PHOENIX — Less than 24 hours after infielder Tommy La Stella made his debut for the Giants in more than three months, first baseman Brandon Belt rejoined the club after a six-week absence.
Belt, who sprained his knee in Anaheim on June 23, completed a rehab assignment Tuesday with Triple-A Sacramento and Phoenix to join the Giants for their series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday. flew to.
To clear the roster spot for Belt, the Giants placed starter Kevin Gossman on the paternity list.
Before injuring his knee, Belt hit .253 with 11 home runs and .875 ops in 170 batting.
After throwing six innings of a one-run ball in a 7-1 win over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, Gossman announced he was moving back to Louisiana with his wife, Taylor, as the couple hope to welcome their second daughter, Sutton, on Friday. are doing. .
MLB rules allow a player on the paternity list to miss three games, so the Giants must activate Gossman for Sunday’s series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers, even if he does not rejoin the club, unless that he does not return home to host the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.
The Giants will face another challenging roster decision when Gossman returns, but President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi has been a master at finding ways to preserve the team’s depth and pursue tough choices down the road. reputation has developed. When La Stella activated in Phoenix on Wednesday, the Giants found a place for a left-handed hitting infielder on their 26-man roster, placing struggling starter Anthony Descalfani on a 10-day injured list with a right shoulder fatigue.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler said the Giants only expected to miss a start from Declaffney and noted how many pitchers around the Majors have been through the physical stress of adjusting from a 60-game season in 2020 to a full 162-game schedule this year. are feeling.
La Stella had been on the injured list for 60 days from May, so making a place for him on the 40-man roster was a big challenge for San Francisco. The Giants on Wednesday made a difficult choice to name left-handed pitcher Conor Menez for the assignment and it is possible that a few more players could be on the verge of losing roster spots in the coming weeks.
Third baseman Evan Longoria, who has missed a shoulder injury over the past two months, is expected to begin a rehab assignment this weekend and his return to the Giants to make both 40-man and 26-man roster moves. Will force The Giants also have right-handed pitcher Reyes Moronta rehabilitated in Triple-A Sacramento when he deals with an early-season flexor strain, but there’s no guarantee Moronta will be put back on the roster when his rehab work. will be completed.
