats were looking for was slim….
Just as well though because the Giants aren’t looking to win one season and then go back to being a 3rd place team….they want to rebuild properly and make sure they stay competitive….Soto’s contract tore a whole lotta money up in 1 player….
For the Padres they thought it was the missing piece (before the Tatis suspension)
The Giants need far more than 1 bat….it would be wise to not make a huge splash and just rebuild properly….
Transplanted Seattle Mariners fan living on the Monterey Peninsula here- I get to see quite a lot of Giants games at the Park and on the telly. Here’s how I see things on this move and your Tad and Brad comment thread:
Both of you make logical points, I believe that a lot of your points to be simultaneously true. That is they exist in the same SF Giants Universe.
Speaking of Universe’s at this very moment I believe there are a lot of parallels between the Giants and Mariners journey through this one! Both are on a similar time line through their respective rebuilds. Seattle may have a a leg up on the amount of prospects who have recently graduated to become legitimate ML’ers who are contributing to this years success for ex: Julio, Cal Raleigh, Gilbert, Kirby, Muñoz, P Murfee, Brash. They are the 2nd youngest team in MLB.
It can be argued both teams over-achieved last yr and more importantly both teams had payroll and prospect capital to add more players to their 2021 team.
I feel like the SFG had a better offseason last yr, before the 2021 season, than the offseason before this 2022 yr. Maybe I’m wrong there I’m sure Giants fans will have more insight than me. However from my POV it looked like your team could’ve or should’ve added at least 1-2 good RPers this offseason. A D Robertson? Brooks Raley etc? With hindsight its easy to say this. Just as its easy to say my M’s should’ve bought one more impact bat. I can see why Dipoto didnt – knowing Haniger was coming back.
Re: Giles- hope he works out for you, he didn’t feature in too many games for us. Once he got a few games under his belt he did look like a good 6th-8th inn RPer. Hope he becomes THAT guy for you because its hard to watch a BP implode- trust me. We Mariners fans are lucky to have a Pen that has been terrific in back to back yrs but trust me come from a long line of frustrating BP’s!! G’luck in yer next 40g Gigantes
Sleazy was the wrong word. I should have used biased. There’s nothing factual in saying “…you can make all the excuses you want….” That’s just a sweeping pejorative without specifics.
In fact, none of your statements were factual. They were all opinion, without facts or stats to back them up. For example; there is absolutely no statistical basis that analytics cause more losses than wins. That’s opinion, and a misguided one at that.
So, as a Giants fan, you didn’t like them winning 107 games? Okay.
Sabean was GM for 14 years before the Giants won the first of the three WS titles. FZ is in his 4th season. Not exactly a fair comparison.
I assume the comments above make for interesting reading – looks to be the makings of a baseball manifesto. Anyone from Montana?
Tad, you by far are the most well spoken and most knowledgeable Giants poster on here. I try but I’ll take 2nd best, hopefully. A couple Comments: 1) the Giants were one game from beating the Dodgers to advance, and had Belt not gotten hit by a pitch at the end of the season, they could have won that last game. Yes Muncy was out but Belt last year was probably better than ever prior to the injury and practically carried that team. 2) the lineup for game 162, win 107, was Slater Yaz Wade Longoria Crawford Lastella Flores Posey. Sound familiar? Drop Posey, add Bart, who since AllStars has matched Poseys success. Add 2 Allstars, Pederson Rodon. They have a better rotation than 2021. BUT, although regression was expected, this much regression wasn’t. Ownership sees 107 wins, probably puts full faith in Zaidis requests for more additions. Rodon, Pederson, Cobb are added. Zaidi gets no credit for these decisions. He’s not the one that sets the budget. To me, the big mistake was the contract for Desclifani. But even that was based on last seasons success. 3) when your lineup has injury issues, defense takes a hit. Imagine an offensive line using plug and play tactics because of injury. There’s no consistency and the offense struggles. An infield using plug and play because of injuries also loses consistency. Errors result. Defense regresses. 4) who predicted a failing bullpen? Best in baseball last season. How many Zaidi bashers posted preseason here that Zaidi hasn’t spent enough on the bullpen. Mcgee was one of the best relievers in ALL of baseball last year and he suddenly is done. Practically the entire bullpen, sans Doval, has regressed significantly. 5) Zaidi has had success with Junis Davis Gonzalez Estrada and a few others.
And Brad, the payroll preZaidi was a disaster. Bobby Evans was directed by Sabean, so your comments about Sabean winning with a low payroll were true and then they werent. And Tads mention of the time it took Sabean to win a WS should essentially squash all of your deifying of Sabean. Did that regime have great success in drafts? They sure did. Posey Cain Lincecum Bum Wilson. Pretty solid list. BUT it’s too early to compare with the current regime. Sabean had many successful pickups. That bullpen of Wilson then Romo Affeldt Casilla Lopez was probably most responsible for 3 WS wins. But how many failures before 2010? And then after 2014? We could fill a 26 man roster with them. Casey McGahee (sp?) Dustin Mohr. Losing Reynolds, Wheeler? So, yes, Sabean should be in the HOF, but Zaidis track record in this relatively short time frame has been a better start than Sabean had.
