Seven more Giants signings, graded from the day each one reached the majors

These grades were written in September from documents dated at the time. A minor-league contract is not graded when it is signed; under this section's rules it earns a grade the day the player is selected to the 40-man roster, and it is graded on the deal's terms as of that day. Six of the club's offseason minor-league signings reached the majors between March 25 and June 1, and one in-season major league contract, Andrew Knizner's, was signed on August 11. Each is graded here as of its date, on the same rubric as the nine major league contracts: need, fit, price and term, risk. The argument for each cites nothing dated later than the day plus one, and nothing that has happened since informs a letter.

Kilian, March 25: B#

Kilian, 28, signed a minor-league deal with an invitation to camp on December 14, five years after San Francisco traded him to the Cubs for Kris Bryant. What the club knew in December, per MLB Trade Rumors on January 4: a 9.22 ERA over 27 1/3 career major league innings with almost as many walks as strikeouts, a 7.47 ERA in 2025, a teres major strain that had cost him more than half of 2024, and a 60-day injured-list stint in 2025. What it knew on March 25: 9 1/3 spring innings, one earned run, eleven strikeouts, two walks, and a fastball regularly at 99 mph per NBC Sports Bay Area.

Need: a bullpen that MLB Trade Rumors had described that month as neglected, with Ryan Walker the closer by default. Fit: a converted starter throwing 99 in short relief is what that bullpen lacked. Price: a minor-league deal at the near-minimum, with the cost being that he was out of options and could not be sent down without clearing waivers. Risk: the arm history, and a spring line, which is the least reliable line in baseball. B.

Oliva, March 25: C+#

Oliva, 30, had not played in the majors since 2021. He signed a minor-league deal on January 12, hit .375 with a .994 OPS and stole 14 bases in 15 attempts across 20 Cactus League games, per MLB.com's Maria Guardado on March 25, after going 57 for 63 in steals at Triple-A Nashville in 2025 on a .252/.335/.413 line. The Giants had stolen 68 bases in 2025, 29th in the majors, and Buster Posey said carrying him, "with what he can do on the basepaths, defensively, is a weapon for us." To make the roster spot, the club designated Luis Matos, 24 and out of options, for assignment.

Need: bench speed on a slow roster, which the club named. Fit: a pinch-runner and late defensive outfielder, the narrowest job on a 26-man roster. Price: the minimum in dollars and Luis Matos in players, since the spot came from a former top prospect who could not be optioned. Risk: a bench player whose value is one tool, on a roster that had just given up a 24-year-old to carry him. C+.

Haase, April 21: B-#

Haase, 33, signed a minor-league deal on January 16, was released on March 25 when Daniel Susac won the backup job, and re-signed on a new minor-league contract within a week, per MLB Trade Rumors on April 21. He was selected that day when Susac went to the injured list with right elbow neuritis and Patrick Bailey was hitting .151/.211/.151. His nine games at Sacramento: .250/.300/.472 across 40 plate appearances. His career: .228/.278/.396 with 48 home runs in 1,224 plate appearances, a 30.7 percent strikeout rate and an 85 wRC+.

Need: immediate. A backup catcher was required the day the starter's backup went down, and the alternative was a catcher hitting .151. Fit: a veteran with power and a strikeout problem, which is the profile a backup catcher can carry. Price: nothing, twice. Risk: the strikeout rate, and the 40-man spot, opened by moving Jose Butto to the 60-day injured list. B-.

Santos, April 29: C+#

Santos, 26, had been a Giant before: 5 2/3 innings across 2021 and 2022 before he was designated. He signed a minor-league deal on December 19 after a 2025 in which he opened with diminished velocity, walked eight of 36 batters without a strikeout across seven innings for Seattle, had knee cartilage surgery in late April, and walked nine against five strikeouts in five rehab innings in September, per MLB Trade Rumors on April 29. At Sacramento through April 28: eleven innings, a 2.45 ERA, three walks, and six strikeouts among 44 batters, 13.6 percent, with his sinker and slider both down more than a mile per hour from the 98.9 and 91.3 he had averaged with the White Sox.

