San Francisco Giants Welcome Back Span, Crawford to Ailing Lineup

With an offense struggling to put up runs, the San Francisco Giants activated Denard Span and Brandon Crawford from the disabled list.

Ahead of Thursday’s series opener with the Cincinnati Reds, the San Francisco Giants did a bit more roster shuffling. They moved a little closer to having their full lineup by activating shortstop Brandon Crawford and center fielder Denard Span from the 10-day disabled list.

Crawford strained his groin on April 25th against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and was placed on the three-day bereavement list to attend his sister-in-law’s funeral before being transferred to the 10-day disabled list. He went through a brief rehab assignment, spending two games with the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels before being activated. While in the Eastern League, Crawford picked up four hits in eight at-bats, including a double.

Span has been out since April 22nd, when he injured his shoulder after slamming into the center field wall to make a great catch against the Colorado Rockies. His rehab stint was also brief, spending two games with the High-A San Jose Giants. With San Jose, Span had two hits in six at-bats and broke up a no-hitter in the sixth inning by lining a single off Rancho Cucamonga Quakes’ reliever Yadier Alvarez.

More from Golden Gate Sports

To make room on the 25-man roster for the two, the team optioned relief pitcher Reyes Moronta back to Double-A Richmond and placed Conor Gillaspie on the 10-day DL because of back spasms. Moronta received his first big league call-up on Wednesday ahead of the series finale with the New York Mets after Mark Melancon was placed on the DL on Tuesday.

Moronta didn’t get into a game before being optioned, but has pitched well enough so far in the young season to give the team reason to believe he’ll be back sooner rather than later. With Richmond (his first taste of Double-A), Moronta owns a 3.18 ERA, 0.971 WHIP, and has 17 strikeouts in 11.1 innings with five saves on his record. According to general manager Bobby Evans, even though Moronta is going back to Richmond for the time being, he will be in Triple-A with the Sacramento River Cats “soon“.

Neither Span nor Crawford were hitting incredibly well before their time on the shelf, but getting them back to the lineup at full health will be a big boost for an offense that has struggled. Crawford comes into the game with a .263/.284/.434 slash-line, but has shown some extra-base power with five doubles, a triple, and two home runs. Span is hitting .200/.245/.280 and will definitely need to pick up his game upon return.

Crawford is back at his normal shortstop position while Span slides back into center field for Thursday’s matchup with the Reds. With Buster Posey getting a day off, Crawford will hit cleanup and Span will lead things off.

Now that the shortstop is back, Christian Arroyo will be allowed to slide over to third base on an everyday basis instead of shuttling back and forth between the positions on the left side of the infield. Arroyo has been pegged as the third baseman of the future, but he has had to play shortstop on occasion to fill in for the loss of Crawford.

Next: Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: Happy Flight from NY

That will also allow Eduardo Nunez to take on left field on an almost everyday basis. His defense has been ultra conservative in the outfield during the limited occasions he’s been there, but with the team struggling for offense so badly, his bat has made him the best option for the job for the time being. At least until Mac Williamson gets into a groove in Triple-A, it seems Nunez will take the majority of the reps in left field.

Home/San Francisco Giants