Mark Canha is headed back to the Bay Area. The Giants acquired the veteran outfielder from the Tigers for minor league reliever Eric Silva.
It’s surprising to see the Giants swing a late deal for an impending free agent. San Francisco had been positioned more as sellers in the few days leading up to the deadline. They subtracted a few players on guaranteed contracts (e.g. Jorge Soler, Luke Jackson, Alex Cobb) but resisted a more significant roster shakeup. The Giants held the likes of Blake Snell, Michael Conforto and LaMonte Wade Jr.
Their late pivot to Canha suggests they’re still holding onto some hope of erasing a four-game deficit in the NL Wild Card picture. While they weren’t super active buyers, they can rotate Canha through designated hitter in the hope that he can approximate Soler’s lost production. The 35-year-old isn’t having his best season, carrying a .231/.337/.350 slash over 377 plate appearances. He’s drawing walks at a strong 11.1% clip but only has seven homers. His 21% strikeout rate is around league average and up more than four percentage points from last season.
It’s Canha’s worst offensive season since he established himself as an above-average player six years ago. He has continued to hit while put in favorable platoon situations, though. Canha owns an impressive .286/.400/.457 slash versus lefty pitching. San Francisco’s corner outfield and first base mix is very left-handed. Each of Wade, Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski hit from that side of the plate. Canha can spell anyone from that trio against southpaws while potentially taking some situational work at designated hitter, where Marco Luciano is expected to get the majority of the playing time.
Canha is a San Jose native who played collegiately at Berkeley. He spent the bulk of his career across the Bay Area with the A’s, where he played for current Giants skipper Bob Melvin. That surely played a role in the Giants taking a flier on him as a rebound target. They’re assuming roughly $3.77MM remaining on his $11.5MM salary. San Francisco is in the first luxury tax bracket and taxed at a 20% rate on that money. Their overall acquisition cost comes out to roughly $4.5MM. Canha will return to free agency at year’s end.
San Francisco also parts way with Silva, whom they drafted in the fourth round in 2021. He began his career as a starting pitching prospect but has worked exclusively in relief this year. The 21-year-old righty has spent the season at Double-A Richmond, working to a 4.35 earned run average through 41 1/3 frames. He’s striking out upwards of 29% of batters faced against a 10.3% walk rate.
Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris was in the San Francisco front office back in 2021. He’s surely familiar with Silva, whom Baseball America ranked as the #25 prospect in the San Francisco farm system. He’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft during the 2025-26 offseason.
Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the Giants were acquiring Canha. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel was first to report Silva was headed to Detroit.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
But Canha hit?
“Can Canha hit”..He always “hit” for me in “MLB The Show”, but granted, that was a few years ago when he was in Oakland.
I like Canha, but I would rather see them play Matos. Their other moves were fine but uninspiring.
Drive to Sacramento if you want to see Matos play.
True, same for Rooker and Miller next year.
Not really. He’s steady in the field but not spectacular. Same as his hitting. This doesn’t fill the gap the Giants needed to come away with this deadline. A Farhan yawn.
Canha has a little left in the tank. The article notwithstanding, he’s not a platoon guy. What he’s done in the SSS of 2024 is irrelevant.
On it’s own, picking up a competent 5th OFer is perfectly sensible, but giving up a young lottery ticket putting up interesting and improved peripherals in AA at age 21 AND picking up Canha’s remaining salary?
Seems like a very poor move, and that’s not even counting the context, where SFG’s FO is making it clear it doesn’t really believe in its team.
Sigh. I wanted him in Houston
Made too much sense
Thoughts on Brown?
Nothing making sense. Loperfido flipped?!? He made some sensational plays! Leon?!? He was much hyped as the replacement to Correa but after one season in minors he slid down the prospect ranks destined for AAA purgatory because the team had plenty of opportunities to call him up prior to today’s need. Rooting for him though.
Back to Dana, he’s being lauded for draft success but scouts do the real work.
He’s sat on his hands rather than addressing 1B, OF, SP earlier
Given what SFG was willing to pay for what is now a 5th OFer, roughly replacement level, Houston was smart not to top the Jints’ offer.
AJ Pollock 2.0
But can still play well.
Can still play at replacement level.
FTFY
More like Cody Ross 2.0
He takes on the Slater role.
Why? They moved Cobb, and a few other dudes then they picked up Canha. For what?
If anyone understands Farhan’s deadline strategy, please explain.
