The San Francisco Giants are taking a unique approach to filling their seats in 2020.
The Giants confirmed in a letter to season ticketholders on Thursday that games at Oracle Park will be played without fans this season, according to ESPN. However, they’re granting fans an opportunity to attend in spirit — by sending in an image to be printed onto a cardboard cutout and placed in the stands.
The plan, which the team is calling the “Giants Fan Cutout Program,” will see the cutouts placed as close to the individual’s season ticket as possible. Fans who do not have season tickets will also be allowed to participate in the program for a $99 fee.
Prepare to see a lot of teams get creative with ideas like this. We’ve seen it overseas, and it’s only a matter of time before we see it here as well.
The San Francisco Giants are making a financial commitment to their minor league players.
The Giants committed to paying their minor league players through the end of the minor-league season, Robert Murray reported Wednesday.
The San Francisco Giants just informed minor leaguers that they will be paid through the end of the minor-league season, per sources with direct knowledge.
The minor-league season is not going to be played, which marks a significant lost opportunity for player development. Some teams have even planned to cut pay for their minor league players until changing their minds.
MLB originally announced in March that minor leaguers would be paid $400 a week through May 31 since they would not be able to play due to the coronavirus shutdown. The Giants will continue to pay their organizational minor league players through Sept. 7. They have about 270 players in the United States and Dominican Republic who will continue to be paid, costing the organization an estimated $1 million.
San Francisco Giants fans used to hate Yasiel Puig while he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but it sounds like there’s at least a chance the outfielder could be playing for his former rivals in 2020.
According to baseball writer Robert Murray, the Giants have interest in Puig, who remains a free agent with spring training looming.
Sources: #SFGiants have interest in free-agent outfielder Yasiel Puig. Familiarity with Farhan Zaidi from their together time in LA.
We haven’t heard much about Puig in a while. He’s still in search of a job a year after hitting .267 with 24 home runs with the Reds and Indians. He and the Giants have not gotten along over the years, but with Madison Bumgarner departing the team, he may receive a warmer welcome if both sides make this happen.
The Giants brought back Hunter Pence on Friday. It’s not clear if this will dissuade the team from making any pursuit of Puig, but the Cuban outfielder’s free agency is still worth following either way.
Gabe Kapler was fired by the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday after just two seasons with the team, and some think he should have been given a better shot after compiling a .500 record over that span. However, it seems like there is a good chance the 44-year-old will not be unemployed for long.
Several teams are looking for new managers this offseason, and Kapler is hoping to score one of those jobs. The San Francisco Giants may make the most sense, as Kapler has a strong relationship with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi.
Gabe Kapler immediately becomes a strong candidate for the #SFGiants managerial opening. He and Farhan Zaidi had a strong relationship with the #Dodgers together.
Gabe Kapler would like to manage in 2020. There’s 8 openings but a ton of competition. One possibility might be #SFGiants. Farhan Zaidi gave GK big recommendation for Philly. Tho, as said here, Mark Kotsay looks like a strong candidate there.
While the Phillies fell short of expectations by missing the playoffs this season after spending a ton of money, Kapler’s time with the team was far from a disaster. He had some miscommunications with players and made his fair share of mistakes, but ultimately guys like Bryce Harper did not earn their paychecks. Philly also dealt with some key injuries early on, most notably when star outfielder Andrew McCutchen tore his ACL in June and was ruled out for the remainder of the year.
Even Kapler’s own boss gave him a huge vote of confidence less than four months ago, so it would not be a surprise to see him get another shot as a manager immediately.
Will the Thrill was the star attraction on the Giants teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In eight years with the organization, he hit .299 with power, making five All-Star appearances and finishing in the top five of NL MVP voting on four different occasions. He was also a Gold Glove winner at first base in 1991.
One has to wonder if it will be the only Giants’ jersey retirement in the near term, with a beloved figure currently finishing out his last year with the organization.
The San Francisco Giants are taking the Madison Bumgarner sweepstakes down to the wire.
According to Jayson Stark of MLB Network, teams in contact with the Giants say they are still talking about big trades, and are listening on Bumgarner with roughly an hour and a half to go until the trade deadline.
To say that the Giants have sent mixed signals on Bumgarner would be an understatement. They’re in a tough spot, sitting just 2.5 games out of the second wild card in the NL, and Bumgarner is set to become a free agent at the end of the season. They seem inclined to keep him for one last run, but have discussed Bumgarner deals with contenders. The odds seem to favor him staying, but it’s anyone’s guess at this point.
