New signing Mitch Haniger’s status for Opening Day is unclear, after the Giants outfielder suffered a Grade 1 oblique strain yesterday, as John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Haniger suffered the injury as a result of an awkward swing on Friday. He had been due to play in San Francicso’s game against the Rockies that day, but was scratched.
Haniger, 32, was San Francisco’s biggest off-season investment this winter, signing with the team on a three-year, $43.5MM deal and the Giants seemingly remain hopeful of Haniger featuring in their March 30 opener against the Yankees.
“I think anything is possible at this point. We’re still figuring out the return-to-play timeline. Obliques are challenging. Yes, I have had them. Sometimes they feel like they’re 100% healed, but then they’re not always 100% healed. I don’t have information yet that Mitch won’t be ready for the season for us. Maybe on the same track, maybe just less reps in spring training,” manager Gabe Kapler told reporters.
Grade 1 strains typically require a four week recovery period, which would obviously put Haniger’s availability for Opening Day in major doubt, but each strain is different so there’s a chance he recovers sooner. Haniger wound up with a .246/.308/.429 line with 11 home runs over 247 plate appearances last season for the Mariners, and is set to be the Giants everyday right fielder this year.
The signings of Haniger and Michael Conforto had appeared to push Joc Pederson into more of a full-time DH role, but the left-handed hitter could see some time in the corner outfield if Haniger isn’t ready for the start of the season. The other candidate to fill in would be Austin Slater, who currently projects as the team’s fourth outfielder. J.D. Davis has also seen time in the outfield, while the team has Stephen Piscotty with them as a non-roster player this spring, but for now they’ll hope Haniger can recover in time to make his debut on Opening Day.
I remember the Giants
Giants, Profar is still a free agent. So maybe signing him would be a good idea.
Never throw additional bad money after bad. Hopefully, its a short term injury, in which case their current depth will cover. If its not short term, Profar is not gonna make a difference anyway. Let the kids get experience.
I’d rather see anyone from in house, if needed, than Profar. Profar just isn’t a better option, than what they have. Not an every day guy, and not a very good bench piece either. He just isn’t very good.
Haniger injured? I’m shocked. Shocked I tell you.
I don’t understand how all these guys strain their obliques so frequently. Do their trainers know that things exist beyond strength training and plyometrics? Mix in some yoga and/or Pilates. All these guys have muscle for days, but when you combine stiff muscle with repetitive explosive movements, that muscle gets angry.
Sometimes the best moves are the ones you never make. Good job Dipoto!
At this point, the jury is far from decided on who did better.
Tell ‘em tad!!
like signing rodon?
Time will tell.
I mean they still got Conforto so they’ll be down another man soon.
Aren’t you contractually obligated to type ‘great’ every other word?
Farhan Zaidi spent $64M this winter on two outfielders that combined to miss 267 games last season.
Zaidi was a bad hire. This franchise is a mess.
How’s Rodon doing ?
@foppert MRI came back clean. He’ll be fine.
No Haniger like Grade 1 strain for the $160m odd 6 year investment on the balls out, all the time pitcher with a long injury history ?
How about Montas and Bader ? Nester recovered yet ?
You know, glasses houses and throwing stones and all that kind of stuff.
You are a turd @0champsince2009yankees
Thank you foppert!
Good thing he hired them for this season then.
And so it begins!!!! Sorry, Giants fans, this is just the start. Love Mitch when he’s on the field but it’s so sporadic. -Loyal M’s Fan
@bus035 I feel for Haniger.. he’s had some awful luck with some freak injuries
Don’t feel too bad for him. The Giants gave him 3 years and $43 million. Why, I don’t know, but they did
If they get two healthy years they should get their moneys worth
Per mlb Giants app, it say’s nothing about it other than being oblique tightness…only states he could be down for a few days. Oblique’s are tricky for sure though
I’d tend to take the word of the teams manager who was quoted in this article.
Manager didn’t say anything about a grade 1 strain…said maybe just less reps…Mitch isn’t thinking it’s going to keep him out either…but like I said, obliques are tricky.
Right, because Kapler is so genuine.
Is he?
The Ms really did themselves a disservice by not trading Haniger in the 2018 / 2019 off-season. Take note Pirates of what can happen when you hold on to a player for too long. They should trade Brian Reynolds already and get something for the future.
I’d speculate that the team and fans are reasonably happy with the back to back 89 win seasons with him as well as the best roster they’ve had since the early 2000’s now that he’s gone.
