The Giants have placed third baseman Evan Longoria on the 10-day injured list due to a left oblique strain, the club announced. Catcher Joey Bart was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to take his place on the active roster.
Longoria lands on the shelf for the second time this year. The three-time All-Star missed the first month-plus of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn finger ligament late in Spring Training. He returned to play on May 11 and has started 35 of the club’s 48 games since his reinstatement. Longoria has continued to produce at the plate when healthy, as he carries a solid .242/.331/.462 line through 151 plate appearances. That’s obviously not at the level he showed at his peak with the Rays, but it’s a second straight season of decidedly above-average power production.
Manager Gabe Kapler has relied upon Longoria as his primary third baseman. They’ll presumably need to mix and match at the hot corner at least through the All-Star Break now, with Wilmer Flores, Tommy La Stella and recent call-up David Villar among the various infield options on the roster. (La Stella has played mostly designated hitter this year but is getting the nod at second base tonight against Arizona). The club hasn’t provided a specific timetable on Longoria’s return, but Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle notes he took part in pre-game activities today to gauge his availability for tonight’s game. Obviously, his body didn’t respond to that work as hoped, but that the Giants initially believed there was a chance he could avoid the IL seemingly suggests they’re not anticipating a long-term absence.
Longoria is in the final guaranteed season of the extension he originally signed a decade ago with Tampa Bay. The Giants hold a $13MM club option on his services for next year, but it remains to be seen if he’ll continue playing. In a reflective conversation with Slusser last week, the 36-year-old (37 in October) acknowledged he’s given some thought to the possibility of hanging up his spikes at the end of the year. Longoria certainly didn’t commit to retirement, saying he hasn’t yet “made up (his) mind” and has “really gone back and forth with (his) wife about this so many times.” He nevertheless acknowledged that a handful of injuries and being away from his family in recent years has taken both a physical and emotional toll.
That’ll presumably be sorted out a few months from now, but Longoria’s immediate focus will be on making his return to a San Francisco team that has scuffled of late. The Giants have dropped six in a row and eight of their last ten, falling to 40-39 in the process. They’re two games back of the Cardinals and Phillies in the race for the National League’s final Wild Card spot entering play tonight.
Hello IL my old friend , hasn’t been Longoria since we last saw each other
The Giants. LOL
10.5 games back in the NL West. Oldasss team is running on fumes abs it’s only July.
Padres are gonna let them into Petco tomorrow. And then they’re gonna LOCK THE GATES
Probs
padres average age = 29.4
giants average age = 29.8
that is a little like a 16 year old calling a 17 year old old
LOL padres
The Padres. LOL. AAAA team pretending they can play with the big boys.
07/03/22 San Diego 4-2
07/02/22 LA Dodgers 7-2
07/01/22 LA Dodgers 5-1
06/30/22 LA Dodgers 3-1
04/24/22 LA Dodgers 10-2
04/23/22 San Diego 3-2
04/22/22 LA Dodgers 6-1
09/30/21 LA Dodgers 8-3
09/29/21 LA Dodgers 11-9
09/28/21 LA Dodgers 2-1
09/12/21 LA Dodgers 8-0
09/11/21 LA Dodgers 5-4
09/10/21 LA Dodgers 3-0
08/26/21 LA Dodgers 4-0
08/25/21 LA Dodgers 5-3
08/24/21 LA Dodgers 5-2
That’s so bad I had to look it up. Lol
This dude really thinks he’s Sam Pittman
Evan Longoria @ForeverIL
Jason Vosler will likely be called up again. He’s hit well this year but hasn’t had much opportunity. I think you’ll see Villar as the primary second basan if he hits with Vosler the primary at third until Longoria returns.
Sounds like a 4th place team
Estrada is back tomorrow. No need for Vosler.
Vosler bats LH and Estrada’s only been league average—but that’s the Giants this year, a pretty meh lineup with so many injuries it hurts to react to each one. Longo and Belt are certainly gone next year, and it’s about time.
Ohhhh my shooooock
He’s a generational superstar. I hope he can finish strong this season!
Superstar??? Wow you have an extremely low bar.
Calling Evan Longoria a generational superstar is like calling Jermaine Dye a generational superstar.
Everything was there, but it didn’t happen.
Longoria was absolutely a superstar when he first came up. That comparison is not even close either 60 Career bWAR vs 20.
Dye was a nice player but Longo was on a hof pace his 1st 5/6 seasons. 135 ops+ with brilliant defense. The last two seasons when healthy he has a 123 ops+ with average defense. Which is a very useful player. Just can’t stay healthy.
