The Giants made a few moves before tonight’s series opener against the Yankees. San Francisco placed rookie infielder Marco Luciano on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 30, with a right hamstring strain. Casey Schmitt was recalled to take his place on the active roster.
The team also informed reporters (including Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic) that outfielder Ryan McKenna, catcher Jakson Reetz and lefty reliever Drew Pomeranz each cleared outright waivers after being designated for assignment in recent days. Pomeranz has already elected free agency; McKenna and Reetz have that right as well, though it’s not clear if they’ll do so.
Luciano came up to the MLB roster two weeks ago. With Nick Ahmed shelved by a wrist sprain, Luciano got an opportunity as the starting shortstop. He hit well, picking up nine knocks (including two doubles and a triple) in 24 at-bats. The 22-year-old struggled on the defensive side, though. He committed five errors in 60 innings, most notably a booted grounder against the Pirates on May 21 that should have been a game-ending double play. Pittsburgh eventually tied the game and prevailed in extra innings.
Brett Wisely is starting at shortstop against Marcus Stroman tonight. Wisely isn’t a natural shortstop, but he probably offers a higher offensive ceiling than Schmitt provides. The 25-year-old Wisely has hit .311/.403/.487 in Triple-A this season; he has 10 hits in 25 big league at-bats in 2024. He has been a second baseman for the majority of his professional career. Bob Melvin has given him 48 1/3 innings at shortstop this year.
Beyond the infield shakeup, the Giants got DFA resolutions on Reetz, McKenna and Pomeranz. All three players had brief stints on the MLB roster. Reetz, a 28-year-old catcher, appeared in five games with three starts behind the dish. The Giants subsequently welcomed Patrick Bailey back from the concussion list and signed Curt Casali. Reetz is fourth on the catching depth chart behind that duo and Blake Sabol, to say nothing of the injured Tom Murphy.
That pushed him off the 40-man roster one week ago — ironically, to make room for Pomeranz. The Giants signed the former All-Star to a $1MM contract after he opted out of a minor league deal with the Dodgers. Pomeranz didn’t pitch over four days and was DFA on Tuesday. While San Francisco would presumably be interested in bringing him back on a non-roster deal, he’ll head to the open market for now.
McKenna was also DFA as part of Tuesday’s roster shuffle. The 27-year-old played in four games after the Giants claimed him from the Orioles two weeks ago. A career .221/.298/.328 hitter, McKenna is a glove-first depth outfielder. He has a .261/.359/.556 batting line over 274 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
The Giants also signed outfielder Allan Cerda to a minor league deal earlier this week (h/t to Matt Eddy of Baseball America). They assigned the 24-year-old to Double-A Richmond. Cerda was once a prospect of some regard in the Cincinnati farm system. The Reds carried him on their 40-man roster for the 2022 season, but his bat stalled at the Double-A level. He has a .188/.336/.370 line over 541 Double-A plate appearances. Cerda will hope for a breakthrough with the second organization of his career.
One million dollars for 4 days on the roster. Nice work if you can get it.WTG Farhan.
“4 days on the roster”..I’d have to agree. With Farhan as GM, the Giants ceiling is probably.500 and slight contention for the 3rd wild card spot before they falter. Farhan should still be in L.A getting coffee and donuts for a G.M that has a real coherent and concrete plan.
The Giants GM is actually Pete Putila
It’s almost like it’s your money. Shouldn’t we be happy they are prepared to spend on 4 days of insurance ? I’m sure the taxed bullpen appreciated the effort.
No we shouldn’t. He never pitched for the Giants. How can pitchers in the bullpen appreciate not having a pitcher and like the effort? What effort!
It’s this woke bs that everyone gets a star for trying no matter what that loses me. Be happy and appreciate bad moves and poor effort is not what you are supposed to do.
They needed an arm. It was a high stress stretch for the bullpen. Roupp was down. Pomeranz had just pitched a few games against the River Cats and was obviously known, and seen as the next best option if they could swing it. Turns out Melvin didn’t use him. Great. But he was there if things went differently. The appreciation from others is that management is investing in managing your workload.
Providing the hot dogs didn’t go to $10 after the signing, there is no problem anywhere.
You people’s brains are broken. In what universe does any of this have to do with wokeness
He doesn’t get $1M for 4 days; he gets a prorated $1M for 4 days. Roughly $21,500.
Bingo !
I hope so. That makes more sense. Still a waste.
Lots of things make more sense than your initial comment.
Little PP reports to Far Side. GMs are called fancier titles now.
I had a pig named Putila.
So do the Giants have to pay Pomeranz the 1 million? Or was it contingent on him making the roster or something? Because if they are paying him 1 million, that might be one of the worst signings of all time.
“Yeah one million means nothing to us, we will pay you one million just to have our doctors/scouts look at you in person”
Meanwhile us fans pay $10 for a hotdog
I had a hot dog named Putila.
Listen closely now ….
Ready?
IT WAS PRORATED! $21,500!!!!!
Pomerantz will sign somewhere else and league minimum is 740k so the Giants only have to pay the difference. As for the 10 dollar hotdog. Player salaries have nothing to do with concession prices. When you pay for concessions the money goes to the vendor. The reason vendors charge 10 dollars for hotdogs is that people will pay for it. The law of supply and demand
They gave up too soon on Ryan McKenna
As an Orioles fan, I assure you they didn’t.
Don’t necessarily think they gave up on him. They had to make room on the active roster and McKenna is out of options. Orioles would have loved to have kept him at Norfolk but you can’t send him down without exposing him to waivers. Be interesting to see if he accepts his assignment. But since he wasn’t claimed his best option might be to go to AAA and play his way back to SF