Pitching roster solidified by four transactions
With four more transactions on Tuesday, the Giants essentially set their opening day roster ahead of their flight from Phoenix to Seattle.
The club announced that four pitchers — Trevor Gott, Zack Littell, Dominic Leone and Nick Tropeano — had been reassigned to minor league camp, leaving the Giants with 27 players on the major league roster. With left-hander Alex Wood (back) expected to be placed on the 10-day injured list to open the season, the Giants now know which players will open the season on the 26-man roster, barring any last-minute transactions.
Decisions to reassign Tropeano and Leone came as a surprise as both pitchers made strong cases during spring training that they belong on the Opening Day roster. Tropeano appeared to be a leading candidate to begin the season as the Giants’ long reliever while Leone flashed an impressive fastball-slider combination that suggested he could handle a middle relief or set-up role.
After accumulating a massive amount of depth this offseason and inviting more than 30 pitchers
to major league camp, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris ultimately decided that none of the team’s non-roster invitees would be included on the opening roster.
Following Tuesday’s transactions, the Giants won’t need to make any 40-man roster moves to clear space as each player slated to be included on the Opening Day roster already has a major league contract.
The moves provided clarity for the Giants’ rotation and the bullpen a few days after manager Gabe Kapler expressed confidence that first baseman Brandon Belt would be ready for opening day. After the Giants optioned outfielder and first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. to minor league camp over the weekend, Kapler said Belt would be ready for the season-opening series in Seattle, taking any drama out of roster decisions involving position players.
With Wood likely headed for the injured list, the Giants’ starting rotation is expected to feature five right-handers at the beginning of the season as Kevin Gausman, Johnny Cueto and Logan Webb will all face the Mariners while Anthony DeSclafani and Aaron Sanchez would be lined up to pitch in San Diego against the Padres.
Despite having five righties in the rotation, the Giants expect to have balance on the staff as the Opening Day bullpen should include five lefthanders. Top closer candidate Jake McGee headlines a group of southpaws that includes José Álvarez, Caleb Baragar, Wandy Peralta and Jarlín García while Matt Wisler, Tyler Rogers and Reyes Moronta will be the three righties in Kapler’s bullpen.
Baragar, Peralta, Rogers and Moronta all have minor league options available, so the Giants will enter the season with some flexibility if they want to swap out relievers with pitchers working in minor league camp or at the team’s Sacramento alternate site early in the year.
The Giants have no shortage of intriguing options available if the club does need additional pitching depth as veteran lefty Scott Kazmir and Shun Yamaguchi, who spent 14 seasons playing professionally in Japan, are among the other pitchers who were reassigned in recent days.
On the position player side, the Giants will carry two catchers — Buster Posey and Curt Casali — and five outfielders including Mike Yastrzemski, Alex Dickerson, Austin Slater, Mauricio Dubón and Darin Ruf. Dubón, a utility man who can play all over the diamond, will be the primary backup at shortstop behind Brandon Crawford while Ruf can also provide depth at first base.
The Giants plan to have six infielders on the Opening Day roster including Crawford, Brandon Belt, Wilmer Flores, Evan Longoria, Tommy La Stella and Donovan Solano.
La Stella and Yastrzemski each exited spring training games against the Oakland A’s in recent days after being hit by pitches, but both players are listed as day-to-day with contusions. La Stella was hit in the left knee on Sunday and appeared in Monday’s game as a pinch hitter.
Yastrzemski was hit in the left hand on Monday, but X-rays were negative and Kapler expressed confidence postgame that the team’s top returning hitter would be OK.
Zaidi said last week the Giants expected to add a shortstop in the coming days who would likely open the season at TripleA and provide depth in the upper minors, but the front office is expected to target players who would not need to be added to the 40-man roster.
Pitchers Tyler Beede and John Brebbia will both open the season on the 60-day injured list after undergoing Tommy John surgeries last year and aren’t expected to contribute until June at the earliest. Each righthander will need to be added to the 40-man roster when they are healthy and ready to rejoin the major league roster.