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Giants Release Donny Sands

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The Giants have released catcher Donny Sands, according to his transaction log at MLB.com. The 28-year-old signed a minor league deal with the club in mid-May after the Tigers released him at the end of spring training.

The Yankees selected Sands in the eighth round of the 2015 draft, and he spent the next seven seasons in their system before the Yankees flipped him to the Phillies ahead of the 2022 campaign. Sands made his MLB debut with Philadelphia the following September, funnily enough in a game against San Francisco – his future organization. He appeared in three games as a pinch-hitter and caught two innings behind the dish that season, the extent of his big league career so far. The Phillies traded him to the Tigers during the 2022-23 offseason alongside Matt Vierling and Nick Maton in exchange for Gregory Soto and Kody Clemens.

After he was released by the Tigers this past March, Sands briefly joined the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League before signing with the Giants and returning to affiliated ball.

San Francisco desperately needed catching depth earlier this season, when both Patrick Bailey and Tom Murphy landed on the injured list within the same weekend. The team recalled Blake Sabol in place of Bailey, selected Jakson Reetz to fill in for Murphy, and eventually signed veteran Curt Casali to replace Reetz. Shortly after signing Casali, the Giants also signed Sands as additional minor league depth. Now that Bailey is back in the lineup and Sabol is back at Triple-A, the Sacramento River Cats likely didn’t have enough playing time to split between Sabol, Reetz, Brandon Martorano, and Sands, leaving Sands as the odd man out. It surely didn’t help his case that Sands went 9-for-51 (.176) with one extra-base hit and 16 strikeouts over 13 games for Sacramento.

Sands is now free to search for a new organization in need of catching depth.

Giants Place Blake Snell On Injured List

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June 3: As expected, the Giants announced today that Snell has been placed on the 15-day IL with a left groin strain. Outfielder Michael Conforto was reinstated from the IL as the corresponding move.

June 2: Blake Snell’s nightmare of a season looks to be taking him back to the injured list, as the Giants left-hander had to leave today’s start against the Yankees due to left groin tightness.  Snell had thrown 4 2/3 innings and the first two pitches of an at-bat against Alex Verdugo before he had to depart after a visit from the team trainer.  Speaking with NBC Sports Bay Area and other media post-game, Giants manager Bob Melvin indicated Snell will almost surely be placed back on the 15-day IL, and a fuller timeline might be known when Snell undergoes an MRI tomorrow.

A similar injury led to Snell’s initial IL placement back on April 23, as he ended up missing almost exactly a month of action due to a left adductor strain.  Today marked Snell’s third start back in action, and he again didn’t have much success, finishing with three earned runs over his 4 2/3 frames.

The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner now has a 9.51 ERA over 23 2/3 innings since signing a two-year, $62MM free agent deal with San Francisco on March 19.  Since Snell didn’t sign until just a week prior to Opening Day, his preseason work consisted of extended Spring Training and simulated games, and the rust has been pretty evident since he made his Giants debut on April 8.  It isn’t a stretch to say that these twin groin/adductor injuries might also stem from Snell not being entirely ramped up for the start of his season, though he did look great in his rehab outings while recovering from his previous injury.

Assuming the MRI doesn’t reveal anything more serious, it would seem like Snell is in for at least another month on the sidelines, as both he and the Giants surely want to ensure that this injury is fully dealt with before Snell restarts another round of throwing sessions and minor league rehab starts.  Given the calendar, it seems possible that Snell could potentially be out until after the All-Star break, if the Giants wanted to give more time if he wasn’t quite ready by the beginning of July.

Missing more time also has broader implications on Snell’s future in San Francisco, as his contract carries an opt-out clause.  The two-year deal was designed to allow Snell to potentially re-enter the market quickly after another strong season, and this time land the more lucrative longer-term pact that eluded him this past winter.  However, even if he returns in July in his past form and pitches like an ace the rest of the way, the lackluster first three months might’ve already done enough to reinforce whatever doubts teams have about Snell’s ability to stay healthy.  Remaining with the Giants and banking another $30MM in 2025 isn’t exactly an ugly outcome for Snell, but since he’ll be 33 on Opening Day 2026, time is running out for Snell to truly maximize his earning potential.

