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Bryce Eldridge

Giants Notes: Eldridge, Schmitt, Hernandez

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Giants rookie first baseman Bryce Eldridge was the subject of some early-offseason trade speculation. San Francisco entered the winter seeking pitching but didn’t appear poised to spend at the top of the free agent market. That led to chatter about Eldridge being included in a trade package for a controllable starter with a top-of-the-rotation ceiling (e.g. MacKenzie Gore).

That kind of move has always seemed like a long shot, as position player prospects of Eldridge’s caliber rarely get moved. The 21-year-old has taken the rumors in stride, saying over the weekend that he has worked to ignore the speculation. “I try not to get too wrapped up in anything going on. … I don’t know how far those talks got,” Eldridge said at Giants FanFest (link via Maria Guardado of MLB.com). “But I want to be here. I want to play for this team. I don’t plan on leaving here anytime soon. I hope they don’t plan on making me leave anytime soon.”

The 16th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Eldridge spent most of last year between the top two minor league levels. He hit 25 homers while combining for a .260/.333/.510 batting line across 433 plate appearances. The 6’7″ Eldridge struck out in more than 29% of his trips to the plate but was an above-average hitter at both minor league stops at age 20. The Giants called him up in the middle of September. He’s not a lock to break camp because of the strikeout questions, yet they’ll surely expect him to play a big role over the course of the season.

Eldridge underwent postseason surgery to address a bone spur in his left wrist. He said he’s essentially at full strength, noting that he’s in the final stages of his hitting program. Eldridge should enter camp healthy as he battles for the starting first base/designated hitter job in what would be a split between the two positions with Rafael Devers.

There’s also uncertainty at the other position on the right side of the infield. The Giants are reportedly making a push for second baseman, and they’ve been linked to Brendan Donovan and to Stanford product Nico Hoerner (a longer shot to move). If they don’t land a big-ticket upgrade, the starting job would fall to Casey Schmitt. He took over from the struggling Tyler Fitzgerald midseason and turned in a league average .237/.305/.401 line in 95 games.

Schmitt is also working back from left wrist surgery — a carpal boss removal, in his case. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle relays that the righty-hitting infielder resumed hitting off a tee last week. He might be a little behind schedule in March but seems to be well on track for Opening Day. Schmitt would vie for his first career Opening Day start if he’s healthy and the Giants don’t come away with a marquee trade pickup.

If they do land someone like Donovan, Schmitt would probably work as a multi-positional infielder off the bench. He’s a natural third baseman and has some shortstop experience, but there aren’t many reps available in a left side infield featuring Matt Chapman and Willy Adames. Slusser reports that the Giants have gotten calls from other teams about Schmitt in the two years since they signed Chapman, but his versatility and remaining minor league option mean they’re not under any pressure to deal him.

While Giants fans hope for some kind of big swing to improve the MLB roster, they made a notable move on the minor league side last week. San Francisco officially signed Venezuelan infield prospect Luis Hernández on January 15. His $5MM signing bonus was the biggest for any player in this year’s international period.

MLB Pipeline also ranked the right-handed hitter as the best prospect in the class on talent, praising his polish and all-around skillset. Ben Badler of Baseball America writes that many scouts consider Hernández the top amateur prospect though BA itself doesn’t rank international signees. Hernández, who turned 17 last month, isn’t the biggest player at 5’10” and certainly won’t be an MLB factor for years but represents an intriguing add for the player development department.

Giants Could Make Bryce Eldridge Available In Trade Talks

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TODAY: Speaking with Slusser and other reporters at the Winter Meetings, Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey said “we’ll listen” to offers on Eldridge, but “we listen on everybody” out of due diligence.  Posey stressed that “we like [Eldridge] a lot,” pointing out that “this guy has flown through the system…and I think he’s got a chance to be one of the biggest impact bats for the next 10 to 15 years in the big leagues.”

