San Francisco Giants Notes 3/21: Injuries and New Battles

The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 5-3 on Tuesday, but the biggest news of the day came from a lot of injuries throughout the roster.

The San Francisco Giants seemed to be lucky in the early parts of Spring Training by avoiding any serious injuries. There were the occasional smaller ailments, like Hunter Pence‘s oblique, Eduardo Nunez‘s sore shoulder, and Conor Gillaspie‘s balky elbow, but for the most part, it wasn’t anything serious. That’s all changed over the past couple days.

Will Smith was sidelined early in camp with inflammation of the elbow, but it didn’t appear serious. He was back on the mound after a rest period and on track to be ready for opening day. His second appearance of the spring came, and things went all the way downhill. Smith’s elbow issue came back, exacerbated this time, and the 2017 season is in serious jeopardy.

An initial MRI showed a sprain and a strain in Smith’s left elbow, and he is back in San Francisco to get a second opinion. Depending on the severity of the sprain, Tommy John surgery could be the next step for the 27-year-old lefty. Even if he is able to avoid going under the knife, rest and rehab would still likely keep him on the shelf for at least two months.

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Smith isn’t the only Giant that received bad news on the injury front. Mac Williamson and Michael Morse, a pair of right-handed power hitters, will both miss a couple of weeks because of leg injuries. For Williamson, his quad will keep him on the shelf, while Morse’s hamstring is the problem. Both hitters were competing for a job on the opening day squad, and their respective injuries just about ends those dreams.

Elsewhere, reliever Bryan Morris is dealing with a fracture in his foot that will keep him on the shelf for the foreseeable future as well. Trevor Brown has a rolled ankle that is a day-to-day injury. Finally, some good injury news. Cory Gearrin returned from a cracked finger nail on his pitching hand on Tuesday. He pitched an inning, allowing two hits, a hit batter, and a run, but there wasn’t a whole lot of hard contact against him.

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Williamson’s injury all but clears a path that already had very few obstacles for Jarrett Parker. He entered camp with the edge for the starting left field job, and Williamson’s ill-timed ailment puts Parker even farther ahead.

But with the job pretty much locked up, Parker had his worst spring game on Tuesday against the Padres. He struck out four times, all swinging, and hasn’t put the ball in play in six at-bats over his past two games. These are familiar problems for Parker, who owns a career 29.8 percent strikeout rate across all professional levels, but seemed to be a different hitter earlier in spring.

His at-bats were more competitive, and getting to two strikes didn’t spell automatic strikeout for the 28-year-old lefty. He hadn’t been chasing nearly as much, but has had trouble laying off breaking balls down in more recent games, and it’s hurting his performance. After striking out only eight times in his first 36 at-bats of the spring (22.2 percent), but is an imperfect six-for-six striking out in the last two games. These types of stretches are going to occur, but the most important thing is getting past it. Parker has to figure out how to do that right now.

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Smith’s injury is a big blow to the bullpen, as Smith figured to be one of the key late-inning relievers. With him on the shelf for at least a couple months, Steven Okert is basically a shoo-in to make the opening day. He had put himself in good position to be the second lefty out of the bullpen, but he will now be relied on for a much heavier role.

While Okert is on the verge of being the go-to lefty, the secondary southpaw job, the job that Okert had initially taken control of, is back up for grabs. The two main competitors are going to be Josh Osich and Ty Blach, both already on the 40-man roster, while Michael Roth is still in camp and has a shot to grab attention.

Osich seemed to be settling into a groove this spring, but went out and walked three batters on Monday, bringing about bad memories from 2016. Blach, on the other hand, was Madison Bumgarner‘s piggyback on Tuesday, and pitched well in relief. He threw three innings and allowed a run on two hits and a walk. Roth was also in action on Tuesday, and he allowed a run on one hit in an inning of work.

Blach seems to be the most logical choice for the second lefty job. It would allow the team to not only have the insurance southpaw, but to have a long reliever that could cover multiple innings should the starter have a short night. If Blach does start the year in the bullpen, that does mean that Matt Cain takes the fifth starter job, but a replacement is not far behind him should he falter.

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Morse looked to be a favorite to earn a bench job after proving he could still provide some pop and turn around misplaced fastballs. This injury, likely of the two-week at least variety, will probably keep him off the opening day roster, but teammate Bumgarner is under the impression that Morse will rehab and be willing to head to Triple-A.

With Morse on the shelf, the team has an opening in the right-handed power department. Chris Marrero reminded everyone on Tuesday that he’s still around, and he’s still strong as an ox. He blasted his sixth home run of the Cactus League campaign, hitting a soaring shot way beyond the left field fence. He pumped his fists as he rounded the bases, as if he knew that was a big boost to his chances.

Marrero has a very similar profile to Morse. Both are big, strong right-handed bats that can first base and left field. At this point in his career, Marrero is probably a more trustworthy option in the outfield. Neither man is going to hit for a big average, but when they square up the ball, it’s going to travel a long way. With Morse out of the picture for the time being, Marrero could come more into focus if the team wants a true power threat on the bench.

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As for players that have jobs on the 25-man roster, Bumgarner was on the mound on Tuesday. He went only two innings in the game, but finished up out in the bullpen by pushing his pitch count toward 85. This was planned for the opening day starter, as he and the team wouldn’t want to give the Padres to much of a free look.

Next: Giants Notes 3/19: Okert, Rollins Arroyo, Beede

Nick Hundley‘s bat showed up big time on Tuesday. He hit a pair of home runs, his first two of the spring, both of which put the Giants ahead. His second-inning shot put San Francisco ahead 1-0, and while his seventh-inning, three-run blast made it 4-2, giving the Giants a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

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