Giants make MULTIPLE big moves official...

Buster Posey and the San Francisco Giants woke up with 49 names on their 40-man roster. The deadline to cut that down to 40 was this afternoon. Justice De Los Santos of the Mercury News Group asked Giants fans for guesses. McCray, Roxby, Foley, Basabe, Gage, Kisner, and Furman were already out. Then the press release landed. We learned the plethora of moves the San Francisco Giants made, and some of them were fairly notable. Before we get too deep into it, let's break down why the Giants had to cut anyone at all. The Giants ended the season with virtually their entire opening day roster on the 60-day injured list. And today, every single one of them had to be added to the 40-man roster. And these were more than just role players. There were some pretty big names. Matt Chapman, Rafael Devers, Daniel Susek, Casey Schmitt, and a handful of arms that were all taking up a spot. During the regular season, all of those guys on the IL don't count towards the 40 man. But now, five days after the World Series has ended, they count. So between everybody on the injured list and a number of guys who are just, quite frankly, not part of the future here in San Francisco, it all had to shrink to 40. That's the part a lot of people miss about deadline day. Cutting down to 40 isn't just one singular decision. It's 10 to 15 big decisions, and every single one of them is going to cost somebody a job. Now, seven of those cuts did come before today. McCray to Seattle and Roxby to Washington on October 29th. Foley, Basave, and Gage sent to Triple-A the same day. Kisner on October 30th, then Nate Furman traded to Washington for Tony Njubek on November 1st. Furman was a notable departure for the Giants because it was Jeff Passan who announced it, and he's a guy who hits for high average, which we know Buster Posey really likes. Passan also reported that the Giants were working through a 40-man crunch with more roster-clearing moves coming before they cut down to 40. Now before we get too deep into today's video, if you haven't yet, make sure to go down below and hit that subscribe button. About 75% of you guys watching these videos are not actually subscribed to the channel. Completely free, takes just a second of your time, and would be much appreciated by myself and everybody here at Digest Media. Now we can get into today's news, starting with the cuts that, frankly, not a lot of people are going to lose sleep over. Duncan Davitt was claimed by the Cincinnati Reds earlier this morning. The Giants only picked him up off waivers in September, and in six innings as a Giant, he had a 9 ERA. Going back to his time with the White Sox, Davitt finished 2026 with eight innings and a 7.88 ERA, and he's 26 years old. Shea Whitcomb came over from Houston on August 13th, Harris from Boston and Kuhnel from Milwaukee in early September, and Davitt from Atlanta right after. Alex Pavlovich put it as the Giants losing several players on waivers, mostly newcomers. Brett Harris hit .136 in 21 games this year and never went yard. Shea Whitcomb hit .226 with a .573 OPS in 32 games as a San Francisco Giant, both of those guys claimed by the Philadelphia Phillies. Kuhnel was the least notable departure who had the best showing as a San Francisco Giant, a 2.79 ERA in 10 games. But he also has a 5.39 career ERA and 21 home runs allowed in 138.2 innings. So outrighting him tells you where he sits. The backstop, Zach Morgan, was claimed by the Baltimore Orioles, and I pray that he gets a chance to make his big league debut with what the Giants did to him this season. Joel Kuno and Seth Lonsway cleared waivers and were outrighted to AAA Sacramento, so they are still in the organization, just not currently on the 40-man. Add it all together and four teams claimed five San Francisco Giants in a single afternoon. Texas, Cincinnati, Baltimore, and two from Philadelphia. Other teams look at this roster and might see players worth a spot. Now sure, none of these guys were going to be huge factors in the Giants' future, but it is clear that they were simply out of room. None of this is necessarily shocking. The San Francisco Standard projected basically all of these cuts exactly back on October 9th. But there are two names that were just cut from the San Francisco Giants that definitely stand out. The first being Tristan Beck. Beck was one of the longer-tenured Giants, pitching for them in each of the last four seasons, and he was released this afternoon. He actually started pretty well. In 2023, he threw 85 innings with a 3-9-2 ERA, the best season of his career. But over