The Giants have announced their Opening Day roster, which includes several players who’ll need to be added to the 40-man. Reliever Rico Garcia and first baseman Darin Ruf will join catchers Rob Brantly and Tyler Heineman on the 30-man active unit.
Those moves necessitated some departures. Outfielder Jose Siri and infielder Kean Wong were each designated for assignment, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.
Garcia will enter his first season with the Giants, who claimed him off waivers from the division-rival Rockies last November. He entered the pro ranks as a 30th-round pick of the Rockies in 2016 and has generally posted good results in the minors, though he struggled during his Triple-A and major league debuts last season. The 26-year-old put up a woeful 6.90 ERA/6.47 FIP with 7.48 K/9 and 4.11 BB/9 in 61 1/3 innings at the minors’ top level. In six frames with the Rockies, he allowed seven earned runs on nine hits and five walks (with two strikeouts).
Ruf, meanwhile, joined the Giants in July on a minors pact after thriving in the Korea Baseball Organization from 2017-19. Ruf does have previous MLB experience as a member of the Phillies, with whom he batted .240/.314/.433 in 833 plate appearances from 2012-16. The 33-year-old will now get a chance to pick up at-bats in San Francisco, whose starting first baseman, Brandon Belt, will open the season on the injured list because of a heel issue.
The 31-year-old Brantly, another minor league pickup, has never hit much in MLB stints with the Marlins, White Sox and Phillies, but he’ll could get quite a bit of playing time at catcher for the Buster Posey-less Giants. The same goes for Heineman, whose first 12 major league PA came last season as a member of the Marlins. The former eighth-rounder (Astros, 2012) was excellent in Triple-A last year, when he slashed .341/.397/.622 with 10 homers in 182 PA.
Siri and Wong were both waiver claims in recent months, and they’re now in limbo once again. Siri’s a former Reds farmhand who owns a .264/.313/.447 line with 68 homers and 155 steals in 2,438 minor league PA. Wong combined for 18 trips to the plate with the Angels and Rays last year, but the vast majority of the 2013 fourth-rounder’s experience has come in the minors. He has amassed 1,425 PA in Triple-A and batted .286/.350/.413.
The Ruf is back
I’m happy Ruf. I hope he does well
I think Ruf is an excellent add. And I think Heineman will be very serviceable.
I remember when the Dodgers traded for Ruf and he immediately went to Japan
South Korea, not Japan.
I thought that Siri would be replaced by Alexa.
He had a Ruf go at it for a few years but nice to see him back.
This Phillies fan is happy for Ruf. Dude never gave up and made it back. Congrats to him.
The Ruf is on fire!
Guy had a ruf go the 1st time thru the majors
I’m not KEAN on designating the infielder for assignment,
I think it’s the WONG move.
Kean has solid offensive numbers last year in AAA for a 2b. Is defense an issue with him?
With these moves, the Giants now line up well against the Dodgers.
Are you kidding the Giants are picked to finish last in the NL West unless you were joking
He was definitely joking. This group of stiffs will be lucky to provide replacement value at the MLB level.
He is joking. But SF won’t be that bad. Anything from 25-33 wins is very possible.
Caleb Baragar and Pablo Sandoval also had to be added to the 40-man.