The Giants placed left-hander Alex Wood on the 15-day injured list due to a shoulder impingement, with the placement retroactive to September 1. Outfielder Bryce Johnson was called up from Triple-A to take Wood’s spot on the active roster.
Given the date, it is possible Wood has thrown his last pitch of the 2022 season. Manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area) that the team will re-evaluate Wood in a week’s time to see if a return is feasible. Since the Giants are all but officially out of the wild card race, the club might decide to shut Wood down for the remainder of the campaign. San Francisco will go with a bullpen game to cover Wood’s next scheduled start, and possibly for the rest of the season if Wood indeed doesn’t return.
As per most of the advanced metrics, Wood’s 2021 and 2022 numbers have been pretty much identical, with the southpaw posting a 3.60 SIERA last season and a 3.45 SIERA this year. However, a few less bounces have gone Wood’s way, as while his real-world ERA was a solid 3.83 in 2021, that number ballooned to 5.10 in 2022. Wood got great results from his sinker in 2021 and his slider was also a plus pitch, but both offerings have been below average this year in Statcast’s view.
Kapler noted that Wood has been trying to pitch through his shoulder problem, which could explain this downturn in production and, in particular, Wood’s recent shaky outings. Over his last three starts and 12 1/3 innings, Wood has been tagged for a 7.91 ERA.
Shoulder and back injuries have hampered Wood in the past, most notably during the 2019-20 seasons when he pitched only 48 1/3 total big league innings. Wood did rebound during the 2020 playoffs to help the Dodgers win the World Series, and he pitched well after signing a one-year, $3MM free agent deal with San Francisco in the 2020-21 offseason. That resulted in a new two-year, $25MM contract to rejoin the Giants last winter.
Carlos Rodon is widely expected to opt out of his contract and re-enter free agency, leaving the Giants with Wood, Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, Jakob Junis, and Anthony DeSclafani under contract or under arbitration control for 2023. DeSclafani is a question mark after missing most of the season due to ankle surgery, but the Giants still have a decent core rotation in place, even if some additions will likely need to be made.
It’s time to start looking at their minor leaguers and seeing what they can do with the big club.
Bringing up an outfielder to replace a starting pitcher after they just acquired an outfielder and maybe going with bullpen games the rest of the way ? This is pure garbage.
I don’t know how others feel about bullpen games, but those to me are a slap in the face to the fans who spent their hard-earned cash on tickets. They talk about making the games quicker but then they allow bullpen games. There ought to be a rule that the pitcher who starts the game (unless they suffer an injury) must throw at least 75 pitches or complete 4 innings, unless they suffer an injury or surrender a certain # of runs.
I’m glad I haven’t purchased any Giants tickets (or gone to any games) in 3 years if this is indicative of what the Giants think of their fans. Instead of improving the team through shrewd trades and drafting the Giants in recent years have leaned on Belt, Crawford, Posey and Longoria and tried to patch the team together with castoffs.
And the flippant way the team grabs players off waivers with the intention of stashing them in AAA for a rainy day is just cruel in the way they practice it. These are people’s lives. Perhaps there should be a rule that if you claim a player off waivers during the season he must remain on your 40 man roster for at least 60 days before you release or designate him for assignment.
I don’t know that there are many young players to bring up right now, but of the ml roster players not currently on the IL I’d cut Tyler Rogers and Dominic Leone. Every time I think they should move on from Wade he goes and hits a couple of homeruns. Would,ve cut Wynns too, but with Bart out, who would replace him ? Leone has just not been good, and Rogers’pitching style doesn’t really make him a unique asset anymore.
If he weren’t on the IL I’d say bring up Isan Diaz, but he’s hurt. Maybe Fitzgerald from AA ? I would bring up Hjelle. His season has kind of been mis-managed, but he could still be of some use. Joey Marciano is an interesting relief pitcher they should call up. He’s Rule V eligible so they could audition him now to see if he warrants protection from that draft.
