Yesterday’s news that Derek Holland was being moved to the Giants bullpen came with some eyebrow-raising comments from the left-hander, who was critical of the front office’s decision and claimed that his April 29 injured list placement due to a bruised index finger was a “fake injury.” Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Saturday that Holland’s injury was legitimate, and further discussed the matter today with reporters (including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group). “I think every organization would like to create an environment where guys feel comfortable talking about their concerns in-house,” Zaidi said. “To the extent guys don’t feel comfortable, that’s on me. Maybe I haven’t been around as much as I should be.” The entire situation, Zaidi intimated, could be due to the shared displeasure between the front office and the players over the Giants’ lackluster start to the season: “If we’re 23-16, I don’t think we’d be sitting in this room right now. I understand it. I’m as frustrated as anybody. But again, I want us to have a culture of accountability where people are looking in the mirror and asking what they can do better.”
More from around the NL West…
- The Giants claimed Aaron Altherr from the Phillies yesterday, though the outfielder has been on San Francisco’s radar for a while. According to NBC Sports.com’s Alex Pavlovic, the Giants first asked the Phils about Altherr two months ago, when Bryce Harper’s arrival created a surplus in the Philadelphia outfield. Giants skipper Bruce Bochy said Altherr’s arrival won’t impact Mac Williamson’s status as the team’s regular left fielder, as Williamson will be given an extended look as an everyday player. Altherr, meanwhile, “be eased in,” Pavlovic writes, both because Altherr hasn’t played much in recent weeks and because Altherr has struggled since the start of the 2018 season.
- Rockies southpaw Tyler Anderson will have his bothersome left knee examined by a specialist on Monday, manager Bud Black told the Denver Post’s Sean Keeler and other media. Anderson missed two weeks in April due to knee inflammation, and he been hit hard in five starts this season (an 11.76 ERA over 20 2/3 IP). He was optioned to Triple-A in the wake of another rough outing on May 3, though Anderson hasn’t since pitched. Anderson emerged as a solid, if unspectacular, innings-eater for Colorado last season, with a 4.55 ERA and league-high 30 homers over 176 frames.
- In other injury updates, Franchy Cordero and Travis Jankowski aren’t expected to return to the Padres’ active roster anytime soon, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Cordero has begun to hit in the batting cage, though “the work is limited” as Cordero continues to recover from an elbow sprain that has kept him on the IL since April 9. Jankowski has yet to play this season after breaking his right wrist in early March, and the injury “is not healing as fast as anticipated.” Jankowski was originally estimated for a three-month IL stint, though it doesn’t seem as though he’ll meet that timeline.
First! Wait, people still do that, right?
No
Only X did that
What the Giants can do better is tank and unload contracts if someone can hit the ball
Holland should have taken up his displeasure with management and not put the organization on blast. Him being moved to the bullpen is his fault. Zaidi is going to continue to go through guys until the players brought in seize their opportunity. Gotta wait for the bad contracts to expire and just keep making moves that improve the team in the long run. The players need to quit crying and try to hit better than .220 and pitch better than a 5+ ERA. Players need to do their jobs and Zaidi is going to continue shuffling guys in and out until he gets the desired results
It’s hard enough to get players to want to play in San Francisco as it is and I think having a guy like Zaidi running the show will just make it that much harder. All he’s done so far is claim and release and by his own admission doesn’t talk to the players about it. I don’t care if its a business; you’re still going to need players to want to be there and it sounds like he’s doing everything in his power to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Agreed. If you’re serious about a prospect, you give them more than 3 games to prove themselves.
He’s a quant. They are usually short on social skills…..
He has to shuffle players in and out because the organization is in absolutely terrible shape – they have no talent.
If players expect a personalised phone call from the big boss every time there’s a roster move, then it’s not just the Giants Org that will disappoint them.
Awe poor baby Derek. He needs to be on the permanent IL. He’s terrible this year. He got lucky last yr.
Well there’s no shortage of Giants’ coverage on this site! haha
As each week passes, Holland’s 2018 campaign looks more and more like an aberration. He seems lucky to have a job at this point.
knew right when altherr got designated he was going to SF haha
Wow the Giants do not have a single player with a WAR of at least 1 through 40 games. That seems impossible.