I try to defend that man but I’m not even gonna attempt to here. Salary dumps and Mark Canha? Hopefully Zaidi is fired at the end of the season at least
If anyone understands how Farhan still has a job, please explain. They went from a dynasty to a bottom dweller stuck in some endless cycle of missing their main FA targets then picking up injury prone or overrated veterans still on the market because nobody wants to meet their ridiculous demands… giving them opt out contracts guaranteeing they’ll immediately leave if they’re good and stick around burdening payroll if they’re what all the other teams thought they were.
A salary dump followed by picking up $4.5m in salary for a backup for two months and giving up a live and improving arm that’s 21 yo in AA. 2.5K to BB ratio, 11K per 9, good hit suppression, improved HR suppression, improving walk total.
Why would you give up THAT guy for a 5th OFer AND pick up $4.5m i salary??
The only thing you can say on Zaidi’s behalf is that he might have been under orders to cut payroll at the deadline by x dollars, and after knocking off some salary he still had $5m to play around with, and the best he could do was get scrod by Detroit.
its all over the place and got nothing to move the needle
The Giants strategy seems to be to aquire everyone who played high school baseball in the Bay Area.
IF that is the plan – They are doing WELL in that regard
Swapped out Soler’s longer term contract and got a short term replacement in Canha.
@gmenfan
I can tell you what he is doing, I just don’t know what it signals.
Trading Soler, in a vacuum, was a great move, but for next year. Soler is a one-dimensional hitter, and is a dead weight contract unless he is slugging 25+ homeruns. which he was not doing. So rather than building a team around an aging and ineffective DH – *glares at the Yankees and Stanton* – they now have a premium offensive position, or a spot for players to get some rest freed up.
But today, they are a few games back in a WC race right now, so I feel like the move should’ve been paired with a bigger offensive push than “let’s hope Luciano can suddenly catch fire focusing only on offense and not worrying about defense, let’s get Matos more reps, and let’s use Canha as a boring yet semi-effective fill-in if either falters” if they weren’t going to sell players off.
I don’t really understand the Cobb move, though. While it theoretically frees up a rotation spot for Birdsong now, this team could use the insurance arm, especially if they somehow trip and fall into the final wildcard spot, and Cobb has been pretty effective when healthy.
I think trading Cobb was a mistake. He really liked playing for SF, was very well liked by teammates and pitched his heart out for the Giants. Also did a bit of recruiting for us in the preseason. I understand it frees up starts for Birdsong. But with Webb(struggling a bit), Snell, Ray, Harrison and Birdsong as 5 man rotation. Other than a tired Hicks the depth if one goes down with injury. Birdsong could have thrown long relief for a spell while Cobb made those starts. If any starter gets hurt let Birdsong step in. With an injury now I’m not sure where the Giants would turn.
@mab
I totally agree, and it would be such a luxury to have an arm like that. Let Webby skip a start. Limit Birdsong and Harrison’s innings. And of course yes, if any injuries occur.
I don’t know much about the guy they got, so unless he was too much to pass up, it didn’t really save the team much money, and it didn’t seem to make them any better.
From what I’ve gathered, the prospect they got from the Guardians is a possible MadBum clone (early younger version -19 years old-not the rodeo version). Cobb seemed jinxed this season and probably wasn’t going to be resigned in the offseason. I think it was worth it to grab a lottery ticket for him while you still can.
Not to mention, even when he’s hitting 25-plus HR, as in 2021, Soler can be terrible: negative 0.2 WAR for that season.
Good question. Seems like another “I saw him play for the Moneyball A’s 10 years ago and can vouch for him” kind of Farhan signing.
I don’t get it either but guys they traded either didn’t play or were playing poorly.
@holecams35 I don’t have a problem with the salary dumps part. It’s the part where you dumped salary to add Mark Canha? They didn’t sell nor do I think they bought enough to compete with the other WC teams. The only deadline Zaidi didn’t fail was 2021 with Kris Bryant
I think they accidentally wrote down a C in permanent ink on the roster so when Cobb went out another C had to come back. Makes as much sense as any other theory at this point.
Because the rotation is set, bullpen good, not great and they needed a bat
So why didn’t they get one?
Bag of discarded peanut shells incoming to Detroit…
Not necessarily. I think Chris Fetter can work both this guy, Eric Silva.
Yep, and Silva will have TJ surgery by May Day.
