Randy Rodriguez

Players Who Could Move To The 60-Day IL Once Spring Training Begins

By Darragh McDonald | February 2, 2026 at 3:12pm CDT

Most of the clubs in the league currently have a full 40-man roster, which means that just about every transaction requires a corresponding move. Some extra roster flexibility is on the way, however. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series but comes back when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Most clubs have a slightly earlier report date this year due to the World Baseball Classic. Last year, the Cubs and Dodgers had earlier report dates because they were had an earlier Opening Day than everyone else as part of the Tokyo Series. Gavin Stone was the first player to land on the 60-day IL in 2025, landing there on February 11th. According to MLB.com, every club has a report date from February 10th to 13th this year.

It’s worth pointing out that the 60 days don’t start being counted until Opening Day. Although a team can transfer a player to the 60-day IL quite soon, they will likely only do so if they aren’t expecting the player back until late May or beyond. A team also must have a full 40-man roster in order to move a player to the 60-day IL.

There are still plenty of free agents still out there, including big names like Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen, Justin Verlander, Chris Bassitt, Lucas Giolito, and more. Perhaps the extra roster flexibility will spur some deals to come together. It could also increase the ability of some clubs to make waiver claims or small trades for players who have been designated for assignment. If a team wants to pass a player through waivers, perhaps they will try to do so in the near future before the extra roster flexibility opens up.

Here are some players who are expected to miss some significant time or who have uncertain recovery timelines from 2025 injuries.

Angels: Anthony Rendon, Ben Joyce

Rendon’s situation is unique. He underwent hip surgery a year ago and missed the entire 2025 season. He is still on the roster and signed through 2026. He and the club have agreed to a salary-deferment plan and he is not expected to be in spring training with the club. His recovery timeline is unclear, but general manager Perry Minasian said earlier this month that Rendon would be “rehabbing at home,” per Alden González of ESPN. If they were going to release him, they likely would have done so by now, so he seems destined for the injured list.

Joyce underwent shoulder surgery in May and missed the remainder of the 2025 season. His current status is unclear. In August, he told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he didn’t know if he would be ready for spring training. He would only land on the 60-day IL if the Halos don’t expect him back before the end of May.

Astros: Hayden Wesneski, Ronel Blanco, Brandon Walter

All three of these pitchers underwent Tommy John surgery in 2025. Wesneski was first, with his surgery taking place on May 23rd. Blanco followed shortly thereafter in early June. They will likely be targeting returns in the second half. Walter’s procedure was in September, meaning he will likely miss the entire season. All three should be on the 60-day IL as soon as Houston needs roster spots for other transactions.

Athletics: Zack Gelof

Gelof underwent surgery to repair a dislocated shoulder in September, with the expectation of him potentially being healthy for spring training. At the end of December, general manager David Forst told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com that Gelof would be “a little bit behind” in spring. He would only land on the 60-day IL if the A’s think he’ll be out through late May.

Blue Jays: Jake Bloss

Bloss underwent surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow in May. He was on optional assignment at the time and stayed in the minors for the rest of the season. Going into 2026, the Jays could keep him in the minors but they could also call him up and place him on the major league IL. Doing so would open up a roster spot but would also mean giving Bloss big league pay and service time.

Braves: Ha-Seong Kim, AJ Smith-Shawver, Danny Young, Joe Jiménez

Kim recently fell on some ice and injured his hand. He underwent surgery last week, and the expected recovery time is four to five months. The shorter end of that window only goes to mid-May, so perhaps Atlanta will hold off on making a decision until they watch his recovery, especially since they have other guys with clearer injury timelines.

Smith-Shawver underwent Tommy John surgery in June, so he shouldn’t be back until the second half and is therefore a lock for the 60-day IL once Atlanta needs a spot. Young underwent the same procedure in May, so he should also be bound for the IL.

Jimenez is more of a question mark. He missed the 2025 season due to left knee surgery. He required a “cleanup” procedure on that knee towards the end of the season. His timeline isn’t currently clear.

