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Rob Brantly

Giants Select Rico Garcia, Darin Ruf, Rob Brantly, Tyler Heineman

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The Giants have announced their Opening Day roster, which includes several players who’ll need to be added to the 40-man. Reliever Rico Garcia and first baseman Darin Ruf will join catchers Rob Brantly and Tyler Heineman on the 30-man active unit.

Those moves necessitated some departures. Outfielder Jose Siri and infielder Kean Wong were each designated for assignment, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.

Garcia will enter his first season with the Giants, who claimed him off waivers from the division-rival Rockies last November. He entered the pro ranks as a 30th-round pick of the Rockies in 2016 and has generally posted good results in the minors, though he struggled during his Triple-A and major league debuts last season. The 26-year-old put up a woeful 6.90 ERA/6.47 FIP with 7.48 K/9 and 4.11 BB/9 in 61 1/3 innings at the minors’ top level. In six frames with the Rockies, he allowed seven earned runs on nine hits and five walks (with two strikeouts).

Ruf, meanwhile, joined the Giants in July on a minors pact after thriving in the Korea Baseball Organization from 2017-19. Ruf does have previous MLB experience as a member of the Phillies, with whom he batted .240/.314/.433 in 833 plate appearances from 2012-16. The 33-year-old will now get a chance to pick up at-bats in San Francisco, whose starting first baseman, Brandon Belt, will open the season on the injured list because of a heel issue.

The 31-year-old Brantly, another minor league pickup, has never hit much in MLB stints with the Marlins, White Sox and Phillies, but he’ll could get quite a bit of playing time at catcher for the Buster Posey-less Giants. The same goes for Heineman, whose first 12 major league PA came last season as a member of the Marlins. The former eighth-rounder (Astros, 2012) was excellent in Triple-A last year, when he slashed .341/.397/.622 with 10 homers in 182 PA.

Siri and Wong were both waiver claims in recent months, and they’re now in limbo once again. Siri’s a former Reds farmhand who owns a .264/.313/.447 line with 68 homers and 155 steals in 2,438 minor league PA. Wong combined for 18 trips to the plate with the Angels and Rays last year, but the vast majority of the 2013 fourth-rounder’s experience has come in the minors. He has amassed 1,425 PA in Triple-A and batted .286/.350/.413.

The Giants’ Options For Replacing Buster Posey

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The Giants are in true limbo behind the plate. Organizationally, they have one of the better catching situations in all of baseball. On the one hand, they have a tried-and-true franchise legend still under contract in Buster Posey. Not only was he the backbone of three, count ’em, three World Series titles, but he’s a class act and a fan favorite. In his prime, he was the platonic ideal of a franchise catcher. Admittedly, he is on the decline. Last season was the first since 2011 that the then-32-year-old didn’t make the All-Star team. He’s gone from a 130-start powerhouse behind the plate to more of a true timeshare 100-start guy. He also fell below 100 wRC+ for the first time in his career (save for his 7-game stint as a 22-year-old in 2009). And more to the point, he opted out of the 2020 season to care for his newly adopted twin baby girls. Again: class act.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Giants are blessed with two of the top catching prospects in all of baseball. Joey Bart, the #2 overall pick from the 2018 draft is ranked by Baseball America as the second best catching prospect in all of baseball. Then, with the 13th pick in this year’s draft, they snagged the top NCAA catcher available in Patrick Bailey.

So, yes, big picture, the Giants have an enviable catching corps. But they need to field the position for 2020, and that’s where things get a little sticky. Bailey, 21, has zero chance of jumping straight to the majors from college. He needs time in pro ball to develop. Bart is closer, but all indications are that the Giants want to give him more time, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s close, appearing in 22 games at Double-A last year and raking to the tune of .316/.368/.544. But a talent like Bart is worth the wait, and though he might be ready at some point this season, the Giants aren’t likely to contend. They don’t want to punt the first part of his career in sub-optimal conditions.

Enter Russell Martin? Schulman put forth Martin’s name as a possibility, noting that Justin Turner lobbied for the veteran to return to the Dodgers recently. Even in a part-time capacity, the well-respected Martin would certainly make some sense. The 37-year-old backstop proved he still had a role on a ML club last season with the league-leading Dodgers. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said that the Giants will have to evaluate their internal and external options, and if nothing else, they’re likely going to need someone else in camp just to catch the pitchers on hand.

Without him, the Giants are looking at Chadwick Tromp, Tyler Heineman, and Rob Brantly as the top options from their player pool. Combined, they have 464 big-league plate appearances (429 from Brantly, 11 from Heineman). Brantly, 30, is by far the most experienced of the three, but he hasn’t seen substantive time in the majors since 2017. For the rebuilding Giants, they’re probably most concerned with their ability to handle pitchers and less concerned with contributions at the plate – which is the best argument in favor of pursuing a vet like Martin.

