Outfielder Yusniel Díaz has signed a minor league contract with the Giants, according to his transaction log at MLB.com. It isn’t clear if he’ll get an invitation to MLB Spring Training.
Díaz, 27, is a former top prospect from his early time in the Dodgers organization. The Cuban-born outfielder hit very well up through Double-A, leading to his inclusion in a 2018 deadline blockbuster. Los Angeles sent him to the Orioles as the headliner in the Manny Machado deal. Díaz entered the following season as Baltimore’s #1 prospect, in the estimation of Baseball America, which ranked him among the sport’s top 40 minor league talents overall.
The righty-hitting outfielder never built on his low minors success to become the player that many prospect evaluators envisioned. Díaz hit at a below-average level in Triple-A over parts of two seasons there. Baltimore called him to the majors at the very end of the 2022 season, but his only MLB experience consists of one game (in which he struck out in his only at-bat).
Díaz returned to the Dodger organization on a minor league deal last winter. Los Angeles assigned him back to Double-A Tulsa. Díaz had strong numbers there, hitting .278/.374/.484 with 16 home runs through 406 plate appearances. That came against generally younger competition but was enough to earn him another minor league deal this offseason. San Francisco president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi was in the Dodgers’ front office for a couple seasons while Díaz was beginning his pro career.
Captain-Judge99
This is just as good as the Arson Judge signing last season. Cheers!
gfan
Let it go dude.
Never was funny, and so tired now. Minor league just like your humor.
Captain-Judge99
That’s where your wrong it was ALWAYS funny! Sorry you are always butt hurt over it. You should get checked out in San Francisco somewhere. Obviously the Yankees resigning Judge has crushed you. We all get it.
gfan
Never been a fan of Captain Fudge. Was glad not to get trapped into the long term contract hell that your Spankees are stuck in.
Enjoy Rodone.
foppert1
Go easy on poor Carlos. Not sure if you saw the presser after his last Yankee start. So sad. Just a shell of a man. Was off to a cabin in the woods to get away from those invested Yankee fans he was so looking forward to playing against. Genuine sympathy for the guy. Hope he is ok.
ForeverGiantsFan
How is Rodon signing working out?
DarkSide830
It was and is funny.
gfan
Only to your multiple identity Yankee trolls.
paddyo furnichuh
Can’t speak for him…but pretty sure Darkside830 is a Phillies fan
foppert1
Dude. Do yourself a favour and e pose yourself to some quality humour ! I suggest Jim Jeffries.
Michael Chaney
Agreed. Still funny.
Captain-Judge99
@DarkSide830-Yes the butt-hurting continues for @gfan- he’s a hot mess. He’ll never get over the loss of Judge! He needs to move to NY for a year, to toughen up. He’s not man enough, just thinking about his giblets all the time! Lmao!
foppert1
Man enough !!!! Ha ha ha.
You are trolling on the internet !!!!!
Now Ive heard everything. Zero self awareness ! lol.
Snellzilla #7
Yeah yeah CJ99… You’ll probably, (rightfully so), talk crap when we almost get Ohtani, Yamamoto, Bellinger and Snell.
But we’ll probably grow fond of Pham, Bauer, Urias and Diaz on our MLB team
Captain-Judge99
@*FireFarhan- Let’s stop pretending that players out there really want to play for the Giants! Truthfully I’d rather play anywhere but there. Yes the Dodgers, Padres, Mariners, or even the Angels seem more fun to play for. Face it the dynasty there is over! Nice place for a pitcher I guess like Rodon? You want him back? Lmk.
Deke
I’m a Giants fan and I agree. As a hitter why go and hit in that ballpark with a team that uses chatGPT to make their decisions. “Computer says you should not play so you don’t play”. I’m hoping this new manager will not have his life controlled by analytics. Loved that Bochy who SF pushed out come back and wins a WS first year.
Snellzilla #7
@CJ99 It’s because FARHAN sucks
foppert1
The Captain has got the schoolgirl panties back on ! Ha ha. It’s been a while.
You went a bit quiet there last season with your high quality, if somewhat repetitive Arson Judge humour.
What happened ? The Yankees efforts force a bit of silence ? Feeling emboldened again ?
Captain-Judge99
@foppert1-I kind of feel that you still want Aaron Judge? It’s OK, you got Arson Judge instead. Lol. Enjoy all the losing in Frisco kid!
foppert1
Of course !
I won’t enjoy it but I’ll deal with it if it happens. Keep on trolling little Miss ! Frills or lace on today ?
gfan
Just Crappin Fudge.