Brewers: None.

Cardinals: None.

Cubs: Justin Steele

Steele will probably be a bit of a borderline case. He underwent UCL surgery in April but it wasn’t a full Tommy John surgery. The Cubs described it as a “revision repair”. Steele had undergone Tommy John in 2017 as a minor leaguer.

Since Steele’s more recent procedure was a bit less serious than a full Tommy John, the club gave an estimated return timeline of about one year, putting him in line to potentially return fairly early in 2026. Given his importance to the Cubs, they would only put him on the 60-day IL if his timeline changes and he’s certain to be out through late May.

Diamondbacks: Corbin Burnes, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., A.J. Puk, Justin Martínez, Blake Walston, Tyler Locklear

The Snakes were hit hard by the injury bug in 2025. Burnes, Walston and Martínez all underwent Tommy John surgery. Burnes and Martínez had their procedures in June, so they should be targeting second-half returns and be easy calls for the 60-day IL. Walston would be a bit more borderline because his surgery was around Opening Day in late March last year. Puk had the slightly less significant internal brace procedure in June, so he could also be a borderline case.

Turning to the position players, Gurriel tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in September. He required surgery which came with a return timeline of nine to ten months, so he should be out until around the All-Star break.

Locklear should be back sooner. He underwent surgery in October to address a ligament tear in his elbow and a labrum injury in his shoulder. The hope at the time of that procedure was that he would be game ready to go on a rehab assignment around Opening Day and would therefore miss only about the first month. He would therefore only hit the 60-day IL if he doesn’t meet that timeline for some reason.

Dodgers: Brock Stewart

Stewart underwent shoulder debridement surgery in September. His timeline for 2026 isn’t especially clear. He will likely start the season on the IL but it’s unclear if he’ll be out long enough to warrant landing on the 60-day version.

Giants: Randy Rodríguez, Jason Foley

Rodríguez underwent Tommy John surgery in September, so he’s a lock for the 60-day IL and might even miss the entire 2026 campaign. Foley’s status is a bit more murky. He underwent shoulder surgery in May while with the Tigers. Detroit non-tendered him at season’s end, which allowed the Giants to sign him. He is expected back at some point mid-season. The Giants may want to get more clarity on his progress during camp before deciding on a move to the IL.

Guardians: Andrew Walters, David Fry

Neither of these guys is a lock for the 60-day IL. Walters had surgery to repair his right lat tendon in June with a recovery estimate of eight to ten months. Fry underwent surgery in October due to a deviated septum and a fractured nose suffered when a Tarik Skubal pitch hit him in the face. His timeline is unclear. It’s possible one or both could be healthy by Opening Day, so relevant updates may be forthcoming when camps open.

Mariners: Logan Evans

Evans required UCL surgery just last week and will miss the entire 2026 season. He was on optional assignment at the end of 2025, so the Mariners could keep him in the minors. Calling him up and putting him on the big league 60-day IL would open up a 40-man spot but would also involve Evans receiving big league pay and service time for the year.

Marlins: Ronny Henriquez

Henriquez underwent internal brace surgery in December and will miss the entire 2026 season, so he’s a lock for the 60-day IL.

Mets: Tylor Megill, Reed Garrett, Dedniel Núñez

All three of these pitchers underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2025 and are likely to miss the entire 2026 season, making them locks for the 60-day IL. Núñez went under the knife in July, followed by Megill in September and Garrett in October.

Nationals: Trevor Williams, DJ Herz

Williams underwent internal brace surgery in July. That’s a slightly less serious variation of Tommy John but still usually requires about a year of recovery. Herz underwent a full Tommy John procedure in April. Since that surgery usually requires 14 months or longer to come back, both pitchers are likely out until around the All-Star break and therefore bound for the 60-day IL once the Nats need some roster spots.