Need: bullpen arms, again. Fit: a velocity reclamation that had not recovered its velocity, with no swing-and-miss in the Triple-A line the club promoted him on. Price: minimum, with an option remaining, which is the one thing that made it cheap to be wrong. Risk: a 2.45 ERA on six strikeouts in 44 batters is not a run-prevention skill; it is a small sample. C+.

Ramos, June 1: B-#

Ramos, 25, was the winter's first minor-league signing, November 19, out of the Pirates' system, where his 2025 at Indianapolis was 15 innings at a 6.60 ERA. At Sacramento through May 31 he had thrown 27 innings across 17 appearances at a 2.00 ERA, with 27 strikeouts and seven walks among 115 batters, 23.5 percent and 6.1 percent. He was selected on June 1 when Joel Peguero went to the 60-day injured list with a hamstring injury, per MLB Trade Rumors that day, for his major league debut.

Need: a fresh arm for a bullpen spot that had just opened. Fit: the reliever with the best line at Triple-A, with options, at the minimum. Price: nothing. Risk: nothing in money, and a debut. This is the cheapest kind of transaction done the right way, and the grade is capped by how little was at stake. B-.

Kennedy, June 1: B-#

Kennedy, 27, signed a minor-league deal on December 15 after a 2025 in which he played 13 major league games for three clubs and hit .069 in 32 plate appearances, with a career line of .178/.271/.274 across 181. At Sacramento through May 31: .321/.424/.543 with eight home runs in 218 plate appearances, walking and striking out at the same 12.4 percent rate, 27 of each. He was selected on June 1 alongside Ramos, with Jesus Rodriguez optioned and Logan Porter designated, for infield depth, per MLB Trade Rumors.

Need: bench depth in the infield, a modest need. Fit: the hottest bat in the system at four infield positions. Price: nothing. Risk: he was out of options, so the spot he took could not be recovered without waivers, and his major league record was 181 plate appearances of not hitting. B-.

Knizner, August 11: B#

Knizner, 31, had caught for the Giants in 2025, hitting .221/.299/.299 in 88 plate appearances, and was non-tendered in November. He signed a major league contract with Seattle in December, was released in March, played at Triple-A for Colorado's and Boston's affiliates, and hit .294/.393/.552 in 234 plate appearances with a 12.4 percent walk rate and a 16.7 percent strikeout rate before Worcester released him on August 7, per MLB Trade Rumors on August 11. The Giants signed him that day. Susac had fractured his left kneecap on August 9 and Jesus Rodriguez had been on the injured list with right elbow neuritis since August 1, which left Bailey as the one healthy catcher on the 40-man.

Need: acute, and dated to the day. Fit: a catcher who had worked with this staff a year earlier and was hitting at Triple-A. Price and term: a $780,000 rate, prorated for the seven weeks left in the season, per the contract as Spotrac carries it; whether he is under control for 2027 or a free agent is not settled by the public databases, and the grade does not depend on it. Risk: little, on a 48-66 club that needed a body behind the plate more than a bat. B.

What the seven say together#

Six minor-league signings reached the majors, which is a high count for one winter's class and says more about the 40-man roster than about the scouting: three of the six were selected into holes opened by injuries to Susac, Peguero and Rodriguez, and two were selected onto a roster that had to designate a 24-year-old to make room. None cost more than the minimum, and two, Kilian and Oliva, cost roster spots the club could not get back. The question the grades leave open is the one only the season answers: whether any of the seven was a player, or whether all seven were the roster spot.

Sources: MLB Trade Rumors (Mark Polishuk, January 4, 2026, on the Kilian and Kennedy signings; Darragh McDonald, March 25, 2026, on Kilian's selection; Darragh McDonald, April 21, 2026, on Haase and Susac; Steve Adams, April 29, 2026, on Santos; Darragh McDonald, June 1, 2026, on Kennedy and Ramos; Darragh McDonald, August 11, 2026, on Knizner; Anthony Franco, March 5, 2026, the offseason in review); MLB.com (Maria Guardado, March 25, 2026, on Oliva); NBC Sports Bay Area (Alex Pavlovic, March 25, 2026, on the opening-day roster); Spotrac (the Knizner contract as carried on September 22, 2026); MLB Stats API (transactions and injured-list placements for each player; 2025 season lines; Triple-A lines by date range through the day before each selection).