Ully
The one MLB at bat is intresting, I hope he gets another chance to get more.
disadvantage
If he does with the Giants, he just might be my Travis Ishikawa replacement when BAL/SF comes up on Immaculate Grid.
truthlemonade
There’s also Steve Finley.
hiflew
Steve Finley is good because he was one of two guys that played with all 5 NL West teams. The other was reliever Matt Herges.
disadvantage
Finley’s a good one for both BAL/SF and NL West!
There’s also Cesar Izturis and Ted Savage for NL Central, Mark MacLemore for AL West, Brad Hand for NL East, and Kelly Johnson AL East.
hiflew
Steve Pearce also for the AL East. I didn’t realize until now that Brad Hand had done all 5 NL East teams.
sangroazul
Didn’t that first guy used to be the lead singer for Ratt?
OhthePossibilities
Sidney Ponson
Stevieoriole
Stu Miller
Non Roster Invitee
It seems like if FZ had any past connection with a player he will sign him. He’s running out of players now.
Snellzilla #7
Yeah, eventually they’ll all retire and he’ll have to learn a new trick
andyhighroller
Guy cost the Dodgers $31m when he was a young guy, so he had talent in the past. Plus, if he does have success in SF, he wouldn’t be the first 27yo former Orioles prospect the Giants turned into a legitimate MLB player(Yastrzemski, Mike)
andyhighroller
If he finds success in SF, he wouldn’t be the first 27yo former top Orioles outfield prospect to do so under Farhan. Yaz hasn’t been the MVP candidate he was that one year, but he’s a solid 2.0WAR player every year, and you can expect ok CF defense, great corner defense, .220+ with 20+ HR. That’s a guy teams are happy to have as 27yo rookies, as his lack of service time grants the organization a player in their prime that won’t make real money until they’re 33/34 and nobody’s willing to sign them long term.
This is a low cost/low risk/high reward chance and one that every organization does regularly. If you can get a failed top prospect in their mid 20’s with ZERO service time, why not see if a change of scenery brings back the talent that earned them their prior status? Best case you get a cheap, quality player under club control for 4-6 years, worst case you release him during spring and try again.
Pads Fans
Now there is a blast from the past. He cost the Dodgers $31 million back when they signed him. $15.5 million signing bonus and an equal amount in fines back during the 2015-2016 offseason.
Gumby82
He’s got $15 million in the bank? Damn.
tedtheodorelogan
Nope. About half went to taxes and he has been living off it the last 8 years. Probably dwindling.
baseballencyclopedia
This is one move I like. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a throw at a dart board, but former top prospect that was the highlight of a big trade for a superstar. The kid is still only 27 and plenty of good players have broke out between 27-30. Being such a high caliber prospect, this is a bit different from most of FZs signings from the trash pile.
King Floch
The problem with Diaz thus far is that he doesn’t hit for enough power to be a COF and he doesn’t have enough speed to be a CF. It’s why he stalled out in the upper minors.
That said, I hope he somehow finds another gear and becomes a useful piece for someone, even if it won’t be for the Orioles.
paddyo furnichuh
So…Diaz not having enough slug for corner spots or range for CF is why his hitting stalled out at AAA?
King Floch
You seem to have misread my post. What I said was “it’s why he stalled out in the upper minors.”
Not much reason to call up a guy who is limited to a COF spot and is slugging under .400 against minor league pitching.
paddyo furnichuh
I read it correctly, there’s a bit lacking in reasoning behind the “why.”
King Floch
His contact and OBP skills got him to the upper minors, where he has become stuck due to his lack of power and/or defensive value.
It’s really not that complicated, so I’m not quite sure why you’re having so much trouble grasping it.
gfan
Ya last outfield prospect late bloomer from Orioles was a guy named Yastrzemski who had a couple good seasons so there is hope here and no risk.
King Floch
I’m still bitter about Yaz lol.
Goin' to Sheetz
Never would’ve suspected that he’d fall off so fast. As an Orioles fan, that Machado trade, apart from Kremer, is one of the worst moves of the Duquette era.
King Floch
Not really, we got a pretty decent #3/4 starter for 2 months of a guy that was never going to re-sign with us (nor should he have been re-signed tbh). Many teams who have made such trades and saw all of the prospects in their return ultimately wash out would probably be pretty happy with that outcome.
If you want to talk about TRULY bad DD trades, let’s start with Zach Davies for Gerardo Parra. Anyone who took a look at Parra’s astronomically high BABIP at the time of the deal knew that it was a really dumb move, and he immediately turned back into a pumpkin to the surprise of no one (except DD).
Goin' to Sheetz
Ugh, that trade was awful. Almost as bad as signing Travis Snider to replace Markakis’ production.
paddyo furnichuh
DD traded for Parra? If memory serves, that was a deal between AZ and MIL.
You may have misplaced FO frustration.