Only five National League teams have winning records, so the 29-31 Giants still hold the third wild card slot despite all their struggles.  The rotation has been an obvious concern, as Logan Webb, Jordan Hicks, and Kyle Harrison have been San Francisco’s only reliable starters — Snell, Keaton Winn, and Mason Black have gotten the majority of other starts and none have pitched well.  Winn has also been out of action due to a forearm strain, though he was set for a minor league rehab game on Tuesday.

Since the Giants have an off-days both on Thursday and on June 13, they could keep Winn on his planned rehab schedule because the team wouldn’t need a fifth starter for close to three weeks.  Black could also be recalled from Triple-A, and the Giants are still probably at least six weeks away from having Robbie Ray or Alex Cobb as viable candidates to return from the 60-day IL.  Ray will pitch in an Arizona Complex League game this week as he continues to rehab his way back from Tommy John surgery, and Cobb has started throwing again after shoulder discomfort led to a shutdown in mid-May.

Giants, Camilo Doval Discussed Extension Last Year

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4:40pm: Slusser has since updated her report to note that the previously reported $50MM figure is not accurate. She adds that the offer was “closer to what an extension for a pre-arb reliever would have been,” although the specific terms of the offer are not clear.

2:54pm: The Giants and closer Camilo Doval had talks last year about a contract extension that would have paid Doval around $50MM, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.  It isn’t known if the Giants have since made a larger offer, or if the two sides have continued negotiations in any significant fashion.

In terms of the timing of the $50MM offer, Slusser writes that Edwin Diaz’s five-year, $102MM deal with the Mets from November 2022 happened “not long before” the talks between Doval and the Giants.  It might therefore be safe to guess the two sides held discussions during Spring Training 2023, as teams routinely explore longer-term contracts with their in-house players during spring camp.

Doval is still a pre-arbitration player, as the right-hander will only enter the arb process for the first of three times this coming offseason.  He is slated to hit free agency following the 2027 campaign, so it seems likely that the Giants’ offer covered Doval’s remaining two pre-arb seasons, his three arbitration years, and at least one of his free agent seasons, with possibly a club option or two also attached.

It would’ve been quite the financial commitment for a pitcher who had only 94.2 MLB innings under his belt heading into the 2023 season, especially for a Giants team that has been wary of giving any kind of long-term contract to a pitcher since president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi took the front office.  It should be noted that the spring of 2023 did see the Giants complete a five-year, $90MM extension with Logan Webb, though a longer-term deal with a front-of-the-rotation starter carries less risk than a longer-term deal to a reliever.

There haven’t been many relief pitchers in history who have landed contracts (whether extensions or free agent deals) worth $50MM or more.  Doval was also something of a lightly regarded international prospect who signed for a $100K bonus in 2015, so even if he viewed the offer as unsatisfactory in the wake of Diaz’s deal resetting the market, it must’ve taken quite a bit of confidence on Doval’s part to pass up the life-changing security of San Francisco’s extension.

Now two months into the 2024 season, Doval’s decision to bet on himself is still looking sound.  Doval has a 2.89 ERA over 90 1/3 innings since Opening Day 2023, with an outstanding 30.4% strikeout rate, a 55.6% grounder rate, and a fastball averaging 99.2 mph.  Some other metrics stand out as red flags, as Doval has always been prone to walks, and his hard-contact numbers have been decidedly below average over the last two years.

Since traditional counting stats like saves are valued by arbiters moreso than deeper analytics, the number that might matter most to Doval’s future earnings are his Doval’s 75 saves in 87 chances over the last three seasons.  Assuming he stays healthy and effective for the remainder of 2024, he’ll head into his first round of arbitration with a strong three-year platform of quality results in the ninth inning.  This will subsequently line him up for increasingly larger salaries in his next two arb years if all goes well, and then a free agent deal in the 2027-28 offseason (when he is 30 years old) that might possibly set a new standard for closer contracts.

That is still a ways down the road, of course, which speaks to the longer-term risk that Doval is taking in foregoing an extension.  Nothing is preventing Doval and the Giants from coming together on a long-term deal at any point over the next four seasons, or San Francisco might also now be open to another options for their highest-leverage innings.  As Slusser writes, rookie Randy Rodriguez has looked good in his first taste of MLB action, and might be a potential closer of the future.  This could mean the Giants might eventually explore trading Doval in order to address needs elsewhere on the roster, while saving a bit of money on Doval’s escalating arbitration salaries, and perhaps selling high to some extent.  Those elevated hard-contact rates, for instance, or Doval’s continued control problems might have given the Giants some more concerns over Doval’s long-term viability than they had in the spring in 2023.

