7:24PM: Longoria told The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly and other reporters that he isn’t feeling pain in the shoulder itself, as his injury is specifically a dislocated SC joint. Because of the somewhat odd nature of the injury, Longoria isn’t certain about a timetable.
1:39PM: The Giants announced that third baseman Evan Longoria has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left shoulder. He’s expected to miss four to six weeks, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). Utilityman Thairo Estrada has been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento in his place.
Longoria suffered the injury when he collided with shortstop Brandon Crawford during last night’s game against the Cubs. It’s a brutal development for a Giants team holding a two-game advantage in a highly competitive NL West. Longoria has been one of the most instrumental pieces of the club’s success, putting up a .280/.376/.516 line with nine home runs over 186 plate appearances. After adjusting for pitcher-friendly Oracle Park, Longoria’s 146 wRC+ places him among the top 25 qualified hitters in the sport this season. That kind of production is reminiscent of his peak days in Tampa Bay, when Longoria was one of the game’s most valuable players.
There’s virtually no way for the Giants to replace that kind of production, but San Francisco now seems likely to turn to some combination of Wilmer Flores, Jason Vosler and Mauricio Dubón at third base. Flores has generally been a decent hitter over the past few years. The 29-year-old is hitting a league-average .248/.328/.380 in 137 plate appearances this season.
On the plus side, San Francisco is at least set to welcome one of their other top bats in the next few days. First baseman Brandon Belt is expected to be reinstated from the injured list during the team’s upcoming road trip, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link). Belt, out since May 26 with an oblique issue, has hit .228/.350/.474 over 137 trips to the plate.
Sad. The Giants infield resurgence is nice to see. Sucks that Longoria is out.
No, not sad. He tried to take the grounder from Crawford
PutPeteRoseInTheHall:
Wow, you’re rough. Even if Longo made a blunder (he didn’t), and went after a grounder he shouldn’t (he should), it’s still sad for Longo and Giants fans.
@tad2b13, agree with you
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
The positive is, it’s NOT his throwing shoulder so rehab will be much quicker and his overall body will be rested for the 2nd half.
Tough break for the Giants as Longoria is having a fine season. Offensively, now would be a good time for outfielders not named Steven Duggar to step it up. Duggar’s 32 strikeouts in 79 at-bats suggest his .897 OPS isn’t sustainable. He was excellent in the recent series at Dodger Stadium,
He strikes out a lot but I swear, every time Duggar has hit the ball, it’s been a rocket. His elite defense plus unexpected power surge makes him really remind me of Kevin Kiermaier.
Or like when the Giants had Pillar
He looked like a completely different player versus the Dodgers as if he had a plan. It’ll be interesting to see how he turns out. Having all those guys capable of playing CF is a tremendous asset for the Giants.
LaMonte Wade looks like another good bat that can step into Longoria’s place. Maybe Wilmer will turn it around and just put even more distance between the other 2 teams that were on paper supposed to dominate them.
After dispatching Cubs 3-1 , they go against a string of lesser teams: Rangers, Nationals, Diamondbacks then some mid-tier Phillies, Angels
After Angels come Dodgers and A’s … That will be a tough set of series but then again Giants are coming off some bottom feeders and middle teams so they should be in good shape for them.
Then they get a nice 4 game series with Diamondbacks who will already be looking forward to all-star break vacations
Cey Hey:
Duggar is interesting. He’s gone from what I thought was an all glove, no bat guy, to a threat. Despite the SOs he has a good OBP, but most of that OPS comes from his .544 SLG. I’m not as concerned so much with the SOs, though ideally that could be much better. My concern is the .465 BABIP. That clearly is not sustainable. So I expect the BA and the OBP to come down along with the BABIP, But if the power remains, and I don’t see why it can’t, he should be a guy that can be productive.
tad2b13, I tend to look beyond raw n numbers. Watching Duggar, his approach just seemed different. He’s taking good at-bats, which would make me less concerned about the K’s. He’s no longer a guy a pitcher can make mistakes on.
He almost blew the game last night with that bonehead play, sprinting in front of Crawford on a routine grounder SMH
To be fair, that ball would never have been hit if Dubon didn’t flub consecutive plays before that.
Still, Longoria tried to take a grounder from Crawford. Everyone knows you don’t do that. I hope he learns a lesson
@PutPeteRose(andBondsAndClemensAndShoelessJoe)InTheHall
Yes, it was Crawford’s ball but Longoria was also positioned pretty close to the traditional short stop spot and there are plenty of alignments where that would be a third baseman’s ball. I’m sort of surprised something like this doesn’t happen more often with all the different places around the diamond that guys play.
