Skip to main content

McCovey Chronicles

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/ | 296 entries published

Where we tend to talk about the recent past a lot

Latest Entries

Monday BP: Robbie Ray community review

Good morning, baseball fans! Since the season ended, the McCovey Chronicles staff have been doing player reviews that go over each member of the San Francisco Giants’ 2025 season. Today, I’m going to continue our community reviews where we ask you all to weigh in on how you feel like each player did this year […]

about 1 month ago | 3 reads

Giants sign Luis Arráez to play second base

The San Francisco Giants made no secret about their desire to acquire a second baseman this offseason. They were never really in on free agent Bo Bichette, it seemed. There was a little smoke with Nico Hoerner, but it never seemed likely that the Chicago Cubs would deal him. They surprisingly made a run at […]

about 1 month ago | 6 reads

Weekend BP: Sacramento Fan Fest is here!

Good morning, baseball fans! The San Francisco Giants are continuing their 2026 Fan Fest Tour this weekend, this time in Sacramento! Admission is free, but fans will need to have tickets in order to enter. You can get those on the Giants’ website here. The event will take place Saturday, January 31st from noon to 3:00 […]

about 1 month ago | 5 reads

2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List No. 35

We’re so close to Spring Training! So close! And we’re surprisingly close to finishing our ranking of the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization, too. The list marches on, as we gear up for real baseball once more. The next name on the list is a newcomer: it’s outfielder Cam Maldonado, who […]

about 1 month ago | 4 reads

Friday BP: Giants facing potential lawsuit over “junk fees”

Good morning, baseball fans! The San Francisco Giants are now the third MLB team facing a potential class action lawsuit regarding the alleged use of “junk fees” tacked onto the price of tickets above their advertised price. Specifically before 2024, when laws to restrict these types of fees were put into place by the Federal […]

about 1 month ago | 5 reads

Giants trade Kai-Wei Teng for Minor League catching prospect Jancel Villarroel

After agreeing to a contract with free agent center fielder Harrison Bader on Monday, the San Francisco Giants had work to do trimming their roster. They would need to trade or waive a player to accommodate Bader on the 40-man roster, and on Thursday they found the solution. As first reported by Chandler Rome of […]

about 1 month ago | 2 reads

Thursday BP: Bader eager to join Giants/Dodgers rivalry

Good morning, baseball fans! The newest member of the San Francisco Giants, Harrison Bader, joined The Max Mannis Podcast earlier this week to discuss his decision to join the Giants’ organization. During the episode, Bader discusses his approach to facing his new team’s biggest rivals and reigning World Series champions (boo), the Los Angeles Dodgers. […]

about 1 month ago | 7 reads

2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List No. 34

Today is nomination day, so head to the comment section to nominate the next group of prospects for Friday’s CPL! We’re officially three-quarters of the way through the 2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List! Spring Training is about to start, and our community project ranking the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants […]

about 1 month ago | 5 reads

Wednesday BP: Marco Luciano’s wild ride

The San Francisco Giants agreed to a deal with outfielder Harrison Bader on Monday, and that means a few things. Most of those things are good — for instance, it means that the Giants will now have a watchable outfield defense, and also that they’ll probably be better this year than they would have otherwise […]

about 1 month ago | 9 reads

Bader, a batter?

There’s no doubt veteran Harrison Bader improves the Giants outfield defensively. He’s got the flair, the hair, and the hardware, not to mention eight years of consistently excellent defensive metrics, to back up his reputation as one of the best center fielders in the game. Considering the 2025 Giants outfield defense ranked dead last in […]

about 1 month ago | 8 reads

Tuesday BP: How are you feeling about the Harrison Bader signing?

Good morning, baseball fans! Yesterday, the San Francisco Giants announced that they have signed outfielder Harrison Bader to a two-year deal. So I wanted to check in and see how people are feeling about the signing. Personally, I agree with Brady’s assessment in the linked post above. Bader is an improvement on outfield defense, which […]

about 1 month ago | 4 reads

2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List No. 33

The 2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List marches on, and folks, we’re getting close! After this next chapter concludes, we’ll be three-quarters of the way to ranking the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization. Friday’s ballot was very close, but a winner emerged: it’s outfielder Lisbel Diaz, who has been voted […]

about 1 month ago | 3 reads

Giants sign Harrison Bader to 2-year deal

The San Francisco Giants once again entered an offseason saying they intended to get better defensively. And, with Spring Training right around the corner, they’ve finally made good on that promise. According to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, on Monday morning the Giants agreed to a two-year deal with free agent outfielder […]