DECEMBER 7, 10:33PM: The Mariners and Red Sox are two teams known to have interest in Eldridge, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.  It isn’t known if Seattle’s interest has continued now that Josh Naylor has re-signed and locked up the first base position for the next five years, though the M’s could conceivably use Naylor and Eldridge in the same first base/DH mixture that the Giants currently have planned for Devers and Eldridge.

1:59PM: Top prospect Bryce Eldridge made his big league debut with the Giants in 2025, and while that cup of coffee in the majors lasted just ten games with lackluster results he still figures to be a major part of the San Francisco offense next year with the roster as presently constructed. Even with Eldridge’s on-paper importance to the future of the lineup, however, Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle reported earlier today that Eldridge “isn’t off the table” in trade talks as the front office heads into this year’s Winter Meetings.

That, of course, doesn’t necessarily make a trade of Eldridge particularly likely. It’s somewhat rare for players and prospects to be completely unavailable in trade talks as the majority of modern front offices have developed a willingness to listen on virtually any player. With that being said, it’s not often that a prospect with Eldridge’s pedigree winds up moving. The 21-year-old was San Francisco’s first-round pick in the 2023 draft and is a consensus top-20 prospect in the entire sport at this point. The slugger crushed 25 homers in just 102 games between Double- and Triple-A this year while hitting .260/.333/.510 overall across both levels. Few up-and-coming youngsters possess the raw power potential of Eldridge, who is listed at 6’7” and 240 pounds.

Virtually any team would be naturally intrigued at the idea of adding him to the middle of their lineup, and that should include the Giants. With that being said, Eldridge isn’t without his flaws. He struck out at a 30.8% clip at the Triple-A level this past year, raising concerns about his ability to make consistent contact against MLB-caliber pitching. Even aside from those concerns, however, it’s worth remembering that the Giants’ midsummer trade for Rafael Devers gave them their first baseman of the future for the better part of the next decade. It would certainly be possible for the Giants to squeeze Eldridge into their lineup, but doing so would substantially limit the club’s flexibility by locking down both first base and DH long-term.

The combination of Eldridge’s imperfect fit with the Giants’ roster after they brought in Devers as well as the team’s noted desire to avoid longer-term contracts this winter when looking to upgrade their pitching staff have made Eldridge a logical trade candidate. Even so, the argument for simply keeping an extremely gifted slugger whose service time clock has barely been started is certainly a strong one. 51% of respondents to a poll of MLBTR readers earlier this week believed that the Giants should hold onto Eldridge, and just 23% of respondents believed that the Giants should consider trading him without bringing in another impactful bat to make up for his absence from the 2026 lineup.

Of course, an acknowledgment that trading Eldridge isn’t entirely off the table remains far from the same as actively shopping him. It’s entirely possible that the Giants would only consider including Eldridge in a deal for a high-end player like Hunter Greene or Tarik Skubal who may not be entirely available in trade talks themselves. Rubin noted that while players of that caliber have been floated as potentially available, the specifics of this winter’s market are not yet set in stone. That, too, goes for the Giants’ level of involvement, per Rubin, which would lend credence to the idea that the Giants might only consider dealing Eldridge for certain impact players.

With that said, there’s a number of enticing trade candidates that have been bandied about this winter, even with players like Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez likely to be off the market. Edward Cabrera, MacKenzie Gore, Freddy Peralta, Kodai Senga, and Mitch Keller are all on the list of names that could at least theoretically be had on the trade market this winter. While the Giants surely wouldn’t be interested in parting ways with Eldridge for many of those players, it’s far from impossible to see a team with a controllable, cost-controlled starter like Cabrera or Gore being able to convince the Giants to part with Eldridge in order to add another high-end arm to a rotation that already includes Logan Webb and Robbie Ray but is in major need of reinforcements.

Poll: Should The Giants Consider A Bryce Eldridge Trade?

