Giants Designate Buddy Kennedy For Assignment

The Giants announced that first baseman Bryce Eldridge has been reinstated from the bereavement list. Infielder Buddy Kennedy has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to relay the information. Kennedy, 27, is a journeyman infielder. He started this season with the Giants on a minor league deal. He was selected to the big league roster at the start of June but was designated for assignment a few weeks later. He was flipped to the Mariners for cash but then the Giants brought him back via a waiver claim at the start of August. The Giants have been working around a number of injuries to their infield group this year. At the moment, Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, Marcelo Mayer and Casey Schmitt are all on the injured list. San Francisco has also brought up players like Nate Furman, Shay Whitcomb and Osleivis Basabe this year. Those guys have options and could have been easily sent to the minors for Eldridge today but the Giants have instead gone for the out-of-options Kennedy. That’s not really surprising, since he has an awful .116/.224/.140 batting line this year. Kennedy has bounced around the league throughout his career, generally getting chances because he continually puts up good numbers in the minors and has some defensive versatility. However, he hasn’t yet been able to have major league success and has exhausted his option years, so he doesn’t usually stay with one club for long. He now has 230 big league plate appearances under his belt, spread across five different seasons, with a .165/.261/.245 line. That’s in stark contrast to his Triple-A work. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has a .292/.400/.457 line in 1,528 plate appearances at that level. If he could hit like that in the majors, he would be a useful utility guy, since he has lots of experience at first, second and third base. He has also briefly dabbled at shortstop and in left field. Since the trade deadline has passed, he’ll be on waivers again in the coming days. Perhaps he’ll get another shot somewhere else based on his potential. If he clears waivers, he will have the right to elect free agency since he has been previously outrighted in his career. Photo courtesy of Neville E. Guard, Imagn Images View Comments (5)