The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants almost never consider the possibility of making a trade with one another, and that is not uncommon for two rival teams. It has been more than 10 years since the last time the two clubs swapped players, but that could change this season.
According to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, the Giants and Dodgers have not ruled out the possibility of working together on a trade involving relief pitcher Will Smith.
The last time the two clubs came together for a trade was 2007. To give you more perspective of how infrequently they deal with one another, Morosi notes that one of the four most recent trades between the two teams involved Jackie Robinson.
Why the change? Possibly because Farhan Zaidi, who is now leading the Giants, spent the previous five seasons working for the Dodgers and likely has a good relationship with their front office. He is also probably open to helping his team in any way possible.
The Giants are in last place in the NL West, while the Dodgers lead the division with an MLB-best 54 wins and are looking for bullpen help. Smith, 29, is having the best season of his major league career with a 2.01 ERA, 0.77 WHIP and 47 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings. San Francisco has just 33 wins, and the left-hander has 20 saves in 20 opportunities.
Smith should generate plenty of interest on the trade market, so perhaps the Giants will end up favoring another suitor over their cross-state rival. Smith is one of our 10 players to watch leading up to the trade deadline.
Bruce Bochy issued a warning to the rival Los Angeles Dodgers over their T-shirt poking fun at Madison Bumgarner and the Giants.
Max Muncy took batting practice before Thursday’s game between the Giants and Dodgers in Los Angeles wearing a “Go get it out of the ocean” T-shirt.
The T-shirt was put together a week and a half ago in reference to an incident between Muncy and Bumgarner.
Muncy crushed a “splash hit” home run off Bumgarner in San Francisco that flew out of AT&T Park in right field and into the bay. Bumgarner barked at Muncy not to admire the home run. Muncy explained that he zinged Bumgarner, telling the pitcher to get the ball out of the ocean in response. And like that, a beautiful T-shirt was born.
Fast forward to Thursday, and Muncy dressed for the occasion prior to facing Bumgarner, the Giants’ scheduled starter. Giants manager Bruce Bochy said the Dodgers were tempting fate with the shirt.
Get your popcorn ready for this matchup.
It has been a pretty big year for debuting MLB rookies with famous family ties, and you can add another name to that list as of Saturday.
According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Mike Yastrzemski, grandson of Carl, has been called up by the San Francisco Giants.
Carl Yastrzemski is, of course, one of the greatest Boston Red Sox of all time, so Mike has some big family shoes to fill. The younger Yastrzemski has never rated as a top prospect, but was hitting .316 in Triple-A with 12 home runs.
Yastrzemski gets the call in the same season that the Toronto Blue Jays called up Cavan Biggio, son of Craig. Plus, there is, of course, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his exploits since being called up for the first time.
The San Francisco Giants had a bit of a mess to clean up after one of their pitchers publicly blasted them while claiming that the front office had him fake an injury.
Pitcher Derek Holland accused the San Francisco front office of having him fake an injury that landed him on the injured list at the end of April in a longer quote about his frustration with roster handling.
On Sunday, the Giants did damage control, submitting documents and MRIs to Major League Baseball to prove that Holland’s stint on the IL was legitimate.
At 16-23, the Giants are dead last in the NL West, and there is chatter about star players being traded. This is the latest chaotic development in what is quickly shaping up to be a lost and messy season for a team that was once a regular contender every year.
Monday’s game between the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds got off to a late start for a very unusual reason.
The game was delayed by roughly 15 minutes due to a swarm of bees on the field in Cincinnati, making it impossible to play.
At one point, Reds outfielder Derek Dietrich dressed up in exterminator gear and took to the field to try to help.
The game ultimately started after the bees moved, though they remained in the vicinity.
Bee delays happen from time to time during spring training games. It’s a lot rarer for this to take place during the regular season, especially in a northern city, and both teams will be urgently hoping that’s the end of that.
The Toronto Blue Jays have made some moves to rebuild their roster over the past several months, and the latest is trading away veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar.
On Tuesday, the Blue Jays announced that they have traded Pillar to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for three players.
Pillar is off to a slow start with just one hit in 16 at-bats this season. He’s a career .260 hitter who can provide some pop, as he hit 15 home runs in 2018 and 16 the year before. He should give the Giants some solid outfield depth at an inexpensive price.
The San Francisco Giants still have a lot of the same players on their roster from when they won the World Series in 2014, and manager Bruce Bochy may call attention to that to bring back some bad memories for the Kansas City Royals this weekend.
It was the Royals that the Giants beat in a dramatic series more than four years ago, and World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner came on to close out Game 7 with five innings of two-hit relief. Bumgarner is scheduled to pitch against Kansas City in Sunday’s spring training game, and Bochy said he might start the exact same infield behind the left-hander that the Giants had in Game 7.
That would be cold, Bruce. Keep in mind that Bochy recently announced he will retire after the 2019 season, so perhaps taking shots at opponents will be part of his farewell tour. It’s all in good fun, right?
Major League Baseball is investigating a video that showed Larry Baer involved in a physical altercation with his wife in public last week, and the San Francisco Giants CEO is taking a leave of absence in the meantime.
The team announced the decision on Monday, noting that Baer has “acknowledged that his behavior was unacceptable, apologized to the organization and is taking steps to make sure that this never happens again.”
The footage, which was captured by TMZ, showed Baer aggressively grabbing something out of his wife Pam’s hand at a public park in San Francisco. Pam Baer could be heard screaming before going to the ground.
Police were not called during the incident, and the person who recorded the video said he helped break things up. Even if no charges are filed, it seems likely that Baer will be facing disciplinary action from MLB.
The San Francisco Giants are one of the teams that remain involved in the Bryce Harper sweepstakes, and there’s a growing sense that they have a real chance to sign the star outfielder.
Harper reportedly met with Giants executives for the second time this month on Tuesday. While it was previously believed that they would only offer Harper a short-term deal, a more recent report claimed they have discussed a 10-year contract with the 26-year-old. All of that news seems to have Giants pitcher Derek Holland excited.
Shortly after Holland sent his tweet, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic noted that the “sense in the Giants clubhouse today is that they have a very legitimate shot of welcoming Bryce Harper this weekend.”
The Philadelphia Phillies were considered the favorites to sign Harper for the better part of the month, but that may no longer be the case. Harper seems to be waiting for a west coast team to match his best offer, and he is said to be less than thrilled with the idea of playing in Philly. If the Giants or Los Angeles Dodgers match whatever the Phillies have offered, Harper will likely sign with one of them.
The San Francisco Giants have become very serious about signing Bryce Harper.
According to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, Harper and the Giants have discussed a 10-year contract in line with what he has reportedly sought from other teams, and are willing to go beyond simply offering a short-term deal.
It had been thought that the Giants were offering Harper a more short-term solution, but clearly they’ve grown more serious about bringing him in. Harper has been seeking a 10-year deal and was said to be uninterested in short-term pacts.
It’s a clear sign that the Giants mean business. They’ve met with Harper twice this month and appear ready to put their money where their mouth is. It’s not great news for the Philadelphia Phillies, who had been thought to be the frontrunner but have been unable to close the deal to this point.
