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Hello and happy Sunday. I hope you enjoyed the first win of the season.
On Saturday, the San Francisco Giants signed catcher Chris Herrmann to a Minor League deal. Herrmann was immediately placed on the team’s taxi squad.
This is much less exciting news than it sounds like, and I say that while fully acknowledging that it doesn’t sound exciting at all.
Teams are allowed three players on a taxi squad for all road games. Those players serve as the three who can be added to the active roster should there be an injury or a positive coronavirus test.
There is a catch though: one of the three players must be a catcher (and that catcher is allowed to also function as a bullpen catcher, including for home games). The Giants brought six catchers to Summer Camp: Tyler Heineman and Rob Brantly, who made the active roster; Buster Posey, who opted out of the season; Chadwick Tromp, who is currently injured; and Joey Bart and Patrick Bailey, who are prospects that the Giants will not play yet due to service time manipulation (and, in Bailey’s case, inexperience and general lack of readiness).
As a result, they didn’t actually have a catcher to put on the taxi squad. Enter Herrmann. A 32-year old lefty, Herrmann played 30 games for the Oakland A’s last year. He’s played in 370 games in his career, and received 992 plate appearances. In that time he’s hit .205/.282/.344 and been worth -1.6 fWAR.
Barring an injury to Heineman or Brantly, Herrmann will almost surely chill on the taxi squad until Tromp is healthy, and then be waived.
Update: It looks like Herrmann will be joining the alternate training site even after Tromp returns.
Chris Herrmann joined the #SFGiants today on the taxi squad, but the plan is for him to report to the alternate camp in Sacramento on Tuesday.
— Kerry Crowley (@KO_Crowley) July 26, 2020
That would indicate there will at least be a new catcher on the taxi squad (likely Chadwick Tromp) and possibly on the roster.
Did Barry Bonds hit a home run today?
He did.
July 26, 1995: Against the Cincinnati Reds, Bonds hit a 2-run home run in the 3rd inning off of Pete Schourek, scoring Robby Thompson. It gave the Giants a 2-0 lead, and they would win 4-1. It was his 21st homer of the year.
July 26, 1999: Against the St. Louis Cardinals, Bonds hit a 2-run home run in the 1st inning off of Jose Jimenez, scoring J.T. Snow. It gave the Giants a 2-0 lead, and they would win 10-8. It was his 12th homer of the year.
July 26, 2001: Against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Bonds hit a pair of home runs off of Curt Schilling. A solo shot in the 4th inning followed a bomb by Rich Aurilia, and gave the Giants a 2-1 lead. A grand slam in the 5th inning scored Aurilia, Marvin Benard, and Livan Hernandez, and gave the Giants a 6-3 lead. They would win 11-3. They were his 43rd and 44th homers of the year.
Giants links
- Grant Brisbee on the Giants horrible defense (The Athletic, subscription required)
- Maria Guardado on Kevin Gausman not wanting a fluid role, but not having a problem with it (MLB)
- Alex Pavlovic on Ron Wotus leading a toast to Gabe Kapler after his first win (NBC Sports Bay Area)
- Andrew Baggarly on the Giants using unfamiliarity and right-handed power to win a game (The Athletic, subscription required)
- Henry Schulman on the Giants introducing Gabe Kapler to torture baseball (SF Chronicle)
- Alex Pavlovic mentions some things you might have missed in the first win (NBC Sports Bay Area)
- Andrew Baggarly on the team’s trial and error after the horrendous first two games (The Athletic, subscription required)
- Mark W. Sanchez on Caleb Baragar’s debut (KNBR)
- Alex Pavlovic on the pitching struggles (NBC Sports Bay Area)
Have a great Sunday, everyone!