Blanco Set to Part with Giants, Enter Free Agent Market

After four years in the City by the Bay, Gregor Blanco appears to have announced the end of his tenure as a member of the San Francisco Giants.

The impending free agent posted a minute long video on Instagram chronicling his career as a member of the orange and black, along with the caption, “Thank you for everything San Francisco this is my home and always will...my dreams are here and I hope I keep having an amazing journey in SAN Francisco #staystrong #sfgiants #giantsforever @sfgiants”

Nothing has been made official either by the Giants nor Blanco, but if this is truly the end of the White Shark’s career in San Francisco, his presence will truly be missed.

Despite Blanco’s struggles during his final season as a Giant, his production during his prime years were crucial to helping the Giants secure the latter two of San Francisco’s three World Series titles.

Following the suspension of Melky Cabrera in 2012 and the trade deadline having already passed, Blanco slid right into left field, posting decent numbers while holding down left field with a solid glove. Blanco entered into a similar role in 2014 when an injury ended Angel Pagan’s season, once again putting up numbers while bringing stability to a thin outfield rotation.

For all of Blanco’s highlights in San Francisco, whether it be preserving Matt Cain’s perfect game with a diving catch deep into Triple’s Alley or kicking Game 2 of the 2014 World Series off with a home run, Giants fans should remember him as the player who blew his expectations out of the water.

San Francisco signed Blanco as a minor-league free agent back in 2011 with no prospects that he would become Bruce Bochy’s versatile super-sub in the outfield.

Prior to joining the Giants’ organization, Blanco bounced around with the Atlanta Braves, playing with both Triple-A and the big league club, but never attaining stability. The Braves traded him to the Kansas Royals in 2010 before letting him walk after 49 games. In 2010, Blanco spent more time back in Triple-A with the Washington Nationals and the Royals, once again being let go at season’s end.

When Blanco inked a contract with the Giants in November of 2011, the outfielder had a career WAR of only 1.9 with 253 major league games under his belt. Saying he peaked as a rookie would not have been an egregious statement, as his subsequent seasons saw now signs of noticeable improvement.

Somehow, someway, Blanco blossomed into a serviceable role player, eclipsing his career totals with a WAR of 2.5 in just his first season in San Francisco. The outfielder’s wRC+ totals rose every season after 2011, peaking in 2015 with a total of 118 to go along with a slash line of .291/.368/.413.

Blanco’s emergence as a fringe starter is remarkable considering how many players in the Giants organization, let alone baseball as a whole, sign minor-league contracts only to toil in the minor leagues.

This year alone, Ramiro Pena, Ruben Tejada, Grant Green, and Gorkys Hernandez all signed minor-league deals with the Giants before this season, and while they all had their brief cup of coffee, none were close to Blanco’s productivity.

The Giants will likely sign a plethora of players to minor-league contracts this offseason, next offseason, and so on and so forth, and the realistic assumption is that only a handful will step onto the gem that is AT&T Park, or any of the other 29 ballparks for that matter.

The outfielder was and will never be an All-Star nor a player whose number is worth retiring nor a player whose name will spark hours and hours of barber shop talk, and that’s okay, but true Giants fans cannot and should not attempt to undermine his ascension from a destined journeyman to a contributor on two World Series teams. He not only transformed his career in a way few players have, but there is an argument that without Blanco, San Francisco’s ventures in October baseball will look different.

Blanco epitomized what it meant to wear the orange and black, an underdog who broke from the cocoon of mediocrity and emerged as the butterfly no one thought he would become. Gregor Miguel Blanco Pedraza may no longer wear the uniform, but to the faithful fans who were there every step of the way, the man will always be a good Giant.

#news