about 1 month ago | 1 read

Monday BP: Offseason Temp Check

Good morning, baseball fans! We are just about two weeks away from San Francisco Giants pitchers and catchers reporting to Scottsdale for Spring Training. So I figured it was a good time to check in and see how everyone is feeling about this off-season so far. Personally, I am underwhelmed. It’s hard not to be […]

about 1 month ago | 8 reads

Player review: Robbie Ray

2025 stats: 32 GS, 182.1 IP, 3.65 ERA, 3.93 FIP, 109 ERA+, 1.212 WHIP, 9.2 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9, 2.2 fWAR Robbie Ray was an All-Star in 2025. At least, up until the All-Star break. His 2.65 ERA led the club into the July recess. At that point in the season, he ranked in […]

about 1 month ago | 4 reads

Weekend BP: San Ramon Fan Fest is here!

Good morning, baseball fans! The San Francisco Giants are continuing their 2026 Fan Fest Tour this weekend, this time in San Ramon! Admission is free, but fans will need to have tickets in order to enter. You can get those on the Giants’ website here. The event will take place Saturday, January 24th at the […]

about 2 months ago | 9 reads

2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List No. 32

Don’t look now, but pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training is really and truly right around the corner. In less than three weeks, San Francisco Giants will be descending upon Scottsdale, ready for a new season and all the hopes, dreams, and platitudes that come with it. We won’t be done with our Community […]

about 2 months ago | 8 reads

Friday BP: Hunter Pence falls off Hall of Fame ballot

Good morning, baseball fans! With the news earlier this week that (briefly) former San Francisco Giants outfielder Carlos Beltrán will be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame this year, there was unfortunately bad news for another former Giants outfielder. Hunter Pence, the very definition of a Forever Giant, did not receive enough votes to […]

about 2 months ago | 6 reads

Thursday BP: The Hall of Fame hypocrisy continues

Good morning, baseball fans! Yesterday, it was announced that the San Francisco Giants will have yet another former player inducted into the Hall of Fame this season. This time, it will be Carlos Beltrán getting the honors. Congratulations to Beltrán first and foremost. But my goodness, the hypocrisy is strong with this one. This is […]

about 2 months ago | 4 reads

Jung Hoo Lee detained and released by CBP

Jung Hoo Lee and the San Francisco Giants suffered a scare on Wednesday night, though thankfully all seems to be well. Lee, returning to the states ahead of Spring Training next month, was detained at Los Angeles International Airport by Customs and Border Protection agency. That, unfortunately, is not a particularly surprising item of news […]

about 2 months ago | 7 reads

2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List No. 31

It’s an exciting day for fans of San Francisco Giants prospecting. Over at Baseball America, the best top-100 list around has dropped, and for the first time in a long time, it features four Giants: Bryce Eldridge (No. 18), Josuar González (No. 30), Bo Davidson (No. 87), and Jhonny Level (No. 98). Over at There […]

about 2 months ago | 8 reads

Wednesday BP: Watch Tony Vitello at Fan Fest San Jose

Good morning, baseball fans! Over the weekend, the San Francisco Giants held the first stop on their 2026 Fan Fest Tour in San Jose. Fans were able to sit in on player and coach Q&A sessions, queue up for autographs and pictures, and take part in a lot of fun activities put on by the […]

about 2 months ago | 6 reads

Giants legend Carlos Beltrán elected to Hall of Fame

It’s a pretty exciting time for the San Francisco Giants and the Hall of Fame. Sure, Barry Bonds and Duane Kuiper have been passed over more times than I was anytime we picked teams for any sport at the playground. But in December, Jeff Kent was elected to the hall by the Contemporary Baseball Era […]

about 2 months ago | 8 reads

Player review: Kai-Wei Teng

2025 stats: 8 G (7 GS), 29.2 IP, 6.37 ERA / 4.00 xERA, 11.8 K/9, 5.2 BB/9, 1.55 WHIP, +0.3 fWAR It’s down to Kai-Wei Teng and Tristan Beck as the players left in the organization following the flurry of trades former President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi made at the 2019 trade deadline. Both […]

MLB

about 2 months ago | 2 reads

Player review: Dominic Smith

2025 stats: 63 G 225 PA .284/.333/.417, 5 HR, 26 RBI, 6.7 BB%, 18.7 K%, -6.3 Def, 111 wRC+, +0.4 fWAR Dominic Smith missed the final 15 games of the Giants’ season, and while that time didn’t wind up impacting what’ll happen to his career in 2026, it wound up being a huge pivot point […]

about 2 months ago | 8 reads