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On Monday, the San Francisco Giants wrapped up their Cactus League play with a game against the Oakland A’s. And on Tuesday, they appeared to set their Opening Day roster, barring, you know ... /gestures wildly at the roughly five million moves that the Giants have made over the last few years.
Two days after re-assigning left-handed pitcher Scott Kazmir and right-handed pitcher Shun Yamaguchi, and optioning outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr., the Giants re-assigned four right-handed pitchers: Trevor Gott, Dominic Leone, Zack Littell and, perhaps a touch surprisingly, Nick Tropeano.
The #SFGiants have assigned 4 players to minor league camp, reducing their spring roster from 31 to 27.
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) March 30, 2021
Non-Roster Invitees Reassigned:
RHP Trevor Gott
RHP Dominic Leone
RHP Zack Littell
RHP Nick Tropeano
And so with that, the Giants Major League camp, which once exceeded 70 players, has been trimmed down to 27 names — just one more than they’re allowed to carry on Thursday when they open the season against the Seattle Mariners.
But one of those 27 is left-handed pitcher Alex Wood, who will open the season on the Injured List.
During virtual Play Ball Lunch, Farhan Zaidi said Giants expect Alex Wood to be back in a couple of weeks. He'll start on IL with Webb/Sanchez in rotation.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) March 30, 2021
So that puts the total at a nice and crisp 26 names, which means we now know the likely Opening Day roster. Here it is:
Starting pitchers
RHP Johnny Cueto
RHP Anthony DeSclafani
RHP Kevin Gausman
RHP Aaron Sanchez
RHP Logan Webb
Right-handed relievers
Reyes Moronta
Tyler Rogers
Matt Wisler
Left-handed relievers
José Álvarez
Caleb Baragar
Jarlín Garcia
Jake McGee
Wandy Peralta
Catchers
Curt Casali
Buster Posey
Infielders
Brandon Belt
Brandon Crawford
Wilmer Flores
Tommy La Stella
Evan Longoria
Donovan Solano
Outfielders
Alex Dickerson
Darin Ruf
Austin Slater
Mike Yastrzemski
Utility
Mauricio Dubón
There’s always the chance that the Giants will make some last minute moves, to trade for someone or grab a player off of waivers. You can never feel confident that they’ll stay put. But until that happens, this looks to be the crew that heads to Seattle.
A few short notes on it:
- The Giants clearly feel that Brandon Belt is nearly ready after a wild offseason in which he had surgery, the coronavirus, and mono. He only had 9 plate appearances this spring, but the team feels comfortable putting him on the roster to start things off. There will be no Joe McCarthy situation this year.
- Five left-handed relievers! Five! That’s fun.
- Wandy Peralta is out of options, but his inclusion is probably still a surprise for many, especially at the expense of right-handers like Tropeano and Yamaguchi.
Your 2021 San Francisco Giants, folks. At least until things get invariably shuffled up.