Orioles: Félix Bautista

Bautista underwent shoulder surgery in August, and the club announced his recovery timeline as 12 months. He’s a lock for the 60-day IL and may miss the entire season if his recovery doesn’t go smoothly.

Padres: Yu Darvish, Jhony Brito, Jason Adam

Darvish underwent UCL surgery in November and will miss the entire 2026 season. Instead of going on the IL, he may just retire, but it seems there are some contractual complications to be ironed out since he is signed through 2028.

Brito and Adam could be borderline cases. Brito underwent internal brace surgery in May of last year. Some pitchers can return from that procedure in about a year. Adam ruptured a tendon in his left quad in early September. In November, he seemed to acknowledge that he wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day. As of now, a trip to the 60-day IL seems unlikely unless he suffers a setback.

Pirates: Jared Jones

Jones required UCL surgery on May 21st of last year. The Bucs announced an expected return timeline of 10 to 12 months. The shorter end of that window would allow Jones to return fairly early in 2026. If it looks like he’ll be on the longer end of that time frame, he could wind up on the 60-day IL.

Phillies: Zack Wheeler

Wheeler underwent surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome in September, with a timeline of six to eight months. As of now, it seems unlikely Wheeler would require a trip to the 60-day IL, but it depends on how his ramp-up goes. He’s also approaching his 36th birthday, and the Phils could slow-play his recovery.

Rangers: Cody Bradford

Bradford required internal brace surgery in late June of last year. He recently said he’s targeting a return in May. That’s a pretty aggressive timeline, but perhaps the Rangers will delay moving him to the 60-day IL until that plan is strictly ruled out.

Rays: Manuel Rodríguez

Rodriguez underwent flexor tendon surgery in July of last year and is targeting a return in June of this year, so he should be a lock for the 60-day IL.

Reds: Brandon Williamson, Julian Aguiar

Both of these pitchers required Tommy John surgeries late in 2024, Williamson in September and Aguiar in October. They each missed the entire 2025 season. Presumably, they are recovered by now and could be healthy going into 2026, but there haven’t been any recent public updates.

Red Sox: Tanner Houck, Triston Casas

Houck is the most clear-cut case for Boston. He had Tommy John surgery in August of 2025 and will miss most or perhaps all of the 2026 season. Casas is more borderline. He’s still recovering from a ruptured left patellar tendon suffered in May of last year. It doesn’t seem like he will be ready by Opening Day, but his timeline apart from that is murky.

Rockies: Jeff Criswell, Kris Bryant

Criswell required Tommy John surgery in early March of last year. With the normal 14-month recovery timeline, he could be back in May. Anything slightly longer than that would make him a candidate for the 60-day IL. Bryant’s timeline is very difficult to discern. He has hardly played in recent years due to various injuries and is now dealing with chronic symptoms related to lumbar degenerative disc disease. Updates will likely be provided once camp opens.

Royals: Alec Marsh

Marsh missed 2025 due to shoulder problems and is slated to miss 2026 as well after undergoing labrum surgery in November.

Tigers: Jackson Jobe

Jobe required Tommy John surgery in June of last year. He will miss most or perhaps even all of the 2026 season.

Twins: None.

White Sox: Ky Bush, Drew Thorpe, Prelander Berroa

These three hurlers all required Tommy John surgery about a year ago, Bush in February, followed by Berroa and Thorpe in March. Given the normal 14-month recovery period, any of them could return early in 2026, but they could also end up on the 60-day IL if the timeline pushes slightly beyond that.

Yankees: Clarke Schmidt, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Anthony Volpe

Schmidt is the only lock of this group. He required UCL surgery in July of last year and should miss the first half of the 2026 season. Cole is recovering from Tommy John surgery performed in March of last year. His target is expected to be late May/early June, so he has a decent chance to hit the 60-day. However, given his importance to the club, the Yankees probably won’t put him there until it’s certain he won’t be back by the middle of May.