Well, Canha wasn’t doing squat in Detroit anyway…certainly not worth the $11.5 million he was making. I don’t know what the Giants were thinking. Nevertheless, Silva is not a nothingburger. AA relief pitcher. Decent K:BB ratio and a reasonable WHIP. Maybe next year….but with the way this Tiger staff is looking it might be this year.
To me, this was a better than expected trade for the Tigers.
And useless for SF.
Not entirely useless given SF would have struggled to get as much as 0.0 bWAR from its backup OF slots. Still, those guys are supposed to be ‘freely available talent,,’ not someone you spend $4.5m in two months on while giving up a live arm.
Yeah, I would have taken anything for him.
He looks decent.
Welcome to Farhan’s Wild Ride!
Was told by some he wouldn’t be traded. Well one of the most obvious trade candidates was traded.
These moves/lack thereof make me think Farhan is trying to save his job and ownership won’t let him mortgage the future to do it.
Or he is simply trying to improve the team by working within the parameters given to him by the owners. Same as every single one of them is doing.
I usually agree with you foppert2, but I can no longer make sense of most of Farhan’s moves.
Responding to an instruction to cut payroll but keep a roster that can stay in the hunt would be my guess. It’s how the owners seem to roll. They don’t rebuild.
Foppert2, that is the first sober comment in this thread today. Thank you. I’ve read way too much gum flapping without numbers or view of the big picture. Follow the money, and the money is with the Mr. J.
They saw opportunity and extended themselves financially. Didn’t work out so removing the financial extension and getting into more comfortable territory.
You mean staying average while spending less? If that is a “win” for these owners then it’s time to stop giving these owners money. This team and the way it has been run is embarrassing and an insult. No amount of logic from someone who lives on the other side of the planet and who defends FZ because he seems like a good guy is going to make it all right. Fire farhan and someone raise fopperts expectations so he understands that average isn’t good!
Ha ha. More teenage schoolboy xenophobia. You are such a gutless manchild, frugal. Now that’s embarrassing.
Zohan(or whatever his name is) strikes again! At-bats that should go to young guys. Disappointed they didnt move 2 more regulars that were in the lineup.
They wanted a centerfielder, so they trade for an outfielder that sucks in the outfield?
They got rid of their bad DH so their bad top prospect shortstop could replace him at bad DH then to back him up they clearly needed yet another bad DH (did I mention Wilmer Flores is still on this team?)
Luciano might have been bad at short, but he hit good while he was up, and he’s been really good lately in AAA. Flores is hurt, and may be out for a while.
Yeah I know Flores is hurt and Luciano hit decently when he was up but you’ve got to admit for Giants fans, the spin cycle every season is getting extremely tiresome. I just don’t see how this team wins as constructed.
It’s extremely tiring, but if they somehow sneak into the playoffs(unlikely) that rotation could make them interesting. Webb, snell, and if Ray keeps looking like he did last start is a great trio
Nah. It’s fine. The spin cycle is part of the game.
The plan was that Soler come in and hit bombs like he did last year. The construction looks good if that happened.
For whatever reason it didn’t.
So ammend the construction as best you can. There’s no snapping of fingers and conjuring up someone to do what Soler was supposed to do. Is what it is.
Soler shows up every other year. Last year on, this year off. Atlanta may have a monster next year.
He just didn’t look happy at the Giants. I can’t comment with certainty because I’ve not watched him before, and have no body language to compare it with. I wouldn’t be surprised if he asked for a trade.
Warm weather guy.
The Giants don’t need a CF, Cinnamon. They have what they need now, and next year is very well taken care of.
It was reported by multiple sources they were looking for a CF. They wanted to move Ramos off center
Hosed again, naturally.
Why? The guy looks like a decent pitcher and the Tigers are good at making pitchers better. This fresh up ABs for the young guys in Detroit so they can see what they have to offer.
Most likely put Conforto on waivers
what for?! they dont get nothin doing that
Yes a team can pay half of his 6 million year remaining or more or less.
On waivers through today makes sense but probably just academic since no team would have been likely to claim him. So he’ll just stay on the roster post-deadline.
Just like Marlins did with Josh bell they put him on waivers and Dbacks got him for 2.5 million in cold hard cash
Meh
Now Detroit will recall torkelson
If they do I hope the first time he lays eyes on Hinch, he knocks him out cold.
There is something seriously wrong with you Colavito!
A+ for Giants on pure trade value. 850 ops 400 obp for a ok reliever prospect.
C for Detroit got what they could for weak platoon rental. Nice reliever to have in your system.