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The Giants made one of the most surprising trades in recent memory when they landed Rafael Devers from the Red Sox this summer in exchange for a package of Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs, and Jose Bello. Devers took over the first base job in San Francisco and now figures to be locked into a first base or DH role for the next eight years. That leaves first base and DH prospect Bryce Eldridge facing some uncertainty that’s become unusual for a prospect of his caliber in the modern game.

Eldridge, 21, made his big league debut this past year to much fanfare but spent only ten games in the majors and didn’t hit much in that limited time. Eldridge tore up the Double-A level this year with a .280/.350/.512 slash line (147 wRC+) in 140 trips to the plate to start the season before being promoted to Triple-A, where he spent most of the year and posted a .249/.322/.514 slash line. That was good for a wRC+ of just 105 thanks to the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, but Eldridge’s 18 homers in 66 games is hard to argue with. That elite power is what’s made him a consensus top-20 prospect in the sport, and any team with a hole at first base would find it easy to dream on the youngster anchoring the middle of their lineup for the next half decade or longer.

Of course, the Giants do not have a hole at first base. That’s not to say they couldn’t find a way to squeeze a player of Eldridge’s caliber into the lineup, but in order to do so, they’d severely limit their overall lineup’s flexibility by locking down both the first base and DH spots on an everyday basis. That can certainly be worth it, as the division rival Dodgers have shown with their wildly successful duo of Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani. But even in L.A. there have been some clear downsides. The team’s defense has suffered with players like Teoscar Hernandez and Max Muncy forced to play the field full time at positions where they’re only passable defenders.

Is that reason enough to consider a trade? Eldridge would certainly be a tantalizing trade target for a number of teams who could be looking to sell this winter. The Cardinals seem to be more focused on adding pitching in their trades to this point, but a team like the Twins or Marlins could surely benefit from having Eldridge as the centerpiece of their rebuild, and a player like Edward Cabrera or Joe Ryan would look good in the Giants’ rotation alongside Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. The Giants have made clear that they aren’t interested in spending at the top of the market for pitching this winter, but a trade of Eldridge could allow them to land a high-end starter without adding a hefty salary to the books.

Some of this, of course, comes down to how much the Giants believe in Eldridge. His 105 wRC+ and 30.8% strikeout rate at Triple-A this year likely created some mild concerns. If Eldridge were to struggle in 2026, his value would surely fall. That could make this offseason an appropriate time to move on, though it’s also worth remembering how devastating moving on from a top prospect too soon can be. The Cubs acquired Michael Busch just 27 games into his big league career and he turned in a 140 wRC+ this season in the middle of their lineup as an everyday first baseman. Of course, Chicago acquired Busch from the Dodgers not long after they brought Ohtani into the fold. Los Angeles surely aren’t too worried about Busch breaking out elsewhere. Perhaps the same could be true for San Francisco and Eldridge if the return is strong enough. That would be especially true if recent rumors connecting the Giants to Kyle Schwarber prove accurate.

How do MLBTR readers feel the Giants should proceed with Eldridge? Should they hold onto their top prospect and hope he and Devers can become an elite offensive duo in the middle of their lineup for the better part of the next decade? Or should they deal Eldridge to maximize positional flexibility and bring in a more impactful talent on the pitching side? Have your say in the poll below:

Giants Notes: Coaches, Eldridge, Smith, Bochy

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3:20PM: The Giants won’t be interviewing any members of the current coaching staff for the managerial opening, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser reports.  The club isn’t renewing any of the coaches’ contracts for 2026, which is standard practice in the event of a managerial change.  While the next skipper will naturally have input in the make-up of next year’s staff, Slusser views pitching coach J.P. Martinez, bullpen coach Garvin Alston, and first base coach Mark Hallberg as the likeliest candidates to return.

2:03PM: The Giants announced Wednesday that top prospect Bryce Eldridge will undergo surgery tomorrow to remove a bone spur from his left wrist. The procedure comes with an eight-week recovery timetable, which should afford Eldridge ample time to be ready for spring training.