King Floch
You know you can check these kinds of things on Baseball Reference, right? Just click on the player’s name in red at the beginning of the article, scroll down to the box labelled “transactions,” and click on it to open it.
No need to thank me 🙂
paddyo furnichuh
You’re not welcome as Dombrowski was not with the Brewers or D-backs.
paddyo furnichuh
In short, it doesn’t look like either Parra or Davies were with a team where DD worked. (Mia, Det, Bo’s, Phi?)
Maybe I am missing something
King Floch
“DD” in this context refers to Dan Duquette, not Dave Dombrowski.
paddyo furnichuh
Thank you for clarifying
Bart Harley Jarvis
Essentially, DaDa not DaDo.
O'sSayCanYouSee
@King Floch. Trading Josh Hader was DD’s worst move, imo. Even trading E-Rod is somewhat defendable…somewhat.
Goin' to Sheetz
Resigning Miller was an option. Then ERod wouldn’t have hurt so much. To think they could’ve brought back Markakis’ and Miller instead of Davis. They traded for Trumbo to make up for Cruz already.
*shakes head*
SupremeBacon
Farhan loves his ex-Dodgers
Pickle_Britches
Lol yea
Snellzilla #7
He’s trying to turn the Giants into the retirement camp for our most bitter rivals
King Floch
Ah, Yusniel Diaz. I had such high hopes for you after the Machado trade. Oh well. Good luck with San Fran, buddy.
Man, Dean Kremer really saved that trade for us. He’s not an ace or anything, but not getting anything of value for Manny would have been absolutely brutal.
Pickle_Britches
Weak sauce
Redwolves3
Zaidi’s M.O. strikes again. Thought Zaidi said he was going to be aggressive this offseason! Just another Tier 3 player & former Dodger that Zaidi new during his time there.
Snellzilla #7
Redwolves3 Sadly you’re right
gfan
Yup. One minor league signing before the winter meetings and you are ready to call the offseason a failure.
Such a dismal life.
foppert1
Ha ha. Remarkable !!
They blow my mind.
Snellzilla #7
How do you feel about the dodgers getting both Shohai Ohtani and Yamamoto?
Breck68
Farhan Zaidi signs another player that amounts to nothing. In typical fashion Zaidi says he will be aggressive in pursuit of big name players. All he does is target players that he knows will not sign in SF. Then when they sign elsewhere all that is left over is rehab or project players that are washed up. Farhan Zaidi should have nevermind been given a n extension. In my opinion.
Redwolves3
Breck68 – you are absolutely right & im sure other Giants fans feel the same way. We’re tired of mediocre talent & lack of getting star players.
Zaidi thinks he’s so intelligent, sports writers continuo praising him & fans are so dumb that Zaidi thinks he can do whatever he wants. Just because he got his 3-year contract extension doesn’t mean he can wait until year 3 to sign star players.
He must win this offseason. To win the offseason Zaidi must strike 1st, be a real leader & not wait for other teams to get star players while he’s forced to settle for leftovers. And don’t come up with he same ole excuses that he tried but player(s) chose another team.
Fans shouldn’t let up on Zaidi. Keep pressure on Johnson, Baer, Posey & Zaidi until Zaidi proves he can get superstar talent.
foppert1
Of course. Because agents are just going to say “sure, we’ll take that great offer without seeing what else is out there”
Do you live in baseball reality, or some fantasy land that exists in your head ?
Datashark
No one dumpster dives more than Farhan – you would think he is homeless although he keeps searching for food/player. Sure he found some shiny objects here and there
Pete'sView
Breck68 — Your take is pretty lame. This is a minor league signing, they go on all the time. For all teams. Let’s see what the complete off season brings because I’m sure this is not all Farhan will do, and you know it. You’re just spouting the old, tired and cliched line. Give it up and wait to see what happens.
gfan
Pretty sure things will move faster after Yamamoto and Ohtani sign. Like a frenzy.
Pete'sView
As a Giants fan, my Number One hope is for Yamamaoto (rather than Ohtani). Also hoping for Jung Hoo Lee. Then, if we get Ohtani, great, but I doubt there’s enough money for that.
Datashark
Floating around minors for last 10 years – began at age 17, but he did get 1 more AB w/Baltimore than Yaz got after floating their system for years too.
Breck68
Okay you are all so sure that Farhan will do something other than minor signings name a major signing he has made that worked out?
foppert1
Correa
Breck68
The Twins shortstop? How did that work out for the Giants?
foppert1
Excellent so far !
If Correa performed at the Giants like at the Twins, with 12 years to go, I would be almost tempted to write a negative Farhan post.
gravel
Kevin Gausman. Carlos Rodon. Alex Cobb. Sean Mannea.