The Giants placed closer Randy Rodríguez on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 23, with an elbow sprain. Keaton Winn was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to take a spot on the active roster.
Manager Bob Melvin said Rodríguez is headed for a second opinion (via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). It’s not known if that means initial evaluation suggested he was facing significant injury or if that’s a merely an abundance of caution for any kind of elbow concern. Rodríguez missed around five weeks in the second half of last year with elbow inflammation. The Giants have dropped five games below .500 and are essentially playing out the string. There’s a decent chance this ends Rodríguez’s season even if there’s no significant ligament damage.
This has been a breakout year for the 25-year-old righty. Rodríguez earned an All-Star selection and carries a 1.78 earned run average through 50 appearances. He has fanned more than a third of opposing hitters and took over in the ninth inning after the Camilo Doval trade. Melvin said Ryan Walker will step into the closer role for the time being. Walker was the early-season closer and has picked up 11 saves, but he’s had an up-and-down year. He has been pitching well of late, turning in a 2.45 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 14 2/3 frames since the All-Star Break.
The Giants also provided an update on starter Landen Roupp, who went on the injured list last week. Testing has confirmed that the righty sustained a deep bone bruise in his right knee (relayed by John Shea of The San Francisco Standard). That comes with a month-long recovery timetable that’ll very likely end his season.
It’s nevertheless a relief as Roupp revealed he’d immediately feared a torn ACL when he stumbled on the mound and needed to be carted off the field at Petco Park. He finishes his second big league season with a 3.80 ERA over 22 starts and should have the inside track at an Opening Day rotation spot next year.
While there’s not a ton of intrigue for the final few weeks of San Francisco’s season, one question is whether top first base prospect Bryce Eldridge will get to Oracle Park. As part of a longer feature about the 20-year-old’s development, Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle writes that it’s “more likely” that Eldridge’s big league debut will wait until 2026. The ’23 first-round pick has hit well against older pitching at virtually every minor league stop. He’s holding his own in 49 Triple-A contests, batting .232/.303/.497 with 14 home runs in 208 plate appearances. Eldridge has fanned in 32% of his plate appearances at the top minor league level, though, including 31 strikeouts in 91 trips (34%) this month.
Exciting as it would be for the fanbase to get their first look at Eldridge, it’d make more sense to let him play out the year in Triple-A. Their season runs through September 21, only one week shorter than the MLB schedule. Eldridge would not be eligible for the Rule 5 draft. The Giants wouldn’t need to carry him on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason unless they call him up. That also means they wouldn’t burn a minor league option year to have Eldridge start next season back in Triple-A if he struggles during Spring Training.
Eldridge is a top 5 prospect
Mayb top 3
Gonna be special
Keaton Winn! He’s abominable!
Whoops! Got my redeemable bad guys mixed up. No toys for me this Christmas until I put one foot in front of the other.
Giants play the Yankees opening night in 2026!
Can’t wait to see Judge standing next to Eldridge at first base shooting the breeze.
As much as Giants fans want to see Eldridge sooner than later it’s probably a wise decision to keep him in AAA. Let Eldridge have a fresh start in Spring Training – especially since AAA season only ends 1 week before MLB season
This would allow Giants to bring up catcher prospect Rodriguez for a closer look
I agree that Eldridge should stay at AAA until the end of the MiL season. But I think they should call him up for the last week of this season. Doing that gives players a taste of what it’s like to be on a ML roster. They called up Posey in September 2009. He had a -38 OPS+ in his 7 games in ’09, but that didn’t seem to hurt his development one bit.
September call ups were a bit different back then, now they cherish those what the 29 roster spots that it expands to now. There’s value both ways, but I think the 40 man spot which he will eventually get gives them flexibility by leaving him down.
Yes, September call-ups are different, but the value would be the same. Posey only got into 7 games when he got called up in 2009. Eldridge could get almost that many this year. But the point isn’t games played with the big club, it’s the experience teams like their top prospects to get.
They won’t though. They should, but Melvin hates rookies.
lol @ Giants
Devers couldn’t save them.
Those offensive numbers don’t warrant a call to the majors.
lol
Ssbf, If it was earlier in the season, with the team in contention, you would have had a point. The reason for calling him up in September, with the team completely out of contention, has a completely different purpose than what you’re referring to. Many teams call up their top prospects in September for a taste of the MLs, and really has nothing to do with how they’re hitting in the MiLs.
Seems to me a .232 average in AAA is not a recommendation for a trip to the majors. Let’s see something like .282 before getting excited.
This just in: Eldridge raises BA to .237 on Tuesday night while hitting his 15th HR in 190 ABs, now has 51 RBI in 50 games. His HR/PA is 7.0 As a basis of comparison, Ohtani’s is 7.5. Not saying Eldridge is like Ohtani but BE has shown big time power at every level.
BR, As I said above, giving Eldridge a look in September has nothing to do with his BA in the MiLs.
Since the Giants don’t need to burn a roster spot on Eldridge it doesn’t really make since to do so for a few days of playing time. Here’s why. Say they put him on the 40 man and he gets hurts during spring training and the Giants have to put him on the 60 day IL to free that same roster spot. During that time he would accumulate MLB service time which would count towards arbitration.
The better scenario is is hits the cover off the ball next spring and makes the team out of spring training and the rest is history.
Every player runs the risk of injury. It make no sense for a team to operate anticipating injury. I doubt they’d put Eldridge on the 60-day if an injury didn’t warrant it. They’re going to have to add him to the 40-man next season at some point. They could always put someone like Wade Meckler, or Jesus Rodriquez on waivers to open a spot.
They could waive a pitcher. I doubt Verlander will be back next season. They have 21 pitchers on the 40-man right now. Or maybe they’ll let someone Mason Black, or Trevor McDonald go. If bringing top prospects up in September had no value why would teams do it?
Don’t rush a kid that could be the face of the franchise for years to come. Make sure he’s 100% ready and able to handle the MLB.