Giants Outright Three Players

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The Giants made a few moves before tonight’s series opener against the Yankees. San Francisco placed rookie infielder Marco Luciano on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 30, with a right hamstring strain. Casey Schmitt was recalled to take his place on the active roster.

The team also informed reporters (including Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic) that outfielder Ryan McKenna, catcher Jakson Reetz and lefty reliever Drew Pomeranz each cleared outright waivers after being designated for assignment in recent days. Pomeranz has already elected free agency; McKenna and Reetz have that right as well, though it’s not clear if they’ll do so.

Luciano came up to the MLB roster two weeks ago. With Nick Ahmed shelved by a wrist sprain, Luciano got an opportunity as the starting shortstop. He hit well, picking up nine knocks (including two doubles and a triple) in 24 at-bats. The 22-year-old struggled on the defensive side, though. He committed five errors in 60 innings, most notably a booted grounder against the Pirates on May 21 that should have been a game-ending double play. Pittsburgh eventually tied the game and prevailed in extra innings.

Brett Wisely is starting at shortstop against Marcus Stroman tonight. Wisely isn’t a natural shortstop, but he probably offers a higher offensive ceiling than Schmitt provides. The 25-year-old Wisely has hit .311/.403/.487 in Triple-A this season; he has 10 hits in 25 big league at-bats in 2024. He has been a second baseman for the majority of his professional career. Bob Melvin has given him 48 1/3 innings at shortstop this year.

Beyond the infield shakeup, the Giants got DFA resolutions on Reetz, McKenna and Pomeranz. All three players had brief stints on the MLB roster. Reetz, a 28-year-old catcher, appeared in five games with three starts behind the dish. The Giants subsequently welcomed Patrick Bailey back from the concussion list and signed Curt Casali. Reetz is fourth on the catching depth chart behind that duo and Blake Sabol, to say nothing of the injured Tom Murphy.

That pushed him off the 40-man roster one week ago — ironically, to make room for Pomeranz. The Giants signed the former All-Star to a $1MM contract after he opted out of a minor league deal with the Dodgers. Pomeranz didn’t pitch over four days and was DFA on Tuesday. While San Francisco would presumably be interested in bringing him back on a non-roster deal, he’ll head to the open market for now.

McKenna was also DFA as part of Tuesday’s roster shuffle. The 27-year-old played in four games after the Giants claimed him from the Orioles two weeks ago. A career .221/.298/.328 hitter, McKenna is a glove-first depth outfielder. He has a .261/.359/.556 batting line over 274 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

The Giants also signed outfielder Allan Cerda to a minor league deal earlier this week (h/t to Matt Eddy of Baseball America). They assigned the 24-year-old to Double-A Richmond. Cerda was once a prospect of some regard in the Cincinnati farm system. The Reds carried him on their 40-man roster for the 2022 season, but his bat stalled at the Double-A level. He has a .188/.336/.370 line over 541 Double-A plate appearances. Cerda will hope for a breakthrough with the second organization of his career.

Giants Designate Ryan McKenna, Drew Pomeranz For Assignment

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The Giants made a series of transactions today, with Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area among those to relay them on X. Right-hander Spencer Howard and first baseman Trenton Brooks have been selected to the roster, while infielder/outfielder Tyler Fitzgerald has been recalled. In corresponding moves, first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain while outfielder Ryan McKenna and left-hander Drew Pomeranz have been designated for assignment.

Wade departed yesterday’s game, limping off the field with the club’s trainer. NBC Sports Bay Area provided video on X. The Giants later announced it as a hamstring strain and have now placed  him on the injured list. The club says it’s a Grade 2 strain and he’ll miss about a month, per Pavlovic on X.

While he’s out, it seems the club will get a look at Brooks, who makes it to the major leagues just before his 29th birthday. He spent most of his career with the Guardians, as that club drafted him in the 17th round back in 2016. He climbed as high as Triple-A in Cleveland’s system but didn’t get a roster spot by the end of 2022 and reached minor league free agency.

He then signed a minor league deal with the A’s and hit 16 home runs in 94 games while drawing walks in 13.8% of his plate appearances. Even in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League, his stout .299/.405/.529 batting line translated to a 127 wRC+.