Rodón had surgery in October to remove loose bodies in his elbow. He’s expected to be back with the big league club in late April or early May, so he would only hit the 60-day IL if his timeline is pushed. Volpe required shoulder surgery in October. He’s not expected to be ready by Opening Day, but his timeline beyond that doesn’t seem concrete.

Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images

Randy Rodriguez To Undergo Tommy John Surgery In Late September

By Anthony Franco | September 8, 2025 at 6:12pm CDT

Giants closer Randy Rodríguez will undergo Tommy John surgery at the end of September, the team informed reporters (including Shayna Rubin of The San Francisco Chronicle). The club announced in late August that doctors had recommended he undergo surgery. This finalizes those plans and all but officially rules the right-hander out for the 2026 season.

Rodríguez had taken over the ninth inning after San Francisco traded Camilo Doval to the Yankees at the deadline. He would’ve been the favorite for the closer role going into next year. The 25-year-old turned in a 1.78 earned run average while striking out more than a third of opponents over 50 appearances. He collected his first four career saves and picked up 13 holds.

Elbow injuries have been the only real concern over his first two big league seasons. Rodríguez missed six weeks in the second half of the ’24 campaign to elbow inflammation. He avoided surgery at the time, and his 97-98 MPH fastball and wipeout slider carried him through the first five months of this season. An elbow sprain sent him back to the injured list last month, and it seems the ligament damage was severe enough that he’ll need to go under the knife.

Rodríguez entered this season with 148 days of service time. He picked up a full service year in 2025 and will do the same in ’26. He’ll qualify for arbitration for the first of four times as a Super Two player during the 2026-27 offseason. The Giants will need to carry him on the 40-man roster over the offseason but can place him on the 60-day injured list at the beginning of Spring Training.

Giants Select JT Brubaker

By Darragh McDonald | September 1, 2025 at 12:25pm CDT

With rosters expanding from 26 to 28 today, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports that the Giants are recalling outfielder Grant McCray and selecting right-hander JT Brubaker. Fellow righty Randy Rodríguez has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Brubaker, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Rodríguez will likely be undergoing Tommy John surgery, which means he may not pitch again until 2027.

Brubaker, 31, just signed a minor league deal with the Giants a few weeks back after being released by the Yankees. He has had some decent years in the majors but has largely been held back by injuries lately. From 2020 to 2022, he tossed 315 2/3 innings for the Pirates with a 4.99 earned run average, 23.3% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 44% ground ball rate.

Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2023 campaign. He was on his way back to the mound in 2024, after having been traded to the Yankees, but an oblique strain set him back. Coming into 2025, he was hit by a comebacker and fractured three ribs, putting him on the shelf yet again.

He did eventually get to don the pinstripes and tossed 16 innings for the Yankees with a 3.38 ERA, working as a long reliever. That’s likely the role the Giants have in mind for him as well. He can soak up some innings out of the pen as needed. The Yankees are on the hook for the majority of his $1.82MM salary this year since they released him. The Giants will only have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time he spends on the roster. He has at least five years of service time and therefore can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Randy Rodriguez Recommended To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Anthony Franco | August 29, 2025 at 7:04pm CDT

A breakout season for Giants reliever Randy Rodríguez has come to an unfortunate end. The team announced that multiple doctors have recommended the All-Star righty undergo Tommy John surgery (relayed by Justice delos Santos of The Mercury News). Rodríguez will make his decision this weekend, but it’s tough to see this going any other way.

The procedure will almost certainly cost him the entire 2026 season. Rodríguez had taken over the ninth inning after San Francisco traded Camilo Doval to the Yankees at the deadline. He would’ve been the favorite for the closer role going into next year. The 25-year-old turned in a 1.78 earned run average while striking out more than a third of opponents over 50 appearances. He collected his first four career saves and picked up 13 holds.

There are 102 pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings out of the bullpen this season. Rodríguez is seventh among that group in ERA and eighth in strikeout percentage. He has the fifth-highest gap between his strikeout and walk rates. He’s among the top 30 relievers in swinging strikes. He had emerged as one of the league’s best young relievers.

