Giants trade for RHP Tanner Andrews

All Major League transactions are currently on hold due to MLB’s lockout, but it would be silly to assume that would stop Farhan Zaidi, Scott Harris, and the San Francisco Giants from making moves.

Teams are still allowed to make Minor League transactions, and the Giants made such a deal on Thursday, sending cash considerations to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for right-handed pitcher Tanner Andrews.

Andrews is a 6’3” 26 year old who was originally drafted in the 10th round of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Miami Marlins. He had spent his entire career with the Marlins before a brief flurry of moves — on Wednesday, the Braves selected him in the Minor League Rule 5 Draft, and on Thursday they sent him to the Giants.

He’s a little bit of an unknown quantity, as injuries resulted in just 5.2 innings pitched this year (all in AA), and the pandemic kept him from having a season in 2020. His last full season came in 2019, when he had a 3.52 ERA and 3.42 FIP for the Marlins’ A-Ball team, with 110 strikeouts to 38 walks in 128 innings.

Andrews was selected in the fourth round of the Rule 5 Draft, and the Giants only used their first-round pick. That suggests that their AAA roster was full (you can only select a player in the Minor League portion of the Rule 5 Draft if you have an open spot on the 38-player AAA roster), and perhaps that they already had a deal set up with the Braves to select Andrews for them.