At that point, the A’s flipped him to the Giants for left-hander Sean Newcomb and Brooks has produced in similar fashion since then. He’s appeared in 67 more Triple-A contests since that deal and has ten homers, an 18.1% walk rate and a 15.3% strikeout rate. His .279/.409/.463 batting line in that stretch translates to a 120 wRC+.

Debuts at this late age are especially rare but Brooks clearly has some perseverance that is paying off today. If he can continue hitting major league pitching the way he has done in the minors, he will make for an especially heartwarming late-bloomer story. He has played some outfield in the past but has been strictly at first base this year. He’s in the lineup tonight in place of Wade and could perhaps get a few weeks to test his abilities against big league hurlers.

Turning to the pitching, the Giants have been getting by lately with just four starters in Logan Webb, Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison and Blake Snell. That group included Keaton Winn until he hit the injured list two weeks ago. Mason Black was recalled to cover for him but was hit hard in two starts and optioned back down.

Today’s plan appears to be a bullpen game with Howard expected to pitch bulk innings behind Erik Miller, who will serve as the opener. Howard, 27, has been in the Giants’ system since signing a minor league deal late last year. He’s made ten Triple-A starts this year, tossing 39 2/3 innings with a 5.90 earned run average.

That ERA may be misleading, both due to the fact that Howard has been pitching in the PCL and what may be some bad luck. His .406 batting average on balls in play and 66.1% strand rate this year are both on the unfortunate side of average. He’s actually struck out 32.2% of batters faced this year while keeping walks to a reasonable 9.6% rate, which is why his 4.19 FIP is kinder than his ERA.

The righty was considered one of the top pitching prospects in the sport a few years ago but has struggled in his limited looks at the big league level. He currently has 115 innings of major league work on his ledger with a 7.20 ERA. He exhausted his options as both the Phillies and the Rangers rostered him for a while and he will now need to keep his active roster spot or else be removed from the 40-man roster entirely. If this is the time where things click for him and he manages to hang onto that roster spot, he still has less than three years of service time and can be retained beyond this campaign via arbitration.

To get Brooks and Howard onto the roster, the Giants are cutting a couple of guys they only recently added. Pomeranz, 35, was signed on Friday but is now bumped off the roster without appearing in a game. That means he’s still looking to get back into official MLB action for the first time since 2021. The Giants will have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. The latter scenario would be a moot point since the lefty has more than enough service time to elect free agency.

The southpaw was once one of the better relievers in baseball but underwent flexor tendon surgery late in the 2021 campaign and struggled to get healthy in the two following years. Here in 2024, he was able to throw eight Spring Training innings with the Angels and nine frames in Triple-A in the Dodgers’ system, on minor league deals with both of those clubs. He allowed four earned runs in his first Triple-A game this year but has a 2.25 ERA in the eight innings since, striking out 48.3% of batters faced while walking just 3.4% of them.

That was apparently enough to get a roster spot, although briefly. The next week will shed some light on whether or not another club is equally interested. If so, perhaps the southpaw will indeed return to a major league mound for the first time in almost three years.

McKenna, 27, was just claimed off waivers from the Orioles ten days ago. He got into four games and stepped to the plate six times, striking out four times without getting a hit. He’s generally been a glove-first outfielder in his career, having hit .221/.298/.328 but with eight Defensive Runs Saved and six Outs Above Average in 1,287 2/3 outfield innings. He’s out of options but could appeal to other clubs as a bench outfielder.

The Giants will have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Since he has a previous career outright, he has the right to reject another such assignment in favor of free agency. However, with less than five years of service time, doing so would mean forfeiting his remaining salary. He is making $800K this year, slightly more than the league minimum, and may not want to walk away from that if he clears.

Giants Sign Drew Pomeranz To Major League Deal

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The Giants announced that they have signed left-hander Drew Pomeranz to a one-year deal. It was reported earlier that he had been released from his minor league deal with the Dodgers. In corresponding moves, right-hander Mason Black was optioned and catcher Jakson Reetz was designated for assignment.

Pomeranz, 35, returns to the major leagues for the first time since 2021. With the Padres at that time, he required flexor tendon surgery and repeatedly hit setbacks in his attempts to return to the mound in the following two years.

This year, he signed a minor league deal with the Angels and threw eight innings for them in Spring Training. He didn’t crack the Opening Day roster with that club, getting released and signing a new minor league deal with the Dodgers.

