Giants manager Gabe Kapler announced to reporters Tuesday that outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. will open the 2022 season on the injured list (Twitter links via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area and Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic). Wade recently exited a Giants Cactus League game and underwent an MRI after experiencing discomfort in his left knee. The imaging revealed inflammation and a bone bruise, and doctors recommended 10 days of downtime before being reevaluated. That shutdown alone will take Wade beyond Opening Day, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll need additional rest or treatment at that point. Even if he’s cleared for baseball activity, he’d likely need at least a quick ramp-up period before jumping back into games.
It’s the second injury of note for the Giants in as many days. The team announced yesterday that third baseman Evan Longoria will undergo surgery to repair a damaged ligament in his throwing hand. He’ll need to have his finger immobilized for a minimum of 10 days following that operation, and with any surgery, there’s the potential for an absence of some note. The Giants didn’t provide an immediate timeline but will surely have updates once Longoria’s surgery has been completed.
With Wade now sidelined to begin the season, San Francisco will likely turn to an Opening Day outfield alignment featuring Joc Pederson in left field, Steven Duggar in center and Mike Yastrzemski in right. The Giants are deep in infield/outfield types, with Austin Slater, Darin Ruf and Mauricio Dubon all having experience both on the dirt and in the grass. Thairo Estrada and Jason Vosler, too, have a bit of outfield experience, though their play there has been more sparse than Slater, Ruf and Dubon. Outfielders Heliot Ramos and Jaylin Davis are both on the 40-man roster as well, though they’ve both been optioned to minor league camp already.
San Francisco will obviously hope for a fairly minimal absence for Wade, who proved to be their latest diamond-in-the-rough find this past season. Acquired in a minor trade with the Twins, the 28-year-old Wade eventually seized a semi-regular role at Oracle Park and slashed .253/.326/.482 with 18 home runs, 17 doubles and a trio of triples in 361 plate appearances. He was platooned heavily, logging just 42 plate appearances against southpaws and turning in a woeful .135/.200/.189 slash in that small sample. Wade is on track to be arbitration-eligible next winter and can be controlled through the 2025 season
Giants continue to impress.
At least they’re set at the hot corner.
CheapAsss Zaidi doesn’t want to spend money on proper Talent. He’s gonna run out a bunch of old men and group of ‘B’ guys with cast off minor leaguers while the #SFGiants charge 50.00 dollars for parking and 30.00 for Garlic Fries
How many 100 win teams does he have to produce with these B guys before you understand he’s better at his job than anyone in the Padres front office? I know you’re trolling, but good lord it’s not even remotely amusing anymore, you’re just embarrassing.
Conforto is still out there…
So is Blake Rutherford!
Conforto will still be out there too. I don’t see many teams giving up that pick for one year of Conforto especially not the Giants. He’s not worth it especially when they’ll probably get the same production from Wade when he comes back. Now ask yourself if you were a GM would you pay Wade over $20 million a year? Probably not right so then why pay Conforto that much? Conforto is a year older as well. He should have taken that big contract offer when he had the chance but no he listened to his agent and bet on himself and lost. I feel zero pity for him. You made your bed….
Likely $14m-$17m due to the lack of need/market. It’ll be April in a couple days, it’s not like he’s holding out for “the right deal”. Homie needs a JOB
doesnt conforto come with a bagging draft pick compensation
Yes he does, and I think that’s why nobody’s grabbed him. He’s not getting more than a 1 year deal after last season, and nobody wants to waste a pick on a *POSSIBLE* bounce back from Conforto
The more I see of this roster, the more I can’t believe they finished over .500 last year. That they won 107 is unfathomable.
Check mlb team stats from last year.
Are you sure you looked at the right roster? I couldn’t disagree more. I look at that roster from last year and I see 13 guys who were slightly above MLB average to as much as 60 points above. 8 guys with an OPS+ over 110. 6 of them lefties.
The pitching staff was 2nd best in the NL with a collective 127 ERA+. Every single SP pitcher, with more than 100 IP, was league average or better. Cueto was low man at 100 ERA+. 3 starters had a 129 ERA+ or better. 5 relievers, with about 60 IP or more, had ERA+ numbers from 141 to 186.
No big stars, but they had a depth of solid ballplayers, managed in a platoon heavy approach. Though they did overachieve slightly, 95+ wins was no surprise to me. MLB is a copycat league, you may see more teams bypass the stars and look to platoon from solid depth.
Platoon, platoon, platoon!
Agreed, I said this at the end of last season, but history will show that the 2021 Giants will end up being the biggest single-season anomaly in baseball history. As a Dodger fan, I have to give them credit because 107 wins is legit (you don’t luck into that many wins), but having the stars align in such a way for a whole season for a team with their talent level is unprecedented.