Elbow injuries have been the only real concern over his first two big league seasons. Rodríguez missed six weeks in the second half of the ’24 campaign to elbow inflammation. He avoided surgery at the time, and his 97-98 MPH fastball and wipeout slider carried him through the first five months of this season. An elbow sprain sent him back to the injured list this week, and it seems the ligament damage is severe enough that he’ll need to go under the knife.

Rodríguez entered this season with 148 days of service time. He picked up a full service year in 2025 and will do the same in ’26, assuming he indeed undergoes surgery and spends the entire season on the injured list. He’ll qualify for arbitration for the first of four times as a Super Two player during the 2026-27 offseason. The Giants will need to carry him on the 40-man roster over the offseason but can place him on the 60-day injured list at the beginning of Spring Training.

The injury is a massive hit to a bullpen that already looked like a weakness going into the offseason. Ryan Walker, who will finish this season in the closer role, has had a strong second half after a rocky start. He’ll be back in high-leverage spots. José Buttó, acquired from the Mets in the Tyler Rogers trade, will be in the setup mix. They’re the only two locks.

Joel Peguero has huge stuff but has made three career appearances. Journeyman lefty Matt Gage has pitched well, yet he’s a 32-year-old without big velocity. Erik Miller, their top left-hander in the season’s first half, has been rehabbing an elbow sprain of his own. The Giants could look at putting Hayden Birdsong back into the bullpen after he struggled to throw strikes as a starter. Even if they do that, they’ll need to add multiple arms from outside the organization during the winter.

Giants Notes: Rodriguez, Walker, Roupp, Eldridge

By Anthony Franco | August 26, 2025 at 7:53pm CDT

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 Select Kai-Wei Teng; Randy Rodriguez Named Closer After Doval Trade

By Anthony Franco | August 1, 2025 at 5:30pm CDT

The Giants announced they’ve selected right-hander Kai-Wei Teng onto the MLB roster. Reliever José Buttó, acquired from the Mets in the Tyler Rogers deal, has reported to the team and will be active tonight. San Francisco also recalled outfielder Grant McCray. Those three players replace Rogers, Camilo Doval and Mike Yastrzemski.

Teng is up for the first time this season. The Taiwanese pitcher made four relief appearances last year. San Francisco non-tendered him but brought him back on a minor league contract. He has been at Triple-A Sacramento all season. Teng has logged 54 innings across 25 appearances, mostly out of the bullpen, and turned in a 3.67 earned run average. He has recorded a monster 38% strikeout rate against a serviceable if slightly higher than average 9.3% walk rate.

The 26-year-old Teng has never had any issues missing bats in the minors. He has been held back by well below-average control, however. This year’s walk rate is his best since he was in rookie ball. He issued free passes at a 12% clip (with an uncharacteristically low 17.3% strikeout rate) en route to an 8.60 ERA at the Triple-A level a season ago. His performance this year has been far better.

Teng is expected to start tomorrow’s game against the Mets, according to Justice delos Santos of the Mercury News. He’d started four of his past five minor league appearances and has gotten up to 5 2/3 innings. He could take on a reasonable workload, but it’s nevertheless an indictment of the San Francisco rotation that they need to turn to a pitcher who has spent the bulk of the year in the Triple-A bullpen. They recently lost Landen Roupp to elbow inflammation and demoted struggling fifth starter Hayden Birdsong to Triple-A. The state of the rotation is a big reason the Giants pivoted late to trading away three notable players. They’ve fallen below .500 and are six games back in the Wild Card race.

Doval had operated as San Francisco’s closer for most of the season. As expected, Melvin has tabbed Randy Rodríguez as the team’s closer with Doval and Rogers now out of the picture (relayed by Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle). The 25-year-old righty has had a breakout season, earning a deserved All-Star nod with a 1.20 ERA while striking out 36% of opponents across 45 innings. He has recorded 13 holds and one save — the only one of his career — while blowing two leads. He’s under team control for another five seasons and will not reach arbitration until the 2026-27 offseason.

