Some key figures haven’t figured into the start of the year.
As we continue to stoke the fires of hope, let’s keep in mind that there are a few pieces of fuel the San Francisco Giants will need once the season begins to really get the locomotive up to speed (did I execute that metaphor properly? Hmm). This morning, the team provided some injury updates.
The bad news
Jake Lamb will be shutdown until Tuesday due to a “left quad strain.”
Oslevis Basabe “will not throw for the next 2-4 days” because of a “right shoulder strain.”
Tom Murphy “started light rehab activities” as he recovers from “mid-back disc herniation.” Now, that phrasing certainly sounds positive, but we’d already heard from manager Bob Melvin that there’s a chance Murphy might not be ready by Opening Day.
Taken together, these aren’t optimism-shaking injuries, as these players weren’t expected to be counted on to start the season. Basabe being out is the only one that stings a little — to me, anyway — because of another injury that’ll I discuss in a moment. And yes, I’m choosing to ignore the idea that Tom Murphy was the de facto sub for Patrick Bailey. It was a questionable signing from the jump that satisfied the backup role on paper only. Jake Lamb was signed to backup LaMonte Wade Jr. in case he got injured (as he often does), and so between Wade’s current health, Flores looking healthy, and Bryce Eldridge staying competitive, the Lamb insurance isn’t needed at the moment.
I saved this more severe injury for the end. As reported on Sunday:
Erik Miller has numbness in his pitching hand, according to a Susan Slusser article for the Chronicle. She adds, “Usually, it’s the result of normal inflammation as spring gets under way, but occasionally, it can be the first indication of a nerve impingement or in rare cases, an aneurysm, such as the one Giants pitcher Tristan Beck required surgery for last spring.”
While, yes, that puts the team in a bit of a bind when it comes to a left-handed reliever in the pen, where they were already thin, we saw what happened to Beck’s season as a result of a similar issue, and the idea that it could be a severe medical issue is a scary one. We certainly hope for the best possible outcome for Miller about this troubling development.
The good news
Heliot Ramos has been out with right oblique soreness and is only now beginning to play long-toss. Today is the first day in camp where he’ll hit in a batting cage. The team expects him to “progress to hitting on the field this weekend.”
There’s not really a “good” area of a hitter that can be injured, but an oblique is one of the worst. It has the chance to be a recurring injury and the pain it saps is one that can tend to be a lingering problem. A counter to that is Jorge Soler, whose previous oblique injuries healed to the point that he maintained his slugging. The slugging is what made him an All-Star in 2024. The injury has no doubt allowed Luis Matos and Marco Luciano a bit more breathing room to show what they’ve got.
Ramos isn’t the only one with back troubles. Earlier this week, Justice de los Santos reported that Tyler Fitzgerald was healing from lower back tightness and would be getting into games this weekend. Again, there’s not a “good” area of the body for a hitter to be hurt, and along with hitting power back problems could impact his running ability, too. The power-speed combo is why Fitzgerald is such an exciting player (on paper).
Still, this is unquestionably good news for both players.
All of this is a reminder that Spring Training, like the season, can be its own sort of crucible, where plans are destroyed by injuries and hope is delayed as players recover from injury. For as much as the Giants transacted to build depth, it’s surprising to see that after all these years they really are still very thin. That’s why I say Basabe and Fitzgerald being hurt at the same time stings. Ramos and Fitzgerald were already question marks in terms of following up their surprising 2024s, but if the Giants miss either for an extended period of time, do they have anybody who could provide similar upside?
Giants… let’s not try to find that out.