There are catchers out there they could acquire via trade, but with 60-man player pools, catchers fill a very particular need, and player movement has never been more complicated than it is now. Still, they could engage the Rockies’ for Elias Diaz or the Rangers for Blake Swihart, Tim Federowicz, or Nick Ciuffo. Those are just options from teams in their regional pool because, again: player movement is not simple anymore. For those reasons, Martin probable represents the best outside option.

The Giants support Posey in his decision, and they’re going to continue to work with Bart and Bailey to get them ready for their big-league debuts. Maybe Bart will find a way in intrasquad play to prove himself ready. Or maybe one of Tromp, Heineman, or Brantly will seize the opportunity. What we know for sure, the Giants have 60 games ahead in the 2020 season, and they’re going to need a catcher for every one of them.

Giants Sign Rob Brantly To Minor League Deal

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The Giants announced Tuesday that they’ve signed catcher Rob Brantly to a minor league deal and invited him to Major League Spring Training. San Francisco also confirmed its previously reported minor league deals with righty Tyson Ross and left-hander Jerry Blevins.

Brantly, 30, has appeared in parts of five big league seasons, including the briefest of stints with the Phillies in 2019, when he appeared in one game and tallied one plate appearance. He’s a career .229/.294/.332 hitter in 127 games and 429 plate appearances at the MLB level. Brantly struggled through a dismal 2018 season in Triple-A but bounced back with a .314/.404/.464 showing with Philadelphia’s top affiliate in 2019. Overall, he’s a .264/.310/.388 hitter in parts of eight Triple-A campaigns.

Last season, Brantly threw out 35 percent of runners who attempted to steal against him in the minors — up from his career mark of 32 percent. He has a lifetime 27 percent caught-stealing rate in the Majors. Framing statistics at Baseball Prospectus have him hovering at slightly below average over the past few seasons combined.

The Giants will head into 2020 with Buster Posey and Aramis Garcia likely to shoulder the workload behind the plate, with Brantly and fellow offseason signee Tyler Heineman presumably in line to handle catching duties in Triple-A. Of course, the Giants have Joey Bart, the No. 2 overall pick in 2018 and one of the top prospects in all of baseball, working his way up the minor league ladder. He’ll be in big league camp as well this spring and surely draw on the experience of Posey and others, but he’s only played 22 games above Class-A Advanced, so he’s likely destined for Double-A to begin the 2020 season.

Position Players Recently Electing Free Agency

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Since the conclusion of the regular season, a number of players have elected free agency. That right accrues to certain players who are outrighted off of a 40-man roster during or after the season — namely, those that have at least three years of MLB service and/or have previously been outrighted. Such players that accepted outright assignments during the season have the right to elect free agency instead at season’s end, provided they aren’t added back to the 40-man in the meantime.

Here are the position players that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):

Phillies Designate Rob Brantly For Assignment

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The Phillies have designated catcher Rob Brantly for assignment among a series of roster moves, the team reports.

Brantly’s contract was selected yesterday by Philly, presumably to hold down the weekend fort with catcher J.T. Realmuto away on paternity leave. In 182 plate appearances for AAA-Lehigh Valley in ’19, the former Tiger and Marlin farmhand has turned in one of his best seasons yet. The lefty’s walked more than he’s struck out so far in the International League, posting a stellar .306/.401/.452 line for the club.

He’ll likely go unclaimed on waivers, but the offensive gestation period for a catcher can be lengthy, and it’s possible Brantly has now positioned himself as a legitimate MLB backup option. In 429 career plate appearances with the White Sox and Marlins, Brantly’s paired a .229/.294/.332 (72 wRC+) slash with unseemly defensive metrics behind the plate.

Phillies Select Rob Brantly, Move Pat Neshek To 60-Day IL

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2:08pm: It’s possible Neshek has thrown his last pitch for the Phils. He tells reporters, including Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) that the best-case scenario is a return in early or mid-September. (His deal includes a club option for 2020, though that seems unlikely to be exercised.)

1:04pm: The Phillies have selected the contract of catcher Rob Brantly, per a club announcement. He’ll take the active roster spot of J.T. Realmuto, who’ll take a brief step away on paternity leave.

To create a 40-man roster spot, the Phils have moved reliever Pat Neshek to the 60-day injured list. Neshek has been sidelined for several weeks with a hamstring injury. Given the placement, he won’t be eligible to return until late in August.

