Austin Slater doesn’t need to ride the shuttle back to Sacramento, because he’s here to stay in place of Mac Williamson. The Giants were so certain that Mac would be fine that Bruce Bochy declared after last night’s game that he would be in today’s lineups.
Not the case!
ROSTER MOVES:
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) April 28, 2018
• Panik placed on 10 Day DL (left thumb sprain)
• Williamson placed on 7 Day Concussion DL
• Slater recalled
• Melancon transferred to 60 Day DL
• Alen Hanson selected to ML Roster#SFGiants
This is the second year in a row Panik’s gone down with a left thumb sprain, which means it’s a good thing the Giants’ team doctor is not Ronnie Lott. Kelby Tomlinson now becomes the primary second baseman and I’m scared. Alen Hanson, however, has a .479 OBP in Triple-A coming into today, and he’s a switch hitter, so there’s at least a different look available off the bench. The lack of middle infield depth has always felt like a looming storm and, well, here we are in the rain. Austin Slater has gathered some minor league experience at the position, too, and I imagine we’ll see him there briefly if the situation gets weird. In the meantime... oof.
The bigger oof, of course, revolves around the health of Mac Williamson. Although there was never confirmation that he passed the concussion protocols, it seems a good bet that things took a turn overnight. Sure, we’d like to think a guy colliding against the side of a baseball stadium could walk away without injury, but that just means we’ve seen too many movies. It’s also another tough spot for Williamson, career-wise, insofar as he has ran into injuries that have held him back almost every time he’s gotten on some sort of hot streak.
Mark Melancon to the 60-day DL is the least surprising move. If you’re a dedicated listener of this site’s podcast, The McCovey Chroncast, than you know that I and Roger have written off Melancon completely. Given his specific injury, it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see him pitch again. And if we do, it’ll be in one last brief flash before the pain in his dead forearm muscle returns. But what do we really know about such things?