Since signing with the Dodgers, Pomeranz has been pitching for Triple-A Oklahoma City, with a couple of interruptions. He once opted out but then re-signed shortly thereafter. He also landed on the minor league injured list April 21 but returned from the IL a couple of weeks back.

He’s made two appearances since coming off the IL, striking out seven batters in three scoreless innings. Overall, he’s has thrown nine innings for OKC with six earned runs allowed this year, but four of those came in his first appearance of the season. In eight frames since then, he has a 2.25 earned run average, 48.3% strikeout rate and 3.4% walk rate.

That good form perhaps gives the Giants some optimism that Pomeranz can get back to the pitcher he once was. Prior to his injury woes, he spent a decent chunk of time as a lockdown reliever, a period of his career that began with the Giants. That club signed him to a one-year deal in 2019 but he had a 6.10 ERA through 17 starts. They moved him to the bullpen and he looked good enough in four relief outings that the Giants were able to trade him to the Brewers alongside Ray Black for Mauricio Dubón.

Pomeranz dominated for the Brewers and parlayed that showing into a four-year deal with the Padres going into 2020. He continued pitching well for the Friars and had a 1.91 ERA from the time of the trade to Milwaukee to the end of 2021. He struck out 37.8% of batters faced, gave out walks at a 10.2% clip and got grounders at a 46.2% rate.

As mentioned, the last two years of his deal with the Padres were lost in the injury wilderness. But he seems to have mostly been in good health this year, pitching for the Angels in the spring and for Oklahoma City since then. That sets him up for a nice comeback story and perhaps gives the Giants a chance to catch lightning in a bottle.

The Giants have won seven of their last 10 and are now just one game out of a Wild Card spot. That’s been despite a poor performance from the bullpen, as San Francisco’s relievers have a collective 4.59 ERA on the year, which puts them 25th in the league. If Pomeranz is in good form, he can help bolster that group for a playoff chase this summer. Or if the Giants should fall out of contention, perhaps Pomeranz will find himself traded away from San Francisco at the deadline for a second time.

Reetz, 28, was added to the club’s roster a few weeks back as their catching depth was suddenly thinned out. Tom Murphy suffered a significant knee sprain and Patrick Bailey was battling concussion symptoms. But the Giants later signed Curt Casali to share the catching duties with Blake Sabol, nudging Reetz back down to the minors. Bailey has since been reinstated from the concussion IL, knocking Reetz even farther down the catching chart.

The Giants will now have a week to trade Reetz or pass him through waivers. He hit .083/.083/.333 with the Giants in 12 plate appearances and only had two previous major league trips to the plate. Since the start of 2022, he’s hit .254/.356/.537 in the minor leagues. He still has a couple of options and could perhaps appeal to clubs looking for some extra catching depth.

Black being sent down will mean the Giants need another starter at some point. Blake Snell is currently on the paternity list but should be back with the club shortly. He’ll join a rotation that also consists of Logan Webb, Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison. They have guys like Kai-Wei Teng and Landen Roupp on the 40-man roster while Spencer Howard is a non-roster option with some major league experience, but they could also consider deploying a bullpen game at some point.

Giants Sign Donny Sands To Minor League Deal

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The Giants recently signed catcher Donny Sands to a minor league contract. The 28-year-old made his organizational debut with Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday, going 0-5 with three strikeouts.

That was Sands’ first affiliated action of the 2024 season. The Tigers released him at the end of March. Sands subsequently had a brief stint in Mexico, suiting up in 16 games for the Toros de Tijuana. He hit .245/.339/.490 with four home runs to earn another crack at Triple-A pitching.

Sands spent most of last year with Detroit’s top affiliate in Toledo. Acquired over the 2022-23 offseason alongside Matt Vierling and Nick Maton in the deal sending Gregory Soto to Philadelphia, Sands slumped to a .225/.318/.353 batting line in 371 plate appearances with the Mud Hens. He never appeared in an MLB game with Detroit. The Tigers outrighted Sands from the 40-man roster in January and released him after he went 1-8 in Spring Training.

To this point in his career, Sands has appeared in just three major league games — all of which came with the Phillies in 2022. He’ll add short-term cover for a team dealing with a couple injuries behind the plate. Patrick Bailey is on the concussion injured list. Tom Murphy will be out until at least July because of a sprained left knee.

