Buddy Kennedy elects free agency after Giants DFA, clearing waivers

What happened

Buddy Kennedy is a free agent. After the San Francisco Giants designated the infielder for assignment on August 27, Kennedy cleared waivers and, per MLB Trade Rumors, chose to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A — ending what had become a notably circular relationship between player and club.

The Giants announced the corresponding August 27 move alongside the reinstatement of first baseman Bryce Eldridge from the bereavement list, with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle among those relaying the transaction.

Why it matters

Kennedy's departure is less a headline than a footnote that tells a larger story about how San Francisco has been managing its infield in 2026. The Giants have been navigating injuries to Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, Marcelo Mayer, and Casey Schmitt — all currently on the injured list — and Kennedy had been one of the depth pieces cycling through the roster as a result.

His path through the organization this season was, to put it charitably, eventful. Kennedy started the year with the Giants on a minor-league deal, was selected to the big-league roster at the start of June, designated for assignment a few weeks later, flipped to the Seattle Mariners for cash, and then brought back to San Francisco via a waiver claim at the start of August. That is a full tour of the transaction wire in a single season, and it ended with Kennedy electing free agency once the waiver clock ran out.

The choice itself is worth noting. When a player clears outright waivers, he can accept the assignment to the minors or, if he has accumulated enough service time to qualify, elect free agency instead. Kennedy, 27, chose the latter — meaning he will test the open market rather than continue in the Giants' system. The waiver claim that brought him back to San Francisco in August turned out to be the last chapter of this particular arrangement, not the beginning of a new one.

It is also worth appreciating the specific geometry of what happened here. The Giants claimed Kennedy off waivers from the Mariners — a team that had obtained him from the Giants for cash — and then designated him for assignment again within the same month. The transaction wire occasionally writes its own comedy, and this was a fairly complete bit.

Where the club stands

The Giants' record — 59-84 (.413) — frames the Kennedy transaction in its proper context. San Francisco sits fourth in the NL West, 26.5 games behind the division leader, and has already been eliminated from the division race. The club is also ranked 11th in the Wild Card picture, 16.0 games relative to the cut line. The Giants are riding a one-game winning streak, which is the kind of detail that earns a polite nod at this point in the standings.

This is a club in the late stages of a difficult season, working through a significant infield injury cluster while trying to evaluate what it has for the future. Eldridge's reinstatement from the bereavement list was the operational priority; Kennedy's roster spot was the mechanism that made room. That is the transaction in its plainest form.

With September 1 approaching, the active roster expands from 26 to 28 players under standard league rules, which gives clubs a bit more flexibility to carry depth without the same zero-sum math that governs August decisions. That expansion arrives just as the Giants head into a stretch that opens Monday at Atlanta's Truist Park, where Anthony Molina is the probable against Bryce Elder. From there, San Francisco travels to Pittsburgh for a two-game set at PNC Park — Logan Webb draws the Tuesday assignment against Paul Skenes, and Landen Roupp is lined up for Wednesday against Bubba Chandler.

The September expansion does not solve the infield depth question on its own, but it does mean the Giants have a few more roster slots to work with as they sort through what the final weeks of the season look like with four regulars sidelined.

What we don't know yet

The Giants have not detailed any further roster moves connected to the infield injury situation beyond what was reported on August 27. Timetables for Chapman, Adames, Mayer, and Schmitt have not appeared in the available reporting, so the depth picture remains genuinely unsettled heading into September.

It is also unclear whether any club will move quickly to bring Kennedy into its organization. He cleared waivers without being claimed — which is precisely why the free-agency election became available to him — but that reflects a moment in time on the waiver wire, not necessarily a broader assessment of what he offers a roster in need of infield depth.

What to watch

The more pressing question for Giants observers is how the club manages its infield through the final weeks of the season with four regulars on the injured list. The September roster expansion provides some structural relief, but the club will still need to make decisions about who fills those spots and whether any of the injured infielders return before the schedule runs out.

Kennedy's next destination, if he finds one, is worth a glance — not because it changes anything for San Francisco, but because a 27-year-old infielder who has now made the rounds through multiple organizations in a single season is exactly the kind of player who tends to resurface somewhere unexpected before spring training. The minor-league deal that keeps getting re-upped has a way of finding its next address.

For now, the Giants move forward with Eldridge back in the fold and a road trip that opens Monday in Atlanta. The standings are what they are. The schedule does not pause for paperwork.