It felt like the team had been trying to get rid of him since almost immediately after signing him two years ago.
In a bit of a shocker, the San Francisco Giants have traded left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers to the Cincinnati Reds. The team had been trying to get rid of him as recently as this past season, and given the heft of his contract, it seemed like such a move was impossible.
Tyler Rogers’ twin brother is owed $12 million in 2025, but based on the structure of the deal he accounts for $11 million against the Competitive Balance Tax calculation. At the moment, it’s unclear how much, if any, money will be going to the Reds in the deal — but I assume some will. Still, let’s figure the move saves the Giants around $10 million — according to Cot’s MLB Payroll, that puts their real money commitment in the $171 million range while lowering their CBT payroll figure to $210.25 million.
The Giants will be paying half of that, according to the Reds’ MLB.com beat writer:
According to a source, the Reds have acquired LHP Taylor Rogers and cash from the Giants for Minor League RHP Braxton Roxby. Deal pending approval from MLB because Cincinnati is set to receive $6 million from SF to cover half of Rogers’ $12 million salary for 2025.
— Mark Sheldon (@msheldon.bsky.social) 2025-01-29T21:37:02.208Z
That’s a lot for a straight salary dump, so, that’s not quite what this is. The move puts the Giants’ real money payroll in the $175 million range (per Cot’s MLB Contracts) and $214.25 million for the Competitive Balance Tax calculation.
Saving that money would appear to be the sole upside, though, as the prospect the team received in return — 25-year old reliever RHP Braxton Roxby (helluva name) — “hasn’t pitched higher than Double-A. Last season, Roxby had a 5.21 ERA (3.15 FIP) in Double-A.” according to new Giants beat writer Justice delos Santos. He went undrafted in 2020 and the Reds signed him afterwards.
David Laurilia wrote about him for FanGraphs back in 2021, calling him “borderline unhittable,” while setting up Roxby’s career as unique: “In what is shaping up as one of the best underdog stories in recent memory, Roxby has been shoving in his first professional season.” He goes on to tell the story of how he wound up on the Reds before getting to the scouting report:
Roxby’s four-seamer, which gets natural cut, is typically between 91 and 95 mph, while his work-in-progress one-seamer is thrown with a similar velocity. And then there is his 80-84-mph slider. Roxby has been relying on his signature offering over 60 percent of the time, and once again, data is the driver.
Now, maybe there is some noticeable upside here that makes my earlier comment invalid, but it seems to me that shedding payroll to acquire a 25-year old reliever is the platonic ideal of a salary dump when fans rosterbate. The move does leave the team with only one left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster (Erik Miller), but maybe that’s not as important as the money saved.
If you’re an optimist, getting out from under that money would really help the team with their problem of having payroll restrictions this offseason because that means they’re now free to sign or trade for other, better players (Pete Alonso! Max Scherzer?). But given the amount the Giants are paying on this, maybe the pessimist’s angle is the most correct: this is a move to be able to afford slightly better 20th to 26th men while lowering payroll, possibly akin to what Bobby Evans had to do in 2018 to satisfy ownership’s demands of getting under the luxury tax.
The move separates identical twins which is tough to see, but Taylor never really embedded himself into the team the way his brother did. The Giants determined that Rogers’ days as a closer were over, but only after signing him to a deal that paid him like a closer. He’s been awfully homer prone, so the Great American Ballpark might not be the best spot for him, but that’s not the Giants problem at least.