It’s a little ominous.
Today is January 6. Assuming nothing happened between when I wrote this on the night of January 5, and when it published early this morning, then … well … nothing has happened for the San Francisco Giants in a long, long time.
I don’t say that as a negative, though it would have been nice if they had signed Corbin Burnes. It’s mostly just funny, primarily because we’re seeing a dramatic shift in how the organization is run. I knew we’d get less in-season churn with the shift from Farhan Zaidi and Pete Putila to Buster Posey and Zack Minasian, but I forgot that the offseason churn would be lessened, too.
Since the start of December — which was, you know, 36 days ago — the Giants have made 10 official transactions. Kind of. Here are those 10, in chronological order.
- LHP Robbie Ray changed number to 38
- C Blake Sabol changed number to 2
- Giants activated SS Willy Adames
- Giants activated SS Willy Adames (yes, again)
- Giants signed free agent SS Willy Adames (yes, after being activated, twice)
- Giants signed free agent LHP Raymond Burgos to a Minor League contract (re-signed, I should note)
- Giants signed free agent LHP Antonio Jimenez to a Minor League contract
- Giants signed free agent RHP Mario Gonzalez to a Minor League contract
- Giants signed free agent RHP Nien-Hsi Yang to a Minor League contract
- Giants signed free agent RHP Carlos Toro to a Minor League contract
So those 10 transactions are five Minor League signings, one (admittedly substantial) Major League signing, one activation of said Major League signing, one bookkeeping error, and two jersey number changes.
Compare that to December 1 through January 6 last year:
- RHP Nick Garcia assigned to Giants
- Giants signed free agent C Jakson Reetz to a Minor League contract
- Giants signed free agent RHP Daulton Jefferies to a Minor League contract
- RHP Daulton Jefferies roster status changed by Giants
- C Jakson Reetz roster status changed by Giants
- RHP Blayne Enlow roster status changed by Giants
- Giants signed free agent RHP Blayne Enlow to a Minor League contract
- Giants signed free agent OF Jung Hoo Lee
- Giants claimed RHP Devin Sweet off waivers from Oakland Athletics (RIP … the team, not the player; Devin Sweet is alive and well, to the best of my knowledge)
- Reds traded CF T.J. Hopkins to Giants for Player To Be Named Later (yes, the official language for the famous PTBNL is using the words as though they are a name … it is not for “A” Player To Be Named Later, but just for Player To Be Named Later)
- 2B Donovan Walton roster status changed by Giants
- Giants signed free agent C Tom Murphy
- Giants signed free agent 2B Donovan Walton to a Minor League contract
- LF Yoshi Tsutsugo roster status changed by Giants
- Giants signed free agent LF Yoshi Tsutsugo to a Minor League contract
- Mariners traded LHP Robbie Ray to Giants for RF Mitch Haniger, RHP Anthony DeSclafani, and cash (this was listed three different times, each time without the Oxford Comma; I fixed both matters, for which you can thank me later)
Admittedly, a lot of those transactions clogging the Zaidi years is the silliness of “roster status changed,” which the official transaction log seems to have done away with this year, but still … there was a lot more going on, for better or for worse.
The period from December 1 through January 6 two years ago was even more wild. I’ll spare you the bullet points and official language and just give you a high-speed run-through of everything important in the … wait for it … 52 transactions that came through the log during that time frame:
Claimed Miguel Yajure, signed Donovan Walton, signed Mitch Haniger, traded for Blake Sabol, signed Armando Alvarez, signed Nick Duron, signed Ljay Newsome, signed Ricardo Genovés, signed Raymond Burgos, outrighted Miguel Yajure, traded Jake Wong, signed Brady Whalen, signed Ross Stripling, signed Haniel De Frias, signed Juan Guilarte, signed Sean Manaea, DFA’d Gregory Santos (oops), signed Clint Coulter, traded Gregory Santos (oops), signed Brett Cumberland, DFA’d Tommy La Stella, signed Taylor Rogers, signed Michael Conforto, DFA’d Austin Wynns.
Wowzers.
I’m not saying Posey and Minasian’s approach is better, worse, or even meaningful. But as a writer tasked with coming up with topics to write about … could you throw me a bone, fellas?
How many days until Opening Day?
Just 80!!!