Well everyone, we can officially welcome the 2018 Major League Baseball season....two days ago. The Giants pulled off a couple of 1-0 victories over the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. But we're not here to talk about that just yet. Instead we're going to look at the Opening Day roster and the final cuts.
The last week of Spring Training had some extremely bad news. On March 22, #3 starter Jeff Samardzija was diagnosed with a strained pectoral muscle and will begin the season on the Disabled List. Manager Bruce Bochy expects him to be back in 3-4 weeks. This could have been a lot worse considering Samardzija had been receiving an MRI on his shoulder.
Now for the worse news. On March 23, #1 starter Madison Bumgarner was hit by a line-drive which fractured his left hand. For those of you keeping score, that's his pitching hand. Bumgarner underwent surgery on March 24 and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks.
On top of this, closer Mark Melancon was placed on the Disabled List as he is still recovering from forearm surgery he underwent in September, 2017.
So what did all this mean for the roster? Well with the injuries to the pitching staff, it was all but assured that Derek Holland was going to make the team. But to make room for him on the 40-man roster someone was going to have to be designated for assignment. That someone was outfielder Jarrett Parker. So the competition for the 2 reserve outfielder spots came down to Gorkys Hernandez, Gregor Blanco, and Steven Duggar. Blanco and Hernandez won the jobs with Duggar being sent to Sacramento. This shouldn't come as a surprise despite Duggar's great Spring. The thinking here is that Duggar will be playing every day in Triple-A and Austin Jackson was going to receive a majority of the starts in center field at least in the early part of the season as the Giants will be facing a number of left-handed starting pitchers. Their first 2 games were against Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood, both lefties, and will be facing Rich Hill, another lefty, on Sunday.
With Samardzija and Bumgarner being placed on the DL, Roberto Gomez and Pierce Johnson will take their roster spots. And Reyes Moronta will take Melancon's spot. The other roster battles were pretty uneventful. Pablo Sandoval and Kelby Tomlinson are the backup infielders as was expected. One other note, Rule 5 draft pick Julian Fernandez was placed on the 60-day DL with a strained UCL in his pitching elbow. Technically an injured player uses an active roster spot so the Giants don't have to offer him back to the Rockies though Fernandez may be looking at Tommy John surgery. The move to the 60-day DL allowed the Giants to add Blanco to the 40-man roster. So here's what the roster looks like to start the 2018 season:
Lineup
1. CF - Austin Jackson
2. 2B - Joe Panik
3. RF - Andrew McCutchen
4. C - Buster Posey
5. 3B - Evan Longoria
6. LF - Hunter Pence
7. 1B - Brandon Belt
8. SS - Brandon Crawford
Bench
C - Nick Hundley
IF - Pablo Sandoval
IF - Kelby Tomlinson
OF - Gregor Blanco
OF - Gorkys Hernandez
Rotation
1. LHP - Ty Blach
2. RHP - Johnny Cueto
3. LHP - Derek Holland
4. RHP - Chris Stratton
Bullpen
RHP - Sam Dyson
RHP - Cory Gearrin
RHP - Roberto Gomez
RHP - Pierce Johnson
RHP - Reyes Moronta
LHP - Josh Osich
RHP - Hunter Strickland (Closer)
LHP - Tony Watson
There you have it. Your 2018 San Francisco Giants. Play ball!!!!
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