San Francisco’s first-round pick in 2023, Eldridge made his big league debut late in the season at just 20 years of age. Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey had suggested earlier in September that Eldridge wasn’t likely to get the call in 2025, but with the Giants pushing back into playoff contention late in the year, they brought their most promising hitter to the majors in hopes of a late spark.

Perhaps predictably, given his youth and lack of upper-minors experience, Eldridge struggled and often looked overmatched. He appeared in 10 games, took 37 plate appearances and turned in just a .107/.297/.179 batting line with 13 strikeouts (35.1%). None of that diminishes Eldridge’s long-term outlook. He skyrocketed through the minors and logged a .260/.333/.510 batting line with 25 homers in just 433 plate appearances across three levels this year.

Eldridge is still regarded as one of the sport’s 20 best prospects at both Baseball America and MLB.com. News of surgery on the promising young slugger’s wrist might create some concern about his short-term production early in 2026, but the long-term expectation remains that Eldridge and June trade acquisition Rafael Devers will share first base and designated hitter in the long term.

In 2025, first base duties fell primarily to the trio of LaMonte Wade Jr. (designated for assignment in June), Devers and veteran Dominic Smith, who signed a big league deal at the same time Wade was jettisoned from the roster. Smith handled himself well in San Francisco, batting .284/.333/.417 with five homers and a dozen doubles in 225 trips to the plate. The presence of both Eldridge and Devers on the roster doesn’t seem to dovetail with a reunion between the Giants and Smith, who’s a free agent this winter, but general manager Zack Minasian suggested otherwise today.

Speaking with reporters in an end-of-season press conference, Minasian said the Giants “won’t close the door” on bringing the 30-year-old back for the 2026 season (link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Smith does have a bit of outfield experience dating back to his days with the Mets, but the results weren’t pretty. He’s logged 1330 innings in left field in his career but graded out poorly via both Defensive Runs Saved (-11) and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (-19). If the Giants are comfortable with him being a bench bat and a safety net at first base/DH in the event that Eldridge doesn’t make the Opening Day roster, there could still be a fit. However, Smith’s solid showing at the plate figures to earn him some other opportunities around the league.

Of course, the more pressing question of a potential reunion on the minds of most Giants fans concerns longtime skipper Bruce Bochy, who’s spent the past three seasons managing the Rangers. Bochy and the Rangers announced a mutual parting of ways at season’s end, and San Francisco has a managerial vacancy after dismissing Bob Melvin. Bochy was president of baseball operations Buster Posey’s manager early in his career with the Giants. The pair won three World Series together during the Giants’ even-year dynasty when they won the Fall Classic in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Asked about the possibility of Bochy returning to manage the Giants today, however, Posey suggested it’s not likely (video link via NBC Sports Bay Area):

“I talked to Boch a couple of days ago and told him that where we are currently — and I don’t even know what Boch’s plans are, if he wants to continue to manage or not — that the door is always open here for some sort of role. But the way I think things are coming into picture in my mind, with where we want to go next, I don’t see us going that route with Boch.”

Posey did acknowledge that he’s had some (presumably preliminary) conversations with managerial candidates, but there’s no indication that formal interviews have commenced, nor is there a clear timetable for when the Giants might resolve their search.

MLBTR Podcast: The Struggling Mets, Bryce Eldridge, And Trey Yesavage

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Will the Astros trade Christian Walker in the offseason and move Isaac Paredes over to first base? (38:45)
  • Will the Braves make any shocking trades of their core this offseason? (47:40)
  • Will the Red Sox nab a postseason spot and can they make a deep postseason run? (55:00)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images

Giants Designate Brett Wisely For Assignment

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The Giants officially announced the previously reported promotion of top first base prospect Bryce Eldridge. San Francisco optioned outfielder Luis Matos to clear a spot on the big league roster. They designated utility infielder Brett Wisely for assignment to open the necessary 40-man roster spot.