One of the dumbest things I could think of is putting out a lineup to please the fans for their preference of which players they do, or don’t, want to see.
One could look at the claiming of waived players, who obviously haven’t produced, as giving those guys another chance.
And requiring a SP to throw a minimum number of pitches, or innings, is a recipe for disaster.
Giants need to spend market value for a top line starter. Manaea would be a good fit.
“Top line starter” and the best you can come up with is 4.90 ERA Sean Manaea?
It’s gonna suck not having wood for 15 days…
Have you seen their defense? Yeah, maybe he’s got a shoulder problem leading to his significantly higher ERA, or maybe it’s that his fielders can’t actually catch or throw this year.
Wood is a long reliever at this point in his career
MLBTR may have given up on the giants, but die-hards like me haven’t. Doyers are scared that SF is only a hot streak away from taking 1st place.
LA has been afraid of us since we got Gabe Kapler as a manager. Dude is a boss, no MLB coach has as cool of a tan, tattoos, glasses, and overall attitude. I bet Kapler would take out Dave Roberts in arm wrestling too. Doyers lose again. loldodgers
LA’s hardly shaking in their boots over Gabe Kapler and his coconut oil. As a Giants fan, I still haven’t warmed to Kapler, who often strikes me more as the face of public relations than a team manager. Sadly, the team seems one more losing streak away from finishing last in the NL West rather than at the top…
I agree completely about Gabe Kapler. I don’t know if you have watched South Park, but everytime I see that “PC Principal” character I think of Kapler.
You sound like a for-never giant. Why don’y you go root for the blue team if you don’t like Kapler so much
The only boot shaking is coming from the Giants and Dodgers in fear of the Friars! (We all know it, folks).
There, I corrected your statement for you. You are welcome. ; )
Maybe in the postseason, but the Friars are 14 Padres losses/Dodgers wins away from being out of contention in the west. They also have to get to the postseason in the first place. There still is a (small) chance they miss it entirely, ranging from 19% (FiveThirtyEight) 14.5% (baseball-reference), or 11.2% (Fangraphs).
The Giants would have to go 22-0 while the Dodgers go 4-27 or worse for the Giants to win the division.
“Doyers are scared that SF is only a hot streak away from taking 1st place”
That was sarcastic right?
Even if Giants went underdefeated rest of the way the best they can do is 94 wins – Dodgers would have to lose every game except 3…..
It’s almost like no one here can pick up on sarcasm
I’d agree, but this poster [FarhanFan22] gets mighty defensive for someone just joshing.
Where are all the giants fans now that said 2022 would be another 100 win first place season.
Only the most unknowledgeable fans predicted another 100 win season. Anyone that’s watched baseball for more than a couple years expected some regression. I’ll admit I was wrong, in thinking they could win 90, and as many as 95 games, and be a WC.
But, as with last season when at lot went right (no team wins 100+ games without some luck), this season a lot went wrong. More than I expected, but that’s baseball. It will happen to every team eventually.
They’ve had a good amount of bad luck this year, too. The Giants are 17-22 in one run games and their record is 4 games worse than their run differential indicates.
Only the most unknowledgeable fans predicted a 100-win season but it’s perfectly ‘reasonable’ to have predicted 95 wins? Haha What kind of a weird thing to say is that?
The truth is a LOT of fans – even fans who have been watching for years and years, and whose knowledge (gasp) might rival your own – thought they would hit 100 again. That still even allowed for some slight regression, so it wasn’t unfathomable
First of all said I thought they’d win 90, with 95 as the top possibility. You must be new to baseball, because there IS a big difference between 90 to 95 wins and 100+ wins.
Also, anyone that’s watched baseball long enough knows that winning 100+ in back to back years is extremely rare. I can’t answer to those you’re referring to thought the Giants would win 100 games. The fans that I know, both personally, and who comment here, that have a even a modicum of baseball knowledge knew 100 wins was unlikely.
I had them pegged for 85-88 wins and third place. Even that was massively optimistic.
