© Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
What started out as a promising spring training ended with the San Francisco Giants scrambling to put together their roster after late-spring injuries sidelined several key players. Although it isn’t exactly the way they pictured it looking as recently as a week ago, the Giants announced their Opening Day roster shortly after shutting out the Oakland A’s on Tuesday night:
Catcher (2): Buster Posey, Nick Hundley
Infield (6): Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford, Evan Longoria, Pablo Sandoval, Kelby Tomlinson
Outfield (5): Andrew McCutchen, Austin Jackson, Hunter Pence, Gregor Blanco, Gorkys Hernandez
Rotation (4): Ty Blach, Johnny Cueto, Derek Holland, Chris Stratton
Bullpen (8): *Mark Melancon, Sam Dyson, Hunter Strickland, Tony Watson, Josh Osich, Cory Gearrin, Pierce Johnson, Roberto Gomez
*If he avoids the DL.
One pitcher; who got off to a tough start this spring, but emerged as promising roster candidate, will not suit up with the Giants on Opening Day. Julian Fernandez, the flamethrowing Rule 5 selection, sprained his ulnar collateral ligament, which will likely lead to season-ending Tommy John surgery.
Fernandez’s ligament is sprained, not strained, FWIW. If he has Tommy John surgery, he’d make the big league minimum on the DL and Giants would keep him into 2019. That’s another $545K against the CBT, though.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) March 27, 2018
Fortunately for the Giants, this allows them to keep Fernandez in their organization for at least another year as opposed to having to offer him back to the Colorado Rockies had he not made their roster.
Fernandez started the spring with consecutive four-run appearances, over which time he recorded only one out. Nonetheless, he eventually found his stride and surrendered only one run in his final five innings this spring. All told, Fernandez posted a 13.50 ERA with 12 strikeouts and five walks while consistently hitting triple-digit velocity.
Fernandez wasn’t the only promising prospect to not receive a spot. Steven Duggar will start the season with Triple-A Sacramento; but given his strong showing this spring, especially defensively, it won’t be long before he makes his major league debut.
Gorkys makes it with Blanco. Five outfielders. 12 pitchers.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) March 28, 2018
In the meantime, the Giants will keep Gorkys Hernandez and Gregor Blanco as their fourth and fifth outfielders. Blanco defied his age with two doubles and two triples while batting .303 this spring, and Hernandez batted .292 with a home run and three doubles.
The Giants also kept Kelby Tomlinson for the Opening Day roster to reassume his role as their backup infielder, despite a tough time in spring training. In 22 games this spring, Tomlinson batted only .255 with 19 strikeouts and one triple while dealing with personal issues.
Tomlinson wins his job over Rutledge. Duggar will begin at Sacramento
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) March 28, 2018
Interestingly, Tomlinson’s showing was enough to beat out Josh Rutledge; who argued his case for a roster spot with a .342 batting average, one home run, and three doubles. More than likely, it was Tomlinson’s proven reliability as a utility man in the major leagues, built over the last three years, that helped him edge out Rutledge.
The only question left for the Giants to answer is whether Mark Melancon will start the season on the roster or join Samardzija and Bumgarner on the disabled list. Prior to Tuesday’s game, Bochy said Melancon was still feeling discomfort in his surgically-repaired pitching arm.
Mark Melancon hasn't pitched since Friday and won't tonight. He's feeling something in arm still. Giants unsure if he'll be ready for opening day.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) March 27, 2018
Melancon showed promising signs this spring of being fully recovered from last year’s surgery. In 4.2 innings, he allowed only one walk, five hits, and struck out four on his way to a 5.79 ERA. He even pitched back-to-back days from March 22-23, the second of which turned out to be his final appearance of the spring.
Either way, Pierce Johnson, who went scoreless in his seven innings of work this spring, and Roberto Gomez both received spots in the bullpen.
Johnson recorded nine strikeouts while allowing only one hit and three walks in his impressive spring. Meanwhile, Gomez put up a 3.24 ERA over 8.1 innings and struck out 13 with only four walks.
Should Melancon hit the disabled list, that would open up the door for the Giants to bring back Steven Okert or Madison Younginer, both of whom pitched well this spring.
As for the starting core, the Giants are opting to work with a four-man rotation until they need a fifth starter on April 10. While losing Bumgarner and Samardzija threw the Giants’ chances of contention into serious question, Derek Holland and Chris Stratton did everything they could in their impressive final starts of the spring to reassure the Giants.
Furthermore, instead of going with Johnny Cueto on Opening Day, the Giants are giving the ball to Ty Blach, who holds 1.60 ERA in seven career games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Not to mention, he’s 3-for-5 with a double against Clayton Kershaw.
There’s been nothing new from Bumgarner since he underwent surgery on March 24 to insert stabilizing pins into his pitching hand, but Samardzija is expected to resume throwing on Wednesday. Bumgarner can’t begin his rehabilitation until those pins are removed in 4-6 weeks, but Samardzija is doing everything in his power to return to the rotation as quickly as possible.
Jeff Samardzija says he wil begin playing catch tomorrow. Sounded pretty resolute about being back in a couple weeks. Said he hadn’t missed a day of practice since 7th grade football.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) March 27, 2018
Keaton Moore is a KNBR.com contributor, follow Keaton on Twitter at @KeatonAMoore