The Giants have launched shortstop Nick Ahmed, in keeping with his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The membership had designated him for project earlier this week. He’s now a free agent and may signal with any membership.
Coming into 2024, San Francisco appeared dedicated to transferring on from the Brandon Crawford period, one thing the longtime Big mentioned again in March. The plan was to offer extra enjoying time to youthful choices like Marco Luciano and Casey Schmitt, however Ahmed was introduced in as a veteran fallback plan and ultimately received the job out of camp.
Ahmed has lengthy served as a glove-first shortstop within the large leagues, however his subpar offense dropped even decrease final 12 months. The Giants have been certainly hoping for a little bit of a bounceback this 12 months however didn’t fairly get it.
He had hit .241/.299/.401 from 2018 to 2022, with that manufacturing translating to an 83 wRC+. However that dropped to a line of .212/.257/.303 and a 51 wRC+ final 12 months. It has climbed a bit right here in 2024 however solely barely, as he hit .232/.278/.303 for a wRC+ of 68 previous to being designated for project.
On high of that, his elite protection has been declining as nicely. From 2015 to 2021, he racked up 81 Defensive Runs Saved, second solely to the now-retired Andrelton Simmons at shortstop. His 102 Outs Above Common in that time-frame tied Francisco Lindor for the perfect in baseball, although Ahmed gathered that whole in far fewer innings than Lindor.
However DRS has him nearer to league common over the previous three years, with a complete of -1 right here in 2024. OAA nonetheless likes him fairly a bit, with a tally of +4 this season, however that’s nonetheless a drop from his earlier ranges.
Given these developments, the Giants determined to maneuver on. Luciano and Schmitt nonetheless engaged on issues in Triple-A however the membership is rolling with Brett Correctly and Tyler Fitzgerald at shortstop for now. Ahmed has greater than sufficient service time to reject an outright project whereas retaining his wage, which the Related Press lists as $1.5MM, a bit north of this 12 months’s $740K league minimal. The Giants omitted that formality by releasing Ahmed.
The Giants will now stay on the hook for that wage whereas any membership might signal Ahmed and solely must pay him the prorated model of that league minimal for any time spent on the roster, with that quantity subtracted from what the Giants pay. His declining outcomes will doubtless restrict him to minor league offers however he’s nonetheless a reasonably succesful defender and golf equipment just like the Dodgers, Tigers, Braves, Guardians and Purple Sox have some uncertainty at shortstop.
