The San Francisco Giants claimed right-handed reliever Camilo Doval off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates, bringing the former All-Star reliever back to the organization where he spent parts of the first five seasons of his career.
The Giants secured the reunion by claiming Doval off waivers after the Pirates designated him for assignment earlier in the week before Tuesday’s series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, San Francisco transferred right-hander Blake Tidwell to the 60-day injured list. Tidwell faces a lengthy recovery following a recommendation for UCL surgery this week, effectively sidelining him for the remainder of this year and likely all of next year as well.
Why the Pirates Walked Away from Doval
Pittsburgh initially acquired Doval from the New York Yankees on August 1 in exchange for catching prospect Omar Alfonzo (No. 17 among Pirates prospects, per MLB Pipeline) and Dominican Summer League outfielder Luis Cruz. Alfonzo, 23, is batting .120 with a .363 OPS in 26 games for Double-A Somerset in the Yankees’ system, having fallen behind fellow prospects Rafael Flores Jr., Axiel Plaz and Easton Carmichael in the Pirates’ catcher hierarchy, while 18-year-old Cruz has not yet played stateside. The Pirates acquired Doval as a project piece, looking to restore his talents after a rough go in the Bronx where the Yankees removed him from a high-pressure role.
During his brief tenure in Pittsburgh, Doval appeared in 20 games spanning 19 innings, posting a 3.79 ERA, striking out 23 batters, and walking 14. He was worth 0.4 wins above replacement, per Baseball Reference. He walked nearly 16% of the batters he faced in a Pirates uniform and blew a save in his final Pirates appearance on Saturday, allowing two earned runs on four hits in an inning in an eventual 6-5 win against the Kansas City Royals.
With Pittsburgh falling out of contention, the club elected to part ways with the right-hander. According to MLBTR contributor Ethan Hullihen, putting Doval on waivers allowed the Pirates to save a small amount of money, roughly $98K, for the final week of the regular season. Pirates manager Don Kelly pointed to a desire to keep bulk pitchers Khristian Curtis, Wilber Dotel and Antwone Kelly the rest of the way with two bullpen games remaining and maximize innings, especially with younger guys who have pitched pretty well themselves.
He had some really good games and a couple tough ones,
Kelly said of Doval. He's got some really good stuff, and ultimately, it really just came down to being able to maximize innings, and especially with some younger guys too that have pitched pretty well themselves.
In his place, the Pirates activated veteran Kirby Yates (right shoulder impingement) from the 15-day injured list. Yates, 39, has a 2.19 ERA in 13 appearances with the Pirates, though he has missed the last three weeks, and is a free agent at the end of the year. Doval’s time in Pittsburgh was likely nearing its end anyway. Doval is entering his final year of arbitration and earned $6.1 million this year. Given his 4.30 ERA in 64 appearances between New York and Pittsburgh this year, he was very likely going to be non-tendered in the offseason regardless of his performance in the final week of the season. The Pirates only assumed $750,000 of the remaining $2 million on Doval’s contract when he was acquired, a source confirmed to the Post-Gazette when the deal was made.
San Francisco’s Low-Risk Reunion and 2027 Outlook
For San Francisco, claiming Doval carries minimal risk as they are playing out the string on a lost season, currently sporting a 65-94 record. Even if Doval makes an appearance or two before the season is done, they will be meaningless games. Presumably, the Giants grabbed Doval because they either plan to tender him a contract for 2027 or try to trade him in the offseason. Doval is making $6.1MM this season and can be retained for next season via arbitration.
Doval enjoyed the most dominant stretch of his career in a Giants uniform. From 2021 to 2023, he logged 162 1/3 innings with a 2.77 ERA, 30.2% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 53.4% ground ball rate. He took over the closer’s job and racked up 27 saves in 2022 and 39 the year after, leading the NL with 39 saves and posting a 2.93 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 67.2 innings in 2023. When San Francisco traded him to the New York Yankees at last year’s deadline, the Giants netted prospect Jesús Rodríguez, Trystan Vrieling, Parks Harber and Carlos De La Rosa in the swap.
Control troubles inflated his numbers in subsequent years, but he still has elite stuff, with an upper-90s cutter. The San Francisco bullpen was not good this year, with relievers currently holding a collective 4.18 ERA on the season. Most of the arms currently in the bullpen are inexperienced; Sam Hentges and Jason Foley are the only guys back there with at least three years of service time, and those two are coming back from notable injury absences. President of baseball operations Buster Posey has admitted that the club will be looking to make more concrete upgrades to the bullpen for next year through free agent signings and/or trades, but they are adding one arm ahead of schedule by grabbing Doval from the wire.
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