The Giants announced that they have now officially signed shortstop Paul DeJong to their roster, a move that was reported yesterday. In a corresponding move, infielder Johan Camargo was designated for assignment.
Camargo, 29, was just added to the Giants’ roster last week for a bit of veteran infield depth. With players like Mark Mathias, Casey Schmitt and Brett Wisely all producing fairly uninspiring results this year, an established utility option like Camargo was a sensible gamble to take, even though his own results have been fairly tepid in recent seasons. He hit .222/.300/.222 in a small sample of 20 plate appearances over eight games for the Giants, lining up at shortstop and third base but now losing his roster spot.
Since Camargo was selected, the Giants lost their everyday shortstop when Brandon Crawford landed on the injured list due to a left forearm strain. Rather than trying to patch together that position with their various utility infielders, the club decided to take a chance on DeJong after he was released by the Blue Jays.
That’s a low-risk move for the Giants from a financial perspective as they can bring aboard DeJong for the prorated league minimum and see what happens. It’s certainly risky in terms of results, as DeJong has been struggling in recent years and had a really poor showing with the Jays after they acquired him from the Cardinals at the deadline. But the Giants aren’t really committed and can easily walk away if it doesn’t work out.
In taking a shot on DeJong, they are giving up on Camargo, who will have to be placed on waivers in the coming days. His tiny sample of big league work this year doesn’t provide other clubs much to evaluate, but he has a longer track record they could look at. He has a career batting line of 254/.313/.407 in 1,359 career plate appearances, translating to a wRC+ of 90. The best part of that was earlier in his career, as he hit .281/.343/.455 over 2017 and 2018 but just .219/.272/.344 since then. He’s been slotted into each infield position as well as the outfield corners. This year, he has signed three separate minor league deals with the Royals, Tigers and Giants. He hit .260/.339/.466 in 165 Triple-A plate appearances between those different organizations.
If any of the 29 other clubs around the league are interested in some veteran infield depth, they could grab Camargo off waivers or perhaps sign him to another minor league in the event he clears. He has a previous career outright and would therefore be able to reject another such assignment in favor of electing free agency. He won’t be able to reach five years of service time this year and could therefore be retained for 2024 via arbitration by any club willing to give him a roster spot.
Too little, too late, wild card berth is slipping away para los gigantes
They don’t deserve anything else. Their entire management team from Farhan to Gabe is completely incompetent.
I don’t know that DeJong is the answer but Camargo definitely wasn’t great – cycling through the guys can’t make it worse
At least Dejong can hit for power that’s already an improvement over Camargo.
Can he though? I just painfully watched him struggle for two weeks to make contact.
He his slash with Toronto was .068 / .068 / .068 (sss)
Already better in SF. Even if he goes 0-29 now
I had a feeling that would happen lol, always happens when players like that leave the jays, Happy for him, he’s a good dude, just never got comfy in Toronto
@acoss13
Really? De Jong more power than Camargo?
Camargo has not been given a chance at all, 20PA, hardly a great sample size, and that’s what happens with him at most clubs he’s been at since the Braves.
And just for reference, Camargo is lifetime .254 ba .313obp .407slg .720 ops
De Jong is lifetime .230ba .301obp .421slg and .723ops
The differences are negligible or a push at best, plus Camargo can play any position on the IF or OF and is a better runner.and switch hits.
Of course De Jong has more HR in his career, but that’s because he’s played more.
Fred McGriff HR, BA, and OBP have nothing to do with power, and OPS is just adding OBP to SLG, so it’s only half relevant. Look at their isolated power numbers. DeJong’s ISO is .191, while Camargo’s is .153. The less nuanced SLG has DeJong with a .421 to Camargo’s .407. So yes, DeJong does have more power than Camargo.
Jean Matrac
I said a .421 to .407 difference in slugging is negligible given the fact that De Jong has played more innings. The other stats were posted as a player comparison. Don’t rant about ISO, I am fully aware what all the stats represent.
Have a good day.
Fred McGriff HR, Who was ranting? I just found it odd that the topic was power, but there was no mention of ISO.
And because SLG represents the BA proportion of singles, to extra-base hits/HRs, the number of innings is irrelevant. Granted it isn’t a great difference, but for their careers Camargo has an 8.2 XBH% to DeJong’s 8.6 (8.1 is league average).
I wish the same good day to you.
DeJong’s two run homerun today was more than Camargo did in his entire stint in SF.
@gmenfan
20Pa 18 ab’s, hardly a stint. But good for De Jong hitting a HR, but Camargo not given many looks, that’s the cut throat nature of baseball, other players are given far more opportunities than 20PA.
Life really suck when you miss out on Arson Judge as a free agent, and now you gotta sign Paul DeJong as a free agent, when nobody wants him.
