The Giants announced a series of moves before tonight’s contest with the Rockies. Infielder Tommy La Stella has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list, with outfielder Luis González optioned to Triple-A Sacramento in a corresponding active roster move (via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). San Francisco also selected reliever Mauricio Llovera and optioned Yunior Marté. To create space on the 40-man roster for Llovera, starter Anthony DeSclafani was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.
La Stella is in tonight’s lineup as the designated hitter, setting him up to make his season debut. Signed to a three-year deal over the 2020-21 offseason, the lefty-hitting second baseman dealt with a few injuries during his first season in San Francisco. La Stella missed a few months due to a left hamstring strain and then a right hand fracture. He was then hampered by left Achilles soreness late in the season, and he was forced to undergo surgery in late October.
Recovery from that procedure lingered into the regular season and wound up costing La Stella the first five weeks of the year. Now that he’s back, he’ll likely step into a regular second base role. La Stella posted a .250/.308/.405 line in 242 plate appearances during his first season as a Giant, but he’d put up an excellent .281/.370/.449 mark in virtually the same amount of playing time during the shortened 2020 campaign. One of the game’s top contact hitters, La Stella could eventually be a top-of-the-lineup table setter for skipper Gabe Kapler. His forthcoming return no doubt played a role in the Giants’ decision to deal utilityman Mauricio Dubón to Houston over the weekend.
Llovera is back with the big league club for the second time this season. The former Phillies reliever signed a minor league deal over the winter and was selected in late April while the team was dealing with COVID-19 concerns. He appeared in four games and worked as many innings, allowing one run while striking out five without a walk. Despite the solid work, Llovera lost his 40-man roster spot as the club returned to health.
The 26-year-old’s first call-up came as a designated COVID substitute, meaning the team could return him to Sacramento without running him through waivers. That isn’t the case this time around, suggesting the Giants plan to keep him on the 40-man roster for a longer while. That’s understandable after Llovera has tossed 12 2/3 scoreless innings in the minors, fanning 17 batters against a pair of walks. Llovera does have a minor league option year remaining, so he can still bounce between San Francisco and Sacramento while maintaining a 40-man roster spot.
DeSclafani originally landed on the 10-day IL on April 22 as he battled right ankle inflammation. Today’s transfer keeps him out of MLB action for sixty days from that date, meaning he won’t return to an Oracle Park mound until at least late June. The move comes as a bit of a surprise, as the righty had progressed to mound work during his recovery last week.
Kapler stressed that DeSclafani didn’t suffer a setback (via Maria Guardado of MLB.com). Rather, it seems the club is just committed to a cautious rehab for the 32-year-old, whom they re-signed to a three-year deal over the offseason. DeSclafani tossed 167 2/3 innings of 3.17 ERA ball last season.
Three different teams won three consecutive AL pennants during the first 10 years of divisional play.
1969-1971 Orioles
1972-1974 Athletics
1976-1978 Yankees
Ok, now you’re overcompensating for the shitestorm of franchise names you spewed over the past few months. You still suck.
Always liked La Stella but he has one foot on the basepath & the other on the IL
Sending Gonzalez down to reinstate LaStella is a travesty. I don’t care if LaStella is signed for another year and a half, his contributions are likely to pale with what we’ve already seen from Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is just this year’s Wade Jr.
@ceol, sure, Gonzalez may be this year’s Wade Jr., which is exactly why they shouldn’t have sent him down!! He’s on fire at the plate and his defense is serviceable. Not sure they La Stella can offer more than Gonzalez.
Oh, don’t misunderstand what I wrote as an endorsement of that decision. I completely agree with you and was upset with the Wade Jr. back and forth last season. I’ve just come to accept this is how the Giants manage things now, so I guess I’ve become immune.
ceol.mor — Yup!
It’s not as simple as who’s playing better. It’s roster management. Sometimes you have to send the better guy down because he has options. It’s just bad management to lose players you don’t have to.
Understood, but the Giants need Gonzalez more than they do LaStella—unless LaStella really becomes the leadoff hitter the Giants can rely on. I’m doubtful.
So you’re advocating for the Giants to just lose La Stella for nothing, just to have Gonzalez sit on the bench a lot? Yaz, Wade, and Pederson are going to start in front of him against RHPs. Better that he gets regular ABs in Sac, so he’s ready to fill in for the next OF injury.
No, I’d trade LaStella for a young, but promising starting pitcher prospect—say someone about two/three years away. Roll the dice (Giants are weak in SP in minors), and unload LaStella’s contract.