Giants Open To Offers On Relievers; Camilo Doval Drawing Interest

By Steve Adams | July 30, 2025 at 11:35am CDT

The Giants have informed other teams that they’ll listen to offers on some of their bullpen, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. Francys Romero reports that Camilo Doval, in particular, has drawn interest from several teams. San Francisco has dropped five consecutive games and is now sitting .500 on the season — nine games back in the NL West and five games out of a Wild Card spot.

Doval, 28, popped up in trade rumblings back in the offseason, but the Giants held onto him rather than sell low on the heels of a down season. That’s proven to be the right call, as Doval has bounced back with a 3.15 ERA, a 25.1% strikeout rate, 15 saves and seven holds on the season. His 12.8% walk rate is too high but is down from last year’s even uglier 14.4% mark. Doval sits 98.1 mph with his cutter and can run the pitch up over 100 mph, though his velocity is down a bit from the past three seasons, when he sat over 99 mph. Doval couples the cutter with a slider and what’s now a seldom-used sinker.

The 2025 season is Doval’s first year of arbitration eligibility. He’s earning $4.525MM and is slated to receive raises in each of the next two seasons. He’s a free agent in the 2027-28 offseason. If the Giants are amenable to a deal, he’d join names like David Bednar, Dennis Santana, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Cade Smith as one of the market’s more appealing relievers with some remaining club control.

Presumably, if the Giants are open to trading any veteran players, righty Tyler Rogers would be available. The submariner has been a steady member of San Francisco’s bullpen since 2019 but is in his final season of club control before free agency. The 34-year-old has pitched to a pristine 1.80 earned run average in 50 innings this year. Rogers has never missed many bats but has a 20.2% strikeout rate this season that — while still lower than average — represents a step up from the 17.3% mark he posted over the past four seasons. His command has long been a strength, but this year’s minuscule 2.1% walk rate is a career low.

Rogers offsets his lack of strikeouts with that plus command and also by inducing some of the weakest contact in the sport. His unique arm angle and 83 mph sinker regularly prove difficult to square up. Opponents are averaging just 84.8 mph off the bat against him this year, and Rogers has allowed just a 32.2% hard-hit rate. He’s also kept a massive 64.4% of batted balls against him on the ground.

Doval and Rogers stand as the two most logical trade candidates in the San Francisco bullpen, but if the Giants wanted to pursue an even more substantial return, they could hear out teams who have interest in Ryan Walker or Randy Rodriguez. Walker is in the midst of a down season but was one of the National League’s top relievers just last year, when he notched a 1.91 ERA, 32.1% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate. He’s controllable for four years after the current season but is a late-blooming arm who’ll turn 30 in November.

The 25-year-old Rodriguez would be overwhelmingly difficult to pry away. He’s controlled for another five years after the 2025 season and currently boasts a 1.20 ERA with a massive 36.3% strikeout rate against a 5.3% walk rate. Rodriguez sits 97.4 mph with his four-seamer, pairing it with a plus slider that’s helped him land in the 90th percentile of big league pitchers in both whiff rate and chase rate on pitches off the plate, per Statcast.

Giants’ Randy Rodriguez Shut Down With Flexor Strain

By Anthony Franco | August 19, 2024 at 11:17pm CDT

Giants reliever Randy Rodríguez was diagnosed with a flexor strain over the weekend, tweets Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic. He’ll be shut down from throwing for two weeks before going for further evaluation.

It’s a concerning diagnosis considering how frequently flexor strains serve as a precursor to some kind of elbow surgery. There’s no indication that’s under consideration for Rodríguez at the moment, though the team should provide more information after follow-up testing a couple weeks from now. San Francisco already placed the rookie right-hander on the 15-day injured list last week.