What’s worse is to actually get the real Judge and have a sub 0.500 record thus eliminating your team in the Ohtani sweepstakes
Not really, that’s been accepted already. The Yankees don’t want to pay $600 million for Ohtani either. That chore will go to the Dodgers or the Padres, since nobody wants to play for the Giants, expect for Arson Judge of course!
LAST PLACE
Let it sink in…
9 in a row dude !
But life can really suck for us ?
It’s not the fact that the Giants suck too, it’s the fact that nobody really wants to play for you. Is that registering thru that thick hard nut candy shell head of yours? Lol.
Says the soft Captain Fudge.
The myth that “no body wants to play for the Giants” is BS. The past few years they’ve missed out on high-profile players, it’s true, but you (Or any of us) know the reason(s) why. This is just another anti-SF narrative.
@Pete’sView- It’s no myth, it’s the Dodgers, Padres, Mariners or bust really. It’s a great park for a pitcher, but not so much for a hitter. My point is not many hitting star free agents aren’t lining to come to San Francisco.
How’s that Rodon signing going? Or the Judge signing for that matter? Pretty glad we didn’t get either. And Correia isn’t even earning his reduced salary. Wish the Giants were playing better but we dodged some bullets for sure.
Ok, if that makes you feel better. Lol
Nice comeback ace. Lol to you too.
That’s no longer true. They changed the outfield dimensions a couple seasons back and while it’s not that little league park in NY, it’s no longer a hitter’s nightmare. Giants hitters just suck, and I say that as a fan. They have left the 4th most on base this season averaging around 15 per game, and other than Wilmer and maybe Wade and Estrada, (haven’t checked this week) no one in the line up can hit north of .250
Keep dreamin’ in La La land, and keep being delusional, boss. What 5 games over .500 is a good year for you guys, and you will still come up short. Gotcha! Lmao.
You can keep that stadium, and keep fishing or sailing or whatever you clowns do. I could care less, you will always continue to be 3rd fiddle to the Dodgers and Padres. Good luck!
Not a clever name — As a Giants fan, I concur. (Although I’ll add Bailey to your list.)
Captain-Judge99 — I really like the classy way you handle your retorts.
Looks like the Yankees are 5th fiddle then. Right? The whole division is their “daddy”. You sure pop off a lot about other teams, but when was the last time the “mighty(bad)Yankees” were relevant. You’re a piece of work who needs to worry about your own team.
The Yankees are what happens, when you fire all your seasoned, trained scouts, trainers and coaches in favor of inexperienced, Ivy League “analytics experts” who know very little about professional baseball.
Give Judge credit for using the Giants to squeeze out more money and years out of Hal Steinbrenner, that was a good move by his agent.
@acoss13, ok, but if the Yankees don’t match the $360 million dollar contract, then he would of split for the west coast.
That would have sucked if he did sign with either the Padres or Giants. He’s the best player to come out of Cashman’s tenure.
BS
I’ve been through his home town of Linden. It’s a place to get away from not to come back to. Good luck with all the long term crappy contracts.
Good luck trying to find star hitting free agents to come to San Francisco it’s not likely happening, unless the Giants overpay only. Lol.
Not my job
So you don’t think the Judge contract was overpaying? Way too injury prone. Contract will end up being a huge overpay. And Rodon wasn’t a huge overpay either. Lofl
Thank god, because if it was, you wouldn’t have a job then. A star hitter would have to have to get his head examined, right after signing in Frisco.
The signings were fine, like I said earlier no star wants to sign with the Giants. Newsflash: the Giants we’re trying to sign both players, right???
Weird tree to bark up Cap but ok. The Giants proved in 10/12/14 (you remember that don’t you?) that you don’t exactly need Carlos Beltran to win rings. The free agent argument against the Giants didn’t stop them from posting 107 Ws either. It’s a farce.
Ok, but that time was long ago, but anyway keep hope alive!
The philosophy isn’t a long time ago. The philosophy of the team lives on and the current team doesn’t have the benefit of the amazing rotation of the past but that only makes it more impressive that they’re contending without big FAs right now. Be as sour as you want, the Giants have a shot to be there when it counts and that’s this season. Not a long time ago.
Star hitters can develop from within. Free agency not the only way.
Thanks for Thairo Estrada!
He’s becoming a star…
Not if they keep playing the way they have been since the Allstar break. Finally managed to scratch a few runs together the last couple of day and now Doval can’t close a game out. I’m a Giants fan and how they are currently playing is more representative of their actual talent level than when they got hot earlier in the year. When Wilmer Flores is by far the best hitter on your team, there is a problem with how the team was constructed.
Yeah I always wanted to keep Estrada. I knew he was going to be good. We should of given you Tyler Wade instead. Lol.
Note that it wasn’t Judge; it was his agent…
The pitch to the players is that “Winning the negotiation sets a precedent for all future players. If you take a discount that’s a negative precedent.”