Eldridge, who is still a month away from his 21st birthday, steps right into the fire in a pennant race. He’s batting fifth and serving as the designated hitter against Zac Gallen (relayed by Justice delos Santos of The Mercury News). The Giants are keeping Rafael Devers at first base tonight. San Francisco is half a game ahead of the Diamondbacks and trails the Mets by a game and a half for the National League’s last Wild Card spot.

Wisely has been on San Francisco’s 40-man roster for the past three seasons. Farhan Zaidi was running baseball operations when the Giants acquired him from the Rays early in the 2022-23 offseason. Wisely would have qualified for the Rule 5 draft, but San Francisco selected his contract to ensure they retained his rights. The former 15th-round pick has been up and down between Oracle Park and Triple-A for the last three seasons.

The lefty-hitting Wisely hasn’t produced much against big league pitching. He owns a .217/.263/.324 line with seven home runs across 457 plate appearances. He hit very well in Triple-A between 2023-24, but his minor league numbers this year have also been underwhelming. Wisely carries a .253/.332/.387 line with seven longballs and 12 steals in 80 games at Triple-A Sacramento this season. He has only appeared in 22 MLB contests as a result, hitting .208 with one homer in 54 trips to the plate.

While this hasn’t been a good season, Wisely has some positive attributes that could get interest on the waiver wire. He grades as a solid defender at second base and has experience at every position aside from catcher. He’s never going to hit for much power, but he has shown solid on-base skills in the minors. He owns a .274/.371/.433 line in nearly 200 career Triple-A games across four seasons.

San Francisco will place Wisely on outright waivers within the next few days. He’s in his last minor league option year. Another team may put in a claim and stash him in Triple-A for the rest of the season. He’ll be out of options next year. If he sticks on a 40-man roster into Spring Training, he’d need to break camp and remain in the majors or again be designated for assignment.

Giants To Promote Bryce Eldridge

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The Giants are calling up top prospect Bryce Eldridge, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The club will need to make corresponding moves to get him onto the active and 40-man rosters.

Just over two weeks ago, it was reported that the Giants were unlikely to call up Eldridge this year, but a few things have changed since then. In late August, it seemed like the Giants were playing out the string on a lost season. They had sold at the deadline and were about seven games back of a playoff spot as August was winding down.

Eldridge was putting up good-not-great numbers in Triple-A. They could have called him up for a few big league at-bats, but he hasn’t even turned 21 years old yet and wasn’t really forcing the issue. If they had added him, they would have had to keep him on the roster through the winter. Keeping him in Triple-A would have afforded the club an extra roster spot through the offseason, since he wasn’t going to be Rule 5 eligible until December 2027.

But as mentioned, the picture has shifted. The Giants have played better of late as the Mets have fallen apart. That leaves San Francisco just 1.5 games back of a playoff spot now, with two weeks left in the regular season. A couple of days ago, they lost first baseman Dominic Smith to a hamstring strain, which pushed him onto the injured list.

Eldridge has also been in pretty good form lately. Since the reporting that he was likely not going to be called up, he has taken 78 more plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He hit four home runs in that span and drew walks at a 10.3% clip. His 28.2% strikeout rate in that stretch is still high but his .294/.372/.559 line translates to a 132 wRC+, even in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League.

Put it all together and it’s easy to see the appeal for the Giants. They have somehow found themselves with a real shot at cracking the postseason. Eldridge has long been one of their top prospects for a while and could help them make a push. The injury to Smith opened a path for him. Promoting Eldridge now will mean the club has one less roster spot to use in the winter, but that’s a small price to pay for the potential short-term benefits.

In the weeks prior to Smith’s injury, the Giants had a three-man rotation for the first base and designated hitter spots. Rafael Devers was playing everyday, alternating between DH and first base. It’s been less than two months that he’s been a first baseman, so it seems the Giants have been gradually getting him accustomed to that spot. Smith and Wilmer Flores were essentially platooning in the other slot, with the lefty-hitting Smith in there against righties and the righty-swinging Flores against lefties. One of them would be at first or DH, depending on where Devers was.