You could’ve possibly made this argument if Longoria hadn’t hit a proverbial wall at age 32. He needed another four or five solid years to earn ‘generational superstar’ status. Either the Rays guessed right or they again used their talent evaluation super powers.
Rays are the last team to make a trade with.
The moved Longo at the perfect time. Though looking at the prospects in the deal the giants basically took on the contract. I believe it cost them 13m a season but if you look at his production and time on the field not a good investment. Not awful. Just meh.
They aint picking up that option
3.4 fWAR in his last 651 at bats. Assuming he’s only healthy for half a year still makes him a $7-9M a year player. $13M option with a $5M buyout makes that decision a lot closer than it might at first seem.
“In his last 651 at bats”
How many calendar years did that take??
1.5 + covid. So basically 350 at bats across 2 full seasons. Hence why I assumed his health for only half a season.
except for the fact that this whole time he has been a blocker. now that villar has pushed his way up and luciano is going to start making the case that either vosler or someone else gets moved or promoted, even though his value/cost might make sense, roster construction would say otherwise. Add to that – Zaidi has made it pretty clear that he’ll work with longoria there but isn’t particularly thrilled to have to do it and I assume that it isn’t getting picked up. I wouldn’t be surprised if belt moves on, crawford sits more often and you start to see either guys move up in more regular roles or some signings happen in the infield this year so that the guys in the system can get more movement
Yeah to many DH style players on this team.
Belt, Flores, Ruf, and la Stella are all pretty much 1b, or dH. Ruf can fake the outfield and Flores can occasionally fill in 2nd and 3rd but there not ideal defenders. This team struggles to catch the ball. I thought they might sign one of the plethora of infielders who were available last year. They added zero bullpen help and banked on the arms repeating last years success. The injuries have been brutal to a team lacking mlb depth.
They have depth, but as you pointed out, none of those guys are particularly good defenders.
“He carries a solid .242 average”…LMAO.
Scraping for accolades I guess.
.242 .312 .395 .707 is league average. Longo is 20% above average the last two season when you consider on base and slugging.
Sounds like he’s going to retire, anyways.
Woah, surprised Longo made it more than a week without hitting the IL.
Shocking
I thought Bart was recalled to take Casali’s spot?
They scratched him from the AAA lineup and had him travel with the team but didn’t actually put him on the roster until now.
Forever-In-the-DL-Giant
Evan Longoria has produced 0.1 WAR this season, barely above replacement.
Yet, Trade Rumors says this:
“Longoria has continued to produce at the plate when healthy, as he carries a solid .242/.331/.462 line through 151 plate appearances”.
I hear one guy hitting like this sucks & the next continues to produce. A little consistency would be nice!
Longoria has a 120 ops+. Which is one of the most productive hitters on the roster. To pick up his option it would cost the team 8m with only a 1 year commitment.
Exactly. If he can stay on the field for 75 % of the remaining games I’d say they pick it up. They have the DH and he’s still a decent third baseman defensively anyway. He’s been really good in SF and seems like a respected teammate, just hasn’t been healthy enough.
williemaysfield — Not gonna happen.
Yeh, the writer seems to think that batting .242 is SOLID….and he has a whole 18 RBI’s along with that solid batting average….you can look up and devise all the analytics you want, but he’s paid to be one of the big sticks in the lineup and hasn’t been since his days with TB……
L:eague average line this year is .242./.312/.395
Longo is hitting .242./.331/..462 – above average.
You know what would help his RBI numbers? Having competent hitters get on base in front of him. That’s where RBI’s come from. The Giants don’t have enough competent hitters
This guy is headed to the glue factory. Get younger, Giants!
In other words, the sky is blue.
“Longoria has continued to produce at the plate when healthy, as he carries a solid .242/.331/.462 line through 151 plate appearances.”
Giants are paying ridiculous money to Longoria for a .242 batting average. That’s less than 1 hit for every 4 at bats. Hopefully Longoria either retires after the season or Giants don’t pick up his $13 million option.
Villar deserves the real chance to see what he can do. Certainly can’t do any worse than Longoria. Or Zaidi can go dumpster diving and find someone who can at least put up Longoria numbers.
Agreed. Why would Zaidi pay 8 million for Longoria’s corpse that will be lucky to put up replacement value? He could get that production from just about any warm body in AAA that plays an infield position.
Loved this guy when he was with the Rays!! Ever since he’s been with the Giants it seems like he is always injured!!
Giants fans never really warmed to Longo. His best days were already behind him when the team traded to take on his contract. It felt like a desperate move that would haunt the Giants, but it ended up being more or less a wash.
I felt the same way about Cueto last year. When his contract was finally up, it was “So long, and good luck!” (But I am glad Cueto found some life with the White Sox).
