Latest news with #DominicSmith
Washington Post
8 hours ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Giants designate struggling LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment
SAN FRANCISCO — The struggling San Francisco Giants designated infielder-outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment Wednesday along with catcher Sam Huff. In addition, San Francisco signed infielder-outfielder Dominic Smith to a one-year major league contract, selected outfielder Daniel Johnson and catcher Andrew Knizner from Triple-A Sacramento while optioning infielder Christian Koss to Sacramento. Manager Bob Melvin said Monday that with Wade's struggle to produce his at-bats would likely go to others. 'It was tough,' Melvin said. 'Look, LaMonte's being realistic too when he said, 'I get it, I haven't performed very well,' and I don't know that at this point in time a little bit of a break and change of scenery won't be good for him. We wish him the best going forward. I'm shocked if he wasn't given another opportunity. But based on what has been going on here recently we felt like we needed to make some moves and we did.' The 31-year-old Wade, who hit a career-high .260 last season and has contributed many timely hits during his four-plus seasons with the Giants, was batting .167 (24 for 144) in 50 games this year. He went 2 for 17 with a double, RBI and three strikeouts during the team's recent nine-game road trip. The Giants entered Wednesday night having gone 16 straight games scoring four or fewer runs — their second longest single-season streak since moving to San Francisco in 1958. They did so in 19 consecutive games in 1965. Buster Posey, San Francisco's first-year president of baseball operations, called it 'a difficult decision' with Wade. 'One of the trickier things for me is there are still guys on the team that I played with. I had a different relationship with them as a player than I do now, but still consider LaMonte a buddy,' Posey said. 'So it wasn't an easy thing to do, but we've got to get some offense going.' ___ AP MLB:
Associated Press
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Giants designate struggling LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The struggling San Francisco Giants designated infielder-outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment Wednesday along with catcher Sam Huff. In addition, San Francisco signed infielder-outfielder Dominic Smith to a one-year major league contract, selected outfielder Daniel Johnson and catcher Andrew Knizner from Triple-A Sacramento while optioning infielder Christian Koss to Sacramento. Manager Bob Melvin said Monday that with Wade's struggle to produce his at-bats would likely go to others. 'It was tough,' Melvin said. 'Look, LaMonte's being realistic too when he said, 'I get it, I haven't performed very well,' and I don't know that at this point in time a little bit of a break and change of scenery won't be good for him. We wish him the best going forward. I'm shocked if he wasn't given another opportunity. But based on what has been going on here recently we felt like we needed to make some moves and we did.' The 31-year-old Wade, who hit a career-high .260 last season and has contributed many timely hits during his four-plus seasons with the Giants, was batting .167 (24 for 144) in 50 games this year. He went 2 for 17 with a double, RBI and three strikeouts during the team's recent nine-game road trip. The Giants entered Wednesday night having gone 16 straight games scoring four or fewer runs — their second longest single-season streak since moving to San Francisco in 1958. They did so in 19 consecutive games in 1965. Buster Posey, San Francisco's first-year president of baseball operations, called it 'a difficult decision' with Wade. 'One of the trickier things for me is there are still guys on the team that I played with. I had a different relationship with them as a player than I do now, but still consider LaMonte a buddy,' Posey said. 'So it wasn't an easy thing to do, but we've got to get some offense going.' ___ AP MLB:
New York Times
16 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Giants designate LaMonte Wade Jr., sign Dominic Smith as Buster Posey seeks to jolt offense
As a cornerstone catcher on three World Series championship teams, Buster Posey was as renowned for his level-headed perspective as he was for his clutch hitting and receiving skills. But patience does not always equal indecisiveness. The San Francisco Giants' first-year president of baseball operations made a series of bold roster changes Wednesday morning to jolt a slumbering offense, designating struggling first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment and replacing him with Dominic Smith, who had opted out of his Triple-A contract with the New York Yankees earlier in the week. Advertisement The Giants made two other changes to address an underperforming bench, designating backup catcher Sam Huff and optioning infielder Christian Koss to Triple-A Sacramento. They will be replaced by catcher Andrew Knizner and lefty-hitting outfielder Daniel Johnson, neither of whom were in spring training with the club but had joined Triple-A Sacramento on minor league contracts last month. The most significant and likely the most difficult move involved saying goodbye to Wade, who achieved folk hero status as 'Late Night LaMonte' for his uncanny run of clutch hits in the late innings on the 2021 NL West championship team that won a franchise-record 107 regular-season games. Wade received only 381 plate appearances that season but finished sixth among NL players in Win Probability Added. And he emerged as a strike-zone savant to rival Juan Soto while posting on-base percentages of .373 and .380 over the past two seasons. But Wade's production fell off a cliff over the past two months while he hit .167/.275/.271 with one home run. The 31-year-old's window of opportunity with the club was closing as other options came online. Outfielder/first baseman Jerar Encarnacion, who fractured a finger in spring training, rejoined the team this week. Top prospect Bryce Eldridge hit his way into a promotion to Triple-A Sacramento on Tuesday, and veteran Wilmer Flores has proven to be much more productive than just a right-handed platoon partner. Wade's struggles were easier to cover up in April when the Giants got off to a hot start and scored consistently. But the club has scored just 32 runs over its last 16 games, putting considerable pressure on a pitching staff that ranks second in the major leagues with a 3.03 ERA. The Giants haven't scored more than four runs in any of their last 16 games, their longest since a 19-game stretch in 1965. And they are coming off two gut-wrenching home losses to the San Diego Padres, wasting Logan Webb's effort in a 1-0 defeat on Monday and then letting a 2-0 lead slip away in the ninth inning of a 3-2, 10-inning loss on Tuesday that probably had more to do with their inability to tack on runs than closer Camilo Doval's rare hiccup. Advertisement Before Tuesday's loss, Posey met with reporters and