2018 roster wide open
The faithful have many reasons to look forward to 2018. For one thing, this wretched season will be in the rearview mirror. For another, there might be competition for more than the usual 24th and 25th spots on the Giants’ roster.
Manager Bruce Bochy said so Thursday when asked if Christian Arroyo had shown enough during his brief time in the majors to go into camp with a starting job in hand.
“I’ll have to answer that later,” Bochy said. “All of these guys are going to be competing next year. I don’t think we’ll have a handful of jobs where you say, ‘OK, it’s your job going into spring training.’ When you have a season like this, where we are, you’ve got to go into the season open-minded.”
That is not the Giants’ usual plan. Barring a trade, they will have two experienced outfielders, Denard Span and Hunter Pence, in the final year of their contracts. Those guys usually play.
Asked if they might have to compete, too, Bochy said, “I’m not going to talk about names. We’ve got to stay open-minded (about) who’s going to be where next year, with playing time, those things. It’s up to us to adjust and get better.”
The discussion is a bit premature because trades and free-agent signings could alter the roster significantly, with new players potentially acquired expressly to man certain positions.
Otherwise, the evaluations next spring will have to be keener because so many of the prospects who might have gotten looks during this lost year have been hurt. That includes outfielders Austin Slater and Steven Duggar, pitcher Tyler Beede, and Arroyo, who will not play again in 2017 as he recovers from a fractured hand.
In the outfield, Span, Pence, Slater, Duggar, Jarrett Parker, Gorkys Hernandez and those whom the front office might target this winter could vie for jobs and playing time, although history suggests Span and Pence would be first among equals. Briefly: Brandon Belt (concussion) has reported feeling better and has gotten approval to begin cardio work Friday. He hopes to play again this season. … Miguel Gomez (right knee inflammation) was hoping to come off the disabled list Saturday. That will not happen. He had a setback and remains out indefinitely. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.