Could’ve just as likely ended up with 2 duds like Dunn and Kelenic and been worse off.
Yea but considering that the Braves offered Austin Riley and Max Fried and the Ms still said no I think they are kicking themselves. And Haniger didn’t have all that much to do with last year’s success.
Also, that rumor was shut down pretty quickly by Seattle media. I take it Atlanta’s didn’t do the same? From everything I heard, someone was throwing out hypothetical trades and everyone ran with that one.
Pirates should wait to do it until the Trade deadline when Reynolds value will be at its highest.
I don’t think that’s true. Mitch was a culture changer and was still young. It was worth hanging on to him and seeing what they had in him long-term. We don’t sniff the chance at an opportunity to make the playoffs in 2021 without him, which doesn’t lead to us going all-in in 2022. I’m glad we hung on to him.
Another reason to start playing robots or simulate games so fragile baseball players don’t harm themselves.
I like the sound of Mike Trout 2.0.
Nice idea robots. Maybe let’s go with female appearance robots.
In Estonia “oblique” means “an injury suffered after a long period of inactivity.” It can also mean “drugs.”
Poor Mitch, he is injury prone, unfortunately. I remember that foul that hit his testicles – and fractured them. OUCH!!!
To make it worse, the umpire shouted Ball Two
You can’t fracture a testicle, smh
Google it!!! It’s called “rupture” testicle too!!!
Rupture is the correct term, not fracture
Thank God you’re here or none of us would have understood what they meant.
ANOTHER oblique injury?
Death, taxes, and Mitch Haniger injured.
damn, whats the running count on these obliques now?
Why has oblique injury been so prevalent recently?
Oblique injuries are a relatively common overexertion injury for position players; nobody is worked up to mid-season form, so they’re not nearly as locked into their swings.
That doesn’t explain why there’s more recently than ever before. The increase in occurrence is noticeable.
Are oblique injuries contagious or something???
Obligatory
He’s a 100 game a year player. Anything more than that is a miracle.
I’d they get 100 games a year I think they’ll break even on the money.
If he’s lucky…
If it is a usual 4 week recovery time ,With Haniger it will be 12 weeks.
Hopefully he will get an accurate diagnosis this time. Helps a bit when it comes to recovery.
Well that’s disappointing. Don’t rush it, Giants.
Haniger injured. Conforto has only played one game in the OF so far because his arm is still gimpy. Will the Giants get 100 games in the field combined from those two? Joc may get as many games in the OF as either of those two just because he’s the healthy one.
Yes. Easily.
The reality is you know nothing about the state of Conforto’s arm. If you can get that ego of yours to absorb some information that contradicts your opinion, he did an interview this week on a podcast called “giants talk”. Have a listen.
My wife and I have been staying in Scottsdale all week going to spring training games. Was at the game he played in. Two hopping the ball to the 2B was not a good sign.
Maybe post a link and I would listen.
He didn’t field a ball in game action. You sure it was him ?
Google “Giants Talk”. Im not your Mum, big boy.
No link after comments like that mean you get muted. It also means you are most likely lying about it or you would be happy to post a link.
Ha ha. So weak. Too arrogant and lazy to google 2 worlds. Mute away.
foppert, Don’t waste your time on this guy. He thinks reading comprehension is seeing what he wants into anything written, and arguing like it’s actual fact.
I agree with tad, the guy just makes stuff. Conforto had no plays in that game and baseballife knows it. He assumes we’re all as moronic as he is. I will say though that us responding to him isn’t smart either
Yeah dude. Conforto is so busted up that he’s back in the outfield again today and currently has a spring training OPS over 1.000. What a tough break for the Giants.
O fer 3 today and he never touched a ball in RF. In his 1st game he didn’t make a single play either. In a backfields game yesterday he threw a 2 hopper to the 2B from shallow RF.
OPS after 19 ab is ridiculous to even mention and it has nothing to do with his arm. You are grasping at straws.
Today we are at the Angels vs Diamondbacks game. The Angels prospect Jordyn Adams has an OPS over 1.300 and is actually playing good defense this spring. Should we think that he will start over Ward and Trout? Yeah. Didn’t think so.
So you just remembered that this all revealing 2 hopper wasn’t in the game he played as you indicated earlier ?
Wow. You actually got something wrong. That must have hurt.
