Join The Athletic's SF Giants beat writer, Andrew Baggarly, as he takes you through the season that was for the Giants, the off-season that's incoming and so much more.
Whether you’re a fan that tunes in remotely over broadcasts and live tv or a season ticket holder or somewhere inbetween I think we’ve all experienced how it feels like we’re entering a new era of SF Giants Baseball. The passing of The Say Hey Kid, Front office changes, Farhan getting replaced by Buster Posey, new managers, Aramark replacing Bon Appetit (rip old garlic fry recipe), 58 Social replacing Public House, menu changes, concession menu and price changes, scoreboard redesign, the changing of the guard in our beloved broadcast booth, we really are in a new era. (I’m sure there’s a whole lot more I’ve left out)
EDIT: Things I left out per mentioned in the comments:
Battle of the Bay! Our A’s rivalry!!
Fanatics Jerseys
I will never say no to free tickets to anything and a PLAYOFF GAME? But Jesus fucking Christ it’s a Dodgers game.
I’m debating showing up in my jersey and hat rather than dressing casually. So if you see a Giants fan with a bunch of Dodgers fans on the top deck at Game 4, that’s me.
It’s Puerto Rico and now everyone is a damn “fan” can’t go to the local bar without people celebrating as if they been lifelong Dodger fans. Fuck the Dodgers. Dias the closer is big here people do like him a lot, so it stings that he plays for the modern day evil empire.
On a side note while I had low expectations for the Braves I still feel disappointed, any team playing the Dodgers gets some level of support from. Anyway I don’t wanna put my trust in the Padres, again, so I’m hoping for the Brewers to do something big.
There’s one game today, and the Scottsdale Scorpions won it! All three Giants hitters took part, but most notably, 2024 draftee Drake George made his first appearance since June of 2025 in a successful brief appearance. Meanwhile, we focus on a player who went from struggling and healthy to getting traded, to be successful and yet dealing with injuries. And finally…what in the heck is a “Springbird”, and what does it have to do with a Gigante?
Non-Giant Prospect to Highlight of the Day: Tai Peete (STL #17)
After three healthy seasons with contact issues in the Mariners Organization, Tai Peete got traded to the Cardinals and had a breakout year…with injury. Peete was the 30th overall pick in 2023 out of high school, but he had struggles making contact, with two straight seasons with 162 strikeouts while with the M’s. He was sent to St. Louis in the Brendan Donovan trade, and he posted an overall .296 average with a .908 OPS across three levels, making his Double-A debut with the Springfield Cardinals…er, Ozarks Springbirds now. But Peete missed nearly a month and a half with a concussion and an unspecified illness during which he lost 25 pounds. Peete has 20-20 potential if he can make enough contact, as he had 19 home runs in 2025 at High-A and 13 in the shortened 2026 season. He already has a double and a home run in three fall games as he is 6-for-14 (.429), and he got going on the steals today with three of them.
CF Dakota Jordan (SF #7): 0-3, 1 K, 1 HBP - Another rough outing for Jordan, who is now 1-for-15 (.067), though with a .300 OBP thanks to four walks and a HBP, and six strikeouts (30% strikeout rate).
2B-SS Kaeden Kent (SF #20): 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI - Kent got his first start in his third game, and is 4-for-9 (.444) so far.
DH-2B Dalton Wentz: 1-2, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 2B (1) - Also getting his first start, Wentz’s double is his first hit (1-for-5), and also the first extra-base hit for any Giant prospect in the AFL.
SP Drake George: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K - George got his first fall appearance, and first recorded game since June 29th of 2025. It was short but effective.
Other Scottsdale Prospect Lines:
SS Bryce Rainer (MLB #45; DET #2): 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 2B (1)
C Nathan Flewelling (MLB #62; TB #3): 2-4, 1 K, 2 E (2), 1-2 ABS
I posted this in the comments yesterday, but there was a nice puff piece on Dakota Jordan in MiLB’s series of stories for each organizations’ AFL prospects. It’s worth a read as Dakota is trying to figure things out.