Tommy’s glove and arm is below average. He’s 33 and a lifetime .270 hitter with no pop. No speed. If Giants are holding him simply because of his OBP and left-handed bat when they could get something for him, I think it’s a mistake. I hope he proves me wrong.
Nevertheless, there are a few teams who would take him, who actually need a LH second baseman.
La Stella’s trade value right now is low. Given that he’s owed money for next season, about all you could expect to get back is cash considerations. They’re not getting a promising SP whether he’s 3 years away or more. And even if they could, that does nothing for depth, which is part of the Giants formula for success.
Just to check, I went to the trade simulator. It would have to be a team wanting to win now, not one coming out, or soon coming out, of a rebuild. They’re not trading promising SPs.
I picked a guy at random from the Brewers projected as a single inning RP due in 2025, with a FV of 40, Russell Smith. The Brewers wouldn’t make that trade since La Stella’s value is -7.2, while Smith’s is 2.4.
Tried again with the Angels, and picked Mason Erla, a multi-inning RP with a FV of 35+, due in 2025. It was still lopsided, even though his trade value was only 0.5. It still can’t off set TLS’s -7.2.
Maybe they could trade him at the deadline if he reestablishes some value. but not now.
ceol.mor
Wait, the Giants won 107 games last year with the Wade Jr. back and forth. So you’re not going to admit FZ knows what he’s doing, just that he was wrong before, but that now you’re immune to it?
I’m not qualified to make roster decisions for a major league ball team, my comment was from the perspective of a fan. Wade Jr. was optioned to retain Tauchman. Tauchman never performed, save a miracle catch. I didn’t like that move at the time (as did many other fans) and it proved to be a poor one. Tauchman was ultimately DFA and Wade Jr. brought back up to stay. Giants then went on to win 107. So yes, I guess FZ does know what he’s doing, because he recognized his mistake and corrected it so the Giants could be the winning team they are. I understand why roster moves like this are made even if it bothers me. But, like I said, I’ve become immune to it.
“…he recognized his mistake and corrected it…”
Wow, Just wow. You’re really good at that hindsight thing.
It was not a mistake, and FZ would say the same. It didn’t work out with Tauchman, but it was still the right move, because it gave the Giants options.
Fans like you want teams to commit to cutting loose players on small sample sizes. When they don’t, to give themselves more opportunities, and it doesn’t work out, you love to say I told you so.
Baseball doesn’t work that way. Whether it’s in game, or roster moves, smart mangers/GMs/PBOs play the percentages, and not make snap judgements on who’s good, or who’s better than another guy, the way fans do. And thank goodness for that.
And saying you understand FZ’s roster moves, and you’ve become immune to them, kind of says you don’t really understand them. It’s just another way to say he continues, in your opinion, to make mistakes. I know for a fact that FZ knows way more than I do about baseball, and knows how to construct and manage a ML roster.
Dude, I’m not interested in a keyboard war with you. I’m a moronic fan that’s simply passionate about baseball, kinda like all of us here. I can hindsight whatever the hell I want to. I have that luxury sitting on my couch (hold on while I grab another potato chip to stuff in my pie hole). The privilege of being a fan is to talk smack and pretend we’re better than the people paid to actually make these calls. Get over yourself. This is all snark.
Fine, but then don’t get all pretzelly when someone calls out your self-described moronic fan’s viewpoint. You don’t want to get in a keyboard war, and yet you have obviously gotten all huffy, when I have posted nothing that’s not baseball related. Sure, hindsight all the hell you want, but don’t expect to not get called on it.
You say you’re passionate about baseball, but just want to post superficial snark?
Some of us come here to talk serious baseball. If you just want to post snark, and neglect realistic baseball issues, you have to expect someone exposing the shortcomings of your opinion.
I can’t roll my eyes hard enough.
tad2b13
Ok, we can agree to disagree on LaStella’s trade value, but choosing the Brewers who already have a LH second baseman that they like (Kolten Wong) doesn’t make as much sense as the Angels, And LaStella’s contract is not onerous. I just think on a packed Giants squad that’s forced to move a Gonzalez back to the minors, he seems superfluous.
And, yes, I know: he hit a leadoff HR last night.May there be more.
Pete:
Well we definitely disagree on TLS’s trade value. Fair enough.
You’re right about the Brewers and Wong, but my using them was purely random, and theoretically, maybe Wong goes down with an injury. Admittedly they’d probably still not be a good trade partner since they have Hiura.
But my point was, a lot teams that are not in win now mode, looking to be competitive 2-3 years down the road, are also not going to be interested. That leaves only win now teams, and the Brewers not being interested helps make my point, that the market just isn’t big for for TLS.