Eldridge hits from the left side and could perhaps take up the role that Smith was in previously. Eldridge doesn’t have huge splits here in 2025, with a .258/.333/.515 line against righties and .270/.330/.494 against lefties, but there was a stark difference in 2024. Last year, he had a .319/.406/.584 line with the platoon advantage but a .211/.272/.316 line otherwise. The improvements this year are very encouraging but the Giants might still shield him from lefties as they play competitive games for the next two weeks.

On the other hand, Flores had oddly reverse splits this year. He has a .223/.277/.362 line and 79 wRC+ against southpaws but a .248/.322/.383 line and 102 wRC+ otherwise. His career splits are more tilted towards the norm, as he has been slightly better against lefties, but he hasn’t been crushing them lately.

One way or another, Eldridge should be in there somewhere. It would be odd for the Giants to call him up just for a bench role, so they presumably plan on him getting somewhat regular playing time. He does have some right field experience in the minors but not since 2023. He has been exclusively a first baseman since the start of 2024. In the long run, he and Devers will presumably be sharing first base and the DH spot in some form. Devers is signed through 2033 while Eldridge will still have six seasons of club control beyond this one.

Since he only plays first base, Eldridge has a slightly lesser ceiling than a player who can cover a premium defensive spot, but he’s so good at the plate that he’s still a consensus top 30 prospect in the league. There’s not enough time remaining in the 2025 season for him to exhaust rookie eligibility, so he will still populate those prospect lists going into 2026, even if he is eventually part of a deep postseason run this year. By maintaining rookie status going into 2026, he will be eligible for the prospect promotion incentive. That means he could earn the Giants an extra draft pick if he cracks next year’s Opening Day roster and then meets certain awards voting criteria.

Photos courtesy of Sergio Estrada, Imagn Images

Giants Unlikely To Call Up Bryce Eldridge This Year

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Giants fans have spent much of the season wondering whether slugging top prospect Bryce Eldridge might make his MLB debut at some point this summer. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote earlier in the week that it’s “more likely” the 20-year-old will finish out the season in Triple-A and hope for his first call to the majors in 2026. President of baseball operations Buster Posey removed further doubt the following day when telling John Shea of the San Francisco Standard that his team would “most likely not” promote Eldridge for his big league debut before season’s end.

That may be disappointing for San Francisco fans who’ve been hoping that an Eldridge promotion would give them extra incentive to stay tuned in to a season that has largely slipped away. There are justifiable reasons to hold off, however. The Giants have been breaking June acquisition Rafael Devers in at first base, and Eldridge has been slumping recently in Sacramento.

Eldridge, a 2023 first-rounder, is widely regarded as one of the sport’s top 25 or so prospects. He hit .280/.350/.512 with seven homers in 140 Double-A plate appearances but has cooled after a hot start in Triple-A. He’s still slashing a respectable .241/.311/.513 with 15 homers in 219 plate appearances since moving to the top minor league level, but Eldridge is hitting .203/.280/.419 over the past three weeks. He’s also struck out in 32% of his Triple-A plate appearances.

Beyond Devers’ transition to first base and Eldridge’s recent struggles, there are other elements to consider. The Giants aren’t contending for a postseason spot at this point — barring a miracle Wild Card run — and Eldridge wouldn’t be eligible to be poached by another club in the Rule 5 Draft until 2027. He’ll be added well before then — early next year, in all likelihood — but delaying his promotion until 2026 effectively gives the Giants an extra 40-man roster spot they can utilize in the offseason. He can then be selected to the roster next year when the Giants have the 60-day IL available to open roster space, whether that be in spring training or early in the year. (There’s no 60-day injured list in the offseason.)