The San Francisco Giants entered Tuesday just 2.5 games back in the NL wild card hunt following their surge in the month of July, but they are still entertaining the idea of trading away their best pitcher.
Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports reports that the Giants are discussing a potential Madison Bumgarner trade with the Houston Astros.
Source says Giants and Astros "engaged" on Bumgarner. Amount of traction unclear.
The Astros already have one of the best rotations in baseball, and adding Bumgarner would position them incredibly well to make a World Series run. The left-hander has a no-trade clause in his contract that includes the Astros, so he would have to approve a deal if the two teams agreed to one.
Bumgarner has made it clear he does not want to be traded, so his no-trade list could actually complicate things if the Giants decide to move him. It would also be a tough sell for the fans with the team still in the playoff hunt, but Bumgarner is scheduled to become a free agent after the season. If the Giants don’t think they have enough to win a title this year, this may be their best chance to get maximum value in return for the former World Series MVP.
Madison Bumgarner has been arguably the biggest name to watch leading up to the MLB trade deadline, but the way the San Francisco Giants have come alive recently has most people thinking the left-hander is no longer for sale.
The Giants have won 16 of their last 19 games and now have a very real shot at making the playoffs. One rival executive told Jon Heyman of Fancred that there is “no way” they will trade Bumgarner amid their impressive streak.
Few see MadBum going anywhere now. Things can change in a hurry but this is typical from rival exec: “No way Giants can sell, they’re on fire.”
With their comeback win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night, the Giants improved to 51-50 and are above .500 for the first time all season. While they have almost no chance of catching the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, they’re suddenly just two games out in the wild card race. Trading their best pitcher at a time like this would be a bad message to send to the fans and players in the clubhouse.
Even if the Giants did want to trade Bumgarner, it sounds like he is going to do everything he can to prevent that from happening. The 2014 World Series MVP is 5-7 on the season with a 3.65 ERA, and he has allowed just five total earned runs in his last six starts.
If you have watched the San Francisco Giants during their hot streak over the past few weeks, you may have noticed players making an unusual sign on the base paths after coming up with a big hit. Now we know the origin.
With the Chicago Cubs leading 3-1 over San Francisco in the fifth inning, Mike Yastrzemski singled and drove in a run to cut the lead to 3-2. He then made a “T” sign with his two index fingers toward his team’s dugout.
What's with the #SFGiants making a two-finger T sign (with both index fingers) after getting a big hit? I think both Vogt and Yaz did it tonight. And I don't think they were calling for a timeout. pic.twitter.com/Sc3wlCF6SF
Catcher Stephen Vogt made the same gesture after one of his big hits, and it turns out he is the reason it started. According to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, the “T” sign is a reference to Vogt’s popular basketball referee routine.
To answer the question you really want to know, Stephen Vogt started the Giants’ T sign when they get a big hit. It’s a reference to his basketball ref routine. All the young guys love it so much they ran with it.
Vogt does a great impersonation of an enthusiastic basketball official. He went through the routine on MLB Network a few years back, and you can see his technical foul call at the beginning of the video below:
That explains that. The Giants came back to beat the Cubs 5-4, improving their record to above .500 for the first time all season. They have also won 16 of their last 19 games, so whatever they’re doing seems to be working.
The San Francisco Giants have been expected to be sellers all season long, but a late run at the wild card just before the July 31 deadline has changed things.
Giants president Farhan Zaidi wouldn’t go either way when it came to the Giants’ status as sellers or not, stating that assessments would continue over the next ten days.
“It’s impossible to say what the next 10 days are going to present, both in terms of what our opportunity to contend is going to be and continue to be and what opportunities the market is going to present,” Zaidi said, via Chris Haft of MLB.com.
Zaidi added that a Bumgarner trade would “upset” the Giants’ hopes of delivering a successful swan song for retiring manager Bruce Bochy.
It does not sound like Zaidi is eager to trade Bumgarner, and Bumgarner doesn’t sound like he wants to leave. Couple that with the Giants winning 15 of 18 to move back to .500 — and within 2.5 games of the second NL wild card — and Zaidi has a very difficult decision on his hands. Trading Bumgarner at this point would probably be best long-term, but it would also upset the fans and a clubhouse full of players that surely believes they’ve found something and can keep it going for the rest of the season.
