5:21pm: The Giants have moved Parker to the 60-day disabled list to create a spot on the 40-man roster for Morse. Additionally, center fielder Denard Span has been placed on the 10-day disabled list. Brandon Crawford, meanwhile, has been placed on the bereavement list, and Kelby Tomlinson has been recalled from Triple-A.
5:02pm: The Giants have selected the contract of first baseman/outfielder Michael Morse, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). There’s no word on a corresponding move for Morse just yet, though the 40-man roster is currently full. One obvious solution would be to move Madison Bumgarner or Jarrett Parker the 60-day disabled list, as each could be out for two months or more following their recent injuries.
The 35-year-old Morse saw just eight plate appearances in the Majors in 2016 and hasn’t hit much since the 2014 campaign — a season which he spent with the Giants en route their most recent World Series victory. Morse slugged at a .276/.339/.475 clip for the Giants in ’14, which led to a two-year deal with the Marlins. However, Morse was unable to live up to that $16MM price tag, hitting a combined .224/.303/.325 in the 2015-16 seasons combined.
Morse had a nice Spring Training with the Giants, though, hitting .258/.343/.516 through 14 games before a hamstring injury sidelined him near the end of camp. He’s only appeared in six minor league games with the Giants thus far, but he’ll seemingly be added to the roster in hopes of bolstering the big league club’s left field production (either by manning left field himself or by handling first-base duties while Brandon Belt shifts to the outfield grass). To date, Giants left fielders are hitting a combined .131/.207/.205 on the season, and the Opening Day starter, Parker, will be out upwards of eight weeks after suffering a broken clavicle.
Take on meeeeee
Big Mike! I don’t know if he’s the answer but welcome back in any case.
I think after the homerun, he’s definitely embraced by Giants fans.
The giants LF situation must be horrific. Mike Moorse shouldn’t be anywhere near an MLB team
It is.
A whole lot worse than any problem the Dodgers have
it’s pretty bad
@dodgerfan711: Yeah, I’m sure you’d like to believe that. But the pinch-hit HR, at least temporarily, sort of puts to rest that perception.
Why was Crawford put on the bereavement list? (yes I realize this is personal)
His sister in law died.
The remaining question is: Why is Gorkys Hernandez still here?
why is the bullpen still here
Why does it feel like our season is already over and it’s not even May 1st yet?
That’s how most Jays fans feel.
This team is falling apart more ways then one. I’m sure there will be more moves….
I thought he was practicing law!
Man Giants are in a sticky situation early. Doesn’t help they don’t have any prospects to trade in order to grab any significant help
Parker, Gorkys, Aaron Hill, Marrero averages were between .150 and .123. When your LF is 8th in the lineup something needed to be done. Putting Nunez out there is a stopgap, at least Morse can run into one occasionally. Two words for Bobby Evans, Ryan Brain.
Please excuse my rant, but I’m trying to watch a game without fast forwarding, but…
I’m sick of all this talk about how to speed up the game when what makes the current game excruciating to watch is the terrible umpiring! The strike zone shouldn’t change per pitch. There are automated systems that can finally make ball and strike calls with consistency, which seems to be impossible for all but the best umpires (and even then…).
Now I know that everyone says that u can’t take out the human element and that part of the game is adapting to the umpiring, but I don’t watch baseball to see the skill of the umpires! I watch to see the skills of the players! And if one pitcher is getting strikes on a location that the other isn’t, it makes me question why I’m watching at all. The umpire has already decided who’s going to win. It’s rare that a team can win against the other team and the umps.
Get on it MLB. There is an easy solution that makes your sport more fair, quicker, far less frustrating to watch, and doesn’t change the game nearly as much as most of the other “speed up the game” suggestions I’ve heard, stop letting humans call balls and strikes!
Ok, deep breaths…I’ll be ok…
@ABStract: You do have a point. I personally like the human element. I would hate the game to lose the advantage of what a good catcher brings with framing skills. I think the solution is a stricter evaluation of the umpires, and demoting of the ones whose performance is inconsistent.
Currently the feedback umpires get isn’t specific, but an overall evaluation. And that evaluation is based on the percentage of incorrect calls. The problem that I see is that criteria for whether a call is correct or not is based on a strike zone with a 3″ buffer zone. So an umpire could be calling, what are in reality strikes on the edges, balls, and balls that are 3″ off the plate strikes, inconsistently throughout the game, and he’ll still get a good overall evaluation. The parameters for determining good and bad umpiring is what needs to change, with the bad umpires being demoted.
I’m with you @ABStract. I have heard commentators on radio talk about how good this is and at the end of the day we get a fair zone for not just hitters, but also pitchers. However the official zone (as per the rule book) would need to change.
At the end of the day the objective should be to get the call right. The ability for an umpire to affect the outcome of a game should be minimized where possible.
One last thing. When baseball was invented they didn’t have electronic calling of pitches because it DIDN”T EXIST. There were no electronic scoreboards because they didn’t exist either… there’s a whole list of things that have changed over the years because of technology. This should be another one.
Thanks guys!
Good discussion, great points all around.
I actually feel a little better, but still…somehow the MLB has to step up its game and finally have a consistent zone.