The Devers acquisition and his subsequent move to first base clearly placed a roadblock to Eldridge eventually becoming the everyday first baseman at Oracle Park. However, Eldridge told Slusser that vice president of player development Randy Winn called him quickly after the trade to reassure him that he’s still a big part of the team’s long-term plans.

“Natural human instinct is going to be, ‘Well, that’s my position,’ but they’re paying that guy a lot of money,” Eldridge said. “But Randy reassured me that they like me and they like the progress I’ve made, they see me in their plans, playing first or DH, wherever it may be. It doesn’t necessarily matter to me too much where I’m at, I just want to be a part of helping that team win.”

Giants Notes: Rodriguez, Walker, Roupp, Eldridge

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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.

Giants Notes: Devers, Eldridge, Payroll

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The baseball world was stunned by Sunday’s Rafael Devers trade and further details have continued to spill out in subsequent days. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Red Sox asked for prospect Bryce Eldridge in trade talks but the Giants quickly rebuffed that.

Eldridge is clearly a talented prospect, making it understandable that the Sox would ask about him, and that the Giants preferred to keep him. The 16th overall pick of the 2023 draft, he has since taken 845 plate appearances in the minors, hitting 39 home runs with an 11.5% walk rate. His 26.5% strikeout rate is a bit on the high side but he’s also been facing far older competition basically the whole time. He’s now in Triple-A even though he’s still only 20 years old.

He started this year at Double-A and mashed, putting up a line of .280/.350/.512 in 34 games. That got him quickly promoted to Triple-A, where his production has stalled a bit. He is hitting just .160/.232/.340 at the top minor league level so far with a 33.9% strikeout rate. But it’s a small sample of 13 games and, as mentioned, he is extremely young for the level.

By keeping Eldridge in the fold, the Giants may have a bit of a squeeze in the first base/designated hitter mix over the long run. It appears that Devers’ days of being a third baseman are effectively done. Matt Chapman is one of the top defensive third basemen in the league and is signed through 2030. Devers is now learning first base and could be a viable option at that spot in the coming weeks.

Whenever Eldridge earns his way up to the majors, he and Devers will have to share the first base and DH spots, though that may not be a short-term problem if Eldridge still needs some time to develop against Triple-A pitching. The Giants are presumably fine with the long-term fit, since they seemingly took a hard line against even considering Eldridge being included in the deal.

Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area also reports on the Sox asking for Eldridge and notes that players like Hayden Birdsong and Carson Whisenhunt also came up at times during the talks. It’s unclear if the Giants were opposed to dealing those guys or if the Sox just preferred Kyle Harrison and James Tibbs, who ultimately were included in the completed deal.

Beyond the players, money was a key component of this trade, with Devers having about $250MM still to be paid out over the eight and a half years remaining on his contract. Jordan Hicks is still owed about $30MM in the two and a half years remaining on his deal, which offsets that somewhat, but the Giants still took on roughly $220MM in the swap. Considering the largest contract the Giants have ever signed in the history of the franchise is the $182MM free agent deal for Willy Adames, absorbing the money in the Devers trade was no small matter.

With that kind of financial commitment changing hands, ownership would naturally have to be involved. Giants chairman Greg Johnson spoke to John Shea of The San Francisco Standard, noting that he and Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy spoke about the pact fairly early in the process, at the urging of Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey.

“I talked to [Kennedy] at the (owners’) meetings (in early June) in New York, and I talked to him this week. Just put the message in that we’re serious. It’s not just chatter. Nobody wants to do all this work and then say, ’Oh, now we’ve got to sell it to our owners.’ We wanted to let the other owners know ’these guys are serious. They want to get something done.’ That changes the urgency. Buster was very smart to recognize that point. That goes back to his sense. He’s got a good nose for how people think and operate. It’s one of his strengths.”

RosterResource currently estimates the Giants to have a competitive balance tax number of almost $223MM, roughly $18MM below the $241MM base threshold. That should leave the club plenty of wiggle room to continue adding to the roster ahead of the deadline, whether they plan to avoid the tax or not.

Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images

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