Evan Longoria is back with the Giants, as the team announced that the veteran third baseman has been activated off of the 60-day injured list. The Giants also placed righty Jay Jackson on the COVID-related injured list and optioned Thairo Estrada to Triple-A, while calling up left-hander Sammy Long from Triple-A to start tonight’s game.
Longoria suffered a sprained shoulder in early June, which halted a major comeback year for the 35-year-old. After posting a below-average 94 wRC+ from 2017-2020, Longoria exploded for a 140 wRC+, nine home runs, and a .280/.376/.516 slash line over his first 186 plate appearances of the 2021 season. Small sample size notwithstanding, the advanced numbers backed up Longoria’s improvement, as he had a whopping 61.3% hard-hit rate (per Statcast) at the time of his injury. There were some earlier hints of a breakout, as Longoria greatly underperformed his xwOBA in both 2019 and 2020, though his underperformance this season (.380 wOBA to a .401 xwOBA) is at least a fairer representation of how well he has been hitting.
The Giants have kept on winning in Longoria’s absence, and his return as the regular third baseman will create some shuffling around the roster. Wilmer Flores and, most recently, Kris Bryant have been seeing action at the hot corner, and it’s safe to assume that those two and Tommy La Stella could get the odd start at third base to spell Longoria. Bryant will be playing everyday in some capacity around the diamond and will likely see more time in the outfield with Longoria back, while Flores, La Stella, and Donovan Solano will jostle for playing time at second base.
This surplus of talent falls into the “good problem to have” category for the first-place Giants, and Estrada is going to Triple-A despite hitting .300/.371/.438 over 89 PA this season. Estrada, however, still has minor league options remaining, which makes him the unlucky odd man out on the rather stacked San Francisco roster.
Jackson’s absence is due to vaccine side effects, according to Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). That should mean a very brief absence for the 33-year-old, who has a 3.77 ERA and 37.5% strikeout rate over 14 1/3 relief innings this season.
Wonder if the Jay Jackson move is just the Phantom IL, or if he’s actually hurt, since he seemed to have no control yesterday. Pitching for the Giants is starting to look a bit thin.
Covid list. He’ll be fine.
Glad to hear
Hard to believe this is the first time the Giants have had all their starters since early May.
Plus Kris Bryant now. Thats a scary good lineup
It’s not bad, I’m a little concerned about pitching in the playoffs, but WTH…everything accomplished this season is gravy anyway.
Starting pitching is absolutely 100% my biggest concern.
It’s why Milwaukee could be scary in October. At this moment, they’re the only team in the NL without those concerns.
@Cey Hey Giants, Dodgers and Brewers are imo the S tier NL teams this season. Brewers scare me come October and they’ll most likely face the NL East winner in the first round
There’s not a lot of difference between the Brewers, Dodgers, and Giants pitching staffs, top to bottom. By ERA+ those teams rank 1, 2, and 3 in all of baseball.
Milwaukee 128 ERA+
LA 127 ERA+
SF 126 ERA +
The PS should be fun.
Yes and no. There is no gaurantee what next years team looks like, especially the pitching. Gotta take opportunity when it comes.
1. Posey C .980 ops
2. Longoria 3B .900 OPS
3. Bryant RF .860 OPS
4. Belt 1B .900 OPS
5. Crawford SS .900 OPS
6. Yastrzemski CF .780 OPS/.940 OPS
7. Wade/Ruf LF .850 OPS
8. Flores 2B .780 OPS.
That’s a pretty insane lineup
Not a lineup, just listed players that could fit in the lineup. Pretty insane
Not solano 2B?
He’s not very good this season
Only against LA then huh?
Solano and La Stella are decent bench pieces. Neither is having a good season but both are good situational hitters and not bad to have on a bench. Giants are a very scary offensive team.
Wonder who they had to move off of the 40 man roster?
Jay Jackson going on the COVID list means he’s temporarily off the 40-man. When Jackson returns, they’ll have a tough decision to make. I bet it’s John Brebbia or Caleb Baragar getting the axe.
Good problem to have in real life, but not good in Franchise Mode in MLB The Show. Their morale would all be in the dumps because every player is selfish in that game. Franchise is outdated as hell. I wish they would update it, but they can’t nickle and dime gamblers like they can in Diamond Dynasty.
How did end up here?
I had one job
How can the Giants remove this contract next year….
He’s a 2 WAR player playing on a 1yr – 13m contract next year. I don’t think the Giants mind. Also, they’ve got more money than they know what to do with.
13m?? Check your sources…. Giants need to sell high on guys having a good yr…. Rather see young guys get opportunity.
A reminder that the Rays are still paying a decent chunk of his contract.
Michol Check yours. The Rays are paying 5 mil of his salary next season.
Much has been stated about the Giants depth. I would contend that the G’s have a glut of offense which sets up challenges for the roster, and a vacuum of starting pitching at the upper minor league level. Tonight the Gs are burning through their bullpen playing a “bullpen game”. Is this a good strategy?
Every team has an occasional bullpen game. The Dodgers opted for one in their game before their first series against the Giants so that Bauer would pitch to them, and not pitch the day before. One of the things that has impressed me about Kapler, is how good he’s been resting everybody, relievers included. It’s extremely rare for a Giants reliever to pitch more than 2 days in a row. I think they’ll be fine.