F for other teams. Easily beatable trade package and you did nothing or massively over payed for others.
overpaid*
Huh? His obp is .337 and ops is .687. Ops+ isn’t even 100
He knows this. He’s been getting a kick out of inflating Canha’s numbers for some reason.
Those are his numbers vLHP
70 at bats lmfao. His career is almost entirely even in splits. They might as well have kept slater if that’s the thought process
Farhan, I absolutely despise you.
Yep. That’s a big part of his job.
Scrooge McHenry strikes again. Good job, Red Sox.
Pee Wee is turning AA Erie into a POWERHOUSE….Tigers? good grief.
It’s called building a minor league system. It’s not just about building the big league team, you need a strong minor league system to keep supplying replacements. I thought you said you worked in baseball or owned a team or something. Were you selling popcorn in the stands or something Colavito?
Maybe planning to DFA Wilmer Flores?
Roster was only at 24.
Canha and Luciano will bring it back to 26.
Not a bad return for a below-average hitter for two months
He and Chapman can reminisce about their days on the A’s across the bay and still be horrid offensively.
Not clever. Chapman has been just fine at the plate. Certainly good enough to pair with his glove at third.
My brain is getting nauseous with this move.
Is this the “haul” Tiger fans were posting about the past 2-3 weeks that they would get for Canha?
Those kids actually convinced themselves that the O’s would trade 2 or 3 of the best prospects in MLB ()with 6 years of control) if they wanted a pitcher that hasn’t throw over something like 130 innings a year in his career.
Why are you being a dick about it now? Skubal stayed in Detroit so you got to keep your vaunted prospects who might work out one day. Be happy. You don’t need to poke the Tiger (or Tigers fans) 😉 Good luck in the playoffs. Eflin will be solid for you guys but not so sure about Rogers.
P.S….some of us “kids” are in our mid 50’s. Cheers.
All that’s moves point to a snell extension at least that makes the most sense to me.
Agree.
I knew Farhan couldn’t just be happy with the good trade deadline dumping of players he did, just had to go back to his dumpster diving ways. This one’s a head scratcher.
Very glad Lamonte Wade was not, as mentioned above to my surprise, in the trade eyes of the Giants. I believe they know better. A dangerous hitter, with a great eye. You always want him up with the game on the line.
If you want that just get Belt off his couch and he can watch corner pitches for strike three with the best of them just like Wade. Both pee down their legs anytime they come up with runners in scoring position
Yep, I dont understand the obsession with guys like LWJ,Yaz and Wilmer. Giants fans have been brainwashed into accepting subpar play.
LWJ is an on base machine. Runners on base=runs=wins in a perfect world and has worked hard on defense. Above average glove.
Apparently both of you guys just became Baseball fans in 2022, or you live in Michigan, knowing nothing about what has transpired here in the Bay area. LW was terrifying in ’21, and he’s hitting over .300 now.
My guess is any team would like to have that dude right this minute.
Dude. You don’t even know the POBO’s name. Of course you don’t understand anything. Here’s how it works. Take an interest. Learn stuff. Then understanding happens. You can’t skip the first 2. You just end up looking stupid.
Canha will be great. Remember, Oracle is “HIS house”
Im sure the 23 Gnats fans who were around still remember the Bat Flip Heard Round the Bay.
“Sorry, not sorry”. Lol. One of my favorites.
Harris got a guy he drafted, and the big guys from the Dodgers along with keeping Skubal was a pretty good day for Detroit. Madris is playing a fantastic first base, so Canha was needed by another team now. Next year has always been the saying here, so it will be nice having the staff ace, and with Jobe in the wings, the future staff ace it’s nice.
Detroit has a lot of good players, and more coming each year for awhile. The guys on the farm can be happy they have a future spot to try for one day soon. Talk radio will be crying in their beer, but that’s what the characters at 97.1 usually do anyways regardless of what the G.M.s do in Detroit. Whining radio 97.1 F.M Detroit.
The sf athletics
Canha a replacement for Flores, RH part of 1B platoon. Wilmer is done. And he can play a little OF against leftys alongside Ramos and Hill. Farhan’s moves aren’t dumb, just meh. If they fail to get wild card (likely), time to fire Farhan for not getting big return for Snell.
Savvy Giants fans have been waiting all year for this rotation to materialize, and here we are ready to go, and you want to dump part of it for what? A) He wouldn’t return any established stars, and B) I’m willing to bet that he stays right where he is next year.
Nice 1-0 shutout overrated #1 starter.
This just means the Giants are in worse hands than the Tigers….