The Giants made a move yesterday that should raise some eybrows. Eric Haase, will come to spring training on a minor league deal with an agreed upon salary of $1.6 M if he makes the Opening Day active roster. He has an opt-out at the end of spring training. Haase is a hit-first catcher whose best season was 2021 when he hit 22 HR's for the Tigers and seemed poised to become one of the better catchers in MLB. Alas, his stats tailed off after that big season and he was outrighted to AAA by the Brewers in the middle of last season and elected free agency after the season ended.
Eric Haase C. DOB: 12/18/1992. B-R, T-R. 5' 10", 204 lbs. Arbitration Eligible 2027, Free Agent 2028.
The 2 HR's project to 15 over 600 PA's. As you can see, power is his only game as he doesn't walk much and strikes out at a frightful rate, although his AAA ratios were much better. Although Fangraphs has him rated as replacement level on defense, he is generally rated as a defensive liability.
The reason why this move should raise eyebrows is the Giants now have two catchers coming to camp who they will lose if they don't make the team: Daniel Susac and Haase. I get that it adds depth and options but as a fan I was just getting excited about the possibility of Susac's long term upside and now the odds of him even being in the organization on Opening Day just went dramatically down. In my memory, the majority of these hybrid minor league deals with MLB deals contingent on making the team generally result in the player making the team. Will Tony Vitello opt for veteran savvy or long term ceiling?
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Just a brief note about the Alex Bregman signing. The deal is for 5 yr/$175 M with no opt outs. The deal us a year or two shorter than what Bregman was hoping for but at a higher than predicted AAV. Where this move potentially impacts the Giants is it ups the pressure on the Cubs to trade Nico Hoerner who could be a nice upgrade for the Giants at 2B.
Doc, you are bang on the "head scratching" comment regarding Haase.
ReplyDeleteSaw that MLB Rumours and did the side by side review on Baseball Reference with Susac. I immediately said Buster WTF!
What are you doing man?
Dont like the signing nor the contract detail.
Haase 34 Vs Susac 24 ages???
Susac to me should be Bailey's backup/ionjury cover.
Really categorize this is a really poor "baseball" decision.
Richard in Winnipeg
I don't like using projections to settle debates but here are the Steamer Projections for both players: Susac- .231/.281/.361. Haase- .211/.269/.343.
DeleteI see Haase as an insurance signing, in which case Huff or Stassi would have been younger options. Definitely a head scratcher.
ReplyDeleteI hope it's still Susac's job to lose barring injury or looking completely lost in spring training.
DeleteCubs sign Alex Bregman to a five-year, $175MM contract.
ReplyDeletePirates sign Ryan O'Hearn to a two-year $29 million contract.
Reds sign Brady Singer to $12.75 million, 1-year contract
Orioles sign Taylor Ward to $12.715 1-year contract
Brewers sign Andrew Vaughn to a $7.65 million, 1-year contract.
Reds sign Gavin Lux to $5.525 1-year contract
Brewers sign Brice Turang to $4.15 million, 1-year contract
Giants sign Eric Haase to $1.6 M if he makes the Opening Day active roster.
I'm not doing cartwheels if the Giants sign any of those deals and you didn't include the Houser and Mahle contracts which look pretty good next to Brady Singer's.
DeleteTo Buster's credit, Houser and Mahle are OK signings, yes, but not what a lot of Giant fans wanted – nor would Singer have been.
DeleteHouser, Mahle, Haase, Santos, Hentges, and Foley are all reasonable Brebbia Aisle signings, but don't the rabid fans want red meat?
There are just 30 days until pitchers and catchers start reporting to camp, plenty of time to pick up a difference-maker – will Ownership (including Buster) overpay to make the team measurably better in 2026?
If not, won't we see a repeat of 2025 with a chance of squeaking into the 6th playoff spot and a slimmer chance of ousting the NL's best teams?
I don't agree with your Singer take and I don't want to see them overpay for another 5 or 6 year contract to age in unison with the ones they already have. If they can overpay for a 1 -3 year deal or make a trade for say Nico Hoerner, I'm all for it.
DeleteMaybe the reason FO signed Mahle and Houser is they think its not worth paying a big contract to the available free agent pitchers Valdez, Suarez., Bassett. Etc and prefer to see what their young pitching can do. i don't know? Read somewhere that an interview question asked to pitching coach candiidates was , 'what would you do to fix Birdsong"? It will be interesting to see if this new group of pitching coaches can do a better job of developing their young pitchers.