The Giants signed Curt Casali to a big league deal late last week. He and Blake Sabol are sharing the catching duties at the MLB level until Bailey returns. Jakson Reetz, who is on the 40-man roster, is on optional assignment to Sacramento. Sands joins him with the River Cats as a potential competitor for the third catcher role.

Alex Cobb Halts Throwing Program Due To Shoulder Discomfort

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6:51pm: Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle notes that Cobb received a second cortisone shot in his shoulder, though that one was in a different spot. Per Cobb, the second cortisone shot is the reason he’s no longer throwing but he’s feeling better and hopeful the second shot will prove effective.

2:34pm: Alex Cobb has yet to pitch this season, as the veteran righty’s recovery from October hip surgery led to a season-opening stint on the 15-day injured list, and then a move to the 60-day IL on April 20.  The latter move wasn’t necessarily unexpected due to the vagaries involved in returning from a major procedure like a hip labrum repair, yet some shoulder soreness began to develop for Cobb as he continued his workouts in April.

Unfortunately, Cobb’s shoulder issues have continued, as Giants manager Bob Melvin told NBC Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic (links to X) and other reporters today.  As a result, Cobb’s throwing program has been put on hold, and it appears to be a lock that Cobb will remain on the IL well beyond his first eligible activation date of May 27.

An MRI on Cobb’s shoulder came back clean last month, so there apparently isn’t any structural issue even if his latest setback might lead to another set of tests.  Cobb also received a cortisone shot to help overcome the soreness, but that treatment also didn’t seem to solve the problem.  Until more is known about the situation, it seems like Cobb and the Giants are playing waiting game in the hopes that rest and rehab can get Cobb’s shoulder feeling better, so he can finally properly start to ramp up his preparations to begin his season.

The Giants originally signed Cobb to a two-year, $20MM deal following the 2021 season, and that contract became a three-year pact paying Cobb $28MM once San Francisco exercised its club option on his services last November, even in the wake of the right-hander’s hip surgery.  Despite the injury concerns, Cobb pitched well enough (3.80 ERA over 301 innings) in 2022-23 to quite easily justify the front office’s decision to exercise that option, yet naturally some second-guessing is inevitable if Cobb is now looking like he could miss at least half the season.

Between Cobb and San Francisco’s trade for Robbie Ray this past winter, the Giants were counting on a pair of veteran reinforcements to the rotation during the season — Cobb when he was through his recovery, and Ray around August once his Tommy John rehab was complete.  Between this duo and the signings of Blake Snell and Jordan Hicks, the Giants were hoping to have a deep stable of pitching options around Logan Webb, top prospect Kyle Harrison, and a host of other young arms.

The results have been mixed to date, as the rotation has been quite top heavy.  Webb, Harrison, and Hicks have all looked quite sharp, while Snell, Keaton Winn, and Mason Black have all struggled mightily.  Injuries have also been a factor, as Snell and Winn are both on the 15-day IL but Snell is nearing a return.  The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner is slated to be activated this coming week, with Pavlovic thinking Wednesday is a potential date in order to line Snell up behind Webb in the rotation.

Snell could hardly have gotten off to a worse start to his Giants tenure, posting an 11.57 ERA in 11 2/3 innings and three starts before hitting the IL with an adductor strain.  This came after Snell’s longer-than-expected stint in free agency didn’t end until he signed a two-year, $62MM deal with San Francisco on March 19, and he pitched in only some simulated games in extended Spring Training before making his first MLB start of the year on April 8.

However, Snell looks to have gotten in form during his minor league rehab stint.  The southpaw’s two minor league rehab starts (one in A-ball, one in Triple-A) have been almost literally perfect, as Snell has delivered nine hitless innings and just a single walk, with 17 strikeouts.  A healthy Snell pitching like his 2023 self would be a gigantic boost to the Giants’ staff, and it would help the team dig itself out of a lackluster 21-25 beginning to the season.

Giants Claim Ryan McKenna

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2:32PM: Both teams have announced the transaction, and MLB.com’s Maria I. Guardado (via X) reported that the Giants placed Lee on the 60-day IL to create a 40-man roster spot for McKenna.

1:57PM: The Giants have claimed outfielder Ryan McKenna off waivers from the Orioles, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (X link).  McKenna was designated for assignment earlier this week, and he’ll now change teams for the first time in his nine pro seasons.

