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Giants To Activate Will Smith

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The Giants will activate southpaw Will Smith in time for Wednesday’s game, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to report on Twitter. Smith worked back from Tommy John surgery that he underwent in late March of last year.

That’s obviously welcome news for the Giants, who entered play today with a .500 record. While the bulk of the relief corps has registered as a positive in the early going — including southpaw Tony Watson, who has been excellent — the added depth will surely not hurt the cause.

It’s tough to know what to expect out of Smith out of the gates. But the 28-year-old racked up 11 strikeouts without surrendering a walk in his 7 1/3 rehab innings, so the hope will surely be that he can hit the ground running.

Smith, of course, has ample late-inning experience and the stats to match, so the San Francisco organization will hope to return him to high-leverage spots sooner rather than later. In nearly 200 career innings as a reliever, Smith has held opposing hitters to a .221/.300/.365 slash line while carrying a 3.13 ERA.

The Giants, who dealt for Smith at the 2016 trade deadline, are paying him $2.5MM for the coming season after avoiding arbitration over the winter. He’ll be eligible for arbitration one final time this coming fall.

Joe Panik Undergoes Thumb Surgery

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TODAY: Panik has indeed undergone the procedure, as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to tweet.

YESTERDAY: There’s a “good chance” Giants second baseman Joe Panik will need to undergo surgery on his injured left thumb, manager Bruce Bochy told Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports California and other reporters Sunday (Twitter link). Panik still has to see a specialist in Los Angeles, but if he does go under the knife, it would likely keep him out six to eight weeks, per Pavlovic.

While Panik certainly isn’t an elite second baseman, his absence would rob the Giants of a quality player and likely damage their already slim playoff chances. The club, which placed Panik on the disabled list on Saturday, is off to a 13-14 start and currently sits 6.5 games behind the NL West-leading Diamondbacks. Panik has been his usual solid self, though, having batted .267/.323/.389 (102 wRC+) with a major league-leading 92.4 percent contact rate across his first 100 plate appearances of the year.

The Giants will continue with Kelby Tomlinson and Alen Hanson as their top second base options in Panik’s absence, Pavlovic suggests. San Francisco also has Josh Rutledge in the fold in Triple-A, though he’s not on its 40-man roster.

Giants Injury Updates: Smith, Bumgarner, Melancon

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  • Some Giants DL updates are provided by The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly (on Twitter), who notes that Madison Bumgarner could be cleared on Tuesday to play catch, while Mark Melancon is now throwing from 90 feet as the closer continues his recovery from a bothersome pronator.  More immediately, left-hander Will Smith is likely to be activated from the DL on Wednesday, making his return to MLB after missing all of 2017 recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Joe Panik Could Undergo Thumb Surgery

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Giants second baseman Joe Panik has a torn ligament in his left thumb that could require surgery, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Panik, who went on the disabled list Saturday, will go for a second opinion to determine whether he’ll go under the knife or rehab the injury without surgery, per Schulman. Panik got off to a solid start in his first 100 plate appearances of the year before landing on the shelf, with a .267/.323/.389 line (102 wRC+) and as many walks as strikeouts (six). Kelby Tomlinson has been San Francisco’s top second base option in Panik’s absence.

NL Notes: Bruce, Kang, Stratton, Panik, Gohara, Pennington

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Mets outfielder Jay Bruce has been taking ground balls at first base, James Wagner of the New York Times reports. Wagner adds that the Mets may consider playing him there in order to open up room for Brandon Nimmo to receive everyday playing time again. First base incumbent Adrian Gonzalez has struggled mightily thus far, with just a .203/.300/.320 batting line on the season. It’s still only April, but in light of his struggles last year with the Dodgers, Gonzalez’s leash might be fairly short. That’s particularly true since Nimmo reached base in half of his 38 MLB plate appearances this season. It’s fair to think that the Mets are looking hard for ways to lock Nimmo into an everyday role.