This season is what I expected last season.
Gia stop ownership is cheap spending way less than what they should be in relation to what they earn. I am a lifelong fan and I am out u til the payroll matches the revenue.
While the thinking here is a little black and white, I understand your frustration. The Giants are actually spending money. Their payroll this year is $175 million, which is more than, say, the Texas Rangers or St. Louis Cardinals. But it pales in comparison to the Dodgers or Yanks, and that’s before all of the contracts ending this year come off the books.
I think ownership knows the fans are clamoring for a big star signing this offseason. We’ll see if they make good on that desire. There are a lot of holes in this lineup that became much more clear this year than they were last year when the team won 107 games.
Isn’t the only long-term deal that they have falling off is Evan Longoria? Everything else is short-term, no?
Belt is gone too, and Craw will play a smaller role next year if his bat doesn’t produce more.
Giants will need to add two everyday players in the infield. My hope is Trea Turner and Rafael Devers. And I hope they can extend Rodon, but if not, they need top go out and grab another #1 or #2, which won’t be easy.
They also need to tighten the bullpen.
The bullpen is one of the big reasons, among many, for this disappointing season. The starting pitching hasn’t been that bad. The Giants have 50 quality starts. That’s league average.
By comparison the Astro’s have the most. 76, and the Padres, 2nd most, have 71, But the Dodgers have only 5 more than the Giants. And the Brewers and Cardinals each have only one more than the Giants.
Some bullpen guys were good last season, but haven’t been good in 2022.
Leone – 272 ERA+ in 2021, 100 in 2022.
Rogers’ – 184 ERA+ in 2021, 88 in 2022
Littell – 141 ERA+ in 2921, 91 in 2022.
Not to mention losing Alvarez (173 ERA+ in 2021), and Jake McGee falling off a cliff.
The Giants are the poster child for the volatility of relievers.
@Pete, so what you’re saying is they need better hitters, better starters, and better relievers? Anything they don’t need?
PhDPad—Well, I think the rotation is pretty darn good. But if you lose Rodon (likely) you need to bring in another horse. Not easy.
The infield bats are the greatest need—everyday bats, and that will be expensive.
Relievers, as we all know—are volatile—but a couple more like Brebbia (co0nsistent) would help. So yeah, the Giants need a whole lot to be even fun to watch.
They don’t need aging veterans and they can’t expect to create a viable contender with a parcel of AAAA players. I think the FO realizes that now.
Lol. Find any team who’s revenue matches payroll.
It’s because they have a crappy owner who cares more about electing insurrections to congress than winning baseball games.
This guy Johnson needs to sell his controlling interest in the Giants. He doesn’t even participate, he has his son in law be the lead spokesman.
What a joke, if you can’t spend money on premier players then sell and let someone else run the team.
Johnson’s share of the Giants is irrelevant. He is not involved in the running of the team. Even though Larry Baer only owns a minority share, he is the managing partner.
When Zaidi was hired, by Baer, he said Farhan would have complete control. I have no knowledge of Baer instructing Zaidi not to spend money, and neither does anyone else.
Under Baer, and Magowan and Neukom before him, the Giants have always had a generous budget for the GM/PBO to work with. Zaidi apparently hasn’t felt the players available recently are worth what they’re signing for.
Time will tell if his approach is the correct one, but being only in his 4th year with the Giants, and after 107 wins in 2021, he deserves more time to build a perennial winner.
I seem to be in agreement with just about everything you say.
What does Verlander get ? $135M / 3 years? Take the weight off Webb
Verlander made it clear he wants to end up on a winning club, not one in the baby steps of a rebuild with a GM afraid to actually build. He’s not just chasing the paycheck at this point in his career.
Giants are in a tough spot because they need to sign some big name FA’s to draw some talent over, but the FA’s aren’t really wanting to be the centerpiece of another season of farhan dumpster lightning-bottle diving
Ah yes, as a dodger fan I remember this Alex Wood very well