The San Francisco Giants made a roster move on Tuesday afternoon, a few hours before starting a series against their rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers. And unfortunately, it’s a move that sees one of the best stories of the young season come to a halt … for a while, at least.
San Francisco announced that backup catcher Daniel Susac had been placed on the 10-Day Injured List, retroactive to April 20, with right elbow ulnar neuritis. Taking Susac’s place on the active roster is veteran Eric Haase, whose
contract has been purchased from AAA Sacramento. Haase was not on the 40-man roster, so the Giants cleared a space by moving injured reliever José Buttó to the 60-Day IL, as his season is presumably over.
It’s a bummer of a setback for Susac, who was enjoying a stellar rookie season after being a Rule 5 selection from the A’s back in December. Susac started his career with back-to-back three-hit days, and on the year is 11-23 with two doubles, one triple, one walk, and just three strikeouts, with five runs batted in and some decent defense behind the dish. That, combined with Patrick Bailey’s miserable start to the year in the batter’s box — the two-time Gold Glove winner is slashing just .151/.211/.151 — had resulted in the catcher situation inching a little closer to an even split rather than a pure starter/backup situation. But that will be on hold for a while, and hopefully Susac’s injury doesn’t take long to heal.
As for Haase, he was brought in over the offseason on a Minor League contract, and given a chance to compete with Susac for the backup role in Spring Training. He had a pretty decent spring, hitting well (8-28 with two home runs, one double, and four walks), but striking out 14 times. He was granted his release at the start of the season when he didn’t make the roster, but after not receiving any offers around the league, re-signed with the Giants on a Minor League contract, and has been playing in AAA ever since. In nine games with the River Cats, Haase is hitting 9-36 with two home runs, two doubles, two walks, and 13 strikeouts. He has also helped the roster by playing a little bit of left field after the Giants found themselves shy on bodies following the promotions of Drew Gilbert and Will Brennan to the Majors.
It’s interesting that the Giants opted to bring up Haase, rather than Jesús Rodríguez, an exciting prospect who was already on the 40-man roster, and who is having a blistering season so far in AAA (.344/.408/.492, with just six strikeouts in 71 plate appearances). Perhaps they’re waiting to bring up Rodríguez for when they have a larger role for him, rather than icing him on the bench where he’ll only play once or twice a week. Or maybe they just prefer the defense, leadership, and dependability of the veteran Haase, a 33-year old who has been in the squat for nearly 300 Major League games.
The Giants are nearly a month into the season now, and still all of their transactions have been due to injuries.