PutPeteRoseInTheHall:
Everyone knows that except for every ballplayer. If you’d ever played 3B you’d know guys playing there are taught to go after every ball they can reach. And, you see it all the time, where the 3rd baseman cuts in front of the SS, because the third basemen traditionally plays more shallow than the SS, and there’s usually not a conflict.
The problem was not Longo going after a ball he shouldn’t have, but the shift they were in. Crawford was pulled more toward 2nd base. Had he been in the normal SS position he easily gets to that ball before Longoria could get close. It was just a weird situation where the ball was hit between the 2 fielders and both got to the ball at the same time. Longoria did nothing wrong.
it just keeps coming… thank god we have depth
Not Dodgers type depth.
No one said Dodgers type depth..
and nobody asked
their depth is doing a superb job of keeping them in 3rd place
3rd place…with the 3rd best record in the NL…. so yea LA’s depth has been fantastic
3rd place in your division isn’t fantastic, no matter how you spin it
wrong, but carry on.
When you have to add the caveat “they’re in 3rd in their division, but no other division leader has a better record and they’d still make the playoffs” who cares about seeding in June? They’re a wild card team at worst right now. Isnt the goal of the regular season to get to the playoffs?
I’m sure a giants fan isn’t trying to tell me a playoff run means less if you’re the wild card team. Like come on, you forgot how the giants won their titles in the 2010s? Suddenly it’s not good enough? What a troll
That’s not spin. It’s basic understanding of playoff seeding and YOUR teams history
A healthy Belt and a Dickerson waking up at the plate will help the Giants. Next man up!
I would take lamonte wade over belt right now. Belt will go into stages where it looks like that all-star is coming out then flops right back to lower batting average and striking out with runners on base.
I don’t think Belt will ever be that .300 hitter who can get 100 RBIs and hit over 25 HRs that he was supposed to be…because every streak he goes on comes with an injury and major slump.
He’s literally been in the league for over a decade at this point, yet people still talk about him like he’s a top prospect that has flopped in the Majors. Saying “I don’t think he’ll ever be that player that he’s never been for 10-plus years” is hardly a brave statement, yet he’s got a 122 OPS+ that whole time.
MVP numbers?
Accidentally hit enter.
Was just going to say: MVP numbers? No, but why can’t a guy just be consistently good vs being the best?
Great take, Cainer. Belt is who he is. But anyone who has watched him has seen the potential for what he could do if he could just stay healthy and hot at the plate; and it’s frustrating when he doesn’t. But after 3 WCs and a decade of solid contribution, it’s time for people to stop dogging the guy.
We are NOT dogging him, just pointing out that he is not a #2 hitter in the lineup they have plenty – he seemed to try for that more than what they had hoped for him to be a guy in the middle of the order who could drive in runs. Giants needed run producers as that was their biggest weakness.
You all act like he is some stud who gets walks, has low to mediocre stats outside of that. He is arguably at the bottom tier offensive first baseman in the league. He is above average glove and has the speed to do more but like his hitting never pans out for a long term. Prone to huge slumps.
I cannot forget the 2016 after all-star break he completely fell apart and I dont think he has really recovered – he seemed on verge to break out into a full all-star season. Although 2020 was an odd year for many players – where you can say a great player hit poorly and a bad hitter broke out..
Datashark:
Well, the stats do not back up all these assertions of yours. Reading between the lines, and correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem to be focused on the number of RBI. There’s far more to creating runs than who drives them in. For his career Belt has a 123 wRC+. That is creating runs.
You seem disappointed that he doesn’t put up AS numbers. That’s a big ask, and he’s been productive throughout his career, even though he’ll never be the MVP.
As to 2016, in second half of the season he hit .241/.378/.414. Not great and definitely subpar for him, but he certainly didn’t “fall apart”. And as to not recovering since, he’s had a 115 OPS+ 2017 to the present.
As to your claim that he’s at the bottom of offensive first baseman, Why should we take your word for that? Where are the numbers to back that statement up? Oracle has been a difficult park to hit in, and it’s been particularly hard for left-handed power hitters. So you need to look at park-adjusted stats. Among active first basemen, with 500 ABs, Belt is 8th in OPS+. He’s tied for 26th overall, with Nolan Arenado, for all positions.
I think anyone that can’t see how productive Belt has been in his career, just doesn’t understand the game.
If you don’t think he’s a number two player in the order, then say that. You said he’s not a .300/25HR/100RBI player, which is a very different argument. That sounds precisely like dogging on him.
