5:30pm: Conforto’s MRI came back clean, per Pavlovic. The club considers him day-to-day with a heel bruise.
1:52pm: Giants outfielder Michael Conforto is dealing with a heel bruise on his left foot and will undergo an X-ray, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Conforto will also undergo an MRI, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, who adds that the outfielder is walking with a limp at the moment.
To this point, it’s unclear how severe the injury is, but it’s obviously somewhat concerning that Conforto is having trouble putting his weight on the foot. The fact that he’s about to undergo a series of tests points to some level of concern on the part of the club as well. “He was feeling much better last night than he is today,” manager Gabe Kapler tells Maria I. Guardado of MLB.com. “He’s in more discomfort.” The results of that testing will provide some clarity on what to expect going forward.
Health has been a major focus for Conforto in recent years, as he missed the entire 2022 season due to shoulder surgery. The Giants then took a shot on a bounceback by signing him to a two-year, $36MM deal, one that allowed him to opt out after the first season. There was an added level of risk since he also struggled in 2021, hitting .232/.344/.384 that year for a wRC+ of 106. He was still above average but well off his previous form, as he hit .265/.369/.495 from 2017 to 2020 for a 133 wRC+.
Despite an entire year off, he has been in good form so far this year, having hit 11 home runs already. His .250/.347/.464 batting line translates to a 123 wRC+, just about in line with his career production. He has been on a particularly torrid stretch lately, hitting seven of those 11 home runs in the past three weeks while slashing .373/.421/.716 for a wRC+ of 202 in that time.
It would obviously be a blow to the Giants if that kind of bat was removed for the lineup, so the results of the imaging will be significant for the club. They are already without other outfield options, as each of Joc Pederson, Heliot Ramos and Luis González is on the injured list right now. Should Conforto join them, the Giants would have to figure out a plan for moving forward.
Mitch Haniger and Mike Yastrzemski would have two outfield spots spoken for, with Bryce Johnson and Austin Slater also on the roster. Johnson is generally considered a glove-first option while Slater is an effective hitter but primarily against left-handed pitchers. He’s hit .290/.380/.476 against southpaws in his career but .226/.314/.336 otherwise. Blake Sabol could also spend some time in the outfield though he’s also part of the catching mix alongside Patrick Bailey. Luis Matos is on the 40-man roster and playing well in the minors but hasn’t yet made his major league debut. He has a .315/.395/.452 batting line this year, split between Double-A and Triple-A.
The extent of the heel injury could also potentially have ramifications for Conforto personally, as he will be deciding whether or not to trigger his opt-out at season’s end. He’s making salaries of $18MM this year and next and will have to decide whether to leave the back half on the table or return to the open market in search of a larger guarantee. The opt-out provision is contingent on him reaching 350 plate appearances on the season and he’s already more than halfway there, currently at 196. A significant absence would decrease his chances of getting over that threshold. Even if he does make it over the 350 line, any injury-related dip in performance could impact his decision.
Conforto has been a big presence lately, a real threat at the plate. Giants have the depth in the OF to handle the defense, but clutch offense might be the difference maker this season. Hope he can bounce back.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Farhan Zaidii spent 64 MILLION on two outfielders that combined to miss 267 games last year!
You get what you pay for. The Giants are a mess
They’ve recently promoted some minor leaguers and have got some of that early production that comes before the league adjustments occur , But none of them project to be impact guys. At all .
That being said , Giants don’t know that and are subsequently drunk on recency bias w/ minor league additions.
Scouting is clear that you don’t know what ya got until 500 AB’s
How much are they paying Rodon, Montas, JD, and Stanton combined? Something, something glass house…
And Hicks too.
A $64 million mistake isn’t that bad when you compare it to all the Padres and Phillies mistakes
How is a guy on a 2 year $36 million deal a $64 million mistake??
He’s talking about Conforto and Hangier, presumably.
at least we didn’t give a 6 year deal to Rodon LOL
Article: Michael Conforto is hurt.
27yankees: Yeah, well, Casey Schmitt might not even be good!
MLBTR Community: *collectively sighs*
27champyankees — Consistently trolling.
In sorry but how are the Giants struggling right now? They are playing above expectation right now and over the last few weeks have been particularly good. Its the team they’re above that’s a mess at the moment.
At least they actually have played this year unlike Rodon lol. Also hicks says thanks for them millions while playing video games at the house. Stanton getting like 30mill a year and not playing. I’d take the giants situation over the Yanks any day lol. Over pay for players and you get what you pay for.
27Champs
Two words: Aaron Hicks!
Bruh, they paid $64 million for two OFers. While your Yankees have paid $30 million to make Hicks go away. Not to mention how much they are paying Rodon who hasn’t even thrown a pitch for the Yankees.
Always been a streaky son of a gun it’s a shame he’s hitting the IL when he got things going after the last couple years. Hopefully he’s back out there soon.
Here comes matos…
I agree! Time to bring Luis Matos up and see what he can do. He’s only 21 but he’s been tearing up the minors this season. Won’t burn a full year of service either even if he stays up the rest of the season.
Giants want him to season a bit more in AAA.
Hoping for a speedy recovery and for him to complete the bounce back year.
He needs to make sure to put his phone, wallet and keys in his right pockets to balance things out. It worked in the movie, ‘Tin Cup’…
$18M seems to be the higher end of Conforto’s fair and reasonable market value- basically he’s getting paid exactly what he’s worth on average.
I think he’s one of those guys who’s value will go down over time but with salaries going up, his salary could and should remain stagnant- Where he’s initially over or exactly paid and as salaries inflate, his stays the same and becomes cheaper in comparison to modern equivalent new deals.
I could see him and the Giants reaching a 1-2 year/$18M AAV extension on top of the second year and call it a day, if he can come back and continue to produce like he has been.
If he stays healthy and produces someone will overpay. I’m not sure how his defense looks this year but I wonder if Rizzo’s deal might be a benchmark.
Rizzo’s deal is basically equivalent value, when you average out the version with the buyout vs the version with the option picked up. It’s either 3 years at $17M a season or 2 years at $20M a season. Averaged value of the deal is like $45.5M for two and a half seasons, if you want to get illogically exact about it- or $18.2M a year- which is exactly what Conforto is making, with $200k in extra money to account for a tiny bit of real and in-market inflation.
My general point is that a lot of guys get long term deals with stagnant annual value and at first the salary represents an underpay, then it represents fair pay, and then it represents an overpay and then toward the end when accounting for actual inflation and the insane inflation on deals, it goes back to being fair value overall- and Conforto at $18M for the next half decade or so seems like a candidate for that.
At $18M, does it really matter if it’s $17M or $20M AAV, like Rizzo’s deal?
Question. Have any of you seen 27champyankees ever post on a Yankee story. Check the current story re Stanton et al. He’s not a Yankee fan. He used to call himself Tonygwynn19 or something like that and he’s not a Padres fan. He struck gold trolling on Giants story because we keep responding to his trolling. Everyone, myself included, we need to ignore this sad and clearly lonely human (just a guess).
and is also the same troll as pickle_briches
I’ll buy that sac