The Giants made their final round of major cuts following Sunday’s loss to the Chicago White Sox, by optioning Mac Williamson, Jarrett Parker and Michael Broadway to Triple-A Sacramento. Remaining non-roster invitees Braulio Lara, Gorkys Hernandez, Grant Green, Conor Gillaspie, George Kottaras and Ramiro Pena were reassigned to minor league camp.
Following the cuts, the Giants roster as spring training nears an end will look as follows:
Pitchers: Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Jake Peavy, Matt Cain, Chris Heston, Javier Lopez, Josh Osich, Cody Gearin, George Kontos, Hunter Strickland, Sergio Romo, Santiago Castilla.
Catchers: Buster Posey, Trevor Brown, Andrew Susac
Infielders: Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford, Matt Duffy, Kelby Tomlinson, Ehire Adrianza.
Outfielder: Hunter Pence, Denard Span, Angel Pagan, Gregor Blanco
That leaves the Giants roster at 26, with one of Trevor Brown or Andrew Susac battling it out for the 25th roster spot as a backup catcher.
The Giants will open the season with 13 pitchers (8 relievers) simply because their starting rotation doesn’t look ready. As Cactus League comes to an end, the Giants rotation possessed the second highest ERA.
Bumgarner has a 11.12 ERA. Cueto has a 9.58 ERA. Samardzija has a 7.20. Peavy has a 7.43 ERA. Cain has a 12.15.
Cueto and Samardzija finished their spring fairly strong. Bumgarner may not be someone to worry about, but he had a rib and foot injury earlier this year that he may not be 100% honest when stating he is healthy. Something to keep an eye on as the year goes on. And Peavy and Cain continued to struggle all spring, the Giants can’t rely too heavily on them until they prove otherwise. Hence the reason to carry two long men in Heston and Gearin.
The Giants will go into the spring carrying both Tomlinson and Adrianza as backup infielders, but neither are going to provide much with the bat. And if Trevor Brown is selected as the backup catcher over Andrew Susac, the Giants will have one of the weakest benches in all of baseball. Gregor Blanco is a fairly light hitting reserve outfielder himself.
It was quite surprising to see Tomlinson get the nod over Jarrett Parker. Neither had a very spectacular spring, but Parker offers a lot more in terms of being an offensive threat at the plate. And, Adrianza is capable of playing all over the infield diamond.
Given the Giants have more injury concern in the outfield with Pence, Span and Pagan coming off injuries in 2015, it made a lot more sense to carry an extra outfielder over an infielder.
Not that this 25-man roster by any means indicates it will remain the same for the remainder of the season or even into May, but some of these final selections to open the season were definitely head scratchers.
Fans looking to attend a Giants game this year can find tickets available for all 81 home games at TiqIQ.com. You can also find hotels near AT&T Park at Hipmunk.com, as well as SF flights if you’re looking to head out for a road game!