When the Giants fall back to 85 wins this year, their fans can take comfort in knowing that their NLDS loss to the Dodgers is the reason LA didn’t get past the Braves in the next round.
Giants are just like the A’s now. Their roster doesn’t look impressive on paper and they probably aren’t serious WS contenders, but they will exceed expectations in the regular season
the A’s will exceed expectations by process of elimination. winning 40 games isnt hard, but i bet many will peg them for less.
I was talking about the A’s from past yrs, when they were successful
The Baseball Gods are coming for their rent
Unfortunately, as predicted, the Giants inaction to find a quality everyday RH bat is going to bite them. I thought this would happen later in the season, but starting like this is a serious problem. I hope I’m wrong.
I agree. Losing Posey is a big hole to fill. They’ll definitely regress this season, but I still see them winning 90+. There’s always the chance they add at the deadline, but it worries me, with more teams in the playoff hunt, there’ll be fewer players available.
I’ve got them at 85-88 wins and third place in the NL West. But I hope you’re right.
If they win 90 they deserve manager of the year and executive of the year regardless of the 107 from last year
The magic fairy dust from 2021 is running out.
People remember that Longoria was out for months last year, and Belt and La Stella were hurt for stretches of time too, right? Why’s everyone freaking out about two small injuries to start the year?
Wade was one of the run producers they needed and longoria being out they are going to be scrapping for runs again.
if yaz rebounds – which he has looked like this spring along with ruf, estrada, pederson, belt- you still have a good amount of offense there. it is just a matter of the other guys contributing like bart and casali, etc.
Longoria was out half of 2021, and they were still able to score some runs.
the 2022 Giants and the 2022 Braves may be the 2020 Nats, 2021-22 Islanders, or 2021-22 Habs. I think the Giants and Braves may not fall that far, but large losses (SF with Gausman and Posey, ATL with Freeman), coupled with less likely luck could see both fall. I’d bet one of the two still makes the postseason, and both have more talent than the other three teams to right the ship, but they need to offset their losses.
You’re wrong about preseason predictions every year
neither is really comparable to the 2020 nats at all. both teams essentially lost 1 player and replaced them with another decent replacement, the braves with olsen and the giants replaced gausman with rodon.. the posey departure is a loss but it is also a question mark because we will see if Bart fulfills the expectations and for the giants – that rottation also saw the departure of cueto and is being replaced by cobb which is an upgrade.
If the Giants sign Conforto, it’s my understanding that they give up their 2nd round pick, 5th round pick plus 1 million in International signing money. In my opinion that’s a lot to give up.
With Belt, Wade, LaStella and Longoria all hurt I can definitely see Farhan trading for a corner infielder unless all those guys are due back in April in which case they can likely get by with Flores, Dubon & Estrada at 3rd and Ruf, Flores & Slater at 1st.
Plus Alex Blandino who could make the team plays both corner infield spots.
They don’t need another left handed bat so Conforto is definitely unlikely.
it would just be the 2nd round pick but it is still too much, the giants were something like 70mm under the tax last year
LaMonte Wade Jr. is a real joy to watch. Easily one of my top players to root for on the Giants.
That said, I’d love to listen in on the conversations between Zaidi and Harris on what their 2022 expectations are.
Go make a splash and get Jose Ramirez, if at all available? I know Cleveland is attempting to extend him. Maybe take on a bad contract to lessen the loss of prospects? Not sure, but the Giants need a legit rh bat.
I was thinking earlier who would best match up in a Ramirez trade. SF seems the most sensible. This is a walk year anyway.
the giants have a lot to gain in having ramirez but there is no way that what it is going to cost is worth it. A lot of the prospects the giants have that are rated high enough to be included are in the lower levels and not evaluated as highly as they eventually will be so you would end up in an overpay situation. not every guy will stick with the club obviously but I think with as much faith there is in scouting and development it makes more sense to keep what you got rather than spending them on a short term gain just to compete in an arms race
Cleveland doesn’t exactly have a “bad contract” to take on.
Hold the line, Giants fans. They will be right.
Short term injuries. La Stella was DH today and legged out a double. Bart hit his 2nd homer of the spring and is apparently carrying himself like the man in camp. Starters have all been rock solid. Relievers similar. Kervin Castro looks like he spent the whole off season running. Plenty to be positive about.
If you don’t already listen to the “Giants talk” podcast with Alex Pavlovic, I recommend the chat with Joc Pederson. Guaranteed warm, fuzzy feeling.
Everyone being down on us just fuels my excitement to see how far we might be able to exceed expectations again. Not gonna be last year, and everyone’s a year older, but maybe folks are gonna see that there’s something real going on with this approach.
The Yankees might have some players of interest to help the Giants.
FINE! We’ll take Judge and Torres for Dubon and Beede.