Giants DFA Isan Díaz, reinstate and option Luis González

The San Francisco Giants did some roster shuffling and depth rearranging on Monday, ahead of their terrifying three-game series against the Los Angeles Shohei Ohtanis of Anaheim. Outfielder Luis González, who had been on the 60-day Injured List all year long, but whose maximum 20-day rehab assignment had run its course, was reinstated from the IL, and optioned to AAA Sacramento (note: in a story Monday morning, I inaccurately stated that González was out of options — he actually had one remaining).

To make room on the 40-man roster for González, infielder Isan Díaz was designated for assignment. He was claimed off of waivers by the Detroit Tigers, whose president of baseball operations, Scott Harris, was the Giants GM when they acquired Díaz last year.

The writing was kind of on the wall for Díaz, who was optioned to AAA on Saturday when Thairo Estrada was activated. Prior to the move, Díaz was one of five infielders in AAA who were on the 40-man roster, joining Casey Schmitt, Marco Luciano, Brett Wisely, and David Villar. In the outfield, meanwhile, the Giants only had two players on the 40-man roster but not in the Majors: Heliot Ramos and Bryce Johnson. So swapping some infield depth for outfield depth was pretty sensible.

Díaz, formerly one of the top prospects in the Miami Marlins organization, showed a ton of promise in Sacramento. He hit .275/.377/.574 for the River Cats last year, and while this season he was colder and struggled with injuries, he had some of the best power on the team, with seven homers in just 108 plate appearances.

Unfortunately that didn’t translate to his limited time in San Francisco, where he hit just 1-19 with two walks and seven strikeouts, though he certainly had some highlight defensive plays.

As for González, he’s still trying to shake off the rust after missing the first few months of the season. In 13 rehab games (four in the Arizona Complex League, nine in AAA), he’s hit just 7-43 with three doubles, seven walks, and 11 strikeouts. But he started last year super strong, hitting .307/.367/.452 over his first 51 games of the year, before injuries slowed him down. He has an uphill battle to get back on the roster unless Mike Yastrzemski’s injury lingers, but he’s good depth to have.