The PTBNL has been named. That, plus a couple of other recent transactions.
The reliable Robert Murray reports on that the San Francisco Giants have completed the trade of Alex Cobb to the Cleveland Guardians by selecting minor league infielder Nate Furman.
The Giants are acquiring infielder Nate Furman from the Guardians as the player to be named later in the Alex Cobb trade, sources say. Furman, 23, looks to be a top-of-the-lineup bat and started to add power to his game this season.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) August 26, 2024
He’s 5’8”, bats left-handed, and has played second, third, and shortstop across his two minor league seasons. He’s been on the IL since June 29th with a right shoulder strain and was transferred to the 60-day on July 31st suggesting his season has ended, so, a “distressed asset,” of sorts with a cloudy future. Perhaps a reasonable trade for the oft-injured Alex Cobb.
The Guardians selected Furman in the 4th round of the 2022 draft, a draft from which none of their selections have yet to make it to the big leagues. The Giants have gotten Hayden Birdson and Wade Meckler up and the Angels’ Zach Neto looks to be the most successful graduate (5.8 bWAR) to this point.
He had just made it up to Double-A Akron when he sustained his shoulder injury, hitting just .152/.300/.200 in 51 PA, but with 8 walks and 8 strikeouts. In 37 games previously, he’d slashed .338/.417/.500 with 7 home runs, a pair of doubles, and a triple in 176 PA for High-A Lake County. Last season, he hit .264/.397/.306 in 439 PA across A-ball and High-A and, more importantly, stole 37 bases in 42 attempts. This year, he was at 10/12.
If the power really was coming along before the shoulder injury, you could imagine a ceiling of a left-handed version of Tyler Fitzgerald — that delicious power-speed combo. Although, don’t sleep on 91 walks and 93 strikeouts in his brief MiLB career (158 games, 666 PA).
Alex Cobb made two starts (both not terrible) before returning to the IL, an outcome that was entirely foreseeable given his track record, but a bummer all the same. The Guardians are headed for the postseason and I hope he winds up being a contributor to that run.
The Furman acquisition isn’t the only recent addition of a left-handed hitting infielder. The Giants signed Cavan Biggio to a minor league dealing following his release from the Blue Jays. In his minor league career, Biggio had 49 steals in 68 attempts but just 32 of 35 across 6 major league seasons (520 game, 1,846 PA). He’s basically a soft-hitting drawer of walks.
Unfortunately, that profile has a ceiling of being a bottom of the roster type. Though, admittedly, that’s the one area of the Giants’ roster the front office has been adept at churning through (with limited success), it’s unlikely he’ll be a meaningful contributor in whole or in part this season and maybe even going forward. He doesn’t really have a skillset that’s workable for the modern game and this is the first season when his 2:1 strikeouts to walk ratio slipped to 3 or 4 to 1.
There’s a lot of data out there to show that the modern game simply ends a players career the closer they get to 30. Far fewer make it through that chokepoint and Biggio looks like he’s on the verge of that. Still, maybe the Giants think they can retool his swing or something and find themselves with a healthier LaMonte Wade Jr. as he’s arbitration eligible this offseason. I’m going to say that’s doubtful.
The last transaction news is one that didn’t happen. Former Rockies catcher Elías Díaz turned down the Giants’ offer to come aboard while Patrick Bailey is on the IL. Susan Slusser reported a few days ago:
Elías Díaz has turned down the Giants as a possible destination because they weren’t guaranteeing a spot once Patrick Bailey returns from the IL. Even with roster expansion coming up, the timing just didn’t quite work with Bailey likely back before the end of the month.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) August 23, 2024
The Rockies released Díaz after they couldn’t find a trade partner for him at the deadline in order to give him a shot at joining a playoff-bound club. He’ll need to make up his mind very soon as only players who are in the organization before September 1st are postseason eligible.
But the Giants still needed a veteran backup and so they signed Andrew Knapp and DFA’d Jakson Reetz the other day. Knapp actually ended the 2022 season with the Giants, appearing in 3 games in September. Knapp, Diaz, Reetz, etc. were all necessary because the Giants’ signing of oft-injured Tom Murphy was another one of their offseason gambles that didn’t payoff. He’s unlikely to return this year with his lingering knee issues and it seems very plausible that his deal was a sunk cost the moment he signed it.