SAN FRANCISCO–On Monday afternoon, the San Diego Padres completed a six-player trade with the Kansas City Royals in which the Padres shipped out three of their Major League pitchers and acquired a top infield prospect from the Royals.
It’s the type of deal a team like the Padres –a club that never had hopes of contending for a playoff spot– is accustomed to making at this point in the year. With the trade deadline approaching, San Diego gave up Major League-caliber talent and received a highly touted prospect, Esteury Ruiz, as the centerpiece of its return.
It’s the type of a deal a team like the Giants –a club that’s behind the Padres in the standings– would probably consider, if in fact opposing teams believed San Francisco had Major League talent worth trading for.
Over the next two months, the fourth-place Padres, fresh off a series victory over the Giants, will take an extensive look at prospects and players they believe can help impact the future and make San Diego a winning ballclub moving forward. At this point in the year, with a 38-62 record, San Francisco would love to follow suit, but a remarkable amount of the organization’s prospects are injured.
On Monday afternoon, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy confirmed that the organization’s top pitching prospect, Tyler Beede, was scratched from his start for AAA Sacramento due to a groin strain. Beede is the latest prospect to go down with an injury, joining the likes of Austin Slater, Christian Arroyo, and Ryder Jones, who have all missed time over the last month.
Bochy said if Beede is healthy, San Francisco will know whether it wants to see him face Major League hitters by the end of August, but said on Monday that the franchise’s top Minor League arm has battled through ups and downs and the decision might not be clear cut.
“We’ll see where we’re at the last week of August or so,” Bochy said. “We’ll have a better idea even before then but I don’t want to start mentioning call-ups yet.”
There’s no doubt the Giants would love to receive an extensive look at position players like Arroyo and Slater during the next two months, but right now, it’s unclear whether either player will be healthy enough to return in September. Arroyo had surgery on a fractured hand, while Slater tore the adductor muscle in his hip, and now, the Giants are remaining hopeful that they’ll be able to gauge the duo’s on-field progress sooner rather than later.
“I think there’s a chance, yeah, I’d put he (Arroyo) and Slater kind of in the same boat as far as them helping out toward the end of the year,” Bochy said. “We’ll see where we’re at as far as their recovery and their rehab, but yeah there’s a chance.”
The injuries aren’t just frustrating for a Major League team that sits 24 games under .500 entering the final week of July, but also disappointing from an organizational standpoint because even if the Giants were flying high and didn’t need the help of prospects at the Major League level, Arroyo and Slater could be gaining experience with AAA Sacramento.
“It would have been nice to have kept these guys healthy, not just for here, but for Sacramento to continue their development,” Bochy said. “Slater was doing a good job here and the more time you get here, the better I think you’re going to be in the long run with more experience to draw from here and the same with playing in the Minor Leagues.”
Missed opportunities aren’t exclusive to prospects who appeared with the Giants already this season, either. At the beginning of July, pitching prospect Joan Gregorio, who was among the Pacific Coast League leaders in ERA for Sacramento this year, was slapped with a season-long suspension for steroid use. Additionally, Steven Duggar, the Giants’ sixth round draft choice in 2015, missed three full months with an injury after San Francisco was hoping he’d be the everyday center fielder for Sacramento.
“Duggar is a guy who’s playing down in San Jose but he’s missed a lot of ball,” Bochy said. “The plan was to have him playing everyday in Sacramento in center field so I’ll throw that name out here too.”
Even some of the young players who’ve received opportunities in the past, but have yet to play a full season in the Major Leagues have been bitten by the injury bug that’s poisoning players at all levels of the Giants’ organization. San Francisco entered Spring Training hopeful that Mac Williamson and Jarrett Parker would push each other for the starting left field job, and by the middle of April, both players had suffered serious injuries. Now, Williamson is stuck at AAA while Parker is on a long rehab assignment with the River Cats.
As a result of all of the missed time, Bochy said the Giants will need to take a serious look at having a number of different players join winter ball teams, simply to get at-bats and make up for lost opportunities.
“Williamson, Parker, we’ve had so many guys that missed important playing time,” Bochy said. “With that said, I think a few of those I don’t want to go into who, but some of them, I think it’s going to be important that we find somewhere for them to play winter ball so they can make up for some missed playing time so we can have a better read or evaluation on where we’re at with them.”
Over the next two months, the Padres will have a great chance to make evaluations on former Rule 5 draft choices, young talent getting a taste of Major League competition, and prospects who could become key contributors to the franchise’s future. At the same time, barring trades that shake up the future of the franchise, the Giants will run out a lineup that looks eerily similar to the one that’s plummeted to last place in the National League West, in large part because many of the prospects the team wants to look at are on the shelf.
Marquee pitchers on the mend
Though the playoffs are out of reach for San Francisco, the Giants do want to make sure a pair of their key assets are capable of pitching late in the season, and on Monday, Bochy provided positive updates on the progress of Johnny Cueto and Mark Melancon.
Cueto was placed on the disabled list on July 15 with blisters, and since then, he’s been resigned to playing light catch. Cueto’s turn in the rotation is up on Monday, and 13th-year veteran Matt Cain will make his second consecutive start in his spot. However, Bochy said Cueto may throw a bullpen on Tuesday, which indicates his return to the roster could come in the near future.
“Johnny Cueto is going to play some catch today,” Bochy said. “Possibly could be throwing a bullpen, a light pen. We’ll see how he does after throwing today.”
As for Melancon, the Giants’ closer has been out since June 28 with an elbow injury, but Bochy believes Melancon will throw a bullpen on Tuesday and could pitch in a simulated game in Los Angeles this weekend.
“Melancon is off today, he’ll take a bullpen tomorrow and looks like if all goes well, he’ll be throwing to hitters this weekend in LA,” Bochy said.