San Francisco Giants Roster Just About Set With A Week Until Opening Day
In a week, games will start counting again and the San Francisco Giants have just about set their roster in anticipation of opening day.
With Spring Training’s end less than a week away, the San Francisco Giants made the final round of cuts (minus one) to basically set the roster they will have on opening day. With opening day next Monday in Milwaukee, the Giants are carrying 26 players on their roster, and have just one more decision left to make before the season begins.
On Sunday night after a slugfest with the Chicago White Sox, the Giants made nine roster decisions to cut their current group from 35 players down to 26. Pitcher Braulio Lara, outfielder Gorkys Hernandez, infielders Conor Gillaspie, Grant Green, and Ramiro Pena, and catcher George Kottaras were re-assigned to minor league camp. Outfielders Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson, and pitcher Mike Broadway were optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. Players who are optioned at this point are on the 40-man roster, while players who were re-assigned are not.
That certifies that the Giants will carry four natural outfielders on the opening day roster, with Angel Pagan, Denard Span, and Hunter Pence playing the role of starters and Gregor Blanco backing them up as the fourth outfielder. Joining Blanco as bench players are infielders Kelby Tomlinson and Ehire Adrianza.
Adrianza earned his spot with a great spring, and has also received some playing time in the outfield in a minor league camp game. He will probably play a little more outfield before the regular season begins, and will serve as something of a fifth outfielder as part of a potential true utility player role.
The only job left up for grabs now is as Buster Posey‘s understudy. Trevor Brown and Andrew Susac are both still on the roster, but only one may be healthy when the time comes to make the decision. Susac has been battling an ache in his surgically-repaired wrist and has been sidelined for the better part of the last two weeks. Brown, on the other hand, has played well in camp, earning the Barney Nugent Award for most impressive first-year player in Giants’ camp. If Susac isn’t good to go by April 2nd, the date of the Giants’ final exhibition game, Brown will make the opening day squad with Susac headed either to Sacramento or the disabled list..
The short bench also means the Giants will roll with a 13-man bullpen for the second straight year. With 23 games in 24 days to open the regular season, the team is keeping the extra arm in the bullpen to prevent wearing down pitchers too early into the season. It appears that Cory Gearrin, the side-winding righty that impressed in a short stint at the end of 2015, will be the eighth pitcher in the bullpen. That’s quite a turnaround from the end of 2014, when Gearrin was released by the Atlanta Braves after missing the entire season as he recovered from Tommy John Surgery.
Gearring is joined in the bullpen by Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez, Sergio Romo, Hunter Strickland, Josh Osich, George Kontos, and Chris Heston. The eight man bullpen hopefully not last long, as the Giants can send a pitcher out and bring up another bat on April 28th, the team’s second off day if the starters prove able to effectively pitch deep into games.
Next: Adrianza Staking Claim to Roster Spot
As expected, the starting lineup will include Pagan, Span, and Pence in the outfield, with Brandon Belt at first base, Joe Panik at second base, Brandon Crawford at shortstop, and Matt Duffy at third base. Buster Posey, of course, will have regular catching duties. Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, and Jake Peavy are the top-four starters, and the Giants have shown confidence that Matt Cain, the scheduled fifth starter, will be good to go when his spot in the rotation rolls around. If that isn’t the case, the Giants can put Cain on the disabled list and place Heston in his spot, calling up a minor leaguer (Clayton Blackburn or Chris Stratton, perhaps) to take the bullpen spot.