It’s an obvious fit for a Giants team that is battling through a swath of injuries, particularly in the outfield ranks.  Jung Hoo Lee just underwent season-ending shoulder surgery, and both Michael Conforto and Austin Slater are also currently sidelined.  With shortstop Nick Ahmed and both catchers (starter Patrick Bailey and backup Tom Murphy) out, San Francisco has been forced to dig deep into its depth chart, and also pursue outside help like the recent signing of veteran catcher Curt Casali.

McKenna represents another external add, and he brings versatility in his ability to play all three outfield positions at at least an average level.  Luis Matos and Heliot Ramos have gotten a lot of the playing time in the outfield with so many of the regulars out, and both have played well alongside Mike Yastrzemski in the makeshift starting arrangement.  McKenna will bring some extra depth to that mix, since Blake Sabol has been limited to catcher and utilityman Tyler Fitzgerald could be deployed more strictly in the infield.

McKenna is also a right-handed hitter who can complement the lefty-swinging Yastrzemski, though McKenna has never brought much punch at the plate.  Over 517 career MLB plate appearances, McKenna has hit just .224/.302/.332 with eight home runs.  He also has a much more impressive .261/.359/.556 slash line over 274 PA at Triple-A, with much of that damage taking place during a big 2021 campaign.

Despite the lack of pop, it is possible the Orioles might not have felt compelled to part with McKenna if the team wasn’t so absurdly stacked with outfield talent.  In a sense, having a clear-cut bench player like McKenna was valuable for the O’s since it wasn’t a huge deal if McKenna only received sporadic playing time, whereas sitting a Heston Kjerstad or a Kyle Stowers for days at a time wasn’t helpful for their development.  Matos and Ramos are both playing well enough that this type of situation might not present itself in San Francisco, as there should be plenty of playing time available until some of the injured position players return.

Jung Hoo Lee To Undergo Season-Ending Labrum Surgery

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The Giants informed reporters this evening that rookie center fielder Jung Hoo Lee will undergo surgery to repair the labrum in his left shoulder (X link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). He’ll miss the remainder of the season.

Lee was one of the top signees of last offseason. San Francisco inked the KBO star to a six-year, $113MM deal after he was posted by the Kiwoom Heroes. It was the fourth-largest free agent guarantee of the winter, trailing only the Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Aaron Nola deals. Lee’s age was a major factor, as he’s only 25. The Giants envisioned him as a top-of-the-lineup hitter who could handle center field on an everyday basis.

The left-handed hitter appeared in 37 games in his debut campaign. He hit .262/.310/.331 with two homers over 158 plate appearances. It wasn’t a great overall showing, but Lee only struck out in 8.2% of his trips to the plate and generally made a decent amount of hard contact. Most of his batted balls were hit on the ground, limiting his power ceiling, but it seemed reasonable to project him for a solid on-base percentage as he continued gaining experience against MLB pitching.

This is the second straight year in which Lee’s season was cut short. He appeared in 86 games before suffering a left ankle injury requiring surgery during his final season in Korea. He sustained the shoulder injury — a dislocation in addition to the labrum damage — when he collided with the Oracle Park wall trying to rob a Jeimer Candelario extra-base hit on Sunday. San Francisco president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters (including Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic) that Lee also underwent a left shoulder procedure while in Korea back in 2018. This surgery comes with a six-month rehab process, so he should be ready for Spring Training.

San Francisco has a staggering 11 players on the injured list at the moment. Lee is one of six position players on the shelf, including a trio of outfielders. Michael Conforto and Austin Slater are also currently out. The Giants are also without starting shortstop Nick Ahmed and their expected catching tandem of Patrick Bailey and Tom Murphy.

Losing Lee for the season is arguably the biggest hit the Giants have taken so far. Second-year player Luis Matos has stepped in as the primary center fielder in his absence. Matos hit .250/.319/.342 with a pair of homers in 76 games during his rookie campaign. He was out to a very slow start to this season at Triple-A Sacramento, hitting .218/.308/.355 through 143 trips to the plate. Mike Yastrzemski and Heliot Ramos are flanking him in the corners.

The Giants will move Lee to the 60-day injured list when their next need for a 40-man roster spot arises. They’ll need to reinstate him at the beginning of the offseason. He’ll make $16MM next season, $22MM in 2026-27 and $20.5MM annually for the final two seasons of his deal. He can opt out after the 2027 campaign.

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