Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
The top of the Giants’ roster will need tinkering, especially after Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith were extended qualifying offers Monday.
The options toward the bottom have begun to come together.
The Giants signed Cristhian Adames and Zach Green to minor league contracts, they announced Monday, keeping reserve infielders who showed varying levels of promise last season.
For Adames, who rose to the majors in September for the first time since April 2017, he will get a chance to fight for a big-league job in spring training. A 28-year-old switch-hitter, Adames performed well first in 43 games with Triple-A Sacramento, then in 10 with the Giants.
The former Rockie went 7-for-22 (.318) with a double in the majors, able to fill in just about anywhere along the infield. He could fill Pablo Sandoval’s spot as a switch-hitting utilityman, with more infield flexibility.
Adames had made an impression with the Cubs last spring but fell just short of making their roster, then tore a ligament in the minors. Once he recovered, Chicago waived him, and Farhan Zaidi scooped him up.
“The Giants gave me an opportunity,” Adames said at the end of the season. “I went there [to Sacramento] to play hard. And I did, and I’m here. I’m happy to be here now.”
Green got his opportunity earlier in the season, making his major league debut in late July after tearing up opposing pitching in the PCL. In a small sample size, the success didn’t translate, the 25-year-old going 2-for-16 before being demoted again. He would have been called up in September, but a left hip impingement prematurely ended his season.
With all the caveats of PCL hitting, the third baseman slashed .282/.380/.659 with 25 homers in 252 at-bats last season. Green went to high school in Sacramento, which surely helped persuade him to return for a second flier of a season.
Monday was the deadline to reinstate players from the 60-day IL to the 40-man roster, which is made easier because the Giants’ free agents are no longer on the roster. Now off the IL: Tyler Anderson, Steven Duggar, Trevor Gott, Reyes Moronta and Tony Watson.