Giants place Thairo Estrada and Taylor Rogers on waivers

Tyler Matzek, too.

The San Francisco Giants didn’t make any roster transactions on Wednesday, but they made a handful of moves that could ultimately result in roster transactions. According to a report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Giants placed three players on waivers: second baseman Thairo Estrada, and left-handed relievers Taylor Rogers and Tyler Matzek.

Waiver rules are confusing, and have changed dramatically in the last few years, so let’s run through the basics.

Putting a player on waivers is not the same as designating them for assignment. If Estrada, Rogers, and Matzek go unclaimed on the waiver wire, then they will remain on the Giants’ 40-man roster (and on the active roster, in the case of the former pair). That’s why Estrada was still in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

As of a few years ago, revocable waivers are no longer a thing. That means that if a team claims any of these three players, the Giants will lose that player. No takesies backsies! It used to be that if a player was claimed on waivers, they could negotiate a trade with the team, but the team could pull the player out of waivers at any point in negotiations (as such, you often saw star players placed on waivers). With the new trade deadline rules prohibiting any trades that involve Major Leaguers, the irrevocable option has disappeared. If Estrada, Rogers, or Matzek are claimed, then they’re gone.

Any team claiming these three would take on their prorated contract. For Estrada, that means about $850,000 which, on the one hand, is a lot, but on the other hand, comes with team control for his final two years of arbitration. Rogers is owed around $2.15 million for this year, plus an additional $12 million next year, meaning a team’s evaluation of him would need to be more in line with his ERA (2.45) than the Giants’ has been. Matzek, who has not played for the Giants since coming over at the trade deadline (he’s been in AAA Sacramento) would be owed around $350,000, with a club option at $5.5 million.

The timing here is important. Players must be added to a roster by September 1 in order to be postseason eligible with their new teams, so any players the Giants place on waivers effectively need to be handled in the next few days. But why did they stop at these three, and not include players like Michael Conforto and Mark Canha?

The answer is almost surely that the Giants feel the same way about these three that they felt about Jorge Soler and Alex Cobb, who were shipped off at the deadline. Which is to say, the Giants — who are still trying to make the postseason, despite their slim chances — likely feel that they can get similar production from the players waiting in the wings, so why not start to make that shift while also saving money, if possible?

Estrada’s placement is the most telling, as it signals the team’s long-term plans, despite his team control. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic confirmed those long-term plans:

The Giants certainly have no shortage of options at second base going forward. They did well with a Casey Schmitt/Brett Wisely platoon while Estrada was recently on the IL, and have been trying to teach Marco Luciano that position. They’re also likely to make a strong run at Ha-Seong Kim in free agency, which would probably push Tyler Fitzgerald to second base.

Now we wait to see if any of those three get claimed. And if not … well, we’ll keep enjoying watching them be members of the Giants organization.