Best of luck to a Good Giant.
On Sunday, the San Francisco Giants made it official, and announced the signing of Hall of Fame-bound starting pitcher Justin Verlander. But seeing as how they had a full 40-man roster, they could only add Verlander if they subtracted someone else, and that someone else was Blake Sabol, who was designated for assignment.
The writing had been on the wall for Sabol for a while. After lasting on the active roster through the entirety of the 2023 season after being a Rule 5 selection, he entered 2024 in a tenuous position. The shift of managers, from Gabe Kapler to Bob Melvin, brought a 180 in organizational philosophy regarding defense. With Kapler, the approach was that if you fake it at a position that was good enough as long as your bat could play. With Melvin, as the Nick Ahmed experience proved, it was the opposite: if you could provide defensive value, it didn’t matter how bad your bat was.
That spelled doom for Sabol, whose calling card had been a fringe-MLB first base/left field/designated hitter bat jammed inside some catcher gear. That was an asset in the eyes of Kapler (and, to a slightly lesser extent, Farhan Zaidi), but antithetical to the approach of Melvin and Buster Posey. It was clear in 2024 that Melvin had no interest in using Sabol as a catcher and, unfortunately, the left-handed hitter had a tough offensive season in which he didn’t earn opportunities to be part of the mix at the bat-centric positions he was more defensively suited to.
It would seem there’s a good chance that Sabol will get claimed off of waivers, or that the Giants work out a trade for the recently-turned 27-year old. He has enough offensive intrigue — and two years of options remaining — to possibly be of interest to a team more willing to overlook his struggles behind the dish (or a team that thinks he improve there). But the Giants will certainly hope he goes unclaimed, so that he can be outrighted to AAA Sacramento, where the depth is fairly thin.
Whether it’s in Sacramento or with a different organization (or, as made possible by John Fischer’s awfulness, both!), I wish nothing but the best for Sabol, who seems like a genuinely great person.
How many days until Opening Day?
Just 73 now!