“…has nothing to do with his arm”
Bro, last I checked you use your arms to swing the bat. And yes I understand some inflated spring training starts don’t mean he’s going to be Barry Bonds this year. But clearly he’s had no problem swinging the bat so far.
As far as throwing, he said himself he needs to build up his strength, which exactly what he’s doing by playing in the outfield everyday. You can be 100% healthy and still need to get your body back into top shape. Like, I could be completely healthy and injury-free, but I would definitely need to do some work if I was getting ready to run a marathon next month. Just because I’m not ready now, doesn’t mean I couldn’t be with a solid plan.
He went o fer yesterday with 2 K. He must be washed up. The point is he hasn’t been playing in the OF everyday. When he did in a backfields game he looked awful.
Backfields game is BS.
You just trolling now.
Nooooooooooooo!
My man Mitch
Ice melted?
Sadly, this is why the Ms let him walk. Dude can’t stay healthy.
With all due respect to the Mariners, there medical team aren’t exactly blameless when it comes to his troubles. From what I’ve read, they missed some stuff and prolonged his agony. The man has largely been a victim of bad luck and mis-diagnosis.
Steroids are still endemic, baby!!
Oblique and calf strains are the tell-tale signs.
Sabol is certainly playing his way on to the opening day roster. If Haniger isn’t ready, we may see Sabol getting reps in LF soon.
Yeah. That’s the positive part. Might be the way to keep him and Perez in the initial stages. Not sure about the other guys, but Cobb’s comments seem to indicate a preference for pitching to Perez. They teamed up again today.
I think it’s possible to keep both since Sabol can play the OF.
I hope so. If Haniger was healthy who would you omit from the outfield mix ?
That’s a tough question, now that I think about it. Perez isn’t on the 40 man. So if they add him, and Wade is mostly 1B I think they’ll only be able to carry 4 OFers. I think Gonzalez would be the odd man out, but I think he has options left. Plus he is expected to open the season on the IL anyway. But Wade and Sabol can both play the OF so they should be good for now. I think NRI’s like Piscotty will open the season in Sac. And, like every team in MLB, injuries are inevitable.
Yeah. It’s tough to get Sabol and Perez into 13 if everyone’s healthy. Haniger, Conforto, Slater, Yaz, Wade, Davis, Estrada, Flores, Crawford, Villar, Pederson, Bart. That’s 12.
Jesus Alou just died so he’s not an option.
So fopp and tad, do you think they might go with 14. Early sked has off days and they’ll have an extra long reliever or maybe even 2. Sabol, Perez, Wisely, Diaz…2 of these 4.
SP/ Webb, Disco, Cobb, Stripling with 1 spot starter and 2 long relief of Wood, Maneah and Junis.
RP/Doval, Rogers, Rogers, Alexander, Brebbia .
That makes 12 arms. Can’t they get by with that to begin the season?
sarunas, I’d be surprised if they went with 12. Yeah there’s off days, but I think they’ll want to go easy ramping up the work load out of ST. Since there’s always injuries, I think the situation will take care of itself. I think the Giants will make liberal use of the IL.
foppert, It’s tough, but I think they have to get both in. I doubt they want to lose Sabol, after what they’ve seen, and they have to keep him on the roster or lose him. And how can Perez not be on the 26 man when at least one SP has expressed a preference for throwing to him?
Unless Bart opens the season in Sac, I can’t imagine Sabol and Bart as the only two catchers. But neither can I see Perez and Sabol as the only two either. Catchers always take longer in the minors than any other position. That’s not because they can’t hit. It’s about learning to handle a pitching staff, and I doubt the Giants have a lot of trust Sabol in that role given his lack of experience.
I think they go with the 3 catchers.
I’m with you. I think they both need to be there. I’d hate to see them hand Sabol back. Anyway, as you infer, the IL will probably sort it out. It’s not like players aren’t dropping like flies.
Foppert, you are muted. I will blissfully be spared from even seeing your comments. You can stop the BS now because I won’t even see it.
Ha ha ha. I’m not sure what’s funnier, a grown man muting me, or a grown man boasting about muting me. Enjoy your foppert free experience !
I’m not ready for a foppert free world .
The boasting was funnier.
It’s become a disagree & delete kind of country.
The Giants emphasize depth. Mitch Haniger will barely affect the Giants. Stephen Piscotty, Michael Conforto and two unknowns Blake Sabol and Michael Gigliotto can handle the OF.
We won’t know until after the World Classic who is who.