Brad, the Zito contract for many years after its signing was trashed. Sabean was vilified. Zito starred at the end of the contract. If Zito hadn’t FINALLY performed, Sabean would not have been rewarded. But, no, that contract was not worth the money. Not close. Btw, look back at the stories when Matt Williams was traded. Kent was a throw in. He had alienated the Mets, the Blue Jay’s and the Indians. Sabean ACCIDENTLY stuck gold with Kent. That trade was designed to strengthen the pitching and get a veteran shortstop, Vizcaino, to ensure a bridge to Aurilia. And lastly Brad, imagine this hypothetical discussion that you think should have happened pre2021. MANAGEMENT/OWNERS/check writers: “Farhan, how are we looking”. FARHAN: “I really feel we could win over 100 games”. MANAGEMENT: “Great, but we want to win the WS”. Brad, do you think that’s how it went?
Except that they aren’t the same. The Giants needed to rebuild or retool 3 years ago whereas the Mariners are building a perennial contender in a division that they can own soon.
The Mariners have a superstar slugger in Rodriquez and they have Kelenic who can still bounce back as he is still very young.
On top of that they have young arms in the rotation that appear to be TOR type pitchers plus more young arms on the way.
The Giants have constantly stuck with aging vets and if anyone called this collapse it was me several times. Last year was an anomaly and mislead them into thinking they had a playoff caliber team when they do not and to be fair didn’t have one last year either.
They had bounce back seasons from just about everyone over 33 years old and career years from the others in a year where SD and LA were missing all-stars for half the season. It was 100% an anomaly.
The lineup didn’t match the rankings they were in nor did the pitching. Top 5 in several categories with a make shift lineup and patchwork rotation filled with career 4th starters.
The Giants will find themselves placing 4th in the west once the Dbacks rebuild is complete as they have done the same type of rebuild as the Mariners the correct way.
Sure the Giants have money to spend and can field a 3rd place team in 2023 but they aren’t getting past LA or SD any time soon.
The Dbacks are rising fast with several top prospects near ready for the MLB. Only the Rockies will be sitting behind the Giants soon unless SF buys their 3rd place trophy.
The Mariners are opposite with a young starting rotation and a superstar slugger already in the MLB. If any team in the NL West is similar to the Mariners it’s the Dbacks not the Giants.
I had them pegged for 82-87 wins this season because last season was 100% an anomaly where everything went right for them while LA and SD were without MVP caliber hitters and Cy Young caliber pitchers for long stretches of the season on top of bounce back seasons from every one in the Giants lineup over 33 years old and career years from the rest of the team. Their talent level didn’t match their rankings. I can’t be the only one who knows this. Or can I?
Claude, you make good points about the Matt Williams trade and Jeff Kent. I remember how Sabean was vilified, and fans were outraged over that trade. That is, until the Giants started to win. And that’s true what you say about Kent as well. I thought Sabean saw something special in Kent, until I learned from Sabean’s own words, that Kent’s success came as a complete surprise.
I would say this though about Zito. Fans, including myself, hated that contract. But some of the criticism implied the Zito contract hamstrung the Giants, hurting their chances for a WS title. In retrospect, it obviously didn’t. Plus, the Aaron Rowand contract didn’t prevent the Giants from winning it all either.
And while I hated the Zito contract, I didn’t hate having Zito as a Giant. He was essentially the #5 guy in the rotation, vastly overpaid for that role, but the best #5 guy in MLB when you compared him to other #5’s across the board.
AZ does not have several prospects ready to compete. They have Carroll. Lawler is nice but still a couple years away. SF has struggled & last year they did win more games than they should have. But saying AZ & SD have surpassed the Giants for the immediate future is laughable. What has either of those teams done in the last 15 years to give you that thought. SD is constantly spending & making big moves, & what do they have to show for it? Call me when they play in a World Series. And the last time AZ was relevant was when the Big Unit nailed that bird that flew in front of his fastball (sorry peta). Like you said, SF had no business winning 107 games last year. Do you know what else they had no business doing? Was winning those 3 World Series. The 2010 team got huge performances from a 56 year old Edgar Renteria & Cody Ross. The 2012 team’s offense was atrocious, our star hitter that post-season was from a minor trade we made with Colorado near the end of the season…Marco Scutaro. And 2014, are you kidding me? It was Madison Bumgarner vs everyone else. Their other starting pitchers were Jake Peavy & Tim Hudson, the problem is SF got them about 8 years too late. We didn’t even have a decent closer that post-season. Two of those World Series SF was a wild-card, & one of them they made the playoffs by winning the last regular season game. So if there is one thing SF has shown us..they are very capable of winning without having the Manny Machado’s, Juan Soto’s, & Fernando Tatis’. Instead we’ll take Cody Ross, Marco Scutaro, & the Sergio Romo’s (who despite having a 88mph fastball, was phenomenal for the Giants) of the world & be fine. And you claim how it’s so obvious the Padres & D-Backs have surpassed SF in the NL West, & to support your argument you say AZ has great prospects coming up..BFD! Prospects & 50cents will get you a soda!
or they are serious at resigning or QO’ing to get a draft pick
Giants need someone who can get outs in the bullpen. They are starting to look like the Sox ‘pen
Give Giles some due, it really doesn’t take much to be an improvement in the Giants pen right now.
Giants have won two series against winning clubs since June 1st (one in June, one in July), and none in August. Can we stop with the “Giants playoff” nonsense?
Playoffs, are you talking about playoffs,…..you know where am going..
So predictable, but a very good move because Giants have rebounded many pitchers from awful seasons.
It’s obvious the Giants aren’t headed for the playoffs but what’s really discouraging is that they aren’t making any notable improvements.
Yeah, the poking around in the weeds routine is getting old