Brantly, who’s days from his thirtieth birthday, will get his first time in a major league uni since 2017. He’s a .230/.294/.333 hitter in 428 career plate appearances at the game’s highest level, most of which came way back in 2012-13.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/21/18

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • The Phillies have a host of new additions to the team’s list of MLB Spring Training participants. In addition to a few we’ve already featured here at MLBTR, the Philadelphia club has announced the signings of southpaw Jeremy Bleich, backstop Rob Brantly, righty Josh Martin, utilityman Matt McBride, and infielder Gregorio Petit. Every one of these players has seen MLB time except for Martin, who’ll be looking for his first crack at the bigs after compiling a seven-season minor-league stat line with the Indians organization that features a 3.33 ERA and 9.2 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9.
  • Likewise, the Padres have announced a haul of camp competitors. Allen Craig will come back for another go, as will Alex Dickerson. Otherwise, southpaws Ryan Bollinger and Dietrich Enns have inked with the San Diego org, along with righty Tyler Higgins. On the position-player side, infielders Seth Mejias-Brean and Aderlin Rodriguez are joined by outfielder Jacob Scavuzzo. It’s the opposite situation from the one just discussed above, as all of the new additions excepting Enns — who’s compiled two MLB appearances — have yet to crack the majors.
  • A handful of new free agents are heading to the Rangers, too, per a club announcement. Lefty Jack Leathersich has seen action in a pair of MLB campaigns, but won’t get a camp invite. Fellow southpaw Miguel Del Pozo, righties, Ariel Hernandez and Phillips Valdez, and infielder Nolan Fontana will open their tenure in Texas on the MLB side of Spring Training. Hernandez and Fontana each have minimal experience in the bigs. Valdez worked to a 2.73 ERA in 135 upper-minors innings with the Nationals organization last year, with 6.9 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9; Del Pozo has averaged ten strikeouts per nine in his minor-league career.
  • The Red Sox have added another hurler on a minor-league pact, this time picking up righty Ryan Weber, per Michael Mayer of Metsmerizedonline.com (via Twitter). Now 28 years of age, Weber has thrown 73 2/3 innings of 5.01 ERA ball over the past four years, though the vast majority of those came in 2015 and 2016. He was rather effective last year at Triple-A in a swingman capacity, spinning 115 1/3 innings of 2.73 ERA ball with 6.5 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9.

Indians Outright Ryan Merritt, Sign Rob Brantly

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The Indians announced over the weekend that they’ve signed veteran catcher Rob Brantly to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Columbus. Left-hander Ryan Merritt, meanwhile, cleared waivers after being designated for assignment and was assigned outright to Columbus.

Merritt, 26, was designated for assignment after spending the entirety of the season on the disabled list due to a knee sprain. He’d been working through a rehab assignment, and Indians manager Terry Francona told reporters at the time of Merrit’s DFA that the lefty was healthy but showing diminished velocity. That’s particularly troubling for a pitcher who only averaged 87.3 mph on his heater when healthy in the Majors from 2016-17.

Indians fans will forever remember Merritt’s performance against the Blue Jays in the 2016 American League Championship Series, and he owns terrific overall results in limited big league experience. Merritt has a 1.71 ERA in 31 2/3 MLB innings, but he’s managed just 13 strikeouts in that time (3.7 K/9) and has been rather fortunate in that he’s never surrendered a home run in the big leagues. Merritt has a career 3.68 ERA in 315 1/3 Triple-A frames, but he struggled to a 5.88 mark in 20 2/3 innings this season. He’s out of minor league options, so any club that claimed him would’ve had to carry him on the MLB roster. Now, he’ll look to round back into form with Columbus in hopes of getting another shot in the big leagues later this season.

The 29-year-old Brantly, meanwhile, was recently released from the Braves organization after a disastrous run with their Triple-A affiliate. In 201 plate appearances, Brantley slashed just .218/.254/.293. However, he had an excellent year between the Triple-A affiliates for the Reds and White Sox in 2017 and even hit .290/.389/.516 in 36 big league plate appearances with the White Sox.

Cleveland understandably needed some catching depth at the Triple-A level after dealing prized catching prospect Francisco Mejia to the Padres in last Thursday’s Brad Hand/Adam Cimber trade, and Brantly will give them an experienced option behind the plate. He’s a career .230/.294/.333 hitter in 428 MLB plate appearances and a .257/.295/.379 hitter in parts of seven Triple-A seasons.

