I’ll give you a dime if you can guess who they traded with.
Happy Friday, San Francisco Giants fans. I hope you all understood Robin Hood and prepared your Sheriff of Nottingham jokes, because the Giants made a trade on Wednesday, acquiring receiver Jacob Nottingham.
If you’ve paid attention to the Giants in the past year, then you know exactly which team the Giants acquired Nottingham from: the Seattle Mariners, their near-daily dance partner.
But there’s something special about this trade that hasn’t been in most other recent Giants-Mariners trades: we’ll probably never see Nottingham play for the Giants.
One of the frustrating parts of the 2022 season was the sheer number of players the Giants traded (or sometimes signed) to serve as disposable patchwork on the active roster. They needed a hole filled, so they added a player who could fill it for a few days and then be designated for an assignment without a second thought. There were so many Ford Proctors and Dixon Machados and Mike Fords and Donovan Waltons and Andrew Knapps and Kevin Padlos.
Nottingham is not that. If the Giants had traded for Nottingham last year, he would have been. But they traded him this year, which means instead of patching a Major League hole for a week, he’s going to patch a Minor League hole for a season because the Major League hole is patched. , probably permanently, by one of the top prospects. in the Giant system.
I like it better that way.
The addition of Nottingham is an acknowledgment that Patrick Bailey is unlikely to return to Sacramento anytime soon. The Giants’ AAA affiliate spent a week without Bailey, leaving Ricardo Genovés as the team’s lone catcher (Proctor, who was sent to Sacramento outright, was the backup catcher, with first baseman/second baseman/third goal/shortstop passing a game behind the plate). It was a sustainable strategy if Bailey returned this weekend, when Joey Bart is expected to come off the injured list.
But that certainly doesn’t seem to be happening. So instead they acquired Nottingham (presumably for cash, although that hasn’t been announced), and the 28-year-old, who has 130 Major League board appearances to his name, will play the important role of making sure San Francisco’s pitching prospects have someone to catch his fastballs.
The Giants can be .500 right now, like they were last year. But if you need proof of why this year is different from last, here it is.
What time are the Giants playing today?
After beating the Milwaukee Brewers 5-0 yesterday, the Giants will look to make it two games in a row tonight at 5:10 p.m. PT.
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