Scott, Longoria has been one of their best hitters the last month or so, but he’ll obviously never be healthy again. I think the giants expected better results but I don’t think they have regrets. I completely agree with you on him being a wash. I read he may be contemplating retirement. Therefore that would leave me to believe he’s not expecting SF to pickup the option. He has been a class guy and I’ll guess well liked in clubhouse.
You summed up my sentiments. I think a lot of Giants fans feel the same.
completely off the subject here, Scott, but do you think that Zaidi/owners will break the bank for Judge? I wasn’t that high on going all in on Stanton/Harper/or most of this years FA, but I wouldn’t care how many $/years it would take for Judge. He, Trout, and Ohtani are generational. What do you think Scott?
Claude, I don’t know if Zaidi and co are going to take that risk on Judge. They can afford to, but there’s just no real precedent there with this FO. Bottom line: I think the FO is likely to be weary of Judge’s age (relative to the contract he’ll land) and his injury history. They might pursue him superficially, like the guys you mentioned above, but another club will pay more, quite possibly even the Yankees. Judge is a very good player, but IMO not in the same league as Trout/Harper/Ohtani. And all of those guys, as good as they are, have not been able to buoy mediocre teams. That’s another important factor for Z. and co: When do they see the team hitting peak as a contender? Do you see them paying up for Judge?
He’s a Northern Cal kid and imo if they were ever inclined to go all in he’d be the one. All big contracts exceed the actual time of productivity. I just seems a splash is needed or is coming. I believe it’s very possible. Why not? And with Longoria and Belt likely off the books in 23 and others to flow, the $ will be there. I just can’t see ownership happy with the current conditions (reduced attendance, lack of defense, regression…you name it). Probably wishful thinking but if there ever was a time to take a “leap” I think it’s now
Longo was pretty bad for most of his Giant years, but the past two—when he’s been healthy—he’s been valuable, with glove and bat Unfortunately, he was attached to a very expensive contract and over his life with the Giants never produced enough to warrant it. And now that he’s playing better, he’s constantly on the IL.
Giants really need to move on from the old guys.
Actually longo’s contract hasn’t really been very expensive. The Rays paid $2M of his salary in each of the past 4 years, so the Giants end has been about $11.67M, $12.17M, $13.67M and $16.67M for 2018-21. This year the Rays are paying $5M of his salary for a net of $14.67M for the Giants. Not cheap, but not really very expensive either.
Unfortunately, chasing the guy that stole his Rays cap took too much out of him.
He won’t retire until AFTER his option is declined & gets the $5 MM.
Nor should he.
He remains productive when he plays, with a 121 OPS+ this year in 45 games on top of a 123 last year. The Giants may simply pick up the option and force him to retire and forfeit the $5M or play for $13M. There’s only an $8M gap in the two numbers, which is the equivalent of only a 1 WAR player.
Yes, and knowing that, I can’t help but wonder if they might just come to some sort of accommodation in a couple of months or so – that is if he feels even more like it’s really time to call it a career – as the season wears on…
That way, he could begin something of a short farewell tour and they could give him a nice send-off, on his final day…Evan Longoria Day.
He deserves it.
LordD99:
That’s an interesting take. And I think a lot of teams would do that, but I don’t think the Giants will.
The big problem picking up the option, is the possibility of the team being stuck with Longo on the 2023 roster. Especially if they’re looking to move on, and go with someone like Vosler or Luciano at 3B.
But, it’s not the Giants MO to try and save $5M, by forcing a guy to retire. They’ve always been generous with their ex-players. I think the most likely scenario is they buy him out, and he retires.
Your scenario does seem the most probable. There are a lot of variables in play (including a couple of very-unlikely-but-possible trade scenarios). It will be interesting to see how his situation plays out – especially with respect to what Longo decides he really wants to do.
With Villar/Estrada/Flores on the roster, Longoria becoming a full time DH seems like the logical move to help keep him off the revolving IL circuit.
Maybe…but the problem is, they’ve got other guys who fit that same DH scenario, for one reason or another.
Yeah I agree. As much as I like Ruf, I don’t like seeing him the OF. He’s a good athlete, but just doesn’t have range. 1B and DH are what suits him I think.
They have to get better defensively. And with Wade back, Gonzalez due back soon, Joc is another guy to DH. When Longo is healthy, he pretty much has to play 3B.
” When Longo is healthy, he pretty much has to play 3B..”
I think that’s right.
It’s easy to see the people the game has passed by when they focus on BA, on it’s own, as significant enough to define a hitter.
Or RBI’s, lol.