the four years entirely, he threw 176.2 innings with a .408 ERA, and we all know he kept going up and down between Sacramento and San Francisco. His FIP, which is strictly how good a pitcher performs and takes out the defense and luck, got worse every single year. .387 in 23, .401 in 24, and a .431 in 2025. This season, with San Francisco, he struck out 9 batters in 19 innings with a 5-2-1 ERA. Typically for long men like Tristan Beck, you're one injury from getting a legit look in the big leagues, and for 4 years, that was Beck. But at some point, a team has to decide whether that guy is part of the solution or just a placeholder. Today, the San Francisco Giants decided. And in my humble opinion, I have not thought Tristan Beck is a big league capable arm for a couple of years at this point. Now, don't get me wrong. He ate a lot of innings and had some important moments as a Giant. But for the most part, I just did not see him as a future piece of this bullpen. So I honestly did expect the Giants to cut Tristan Beck, but this next one was definitely more of a surprise. Jose Buteau was released this afternoon. For those that may have forgot, he was acquired from the New York Mets in the Tyler Rogers deal from two deadlines ago. At the time of that deal, Tyler Rogers had a 1-8-0 ERA in 50 innings for the Giants. They got back Buteau, Blade Tidwell, and Drew Gilbert. And at the time of Buteau coming over from the Mets to the Giants, Ryan Finkelstein of LockedOnMets and JustBaseball.com really liked him. He told me personally that he thought he could potentially be a starter in the future. His best season was 2024 with the Mets, 74 innings, a 2-5-5 ERA, and 79 strikeouts. 15 of his 98 career games were starts, which is why people thought he could do more than just relieve. Buteau had a 3-7-6 career ERA over 189 innings, and Jeff Young notes his career FIP currently sits at 4-0-7. Now, Buteau was fully expected to be an option for this bullpen, making the opening day roster at the beginning of 2026, as well as being an option heading into 2027. Then, as I'm sure all of you know, in April, he left a game with elbow tightness after 28 pitches, a blood clot, then two arm surgeries. He threw just two innings for the Giants over the course of the season. As Jeff Young points out, the arbitration raise was only going to be to $800,000, not much of an obstacle whatsoever. The Giants just felt they could find better value with that roster spot. Of the three players the San Francisco Giants got for Tyler Rogers over a year ago, one of them just walked away for nothing. Tidwell and Gilbert are still Giants. Butteau is a Ranger. Tidwell did undergo Tommy John surgery, so we most likely will not see him in 2027, and Gilbert played some big innings for the Giants last season, despite the underwhelming record. So the trade that was supposed to restock this bullpen has won her arm, one outfielder, and a player who just got claimed by the Texas Rangers. Now, I am not saying that the Giants lost that trade, but they definitely have less to show for it now than they did when it happened. Now, Rule 5 Protection Day is November 17th, and prospects like Joe Whitman, Junior Marte, and Henry Lane do need spots on this roster. If the Giants don't protect an eligible prospect by then, any team can take him in the Rule 5 draft. Joe Whitman, Junior Marte, Henry Lane, Marty Gare, and Bo Davidson are names to watch, but of course, Davidson was elevated to the 40-man when he debuted in September. But there's also a bigger reason that all of these spots matter. The non-tender deadline is November 20th, and the collective bargaining agreement expires on December 1st, which, we all know, a lockout is imminent. In the last lockout, players on the 40-man were frozen and teams could not make any moves involving them. The same, of course, is expected this year. So because of that looming lockout, every decision Buster Posey makes is a little more important. I think that's a bigger deal than some people think. Maybe releasing Butteau wasn't simply about releasing Butteau, it was about making room for what Buster Posey wants to do. Justice asked for guesses, and for the most part, I think a lot of them were easy. Beck was an easy one. Butteau, on the other hand, was one that not a lot of people expected. So, let me know down in the comments section who are the next names to go for the San Francisco Giants, and what moves you want to see them make this winter. If you enjoyed the video, go down below, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. 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