Like I said earlier though, If he can build up his trade value, he could be moved later on. But the smart thing is to keep him on the roster even if it means sending Gonzalez down temporarily.
Where’d TLS’s huge head scar come from?
Hair transplant?
He had the same operation as Brett Gardner
Things will now start to get bigger for La Stella
Why send Luis Gonzalez down? He looks really promising and is playing great ball…
Agreed. Rather have him than La Stella to be honest.
So, you’d be willing to lose La Stella completely just to keep Gonzalez on the ML roster? With Wade back, along with Yaz and Pederson as LHH OFs, Gonzalez’ ABs would be limited.
Agree that Gonzalez has been really good, but he has options. I could be wrong, but other than Wade, I can’t think of another IF/OF with options. Had they kept Gonzalez on the ML roster, they probably would have had to try and slip someone through waivers.
I don’t think they had a lot of other optionable OF options, unless they wanted to option Yaz.
Gonzalez’ hitting was stellar but his D was below average. He cost them a lot of runs.
hmm, didnt know that. worth noting I guess.
Arenado flyball he caught amazing
claude raymond — Not so. Gonzalez’ defense was a touch above average as he got comfortable with Oracle. Nothing wrong with his D.
His D was bad.
His D was bad. Diving catches can exemplify good or bad. One, getting to balls that are difficult to get to or 2) misjudging balls resulting in balls that are difficult to get to. I’m not sure if some of the posters have watched every game. I have and he has misplayed several balls. I do think however that his offense will be missed. His hitting was more consistent than ANYONE else.
Yaz doesn’t have any options either.
Giants aren’t optioning Yaz even if he had an option. Do you know how fast he’d be scooped up?
Plus, Yaz was Gold glove finalist
Rehab his arm
Made a hell of a catch
Give it two weeks and Gonzalez will be back up when LaStella inevitably hits the IL again.
I thought Descalfani was “making progress” based on a story here a week ago. I guess he hit a setback . Bad news
No setbacks, the team wants to slowly ramp him up to ensure he’s able to stay healthy for the remainder of the season
That is reassuring
Gonzalez has been awesome ? Why demote him
They had to send him down to give him consistent at-bats. The other OF’s are out of options (I’m pretty sure, anyway). He will be back.
The Giants only have room for one Italian on their roster at a time.
Idiot statement
Dump Peterson before Gonzo…..He was hitting over .300 and playing good D and moves much faster than the ex-Dodger bum, who can’t hit except for a few homers
They didn’t dump Gonzalez. Sending him down for now is a way to keep every player they’ve got. Keeping Gonzalez on the ML roster means, either sending someone like Wade down, or losing a player.
Smart GMs/PBOs don’t discard players when they don’t have to. That’s how FZ has maintained depth. I’m not a big Pederson fan, but he might be needed for depth later on.
La Stella is not going to take over the second base position from Estrada, no way in hell. Estrada is playing great defensive and handles the bat pretty good, also is fast on the bases.
Yeah he is. Well at least share it with him. Estrada has a 280 OBP.
Yeah, no way LaStella “takes over for Estrada” unless he hits a ton, which would be a major surprise. I imagine a platoon until LaStella injures himself again or his iffy defense resurfaces.
Kapler loves Tommy. Speaks with much reverence about his at bat quality. Numbers Giants guy tells me he rocks against RHP. I think he will be in there somewhere on a lot of days.
Estrada isn’t going anywhere. This simply fits with the Giants idea of trying to maintain Left/Right batters at multiple positions.
Anthony Franco, please do your research before making comments on teams and players you have no knowledge about.
Marty is that you!
Disco robbed the Giants blind with that contract
Disco had “let him walk” witten all over him after last season. He feasted on rotten teams while getting pummeled by contenders. And now that he’s injured only makes it worse. Gausman made so much more sense.
Look at the bright side. If we have to play the Dodgers in the next 60 days he won’t be pitching. That means we actually have a chance to win.
La Stella signing was not a good one (18 million 3 yrs). He’s around 33 yrs old, always injured. González was playing well and Estrada excellent at second base.
People are arguing that La Stella has been injured a lot, and that Gonzalez has played great. All of that is true, and FZ is aware of that, but it’s irrelevant to his decision.
Keeping Gonzalez means losing La Stella. As I said earlier, smart GMs/PBOs don’t lose players, that can be important depth pieces, if they don’t have to.
The Giants have been good the last couple years partly because they have depth. What happens if they lose La Stella, and then Estrada, Crawford, or both go down with an injury?