said the club was 'trying to exhaust all options' to jump-start an offense that hasn't received much from Wade, catcher Patrick Bailey, and most notably, $182 million free-agent shortstop Willy Adames. But the question has been floating out there ever since Posey took over the big chair from Farhan Zaidi in October: How would Posey handle the moment when he had to make difficult decisions about players who were among his former teammates? In a role that often requires callousness, how much would sentiment get in the way? Perhaps that question has been answered now. Posey, of course, was among Wade's teammates in that record-setting 2021 season. But that didn't make any difference on Wednesday. Not with the Giants' offensive challenges threatening to erode their early-season gains. Although Posey showed no signs of panic as a player, he also likely absorbed his share of lessons from former manager Bruce Bochy, including this oft-repeated line: 'If it isn't working, change something.' So the Giants will give at least a short-term look at Smith, a 29-year-old veteran of eight major league seasons with the New York Mets, Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds who didn't make the Yankees roster out of camp and was buried on the depth chart there. Smith hit .255/.333/.448 with eight home runs in 189 plate appearances at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and is expected to see time at first base and provide a little more left-handed power potential off the bench. Johnson is a lefty-hitting 29-year-old Vallejo native who appeared in one game for the Baltimore Orioles last year and 35 games for Cleveland over the 2020-21 seasons. He was playing for Durango in the Mexican League when the Giants signed him to a minor league contract on May 2; he hit .272/.312/.534 with six home runs and five stolen bases in 109 plate appearances for Sacramento. Advertisement Knizner, 30, has spent parts of six major league seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers and was released by mutual consent from his minor league deal with the Washington Nationals in mid-May. He combined for a .378 average and .512 on-base percentage between Triple-A Rochester and Sacramento and represents a contact-hitting upgrade over Huff, who had struck out 25 times in 53 at-bats. And what about Wade? It's unlikely he'd be scooped up on waivers because a claiming team would take on the remainder of his $5 million salary. But because he has more than five years of service time, he can reject an outright assignment to Sacramento and become a free agent. He's almost assuredly played his last game as a Giant. (Top photo of LaMonte Wade Jr.: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Reuters
16 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Giants DFA LaMonte Wade Jr., sign Dominic Smith
June 4 - The San Francisco Giants designated veteran first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment on Wednesday and signed former first-round pick Dominic Smith to a major league contract, among several moves. In addition, catcher Sam Huff was also DFA'd and infielder Christian Koss was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento after Tuesday's game. In related moves, the Giants selected outfielder Daniel Johnson and catcher Andrew Knizner from Sacramento. Wade, 31, was playing on a one-year deal worth $5 million. A .238 career batter, Wade was scuffling, hitting just .167 in 50 games with a homer and 15 RBIs. He was in his fifth season with the Giants, batting .240 with 52 HRs in 488 games. He has a career .742 OPS with 54 home runs and 182 RBIs with the Minnesota Twins (2019-20) and Giants. He was selected in the ninth round of the 2015 draft by the Twins. Smith, 29, opted out of his minor league deal with the New York Yankees on Sunday. He played in 93 games with the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds in 2024, batting .233 with six HRs and 34 RBIs. He's a career .246 batter with 64 HRs and 259 RBIS with four teams, most notably the New York Mets from 2017-22. He was selected No. 11 overall by the Mets in the 2013 draft. Huff, 27, was batting .208 with two homers in 20 games this season, his first in San Francisco. He played in 78 games with the Texas Rangers over four seasons. Koss, 27, made his major league debut on April 1 and is hitting .219 in 29 games. Knizner, 30, has yet to appear in a major league game this season, batting .378 with 11 doubles and an OPS of 1.032 in 31 games at Triple-A Rochester and Sacramento. He was released by the Washington Nationals last month. He's batting .210 with 18 HRs in 290 big-league games with the St. Louis Cardinals (2019-23) and Texas Rangers (2024). Johnson, 29, is batting .272 with six HRs in 26 games at Sacramento. He's batting .200 with four HRs in 36 major league games, 35 of them with the Cleveland Guardians (2020-21). --Field Level Media
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Yankees Lose Player After 18-2 Loss to Dodgers
Yankees Lose Player After 18-2 Loss to Dodgers originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The New York Yankees were blown out in LA on Saturday, falling 18-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is always highly anticipated when these two teams meet, but this matchup was especially notable since these two teams faced off in the 2024 World Series. Advertisement Los Angeles defeated New York in five games last October, and have continued that dominance through two games this weekend. Taking the series opener 8-5, Los Angeles followed that performance with a dominant 18-2 victory on Saturday. The Yankees have already added one reinforcement ahead of Sunday's game, recalling Carlos Carrasco, but another potential Triple-A option is now off the table. New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone.© Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images Before the season began, the Yankees signed former New York Mets star Dominic Smith to a Minor League contract. He did not break Spring Training with the MLB club, but has been solid with Triple-A Scranton this season. Advertisement In 45 games, Smith owns a .782 OPS with eight home runs and 28 RBIs. Five years removed from the shortened 2020 campaign in which he posted a .992 OPS, Smith has been searching for that form again, and may now be also looking for a new organization as well. On Sunday, ESPN's Jeff Passan announced Smith has exercised his opt-out clause with New York, making him a free agent. While the Yankees are not necessarily in need of offense, entering Sunday with the second-best team OPS (.812) in baseball, losing Smith does hurt their organizational depth. As New York has already experienced this season, injuries happen at the MLB level and can create opportunities for players in the minors. Advertisement Given his recent production, Smith seemingly feels that opportunity could come for him somewhere else. Related: Yankees Announce Move After 18-2 Loss to Dodgers Related: Mookie Betts Makes Announcement After Missing Yankees Game This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
