Gregor Blanco Moving On, Signs with Arizona Diamondbacks

Another San Francisco Giants’ free agent is off the board, as Gregor Blanco has signed a minor league deal. He is staying within the National League West, but will head to Arizona to compete for a roster spot with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After five years with the San Francisco Giants, Gregor Blanco is moving on. It seemed likely he would be signing elsewhere from the beginning of the offseason (he made a “goodbye” post on Instagram three months ago), and it is now official. Blanco is a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ organization, and has been extended an invitation to Spring Training.

Blanco signed with the Giants in November of 2011, also to a minor league deal, but never played a minor league game with the Giants’ organization. Every single one of the 686 games Blanco has played over the last five years has been with the big league club, an amazing accomplishment for a non-roster guy.

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While with the Giants, Blanco earned a place as one of the game’s premier fourth outfielders. He was never pegged as an everyday player, but routinely found himself thrust into a big role because of one reason or another. In 2012, he took over in left field when Melky Cabrera was suspended, and started every game during the Giants’ World Series run that year. He hit a two-run home run in NLDS game four against the Cincinnati Reds, and it turned out to be the game-winning run.

In 2014, he played a career-high 146 games because of various injuries to Mike Morse and Angel Pagan in the outfield. During the postseason, he laid down the bunt that Randy Choate threw down the line to end game three of the NLCS. In the World Series, he hit a leadoff home run in game two against Yordano Ventura.

Blanco was never the flashiest player, but he had his share of great moments with the team. His postseason numbers weren’t great, but his help was key for the Giants, and his defense was spectacular throughout his tenure. Probably his biggest and longest-lasting moment as a Giant came on June 13th, 2012. If not for Blanco’s heroic, diving catch on the warning track to rob Jordan Schafer of extra bases in the seventh inning that day, Matt Cain doesn’t throw the first perfect game in Giants’ franchise history.

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The Giants seem to be making an effort to get younger, and at 33 years old, Blanco doesn’t fit with those plans. Blanco will have a chance to compete again in Arizona, and it is not unfamiliar territory. He was on the Giants’ opening day roster in 2012 after getting nothing more than a chance to compete in Spring Training.

Arizona’s starting outfield is just about set with A.J. Pollock in the middle and David Peralta and Yasmany Tomas on the corners, but the backup jobs are a little more up for grabs. Blanco is at an obvious disadvantage as he is not on the 40-man roster, while Jeremy Hazelbaker, Socrates Brito, and Brandon Drury are already on the roster. Chris Herrmann, a natural catcher, and Chris Owings, a natural shortstop, both played a lot of outfield last year, giving Blanco a real long shot to make the opening day roster. But Blanco will fight and scratch and claw, just as he did with San Francisco, and do everything he can to get back to where he wants to be.

In Blanco’s absence, Gorkys Hernandez is the most likely candidate to fill his backup outfield role with the Giants. Hernandez has a very similar profile to Blanco. They are both speedsters that can play all three outfield spots, providing strong defense but leaving a little to be desired on the offensive side. If Hernandez can provide anything close to what Blanco did during his best seasons, he will fill in just fine.

Next: Giants 2017 X-Factor, Pt. 2: Panik

Thank you for five great seasons, Gregor, and best of luck in Arizona!

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