Other news out of the NL…

  • Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang won’t receive any discipline from MLB, nor will the team dole out any punishment, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on Twitter. Kang was denied a U.S. visa for all of last year due to multiple DUI-related arrests. He’s finally able to return to the Pirates as of Thursday.
  • Today, the Giants reinstated Chris Stratton from the paternity list, optioning outfielder Austin Slater to Triple-A Sacramento in a corresponding move. Within hours, however, the club reversed its reported stance on Mac Williamson’s status, placing him on the seven-day concussion DL. The move allowed the Giants to recall Slater, who’s directly replacing Williamson. Stratton sports an impressive 2.32 ERA and 2.69 FIP across five starts this season, though the fact that he hasn’t allowed any homers despite a 37.8% hard contact rate suggests he might have been a bit lucky in that regard. Stratton will take his scheduled turn through the rotation today against the Dodgers.
  • In other Giants news, second baseman Joe Panik has been placed on the disabled list with a sprained left thumb. The club correspondingly purchased the contract of second baseman/outfielder Alen Hanson, who leads the Triple-A Pacific Coast League with a .403 batting average. The club moved Mark Melancon to the 60-day DL in order to clear room on the 40-man roster for Hanson.
  • The Braves have reinstated left-hander Luiz Gohara from the disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Gohara suffered a sprained ankle during a spring training outing, and had exhausted the maximum amount of time allotted for rehab starts. He’ll likely make a couple more starts in the minors before returning to help the Braves at the major league level. Gohara had figured to be a prominent part of Atlanta’s rotation before the season began.
  • The Reds announced that infielder Cliff Pennington has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Louisville. Pennington, who signed a minors deal in the offseason, made the club out of spring training camp as a bench player. However, he’s struck out in nearly 40 percent of his plate appearances thus far and has yet to sock an extra-base hit.

Injury Notes: Buxton, Sano, Ervin, Knebel, Williamson

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Byron Buxton has a hairline fracture in his left toe, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports on Twitter. According to Hayes, the Twins hopes to have a better idea on his return timeline by the end of the homestand. As Hayes wrote previously, the team has missed Buxton while he’s been sidelined; seven of the club’s eight wins have come with the speedster patrolling center field. It’s worth noting, though, that while Buxton has played typically great defense in the outfield grass, he’s scuffled to a .195/.233/.244 batting line at the plate.

More injury notes from around the league…

  • Speaking of the Twins, Miguel Sano will sit out today’s game due to hamstring tightness (h/t Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). Sano, who owns a .450 slugging percentage on the season with five homers and a 40% K rate, barely ran out a ground ball in his last at-bat during yesterday’s game. It’s unclear how long he’ll need to rest. Meanwhile, there’s a positive sign for the Twins: Ervin Santana is making progress and has already practiced throwing his change-up, according to Hayes. He’s reportedly close to throwing off a mound. The club will be anxiously awaiting his return, as their starters as a group sit in the bottom half of MLB in ERA and FIP and dead last in innings pitched.
  • Brewers closer Corey Knebel is very excited about his progress with his hamstring strain, Tom Haudricort of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. He’ll reportedly throw one more bullpen session before heading out on a rehab assignment. It seems likely that Knebel will be able to return by mid-May. Josh Hader, Matt Albers and Jacob Barnes have closed out games in his absence, collecting six saves; that group has combined for a sub-1.25 ERA on the season, so Knebel’s return will make for a truly formidable late-inning crew.
  • It looks as though Giants outfielder Mac Williamson will avoid the concussion DL, as manager Bruce Bochy expects him to start tomorrow (h/t Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic). There was a fear that Williamson might have suffered a concussion after a collision with the outfield wall on Tuesday, but the 27-year-old appears to have dodged any serious injury. Williamson already has three homers for San Francisco in just 19 plate appearances.

Giants Injury Notes: Williamson, Slater, Osich

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  • While the Giants will hold off on putting Mac Williamson on the DL, he’s in the concussion protocol at present, as manager Bruce Bochy informed reporters including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). In the meantime, the organization has brought fellow outfielder Austin Slater onto the active roster, creating space by sending reliever Josh Osich to the 10-day DL. It’s unclear at this point how long Slater will have in the majors, but he’ll surely be hoping to follow the same track as Williamson, who kept on raking after receiving a promotion. Slater owns a .358/.435/.642 slash with just six strikeouts in his 62 plate appearances on the year at Triple-A.

Olney: Giants Should Prepare To Listen To Offers On Bumgarner

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  • ESPN.com’s Buster Olney argues that the Giants ought to be preparing to listen to offers on ace lefty Madison Bumgarner if they can’t keep pace in the playoff race. As Olney explains, there aren’t many assets on hand in San Francisco that could bring back potential young building blocks. But if Bumgarner can get back to health by the trade deadline, he could be a monumental deadline piece, particularly given his history of postseason dominance and cheap 2019 option. It’s certainly an interesting possibility — albeit one the Giants no doubt hope they won’t have cause to consider in earnest.

Giants Could Face Outfield Logjam

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Will Smith Nearing Return

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  • The Giants expect left-handed reliever Will Smith back by May 1, manager Bruce Bochy announced Saturday (per Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group, via Twitter). Smith underwent Tommy John surgery prior to last season, meaning he hasn’t pitched in a major league game since the Giants’ NLDS loss to the Cubs in October 2016. The 28-year-old was a well-regarded reliever before his injury, which led the Giants to trade a couple of prospects to Milwaukee for him in August 2016.
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