SF Giants: Sanchez Signing Announced, Gott placed on Waivers

The SF Giants officially announced the signing of righty Aaron Sanchez on Sunday, but it came at the expense of a bullpen arm.

According to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, Right-handed reliever Trevor Gott was placed on waivers to make room for Sanchez on the 40-man roster.

SF Giants announce signing of Sanchez, place Gott on waivers

When Farhan Zaidi took over as team president of baseball operations, he aggressively turned over the back-end of the 40-man roster in an attempt to build depth. This included traded for Gott whose three-tenure in the Washington Nationals bullpen came to an end in February of 2019.

In his first season with San Francisco, Gott registered a solid 4.44 ERA, 3.12 FIP, 1.10 WHIP, and a 3.35 SO/W ratio in 52.2 frames. The FIP suggests that Gott may have been the victim of some bad luck compared to his ERA. Furthermore, the 3.35 SO/W ratio suggests that he had begun to correct some of the command issues that plagued him earlier in his career.

San Francisco entered the 2020 season very thin on experienced and reliable bullpen options, so Gott began the year as the team’s de facto closer. He successfully converted four save opportunities in his first six appearances.

However, the wheels fell off of the wagon quickly in the ensuing three appearances where he yielded 11 earned runs, including two blown saves, across 1.1 total innings. He was removed from the closer role following that blow-up and was used sparingly down the stretch before finishing the season on the injured list with right elbow inflammation.

In total, Gott finished the year with a 10.03 ERA in 11.2 innings. In a 60-game season where everyone is swimming in small sample territory, blow-ups like the one Gott, whether right or wrong, get magnified.

Surprisingly, the Giants tendered the 28-year-old a deal for 2021 by agreeing to a $700,000 salary. Despite this, the Giants are only on the hook for a pro-rated portion of that salary since he will not make the club out of camp.

Gott flashes a fastball that sits comfortably in the mid-90’s and is on an affordable contract, so it is possible that a team in need of bullpen help makes a claim. Given that the Giants have added a bevy of veteran relievers on non-guaranteed contracts, the decision to place Gott on waivers makes sense since they have plenty of depth.

On the other hand, the addition of Sanchez gives San Francisco a high-upside starter with plenty of injury risk as well. He will join a clustered rotation that includes Johnny Cueto, Logan Webb, Kevin Gausman, Alex Wood, and Anthony DeSclafani. This is going to be one camp battle to watch as spring training progresses.