Minor MLB Transactions: 7/16/18

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We’ll track Monday’s minor moves from around the game here…

  • The Braves’ Triple-A affiliate announced yesterday that veteran catcher Rob Brantly has been released, with prospect Alex Jackson moving up from Double-A Mississippi to Triple-A Gwinnett in his place. Brantly, 29, has had an ugly season in Triple-A this year, hitting at just a .218/.254/.293 clip through 201 plate appearances. He had an excellent year between the Triple-A affiliates for the Reds and White Sox last season and even hit .290/.389/.516 in 36 big league plate appearances with the White Sox, but that success hasn’t carried over to the 2018 campaign. Jackson hasn’t exactly had a productive season, either, as he’s posted a woeful .200/.282/.329 and struck out in 31 percent of his 252 plate appearances.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/22/17

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As teams and agents look to wrap up their business before the holiday season, there’s no shortage of minor league deals being wrapped up. Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • Backstop Rob Brantly is in agreement on a minors deal with the Braves, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). The 28-year-old won’t have a shot at a MLB roster spot out of camp, barring an injury to Tyler Flowers or Kurt Suzuki, but he could be the first line of depth behind that duo. Brantly has received only brief MLB action over the past several seasons. He spent most of the 2017 campaign at Triple-A with the Reds and White Sox organizations, where he posted a solid .293/.352/.443 slash in 321 plate appearances.
  • Also agreeing to a minor-league pact is righty Pedro Beato, who Heyman tweets will remain with the Phillies. Beato, 31, returned to the majors in 2017 with the Phils for the first time since 2014. He only received a single appearance, though. In 55 2/3 innings at Lehigh Valley, Beato posted a 2.75 ERA — his third-straight season with excellent results at the highest level of the minors. Of course, Beato also averaged a less-than-dominant 6.8 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9, with his success coming in no small part due to some batted ball fortune (.233 BABIP, 5.2% HR/FB rate) that he likely would not carry with him to the majors.

Earlier Updates

  • The Nationals agreed to terms with right-hander Jeff Ames, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). Ames, 26, was the 42nd overall pick in the 2011 draft but has yet to crack the majors. He reached Triple-A for the first time in 2017, working to a 3.98 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings.
  • The Orioles announced minor league pacts with lefties Jayson Aquino and Andrew Faulkner, right-hander Tim Melville and first baseman Aderlin Rodriguez. Aquino, Faulkner and Rodriguez will be returning to the organization, while Melville will be joining the team for the first time. The 25-year-old Aquino has tossed 15 2/3 innings with the O’s over the past two seasons but struggled to a 6.32 ERA in that time. He does have a 4.02 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in parts of two Triple-A seasons. Faulkner, 25, logged a 2.79 ERA in 38 1/3 Triple-A innings with 8.1 K/9 last season but also averaged 5.6 walks per nine innings. Rodriguez, meanwhile, hit .279/.341/.471 with 22 homers in Double-A this past season, albeit at the age of 25 (older than much of the competition he was facing). The 28-year-old Melville has just 14 2/3 MLB innings on his resume and has been hit hard in that time. However, he also logged a 2.95 ERA with 8.5 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 in 12 starts (13 total appearances) with the Triple-A affiliates for the Twins and Padres last year.
  • The Brewers announced that they’ve signed right-hander Radhames Liz to a minor league contract. Liz, a hard-throwing 34-year-old, has seen more time in the Korea Baseball Organization and Nippon Professional Baseball than in the Majors in recent years. He didn’t pitch in 2017 but has allowed just two runs in 35 1/3 innings during the Dominican Winter League this offseason. He’ll compete for a bullpen spot in Spring Training.
  • Infielder Josh Rutledge has agreed to a minor league deal (and, presumably, a Spring Training invite) with the Giants, tweets SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo. Rutledge has spent the past three seasons in the Red Sox organization and picked up 118 PAs with Boston this past season. He’s batted just .252/.319/.313 in 259 plate appearances across those three seasons but has played second base, shortstop and third base in the Majors (plus a brief 13-inning cameo at first base).
  • Right-hander Anthony Bass announced (on Twitter) that he’s latched on with the Cubs. Assuming it’s a minor league pact — the Cubs themselves have yet to announce the signing — he’ll head to Spring Training and vie for a job in the ’pen. Bass was hit hard in 5 2/3 frames with the Rangers last year — his first MLB action since 2015 after spending the 2016 campaign pitching in Japan. Bass had a 4.14 ERA with 10.4 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 75 1/3 Triple-A innings with Texas last year and has experience both as a starter and a reliever.
  • Outfielder Shane Peterson has landed with the Padres on a minor league pact, as per the team’s Triple-A broadcaster, Tim Hagerty (on Twitter). A career .254/.319/.359 hitter in 322 MLB plate appearances, Peterson brings an excellent .296/.374/.474 career Triple-A slash to the Padres organization. He’ll turn 30 in February and can handle any outfield spot
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