Farhan Zaidi sat down with Alex Pavlovic to discuss the Giants early season offensive success and how they have yet to reach their full potential.
SAN FRANCISCO -- On Sept. 26, 2019, Tyler Beede took the mound at Oracle Park looking to end an up-and-down season on a high note. He faced 11 Colorado Rockies that day and struck out seven of them without allowing a hit, but what looked to be the best start of his career ended prematurely when he felt pain in his left oblique.
That turned out to be the final start Beede ever made for the Giants.
On Thursday, the Giants cut ties with their 2014 first-round pick, designating him for assignment with the likelihood that he is traded to a new organization in the coming days. It was not a surprise move. Beede could have been cut at the end of the spring, but the Giants put him in their bullpen as a long reliever and hoped that he would turn a corner, and that they would be able to find a way to keep what is still a very tantalizing arm.
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SIGN UP HERE The situation was not sustainable, though, and with Zack Littell coming off the COVID-19 IL, the Giants finally made a move. Beede is out of options so he could not be sent back to Triple-A.
"It was difficult, but it's the business side of it," Beede said shortly after getting the news.
The 28-year-old has been in an odd spot over the last month, but he said it has been a great experience and he thanked the Giants for keeping him on the roster through 24 games. Beede said he feels great physically and is happy with the way the ball is coming out of his hand, but he'll now look for a fresh start.
"My optimistic personality would say that it's going to be a great opportunity regardless of where I end up," he said. "There's no point for me to be pessimistic. How I handle the opportunity, the perspective that I have, is going to be everything ... I'm 100 percent confident that (previous successes are) still in there, if not better.
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"You know, 2019 was a good year for me, to be up here and have 22 starts, but I think that's just a little bit of -- for me -- a preview of what I'm capable of. I'm confident that if I do get an opportunity to either start or get thrown out there more consistently that I'll be a really, really good pitcher for a team and contribute in a good way. Anybody who puts on a uniform for a team, you've got to be confident in your abilities, and I certainly am."
Beede was taken 14th overall in 2014 out of Vanderbilt and viewed as the successor to a group of starters that had led a dynasty, but he ended up making just 24 starts for the Giants, 22 of them in 2019, Farhan Zaidi's first season in charge. The new front office knew that he had the arm to be a front-line starter, and, while Beede posted a 5.08 ERA overall that season, he got better as the season went on.
"Sure there were some growing pains," Bruce Bochy said after Beede's final appearance that year. "But it's gotten so much better."
Gabe Kapler took over a few weeks later and saw Beede come into camp throwing 98 mph in 2020. But a couple of weeks before the pandemic halted camp, Beede's elbow started bothering him. He had Tommy John surgery and made just one relief appearance over the next two seasons. Beede had allowed five runs in 9 2/3 relief innings this season.
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"It's tough that we haven't been able to kind of access Tyler's best performance as a San Francisco Giant thus far," Kapler said. "He's enormously talented. I don't think that catches anybody off-guard. He's been 96-98 (mph) since he's been back with us and he's thrown more strikes, he has taken some steps forward in that regard. His delivery looks good. Obviously every coach on this staff and all of his teammates and the entire organization wants to see him have success and it just hasn't worked out thus far."
The Giants know as well as anyone these days that it can take a while sometimes for everything to click into place for a starting pitcher, and that's one of the reasons they were hesitant to give up on Beede before Thursday. He should not have trouble finding a new home. Any pitcher who throws 98 and has multiple off-speed pitches will get opportunities, and multiple teams have sniffed around about Beede in recent weeks.
Beede wasn't fully ready to think about that next step on Thursday. He spent his afternoon packing up and saying goodbyes, including one to Will Clark, who is in town for the Buster Posey ceremony on Saturday. Beede said Clark was one of the first people he met after signing with the Giants. He noted that the relationships he has made stand out on a day like this.
"I love the organization. I love the direction that they're headed in," he said. "I want to be a part of a winning organization and ballclub, so the tough part is kind of the uncertainty of where I'll be. I know the history of this organization, the trajectory that they're on, and I know that they're going to be successful and wish nothing but the best for them. It's tough, for sure."