Every season, there are a handful of players who come and go and quickly become the tougher parts of a roster quiz a decade or two from now. The 2025 Giants had a lot of familiar faces from the churn era but managed to sprinkle in a couple of new guys. Because we’re just a couple of days away from the first Spring Training game, let’s quickly review.

It felt like we were saying goodbye to LWJ for two seasons, which forgets how good he was through the first four months of 2024 (.815 OPS in 243 PA). But over the final two months of 2024 (.679 OPS in 158 PA) and his first month in 2025 (.490 OPS in 96 PA) it became clear that his skills had degraded enough that his utility on the roster and effectiveness as a major leaguer overall was in serious doubt.

Just five games into 2025 I sounded the alarm bells based on a perilous decline in his bat speed. A month later, it became clear he was the worst hitter on the Giants and one of the worst in the entire sport, actively losing games for the team. His season ended on the Angels, which is technically a major league franchise, but the change of scenery did not change matters. He went 11-for-65 and was cut by them in August.

The Giants were able to work around him, eventually, by adding Dominic Smith into the mix, but at the end of the day, it was a shame to watch the Late Night LaMonte era end the way that it did.

He signed a minor league deal with the White Sox in the offseason. Good luck!

The Vallejo native and former Nationals prospect was signed to a minor league contract in May and got into 14 games for the Giants, playing all three outfield positions and pinch hit. He was sort of in that Will Brennan position where there were some things he’s done well (a little speed and a decent on base), but most importantly, had an option available.

He went 5-for-29 with a home run and a stolen base. That home run came against the Dodgers as a pinch hitter (the Giants lost that game 5-4) and his stolen base came in what was probably his best game: his debut against the Padres on June 4th. He went 2-for-4 against them and helped setup the big inning that swung the game in their favor. He ended the season with the Orioles.

This is probably the wackiest season by a Giants farmhand in recent memory. He was out of options so the Giants designated him for assignment at the end of Spring Training…. to get Lou Trivino on the roster. He cleared waivers and so they outrighted him to Triple-A.

Then Casey Schmitt got hurt and Jerar Encarnacion wound up on the 60-day IL and suddenly, there was a need and a roster spot available; so, the Giants called him back up to the big leagues — a surprise to all of us, including David Villar himself. He got into 9 games, went 4-for-20, and managed to strike out just 5 times. Still, he didn’t do anything to show why the Giants might’ve been wrong to move on from him and it didn’t seem like any adjustments he made were going to help him out against major league pitching.

He did have this nice unassisted double play, though:

He elected free agency after the Giants DFA’d him again and he caught on with the Mets for a couple of months before they released him.

The world has largely moved on from Farhan Zaidi as a baseball executive but let’s try to remember that every minor move the guy made was tinged with the idea that the player could be the next Max Muncy or even the next superutility player. His algorithm could see major leaguers where others struggled. Or whatever. Wisely, as a left-handed hitting up the middle defender (remember, he played 18 games in CF for the Giants in 2023) was sort of a platonic ideal of a bench bat.

Unfortunately, he never hit for the Giants in the majors and, so far, he’s yet to translate his career MiLB line of .280/.369/.457 (1,980 PA) in whole or in part. He went 10-for-48 in 22 games with the Giants (he ended his season with Atlanta) and was a replacement-level player thanks solely to his defense.

Of course, his season might’ve gone a little differently for him had the Giants not optioned him out of Spring Training. He was 13-for-44 with 4 doubles and a homer and a triple slash of .295/.380/.455. The Giants selected Christian Koss over him. Maybe not the wrong call, especially considering how well the Giants played out of the gate, but it might’ve been a critical moment for his career.

The Giants designated him for assignment in September. Atlanta claimed him and then DFA’d him in the winter and wound up trading him to the Rays for LHP Ken Waldichuk. Two weeks ago, the Rays DFA’d him and Atlanta reacquired him for cash.

Definitionally, a warm body that the Giants called upon in July when they were in a tight spot. The Giants gave the switch-hitter 1 game and 4 at bats. He struck out twice.

The Giants cycled through several backup catchers after it became clear that (chuckling) Tom Murphy would not be available in 2025.

He was the best of the bunch, at least defensively. His +2.5 Defensive Runs Above Average were a far cry from Patrick Bailey’s +35.2, but Statcast rated him just 22nd percentile in Blocks Above Average (-3 runs). He was +1 in Pitch Framing. He got the most plate appearances, too, with 88 in 33 games. He slashed .221/.299/.299 with 7 walks against 10 strikeouts.

It wasn’t all bad, though. That final line is because in his first 23 games he went 9-for-55 with a triple slash of .164/.207/.218. Over his final 10 games, he was 8-for-22 with a double, a triple, and 4 walks against just 2 strikeouts (.364/.483/.500).

The Mariners picked him up in the offseason, where I suspect he could be a perfectly cromulent backup to Cal Raleigh.

Porter seems to do two things well: draw walks and block balls in the dirt. In a very limited sample (5 games), Statcast has him at a +1 for blocking. For the River Cats, he drew 47 walks against just 69 strikeouts in 286 plate appearances, good enough for a .346 on base percentage. His MiLB career OBP is .390. He got into just 5 games in June for the Giants before optioning him back and eventually designating him for assignment.

But, obviously, Buster Posey and Zack Minasian like something about him, because after he elected free agency, they re-signed him to a minor league deal and he is an invite to this year’s Spring Training.

The Giants claimed him off waivers from the Rangers last January as perhaps a Tom Murphy replacement — at least, that was my speculation. He could, broadly, hit, but was not a good defender. Sort of Murphy’s profile. He has a career .473 slugging percentage in the minors with 125 home runs. For the Giants, he hit 2 in 20 games (58 PA) but slashed just .208/.259/.340 (.598 OPS) with an unplayable 6:1 K:BB (25 strikeouts to 4 walks).

He broke camp as the team’s de facto backup to Patrick Bailey, but it never really worked out. Statcast tagged him with a -4 runs below average, an absolute nightmare for a pitching staff with Logan Webb on it.

Then again, depending on how much value you put into it, I think the pitching staff split by ERA is interesting:

Patrick Bailey: 3.63 ERA (132 G)
Andrew Knizner: 5.04 ERA (32 G)
Sam Huff: 3.28 ERA (20 G)
Logan Porter: 4.98 ERA (4 G)

Hmm. Maybe it was just a fluke and the result of the Giants’ magical start to 2025.

This was definitely one year in recent memory that I can’t really recall a true disappointment winding up on here. Maybe LaMonte Wade Jr., but an oft-injured corner guy in his 30s usually winds up in his exact situation, so, I would tend not to label his 2025 as a surprise. It’s very easy to remember how all of these hitters played themselves out of jobs.

But every team has guys like this on their roster every year. Let us celebrate their contributions. It’s not easy to become a major league baseball player, and it’s even more difficult to stick.