Posey scratched with right hip tightness.
tKoTTtWALa, A >> Giants catcher Buster Posey was scratched from Tuesday night’s game against the Rangers with right hip tightness.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler said the team isn’t concerned the tightness would be a long-term issue, but the club is taking a cautious approach.
“Definitely precautionary. That’s the lead,” Kapler
said. “But he has felt some irritation for a couple of days and we wanted to let it come down.”
Posey had surgery to
repair the labrum in his right hip in August, 2018 and played 114 games the following season.
Kapler said the Giants may let Posey rest through the team’s upcoming off day Saturday. That timetable would put Posey in line to return Sunday night when the Giants travel to Camelback Ranch in Glendale to play against the Dodgers.
Prospect Joey Bart started in Posey’s place Tuesday. Prior to the game, Posey played catch on a back field with Giants trainer Dave Groeschner.
The Giants reassigned four catchers, including Bart, Chadwick Tromp, 2020 first-round pick Patrick Bailey and Ricardo Genovés to minor league camp Monday, but all will remain eligible to participate in Cactus League games and ensure veteran Curt Casali doesn’t need to cover every inning during Posey’s absence.
WOOD UNDERGOES SPINE PROCEDURE >> Giants left-handed pitcher Alex Wood underwent an ablation for nerves in his lower back Tuesday in Scottsdale.
The procedure was performed by Dr. Allan Rowley and will keep Wood from throwing for at least “a couple of days.”
Kapler said it’s too soon to know whether Wood will open the season on the injured list, but it seems as if the starter will have a difficult time building up his pitch count before Opening Day on April 1.
“It’s going to be a tolerance thing for Alex after the first couple of days and the soreness from the small procedure subsides, and we’ll see where we are then,” Kapler said. “I don’t want to make any definitive predictions here and we’ll stay open.”
If Wood requires a stint on the injured list to begin the season, Kapler said veteran right-hander Aaron Sanchez and fellow righty Logan Webb are “strong” candidates to open the year in the Giants’ rotation. The Giants gave Sanchez a bigger guarantee ($4 million) than Wood this offseason to sign with San Francisco, but he had a delayed start to spring training for reasons that remain unclear and has yet to appear in a Cactus League game.
Sanchez threw a three-inning simulated game at Scottsdale Stadium on Sunday as his fastball topped out at 94 mph while his curveball command was a work in progress. The Giants are optimistic Sanchez’s next outing will come in a game.
Webb was a member of the Giants’ rotation last season, but the 24-year-old battled inconsistencies with his command and posted a 5.47 ERA in 13 games (11 starts).
RELIEVER NUNEZ HAS UCL SPRAIN >> Right-handed relief pitcher Dedniel Núñez, a Rule 5 draft pick who is viewed as a candidate to secure a job in the Giants’ bullpen, was diagnosed with a UCL sprain in his right elbow Monday and will have a second opinion before determining a course of action.
UCL injuries often require surgery, which would keep Núñez out for at least the next year. Kapler said it’s too early to know whether Núñez’s injury will be a major disappointment to a young pitcher hoping to make his major league debut, but there’s obvious concern regarding the health of his elbow. GUTIERREZ LANDS A JOB WITH GIANTS >> Giants fans who follow the team on NBC Sports Bay Area will miss seeing popular sideline reporter Amy Gutierrez during telecasts from Oracle Park this season. But the woman known by many as “Amy G” won’t be going far.
The Giants announced Tuesday that Gutierrez is joining the organization as a social media contributor and producer of digital content.
Gutierrez, who spent 17 years with NBCBA — 13 as an in-game reporter — had been notified during the offseason that she would be part of a wave of pandemic-era layoffs at the network.