The San Francisco Giants, in need of infield help due to injuries, have acquired an All-Star infielder on Thursday.
The team announced that they have traded for Minnesota Twins' shortstop and third baseman Eduardo Nunez in exchange for left-handed pitching prospect Adalberto Mejia. Nunez fits well in San Francisco because they have had to deal with ailments to key parts of their infield. Second baseman Joe Panik was just activated from the concussion disabled list, and third baseman Matt Duffy is currently out with a strained achilles. The 29-year-old is enjoying his most successful season to date, posting a .300/.326/.444 with 12 home runs and 49 RBI over 391 plate appearances, adding 26 stolen bases. With decent defense, Nunez has been worth 1.5 Wins Above Replacement (FanGraphs). Due to a great year this year, Nunez was named to the American League All-Star team, his first as a professional. Another positive to acquiring Nunez is his contract status. Formerly signed by the Yankees as a Dominican free agent, Nunez is still signed through next season and is set to hit arbitration for his final time during the offseason. He is making $1.48 million on his current one-year deal. As for the Twins, Mejia is currently pitching in Triple-A Sacramento. The 23-year-old has a 4.20 ERA and a 43 to 11 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 40 2/3 innings pitched. He was named as the Giants' 7th-best prospect in MLB.com's updated midseason prospect rankings. --Devan Fink
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Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jay Bruce was thought to have been a huge trade chip last season as a left-handed, power hitting outfielder that came with a year-and-a-half of team control.
Aug. 1 came and Jay Bruce was still a Red. But this season, Bruce has an even higher chance to be traded. The Reds are 34-58, sitting in last in the NL Central and are in full rebuild-mode. Bruce is a free agent at the end of the season, finishing off of a six-year, $51 million contract. And teams need him. According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, six teams have already checked in on Bruce. These are the Indians, Rangers, Nationals, Orioles, Giants and Dodgers. The Blue Jays have also reportedly shown interest in Bruce. In addition, all six of these teams have been in the markets for other outfielders such as Ryan Braun, Josh Reddick and perhaps even Carlos Gonzalez. The 29-year-old Bruce was picked by the Reds in the 1st round (12th overall) in the 2005 MLB Draft and has been a staple in their lineup ever since coming up to the Major Leagues. The three-time All-Star (including 2016) is a defensive liability, however, many teams value offensive contributions, especially on the left-handed side of the plate. This season, Bruce is hitting .265/.317/.532 with 18 home runs and 64 RBI over 353 plate appearances in 86 games. Though according to FanGraphs, Bruce has only been worth 0.1 Wins Above Replacement. This is because of his defense. Bruce has an awful -20.6 ultimate zone rating per 150 games (UZR/150), meaning that he would be almost 21 runs worse than the average right fielder in terms of range and making defensive plays. Over his career, Bruce has always been an offense-first player, carrying a .249/.319/.467 line with 226 home runs and 644 RBI in parts of nine seasons. His career wRC+ of 107 suggests that he has been seven percent better offensively than the league-average hitter. This year, his wRC+ is 118. As the Aug. 1 trade deadline quickly approaches, it's more than likely Jay Bruce will find himself in a new home. --Devan Fink
The Los Angeles Angels are close to signing free-agent right-handed starter Tim Lincecum to a Major League deal, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported Monday afternoon.
Contract details are currently unknown. Lincecum was reportedly deciding between three serious suitors. In addition to the Angels, these teams included the White Sox and Giants. Lincecum held a showcase for teams on May 6. This was done to show that Lincecum was healthy after rehabbing from a hip surgery in 2015. Approximately 20 teams went to scout him. The soon-to-be 32-year-old Lincecum pitched 76 1/3 innings with the Giants in 2015, posting a 4.13 ERA and a 60 to 38 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 15 starts. The Giants were interested in a reunion with him though only as a relief pitcher. In Los Angeles, however, Lincecum will get an opportunity to start. The team has dealt with a plethora of injuries to their starting rotation, including the loss of Andrew Heaney and Garrett Richards to UCL injuries. The team has been forced to turn to Jhoulys Chacin and Nick Tropeano in spite of these injuries. Lincecum, at the very least, will provide depth to a starting rotation that currently has the the fourth-highest expected FIP (xFIP) in the Majors. Lincecum, at his best, won back-to-back Cy Young awards with the Giants in 2008 and 2009. He was known as one of the best young pitchers in baseball but since 2012 has not been able to pitch to the same excellence. --Devan Fink
Free-agent right-hander Tim Lincecum will host a tryout for interested teams on Friday in Scottsdale, Arizona, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
Lincecum, a four-time All-Star, has been rehabbing his hip in Arizona. He had surgery on it in September 2015. He pitched last season with the San Francisco Giants, making 15 starts before his ailment. In those appearances, Lincecum went 7-4 with a 4.13 ERA and a 60 to 38 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 76 1/3 innings pitched. According to FanGraphs, Lincecum was worth 0.3 Wins Above Replacement and posted a 4.29 FIP and a 4.64 xFIP. According to Heyman, the Giants, San Diego Padres, and Baltimore Orioles will be among the approximately 20 teams to attend his showcase. Heyman had previously reported that the Giants would be interested in Lincecum in the past, but only as a reliever, with the starting rotation being a strength for the team. The teams that will be at Lincecum's showcase will want to see if he still has anything left in him. Not only a four-time All-Star, Lincecum also won back-to-back NL Cy Young awards in 2008 and 2009 as one of the best young starters in the game. During a four-year stretch from 2008 to 2011, the now-31-year-old Lincecum posted a 2.81 ERA and 977 to 314 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 881 2/3 innings pitched. Since, Lincecum has not been the same, losing life on his fastball that once could reach the 98 to 99 mile per hour (mph) mark. His strikeout rate has gone with it, and he has a 4.68 ERA in the past four seasons. --Devan Fink
Update: Including the 2016 contract restructure, Belt's deal is a six-year, $79 million extension, according to reports.
First baseman Brandon Belt has been a critical part of the San Francisco Giants' lineup his entire career. He helped capture World Series crowns in 2012 and 2014, while hitting mostly in the heart of their order. He has a consistent bat that, while not finding the tops of many leaderboards, still provides offense sometimes over 40 percent above the league average. So on early Saturday morning, it only made sense that the Giants agreed to extend Brandon Belt, as Alex Pavlovic of CSNBayArea.com reported. Details of this new contract are not available, but it is a five-year deal that is expected to be slightly larger than the six-year, $75 million deal shortstop Brandon Crawford signed with San Francisco this past offseason. Belt had already agreed to a one-year, $6.2 million contract for 2016 to avoid arbitration. That figure could "tweak," according to Pavlovic, and Belt could receive more money. Belt had one more year of arbitration eligibility next offseason before being qualified to hit the free agent market after the 2017 season. Now, under his new contract, the Giants will have bought out Belt's first four free agent seasons, giving them team control through the 2021 season. Pavlovic reports that the sides were discussing an annual average value of about $16 million from '17 on. In 2015, Belt hit .280/.356/.478 (135 wRC+) with 18 home runs and 68 RBIs in 556 plate appearances. According to FanGraphs, he was worth 4.3 Wins Above Replacement. For his career, the soon-to-be 28-year-old has a slash line of .271/.348/.455 with 63 home runs and 237 RBIs in parts of six seasons. Brandon Belt now becomes the next Giants' infielder to earn his big payday. --Devan Fink |
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