Rodríguez, 25 next month, has had a quietly strong debut campaign. He has tossed 50 1/3 innings across 33 appearances, turning in a 3.93 ERA with encouraging peripherals. He has fanned nearly a quarter of batters faced with a solid 7.6% walk rate. Rodríguez has done a nice job staying off barrels and has gotten swinging strikes at a robust 13.7% clip. While he worked primarily in low-leverage spots early in the season, Rodríguez had clearly earned manager Bob Melvin’s trust of late. No San Francisco reliever has more frequently come into key spots (as measured by the game’s leverage index) than Rodríguez since the All-Star Break.

That’s on hold for at least the next few weeks. With five-plus weeks on the regular season schedule, there’s no guarantee Rodríguez makes it back this year. Even a best-case scenario where he’s cleared to resume throwing early in September wouldn’t leave much time for him to build back into game shape. The Giants recently optioned scuffling closer Camilo Doval back to Triple-A, leaving them with Ryan Walker, Taylor and Tyler Rogers and former starter Jordan Hicks as their top late-inning arms.

NL West Notes: Black, Treinen, Graterol, Rodriguez, Jones

By Mark Polishuk | August 18, 2024 at 5:58pm CDT

As the Rockies trudge through another rough year, there isn’t yet any indication over whether or not manager Bud Black could be returning for his ninth season. GM Bill Schmidt told the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders that the team and Black will “talk at the end of the season” and that “there’s nothing more to report on that” for the time being. It isn’t exactly a vote of confidence for Black, who is on pace for his sixth straight losing season and his second straight year of at least 100 losses.

While Black’s contract is technically up after the season, his deal has been described in the past (by reporter Nick Groke) as “a rolling year-to-year contract.” In both February 2022 and 2023, the Rox announced a new one-year extension to Black’s deal, yet no such extension was announced this past spring even though the two sides had some talks about Black’s future. It could be that owner Dick Monfort’s well-known penchant for loyalty to his employees was running a little thin coming off a 103-loss season, or perhaps Black himself might be considering a different role at age 67. Saunders writes that Black “loves teaching young players and participating in the Rockies’ attempts to improve,” but has also “remained mum about” the possibility of returning as Colorado’s skipper.

Giants Recall Randy Rodriguez For MLB Debut

By Steve Adams | May 2, 2024 at 10:35am CDT

The Giants announced Thursday that right-handed reliever Randy Rodriguez has been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento. Fellow righty Daulton Jefferies was optioned to Sacramento in his place. It’ll be Rodriguez’s MLB debut if he gets into a game.

Rodriguez, 24, is out to a terrific start in Sacramento, tossing 10 2/3 innings and yielding only a pair of runs on seven hits and four walks with 10 strikeouts. He entered the 2024 season ranked 11th among Giants prospects at FanGraphs and 28th at MLB.com. Both outlets praise him as a potential big league reliever, with FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice being a bit more bullish on Rodriguez’s athleticism improving his chances of eventually improving currently shaky command.

Rodriguez misses plenty of bats with an upper-90s heater and hard slider, but he also walked 14% of his Double-A opponents last year and turned in a mammoth 20.7% walk rate in a sample of 37 2/3 innings following a move to Triple-A. He’s more than halved that walk rate in his first 10 appearances of the ’24 season (9.5%). That’s an encouraging trend, particularly since Rodriguez’s window to hone his command and cement himself as a big leaguer is dwindling — despite only just being called up for his debut. The Giants selected him to the 40-man roster following the 2021 season, meaning Rodriguez is already in the last of three minor league option years. He’ll be out of options in 2025.

Overall, Rodriguez has a 3.75 ERA in 261 2/3 minor league innings, but nearly all of his success has come at the Low-A, High-A and Double-A levels. This early stretch in 2024 is his first run of success in Triple-A. He’ll give the Giants a fresh arm following a bullpen game that saw them use five different pitchers to get through eight innings in a road loss to the Red Sox.

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