Monday always figured to be a big transaction day for the San Francisco Giants, and Major League Baseball as a whole. With the World Series having been five days ago, Monday was the date when teams had to reinstate their players from the 60-Day Injured List … and, for many teams, cut other players to accommodate said players.
No team was more impacted than the Giants, who went into the offseason with roughly 109 players on the 60-Day IL (or 17, who’s counting). So, even though they made a handful
of moves over the past week, they had a lot to get to today.
They made most of them in a big chunk, which Bryan covered earlier in the day. In one fell swoop, the Giants announced the departures of eight players: Shay Whitcomb, Brett Harris, Zach Morgan, Duncan Davitt, and José Buttó were claimed by other teams; Tristan Beck was released; and Joel Kuhnel and Seth Lonsway were outrighted to AAA Sacramento.
That left the Giants with 41 players on the 40-man roster, and one final move was needed. A few hours later, that move was announced: left-handed reliever Reiver Sanmartin was designated for assignment. Sanmartin, a 30-year old from Colombia, appeared in 24 games for San Francisco this past season, his first with the team. He was fairly nondescript in those games, posting a 4.22 ERA and a 4.41 FIP, with 16 strikeouts in 21.1 innings. Given how many names the Giants had to clear, and that Sanmartin was out of options, his departure seemed inevitable.
In addition to DFA’ing Sanmartin, the Giants announced that they declined the option for right-handed reliever Rowan Wick. The veteran, who turns 34 in a week, remains on the 40-man roster, and is now arbitration eligible. It’s an interesting move, since Wick — who was signed a year ago to a one-plus-one deal while he rehabbed a season-ending injury — was owed less money than he will get if the Giants tender him a contract through the arbitration process. My bet is that they are planning on non-tendering Wick and re-signing him to a Minor League deal, which would allow him to continue rehabbing with the medical team during the impending lockout. Had they waived Wick, he would have been eligible to be claimed by a rival team, whereas non-tendering him will allow him to go straight to free agency, and re-sign with them if they have a handshake agreement.
The Giants are now down to 40 players on the roster, and can lay low for a while, but more moves are certainly incoming. The date to make Rule 5 protections is November 17, so the Giants will need to clear a few spots by then, and also for any free agents they plan to sign.
