The Giants and left-hander Amir Garrett are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client will also receive an invite to Spring Training and would make a salary of $1.35MM if in the majors.
Garrett, 32 in May, has had some good years in the big leagues but his 2023 was a struggle. He started the year with the Royals and made 27 appearances for that club. His 3.33 earned run average in that time looks good at first blush, but the underlying numbers were less impressive. He struck out 25% of batters but also gave out free passes at a massive 17.9% clip. His 85.2% strand rate helped him keep some runs off the board but his 5.56 FIP and 5.10 SIERA suggested regression was due.
The Royals didn’t want that luck to run out on their watch so they released Garrett in July. He landed a minor league deal with the Guardians and made five appearances for their Triple-A club but walked four of the 21 batters he faced before getting released from that deal as well.
The control is clearly a problem but it’s nothing new, with Garrett having walked 13.2% of the batters he’s faced in his career overall. He’s still managed to be effectively wild at times, though, having racked up 67 holds dating back to his 2017 debut. He has a 26.4% strikeout rate and has also kept 44.8% of batted balls in the ground in his career. He averages in the mid-90s with his fastball and sinker but throws his slider around half the time.
He was at his best with the Reds from 2018 to 2020, posting a 3.60 ERA over 156 appearances. He struck out 30.2% of opponents in that time while keeping his walks down to 11.6%, still high but not disastrously so. He also was working in fairly high-leverage spots, earning 49 of his holds in that time. But his results have backed up in the three most recent seasons, with the control gradually getting worse.
It’s possible that Garrett has been victimized by the three-batter minimum, which was first implemented in 2020. He has held lefties to a line of .204/.327/.349 in his career whereas righties have slashed .248/.348/.465 against him.
The Giants have one established lefty in the pen in Taylor Rogers but there’s a path open for a second. Ethan Small has just four big league games of experience while Erik Miller has none. The only other lefties on the 40-man roster are Robbie Ray and Kyle Harrison, who are both starters and Ray won’t even be healthy to start the season. If Garrett looks good in camp or perhaps during the minor league seasons, the Giants could find a way to use him.
Love it, cannot wait until we play the pirates.
Nothing like beefing up the roster with a little toughness, and a true enforcer. Opposing pitchers will now have to think twice before throwing at any of your guys.
cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2020/07/30/am…
Anyone remember Buster Posey?
So, we’re talking to Boras…
I want to see him fistfight Ohtani.
Instead of pursuing Boras 4 Zaidi’s checking to see if Boras has any dumpster dives he can sign
Zaidi needs to wake up Spring Training only 2 days away & what has Zaidi really done to make the Giants competitive?
If Zaidi doesn’t sign at least 2 of the Boras 4 Zaidi needs to be FIRED!!!
All but takes them out of the Snell or Bellinger sweepstakes. Unbelievable they prioritized Amir. I’m this close from no longer being a Giant fan and throwing my allegiance over to the Dodgers.
Smoke something strong before you do that. You know they didn’t “prioritize” Garret although maybe you were being facetious, Still, I share your pain. There better be some Giant deals soon—and NOT Chapman—or I’m done with Farhan.
Oh Pete, take a chill pill!
Don’t worry, everything is going to be fine
Agnes — You know I hate when the Giants get backed into a corner and then make a deal to look savvy (examples: Barry Zeto, Joc Pederson; Chapman would be the same.). I was just responding to Catfish’s post.
But I’ll chill . . .
No worries Pete!
I guarantee you they won’t be signing a big name or any “giant deals”. You’re completely delusional. The Giants roster is set.
Hey, with a very pitcher friendly park, he may thrive. Not likely but you know how it goes sometimes.
what a stupid comment
I hereby withdraw my JimmyCatfish fan club membership as of this afternoon.
Catfish, completely unhinged far fetched comment, this in now way takes the Giants out of any other signings. He is just a rehab project, and possible depth. Good for Amir, I hope he puts it all together and becomes lights out. Go Amir! Welcome to SF!
You’re delusional. Get help. The Giants were NEVER in the market for Bellinger or Snell or Chapman etc. not how they do business.
Here come all the dumb people criticizing a minor league signing with an invite to spring training.
Thank you ballz, I don’t know what has happened to the brain cells around here but the hair trigger reactions are ridiculous. This is nothing more than a take a look and possible depth, no harm checking him out.
Bay Area Sports fans in a bad mood today, gee I wonder why?
So this guy is worth the headache on a minor league deal but Bauer isn’t? Lol
Because Trevor Bauer comes with PR baggage. Garrett doesn’t have that big of an issue IIRC.
I hear you on this but Giants have taken PR hits for guys they werent able to sign. Why not deal with it and actually have a top flight pitcher to show for it? He’ll be must watch when facing the Dodgers. He has 5x the social media following compared to the Giants so maybe he’ll bring some new fans SF’s way.
A PR hit on fans being unhappy with where the direction of the team goes is completely different from the PR hit of an alleged domestic violence.
That’s a totally different can of worms they may open if they bring in Trevor Bauer.
And FWIW, I’m all for giving Bauer a second chance, with certain parameters and conditions, of course.
The majority of his following on social media are bots
thats true, two different animals of PR. he did say he’ll sign to a single year league minimum deal with incentives and he’d be fine being cut if you’re not happy with how its going. i’d take the chance if i were Farhan.
The PR should be easy enough to spin in the city of acceptance and love. It’s honestly the perfect starting over point for both sides. This franchise didn’t balk at Bonds perceived behavior in lieu of performance. Take him up on a team friendly deal, he can’t choke anywhere bad as the Dodgers
regardless of what happened in the ONE case – bauer has other harassment cases pending against him and said just the other day that he plans to continue “trolling” women on social media – I don’t blame any team for not wanting to take that on regardless if it wins then a few games
i havent listened to all his interviews or followed his posts, where did he say he’s going to troll women? i did hear he’s done having casual sex with them. for what that’s worth.
That’s because no one wants to get in bed with him. Bauer: the baseball incel.
Even the Menedez brothers had groupies who wanted to marry them.
Farhan scouting the dumpsters and diving into it sign solar or Martinez and Chapman or snell and stop with the garbage no one wants
You’re delusional if you think the Giants sign any of those big name players.
I think they were right about solar roofs
Perhaps this signing is part of a larger deal with Boras, as in the Giants offer a contract to Garrett in exchange for a deal for Chapman or Soler (or both – the Giants can afford it!).
Put down the bong bruh.
Seems like a small signing but the Giants just might be a mere Garrett from winning the pennant.
Well technically if he pitches like he did last season and makes the club, it puts them in the post season since most predictions have then a game out of a wc spot and he was worth close to a win
That’s it. We won the Off-season.
What happens if you put Garrett and Pham on a team together? Do they actively butt heads against each other or team up to bully everyone in the clubhouse?
Future Hall of Famer Amir Garrett.
He has a better shot than most of us!
Dodgers are out there spending a billion freaking dollars and then signing guys like Kershaw to charity, sign-up-for-an-easy ring deals and the Giants are signing Amir Garrett to a Minors deal. This sport is completely corrupt.
Just one series this upcoming year then to hopefully see an Amir Garrett vs Javy Baez matchup.
He was never really great, but things for him got significantly worse when he went all-in on the BLM stuff and started picking fights with the Cubs and any other team that looked at him like the head case he is.