Morning Rundown: Giants DFA Blake Sabol, Pirates make International splash
Former Pirate DFA, team gets commitment for Interational free agent
Former Pittsburgh Pirate Blake Sabol was designated for assignment by the San Francisco Giants on Saturday to make room for Justin Verlander on the 40-man roster.
Sabol was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the Rule 5 draft but traded to the Giants.
He spent the entire season with the Giants in 2023, hitting .235/.301/.391 with 13 home runs in 110 games while posting a 0.4 fWAR. Sabol struggled defensively, with a -7 defensive runs saved as a catcher.
In 2024, Sabol spent the majority of the season in Triple-A, where he hit 12 home runs in 100 games and posted a 129 wRC+ in 11 games with the Giants.
With the Dodgers among the favorites to Roki Sasaki, they were going to have to let go of some of the international amateurs they had agreements with for the upcoming signing period to save money.
The first ripple effect was seen when the Pirates were able to acquire a player originally set to sign with Los Angeles, infielder Darell Morel.
Standing at 6’5”, Morel is a left-handed hitting shortstop who will sign for apparently $1.8 million.
The news first broke in a Ben Badler article on Baseball America. The $1.8 million bonus Morel will receive is about double what he was originally set to receive from the Dodgers.
John Dreker was able to get some exclusive videos of Morel. The first clip shows him hitting, and another minute shows him fielding grounders.
This is the first of a few prospects that will likely be signing elsewhere. Most of these amateur deals are made under the table at least a year prior, sometimes more.
Any team hoping to land Sasaki will need their entire bonus pool, so they won’t be signing any other amateur players.
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More from "Baseball Wit and Wisdom" to hold us over as we slooowly trudge toward spring training:
"Baseball is a game where a curve is an optical illusion, a screwball can be a pitch or a person, stealing is legal and you can spit anywhere you like, except in the umpire's eye or on the ball." Jim Murray, LA Times, 1962 (when some people still thought the curveball was an optical illusion!).
Despite all the angst when Sabol was left unprotected and subsequently selected in the Rule 5 draft, this was probably always the most likely outcome. Nice for him, as he got a full year in MLB. You would think a catcher who has the athleticism to play outfield would be more valuable, but the unfortunate thing is his defense isn't good enough to be a catcher and he doesn't hit well enough to be an outfielder. Someone should claim him as catchers are a fairly scarce commodity. Most teams seem to opt for a glove first backup, so he will need to find the right team to get on a 26 man roster.