I don't think it is too surprising, considering there's been rumors for months this would happen. I was surprised, though, when the rumors first started. Does this mean Duggar gets one more chance?
My guess is that FZ wants to retain all of Anderson, Garcia and Rickard. The dfa game is risky so maybe he assumed that it would be easier to pass them off the 40 man, but keep them in the org, by this method. Otherwise, I have no freakin' clue what the crap he is thinking.
For non-tendering purposes, it doesn't matter. The org still sees some value in him.
The whole move smacks of tanking. Why did they feel the need to move him? Higher ups in the org have been quoted, before the dfa, that they needed a veteran middle infielder. The payroll isn't even in 9 digits. What was the point, other than to assemble the worst team that can be arguably put on an Opening Day roster?Might as well start the tanking early. Look what happened when they tried to be competitive.
I have not heard anything about him, though. What exactly was the deadline yesterday? Deciding to tender? So they are now required to offer SOMETHING to him?
The deadline was to make an offer of a contract to anyone without a multi-year deal. For those offered a contract who are arbitration eligible, the team then has to make an offer or go through arbitration. Those who are not yet arbitration eligible can negotiate new deals but most are just renewed in the month of February. Its kind of weird how the process works for them. They have the opportunity to work out a deal, in theory, but don't really have that power in actuality. I don't know why teams don't just renew contracts during this process instead of February.
And to answer your question, Baseball Reference says that he won't be arbitration eligible until the 2021-2022 offseason. Looks like the Giants have avoided arbitration hearings this offseason.
BBRef has his service time calculated at 1.147. What does Cots have?Cots has him eligible this off season...
Looking a different sheet, it shows 1.15 and not arb eligible.