DeleteI would have been okay with Singer on a one or two year deal. Singer's deal is better than those opt-out/opt-in deals which the Giants had to deal with in the past. Also, the contract will not age in the same time frame as the core.
DeleteHoerner is from the Bay Area and I have heard on a podcast not long ago purchased a house in Cow Hollow. Just sayin’.
ReplyDeleteFor someone whose reputation is for leadership and mentoring (as well as playing ability) Bregman seems terribly mercenary.
ReplyDeleteDoc, bottom line on Susac, he has great upside potential and is only 24.
ReplyDeleteI repeat myself, sorry.
The signing to me has nothing close to being an insurance policy!!
He is a liability behind the plate and his best before date came and went.
Hello Tom Murphy wherever you are!
Richard in Winnipeg
I had the same Tom Murphy flashback when I saw the signing.
DeleteEven though he was traded from the Twins to the Giants, Daniel Susac is still a rule 5 player. He must be kept on the 26 man roster all year or else the Giants have to offer him back to the A's. We will just have to see how well Susac and Haase play during camp. I don't feel Haase's hybrid minor league deal gives him the inside track but they cover themselves in case there is an injury during camp.
DeleteThat is the problem exactly. Unless the Giants carry 3 catchers(unlikely) they are extremely unlikely to be able to keep both Susac and Haase in the organization. Historically veterans who come in on these hybrid deals are the ones who end up making the team. We'll see if the Posey/Vitello regime is any different.
DeleteOn Athetics' blog, they saw the Haase signing as good news because they felt that the Giants would move on from Susac but I think that kind of thinking might be premature. The transaction logs during Farhan's tenure are difficult to read because there were so many transactions but I think that the percentage of veterans making the team on hybrid deals seems like less than half by my eyeballs. I think they were players like Jay Jackson, Curt Casalli, and Nick Ahmed caliber players. The choice between Susac and Haase will likely come at the end of spring training. I would prefer them taking a chance on Susac's upside.
DeleteI think the most interesting part of the Bergman deal is how similarly it compares to the Chapman deal. It looks like the Giants 6/151 through age 37 is going to comp similarly to the 5/175 comp similarly to Bregman’s deal which is through age 36(?) with some deferrals. Given inflation I would have expected Bergman to get a lot more.
ReplyDeleteI do have to say this free agent class is getting much smaller deals than I would have expected and there is a lot of value to be found on the market.
Bregman's deal also seems a little low to me. I heard he had a $165 million deal with the Red Sox on the table but Bregman insisted on a no trade clause because he has two young children. Apparently, it was a dealbreaker because the Red Sox don't like no trade clauses. Also, $70 million is going to be deferred.
DeleteHe's a good player but $35 M/yr over 5 years seems like a lot to me, deferrals or not.
DeleteThe Red Sox would not go higher because they had concerns that Bregman would not age well.
ReplyDeleteGiven the expensive long-term commitment to 3 not-so-young IFers, don't the Giants have to make a move this year especially with the black cloud over the 2027 season?
ReplyDeleteWith less than a month to pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training, do you think this team is ready to compete in 2026?
With still a half dozen or so Big Ticket Free Agents unsigned, do you think Posey is in the mix for any of them (hopefully not Bellinger who has lousy Oracle numbers)? Or will they have to overpay on another long term commitment to get any offensive help?
Do you think there is a chance of signing one of the top SPs?
Although I like all 3 of the not-so-young IF's, I'm not terribly enthusiastic about the group as a whole. Devers has to hit a ton for at least 4 or 5 more seasons to make it all work. Maybe he will? U don't think Posey is done for the offseason but I don't think he is in the market for a Big Ticket Free Agent. He's letting the market come to him and I think he is looking for an value signing or two late. We'll see how that plays out. I was just thinking last night, Dom Smith is still on the market and might end up signing for a very modest salary. That would depend, of course, on whether Buster thinks Eldridge is ready to start the season at the MLB level or not. Not sure what the Cubs would want for Nico Hoerner but he's probably available for the right trade and would make a very nice addition at 2B.
DeleteArenado to the DBacks. Cards get a prospect (8th rounder) and get $5 relief from Arenado’s contract. Three teams now paying part of Nolan’s contract-Rockies, Cards and DBacks.lThe sun has set on the once great Arenado.
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