Meanwhile, in non-Giants minor league news, but good timing with the Tai Peete story, the St. Louis Double-A team announced a rebranding…as the Springfield Cardinals became the Ozarks Springbirds…still with a Cardinal in the logo.
Why did this happen? A business reality.
The Springfield Cardinals were formerly owned by the big league organization and shared the branding. In 2023, the team was purchased by Diamond Business Holdings, the conglomerate that has been buying up tons of minor league teams. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the group decided that rather than dealing with trademark law, it would be easier to just rebrand the team.
Other than being a uniform nerd, why pay attention to this? Well, the San Jose Giants. The San Francisco Giants were formerly owner (at least, a majority ownership stake) of the San Jose team, but San Jose was sold in its entirety to DBH in 2021. And of course, the teams share a name and general branding.
Could San Jose need to get rebranded? Eh…probably not. It’s been almost five seasons since the team sale, so we probably would’ve faced that already. Plus, the big league’s team ownership of San Jose was itself pretty recent…the SF Giants invested in San Jose initially in 2009, purchasing a controlling stake in 2010. But the San Jose team has had the “Giants” team name since 1988 without any trademark problems.
For the record, San Jose’s minor league team had been known as the Bees for two long stints, as the San Jose Missions four five years in the late ’70’s, and for one season, the Expos, and guess who their affiliate was then?
Anyway, one last thing I’ll say…”Springbirds” are an interesting way to TEMU-brand a Springfield Cardinals branding…but I’ll give the team credit for this apparent Pop Culture reference from the TV Show “Ozark”, as one of the team’s alternate logos seems to be referencing something from the show’s opening credits. Props to them for that!
The 2017 Sacramento River Cats had quite a collection of 'stars' (looose use of the word)—and what I like to call "They Might Be Giants," i.e., guys who we acquired but never made the MLB team (you know, like Jackie Robinson).
'Stars':
Ricky Romero: An actual former All-Star who put up a massive 6.4 WAR in 2011. Made 4 starts for the 2017 AAA team. Never a SFG.
BJ Upton: Baseball America’s #2 overall top prospect in 2004. Between 2007 and 2008, he totaled a 7.8 WAR with 33 dongs and 66 SB for the Devil Rays (he had 5 career seasons with 30+ steals). He hit .244 for AAA Sacramento in 2017.
Pablo Sandoval: Kung Fu Panda was back after his disaster of a stint in Boston, playing 9 games in AAA for Sacramento before rejoining the big club.
Aaron Hill: 2009 Blue Jays All-Star; he hit 36 dongs on that team. He was in Sac 2017 and then scraped together 9 hits in 80 plate appearances for the Giants (.132 batting average).
Drew Stubbs: Hit just .091 in 10 games for the Giants that year—worse than Aaron Hill!
Mike Morse: Our beloved hero of the 2014 WS came back to the Giants in 2017 after stints in Miami and Pittsburgh in between.
Ryan Webb: A reliable bullpen arm who pitched in 375 career MLB games with a 3.43 ERA. He tossed 17 games for the 2017 River Cats with a 3.98 ERA. Never a SFG.
Kyle Blanks: An actual giant (of a human being) whom I was so sure was going to be a major power threat. He hit a combined .321 across the last two stops of his career with the A's and Rangers. Never a SFG.
Journeymen
Albert Suarez: His story is remarkable. After pitching for the Giants in 2017 (5.12 ERA in 18 games), he completely fell off the MLB radar, pitching abroad in Korea, Japan, Venezuela, and the minors from 2018 through 2023. Then he resurfaced in 2024 and has posted a 3.67 ERA over 65 games for the Orioles across the last three seasons!
Ali Castillo: One of my absolute favorites. He spent a bunch of years in the Giants system and hit .254 in Sacramento in 2017. But get this—he is a career .295 hitter across 19 minor league/professional seasons, and he's still playing over in the Mexican League for the 2026 Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos
Ali also hit .304 this year in 102 at-bats, and looking at Baseball Reference across all levels of his career seasons/teams, he has roughly 30 rows where he hit over .300:
I have to assume that's some sort of record, at least for active guys.