I’m not trying to prop him up as some top-tier first baseman, I’m just asking people be honest and realistic in their criticism. There’s a big difference between saying he’s not an All Star vs pointing out that he’s not progressed into a different player after a decade
Compare the stability & production at 1B with Belt vs the many players who have been in LF in the same period. Sub replacement values vs 22% above league average. Not a close question that Belt has been a positive contributor.
Flores isn’t a third baseman any longer. Vosler is the most natural third baseman, but if they slide him over it would only be agains righties. I would expect to see Solano or Dubon at third against lefties, but honestly I think Vosler is the better third baseman of the bunch.
Maybe future 3B Vosler.
yet Giants played Flores at 3B today.
I saw that and was surprised. His fielding percentage at 3b has been subpar for several years.
Most overrated team in MLB. Ready for them to crash.
No, that distinction belongs to the Mets. No one expected the Giants to be anywhere near .500 ball this year. If anything they were UNDERRATED.
@Buzz Saw – How exactly do you know that the Mets are overrated when they have barely played any games with a healthy roster? Especially now that McCann, Lindor, Smith and Alonso are all coming around.
Great mentality. Just because a team isn’t favorited to do anything and they happen to play well, the attention they get for being an underdog makes them overrated.
what a troll type of comment
Kewldood69, Have you watched them play? A fundamentally sound team that does all the things winning teams do. Also, how can they be overrated when their record has them in first place? Teams like the Yankees and Braves are rated higher even though they’ve yet to show it on the field.
Let me guess: You’re a fan of a SoCal team?
Rough break but on the bright side, Zaidi seemed to really like Jason Vosler by giving him a major league deal last offseason. This will push him into the spotlight and we’ll get to see what he’s made of.
I’m throwing my hands up in disbelief, beginning to wonder what was in those covid shots they gave to us. Are we all impotent as well?
Longo always hurt
MLB ALERT: I’ve been peeking in on the Orioles-Indians due to Cedric Mullins’ streak. He just drew his second straight walk after nine consecutive hits. The BA is up to .323 and the OPS .927. He leads the American League in hits. What’s interesting is that he ditched switch-hitting this spring and now bats exclusively left-handed. Fun player to watch. It looks like he might get another AB in the eighth inning. O’s up 17-3. Maybe against a position player?
17 to 3? Did the Indians get a field goal? I’ll bet Manfred is happy with the 17 runs. Offense, offense, offense.
Thats a tough blow for Longoria and the Giants. Longoria was off to his best start since being traded to San Francisco
Take a rest Longo. Let the Vosler and Flores help out. Just get healthy for the stretch in July/august. When we really need it. Belt will be back soon and help out. Giants are still underrated even though they have the best record on June 6. Let’s go Giants! Rest of MLB is jealous of our success. THEY HATE US CAUSE THEY AINT US!!!
I’ve never seen two infielders collide on a grounder.
the Phillies defense: “write that down, write that down!”
great to see Thairo killing it in AAA. I’ll say one thing for sure, Farhan makes great value moves. via waivers and small trades.
They can just trade for Kris Bryant
No.
This from the National Institute of health: “Dislocations of the sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) occur with relative infrequency and can be classified into anterior and posterior dislocation, with the former being more common. The SCJ is inherently unstable due to its lack of articular contact and therefore relies on stability from surrounding ligamentous structures, such as the costoclavicular, interclavicular and capsular ligaments. The posterior capsule has been shown in several studies to be the most important structure in determining stability irrespective of the direction of injury. Posterior dislocation of the SCJ can be associated with life threatening complications such as neurovascular, tracheal and oesophageal injuries. Due to the high mortality associated with such complications, these injuries need to be recognised acutely and managed promptly. Investigations such as X-ray imaging are poor at delineating anatomy at the level of the mediastinum and therefore CT imaging has become the investigation of choice. Due to its rarity, the current guidance on how to manage acute and chronic dislocations is debatable. This analysis of historical and recent literature aims to determine guidance on current thinking regarding SCJ instability, including the use of the Stanmore triangle. The described methods of reduction for both anterior and posterior dislocations and the various surgical reconstructive techniques are also discussed.” ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4832225/
This is a possibly. a career threatening injury
Did you cut and paste that all by yourself or get help from a second-grader?
I got help from a kindergartner who understood it… the one that helped you clearly didn’t
Will we see a Pablo 3.0?
LOL
Giants didn’t need to sign Bruce Maxwell. There are plenty other catchers who respect the National Anthem (without taking a knee … just like Kapler did) and without criminal records for pointing a gun at a delivery driver.