Giants vs. Nationals, 8/6

Weird day. Joe Panik is gone, and if the Nationals’ signing of Asdrubal Cabrera is any indication of what’s to come for the Giants’ former All-Star second baseman and Gold Glover, then he’s about to clear release waivers and have to hunt for a major league job mid-season.

Cabrera, who had signed a 1-year, $3.5 million deal with the Rangers in the offseason, went unclaimed after the Rangers released him on August 3rd. No team wanted to take on the remaining $1.08 million or so left on his contract. The Nationals will pay him just a prorated portion (between $170,000-$200,000) of the major league minimum ($555,000). The 35-year old middle infielder had a .711 OPS with 12 home runs in 368 plate appearances for the Rangers this year. He played third base exclusively this year, with a -3 defensive runs saved, but was a +5.1 overall on defense.

Meanwhile, Joe Panik made $3.8 million this year and had a 69 OPS+ in 388 PA. He was also just +3.5 runs on defense. He’s five years younger than Cabrera and has much better strike zone judgment, but there seems a safe bet that he’s going to have to go through “free agency” twice in the next six months.

That’s a real bummer for a great member of the historic championship era.

SS — Trea Turner
RF — Gerardo Parra
3B — Anthony Rendon
LF — Juan Soto
C — Kurt Suzuki
2B — Brian Dozier
1B — Matt Adams
CF — Victor Robles
SP — Anibal Sanchez

Sánchez with a 3.24 ERA over his last 10 starts, but none of those have been scoreless starts. The last scoreless start to Sánchez’s ledger came on May 29, a six-inning, 1-hit, 1-walk, 7-strikeout 14-4 win over the Braves in Atlanta.

Can the Giants keep that trend going?

Hahahahahahaha

LF — Brandon Belt
RF — Mike Yastrzemski
C — Buster Posey
LF — Stephen Vogt
3B — Evan Longoria
2B — Scooter Gennett
CF — Kevin Pillar
SS — Brandon Crawford
SP — Conner Menez

That’s right. Conner Menez is up, as is reliever Williams Jerez. To make room for them, Sam Selman was optioned back to Triple-A and Joe Panik was DFA’d. It’s interesting that they’ve taken all of four innings to consider Selman — Jerez hasn’t done better in the three innings he’s pitched at the big league level, but the combination of his 5:1 K:BB in the minors coupled with 15 innings of previous ML experience might’ve given him the edge — the Giants just need a reliever who can hit the ground running and Selman has been wobbly.

Meanwhile, get well soon, Alex Dickerson. As much as I like Stephen Vogt, that Posey-Vogt combo in the middle of the lineup is not ideal.