Comeback: Panda is back in S.F. as Belt is placed on disabled list
When a team is on pace for 100 losses, big and unexpected things can happen at a breakneck pace. Players have no idea what to expect when they come to work each day.
As the Giants filed in for Saturday night’s game against the Diamondbacks, they saw Pablo Sandoval sitting in a chair shooting the breeze with several teammates as if he had not left.
They also saw reliever George Kontos in civvies stuffing the contents of his locker into two Giants duffel bags.
Kontos was headed for Pittsburgh after the Pirates claimed him off waivers. Sandoval was headed for the cleanup spot in the lineup for Saturday’s game against Arizona. Brandon Belt, well, nobody really knows exactly what his near future holds.
The Giants purchased Sandoval’s contract from Triple-A Sacramento as they placed Belt on the seven-day concussion list a day after he was hit in the helmet by an Anthony Banda curveball, sustaining his fourth known concussion.
Sandoval will play third base, with Ryder Jones moving to first and playing some outfield. Buster Posey might get more starts at first base against left-handed pitchers, with Jones moving to the outfield.
Sandoval went 1-for-3, his leadoff double in the seventh sparking a three-run rally. He also committed an error that led to an unearned run.
The Giants could have recalled just-demoted Jae-Gyun Hwang to play third, but manager Bruce Bochy made it clear the Giants turned to the Panda for something they have lacked while tumbling to the bottom of the major-league heap.
“We need a little presence here,” Bochy said. “We need a guy who hopefully sparks us and brings some energy. Pablo is able to do that. This is a club that can use a shot in the arm.”
The Giants really need hits, and Sandoval did not have many during the 12 games he played for Class A San Jose and Triple-A Sacramento after the Red Sox released him July 19 and the Giants scooped him up for next to nothing.
Sandoval went 2-for-9 in three games for San Jose and 6-for-29 for Sacramento, with one homer and one double in the 38 at-bats combined. Bochy acknowledged he could have used some more minor-league at-bats.
This is a big moment for Sandoval, who was in an Omaha, Neb., hotel room at 1 a.m. CDT on Saturday when general manager Bobby Evans called with news that before night’s end he would play in a Giants uniform for the first time since Game 7 of the 2014 World Series.
“I started crying,” Sandoval said, particularly when he called his fiancée, Yuli, to tell her. “It gave me a lot of emotion after all the things I’ve been through the last couple of years.”
Sandoval’s performance will dictate his playing time once Belt returns, whenever that will be. Belt told Bochy he felt this concussion was not as bad as the others and he hopes to return when eligible in a week.
But the Giants are not going to rush Belt back. Nor do they need to. They will do what is right for his long-term health.
“It’s important he gets some rest,” Bochy said.
Belt is one of five Giants who have more continuous tenure than Kontos. The others are Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain, Brandon Crawford and Posey.
Sandoval and Kontos were teammates for three years and won two World Series rings together. Kontos, the mosttenured reliever, arrived in a 2012 trade to the Pirates for Chris Stewart, who will catch Kontos in Pittsburgh.
Kontos pitched in 300 games for the Giants over five-plus seasons, ranking 13th in the San Francisco years. Kontos had 42 appearances of two innings or more. The only Giants relievers in the past 25 years with more were Dave Burba and Julian Tavarez.
Kontos got the news of his waiver claim when he woke up to a phone message from Evans.
“It was a little bit of a shock,” Kontos said. “It felt like six years of memories just piled up on my shoulders real quick.”
Kontos will report to the Pirates on Monday.
The Giants placed Kontos on revocable waivers, as they do with most players in August. When a player is awarded a claim, the two teams can negotiate a trade. Usually they do not reach a deal and the player is pulled back from waivers. But when the Pirates claimed Kontos, the Giants told them, “He’s yours.”
Bochy said the time has come to give more innings to relievers who could be part of the future, such as Kyle Crick. Submariner Tyler Rogers, a Triple-A All-Star, might be part of that mix in September.
“I started crying ... It gave me a lot of emotion after all the things I’ve been through the last couple of years.” Pablo Sandoval, the newest addition to the Giants’ roster