You’re confusing the agent with the player’s union. It’s the the union that’s concerned with the negative precedent for future players, while the agent’s job to simply get the max amount. And sometimes that max amount is less than the year before. But the bottom line is that it’s still the player that has the final say. In Judges’ case he chose the NYYs offer over the same one from Giants, but rejected an even bigger deal from SD.
Nope. Things are ok. When I get bit down about the recent Giants slide, I just search for some Yankee news and read/watch the fan reactions. Suddenly I feel a whole lot better about things at the Giants. It’s been good.
*snore*
I hope sf giants outright him cause he is pretty good just needs more ab
So many former solid middle infielder free agents this time of year. Josh Harrison was just signed. Jean Segura, Kolten Wong and Christian Arroyo are all still available.
DeJong is probably the best of the bunch, still a dependable glove and will have 6 weeks to prove he’s still a major league hitter.
He might not even get 6 weeks. If Luciano gets healthy, and DeJong is terrible, Luciano might be the better option.
Hopefully coming back to the NL will turn his offense around.
Helps to know the pitching.
4 rbis and a homer today..nice pickup.
Wilmer the Thrillmer
Wong was signed by Dodgers-minors.
Giants should have been sellers just by looking at their second half schedule. They went 1-4 vs A’s and Angels then had Rangers,Rays, Braves and Phillies. Now they have Braves (again!),Reds and Padres with their last 7 of 20 against the Dodgers.
Season was lost just by looking at schedule. 2-19 on the road in their last 21 games doesn’t help.
Ninth highest payroll (173 million) with this terrible roster!
Giants top hr hitter ranks 82nd in MLB!
Tough team to watch.
In the first half they somehow recaptured the inexplicable smoke and mirrors success of a couple years ago. Like the Angels they should have sold. At least the Angels were buyers, and the FO made a legit attempt at improving the roster. The acquisition of Pollock and Mathias was pure comedy. It’s almost as if the organization has studied what the Rockies have been doing for the past several years and said, “Yeah, let’s do that!”
Laughed out loud when I heard about Pollock.
Hitless as a Giant and turned a single in to a triple in right field. Farhan should be let go for that alone.
And won us a game by turning a double into a single as a 9th inning defensive replacement.
They’re entrenched in the race and it’s only “smoke and mirrors” if it isn’t replicable. They’ve shown they can do a lot with a little I don’t think that’s very shocking. Do I like platoons? Not really. Do I like bullpen shenanigans? Of course not. But do I like winning in spite of half the team being injured? Yes. Yes I do.
The buck stops at the top. Zaidi was not ready for prime time. Proof is in the pudding.
DeJong just hit a two run homer for the Giants in his first game
DeJong just homered
Camargo was just another of Zaidi’s desperate quick fix transactions that didn’t work out.
@RedWolves3
He sure was given a chance-18Ab’s…
I’d rather have Camargo over Arrauz. InEppler ain’t going to pick him up
Scrap pile Farhan at it again. He is indeed over his head and we are not an attractive free agent destination for hitters due to the ballpark and in general to the incompetence of Kapler and his staff. Anybody ever compare the MLB experience of our staff to others? Kai as Kaplers right hand is not a complement or support for Kaplers continuous bad decisions and the rest of the staff LOL. Wo, Rags and Flan aren’t walking through that door.
Research was done back in July and it showed very few of Ohtani’s home runs at the time would have gone out at Oracle. I believe less than a third. Yes you a correct the dimensions are better but is it enough?
I think 60+ million is enough and he’s already pretty widely recognized as a GOAT. I don’t think he cares that much about his numbers, he just wants to win.
Paid off great today
I didn’t want the Giants to sign Judge or Correia. I wanted them to sign Trea Turner. He would have been a great fit.
Turner hasn’t really been that great, at least not nearly good enough to justify that $27.2M he’s being paid this year. He only has an 89 wRC+, although the glove and baserunning does value him at 2.0 fWAR.
He should bounce back, He did average a 124 wRC+ up to this year, with higher yearly fWAR numbers, But still not a hands down great signing for the Phils IMO. They’ll be paying him that same salary for another 10 years after this one through his age 40 season.
I’ll take half of an Ohtani and pay him the same type of money over Trea..at least, the Giants could potentially have an elite SP the following year and a half..
plus, if the Giants were to sign Turner, it would block future SS in Luciano..unless, one of those guys change positions..
Trea Turner wanted to head back East. But I agree with you on the fit.
All good points. Keep in mind that this was over the winter when the Giants were looking for a shortstop and before I knew how many years Turner would end up signing for. Too many years committed for almost anyone. Anything beyond 6 or 7 years is a major crapshoot for almost any player. And it was before I knew how important it was to Turner to head east again.
Agree. I think the Giants had Correa as the first option, and had they known about his physical condition, might have pursued Turner instead, though as you say he was headed east. My 20/20 hindsight tells me I’m glad they signed neither.