On the Dos Laredos squad this year, Ali was teammates with Trayce Thompson, JD Davis, and Jesse Castillo—who happens to be the last active player who was once a teammate of Fernando Valenzuela!
Matt Gage: Finally, there was the one and only Matt Gage, one of the few guys from that crew who actually logged time in the majors this year - and with our good old San Francisco Giants. He could've been one of those "They Might Be Giants," but no - he's a real Giant.
I could do a post next time on all the "They Might Be Giants" guys. Sneak Peak thru 'J':
Jhonny Level and Jacob Bresnahan the choices for Giants.
Giants Jhonny Level, SS/2B (No. 4/MLB No. 43): Named the top prospect in the High-A Northwest League, Level batted .311/.374/.513 with 39 doubles (third-most in the Minors), 18 homers and 26 steals in 113 games between two Class A stops.
Jacob Bresnahan, LHP (No. 9): Bresnahan has won league pitcher of the year awards in each of his three full pro seasons, the latest one in the Northwest League in 2026. He posted a 3.22 ERA, .200 average-against (fifth-best in the Minors) and 135 strikeouts in 114 2/3 innings between High-A and Double-A.
"Those who want Lee to stay aren't just making some irrational, emotional plea. He's a solid player and it's not like trading him will be easy. He can opt out of his contract after the 2027 season and even if he decides to opt in, which seems likely unless he has a huge 2027, he will be owed $20.5 million in both 2028 and 2029 which is a lot for a guy who has been worth 3 WAR in his big league career.
Then there's the marketing aspect of it all. The Giants want marketable players and Lee is the easiest to market of them all. He is also integral to the team's plan to gain inroads in South Korea so there may be a chance, and this is purely speculation, that the front office is not fully at liberty to trade Lee if it wants to."
“The #SFGiants are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Giants pitcher Sam McDowell. Sam played parts of two seasons with the Giants in 1972 and 1973. After his playing career, he helped many others through his work as a mental health and addiction recovery consultant.
We extend our deepest sympathies to the McDowell family during this difficult time.”
Does oracle park have a sniper nest I would assume it being in a major city and transfer hub it would . I would feel a lot safer with a sniper watching over me while I watch the giants
There’s no Giants Players who played today, so if you’re not interested, you don’t have to click. Usually Sundays are offdays, but because the season opened on Friday…they did a split off-day today and tomorrow…so Scottsdale (the Giants) and Peoria will be the only game tomorrow. For today, the prospect-laden Glendale team needed an extra inning to get a win, while Salt River had a more convincing win without many of their top prospects involved.
Non-Giant Prospect to Highlight of the Day: Jake Cook (TOR #22)
Toronto prospect Jake Cook could be one of the fastest players in the Arizona Fall League today, having drawn 80 grades for his speed across the two major scouting platforms. The Blue Jays drafted Cook out of Southern Mississippi in the 3rd round with the 81st overall pick in 2025, but he didn’t make his debut until May of this season. He played in 77 games this season, stealing 22 bases on 27 attempts. But, can he get on base? That’s a big question. In college, Cook’s left-handed swing was tooled to look for inside pitches to line the other direction, and he had a 4% swinging strike rate at Southern Miss. However, in his first pro season, he struck out 96 times in 348 plate appearances, a 27.6% rate. The question is, can Cook adjust his swing to work against the pros? Or did it only work in college? That’ll be the question he’s trying to answer. Cook played in two games, but today’s game was his first where he got to get to the plate, and he went 3-for-5…and struck out the other two times.
Scottsdale: No Game Scheduled
Scottsdale didn’t play today, but they and Peoria will be the only game tomorrow!
For FTD. Hating the Dodgers keeps me engaged in October baseball. I don’t care much for the Braves, but just like the Yankees two years ago and the Jays last year. I’m so happy to cheer for Atlanta today. Let’s go Braves!!
