The San Francisco Giants are kicking off the second “half” of the season tonight, and they’re doing so with a slightly altered roster. Just as they did when they entered the All-Star break, the Giants are returning from it with three catchers … just not the same three.
A few hours before Friday night’s game against the Seattle Mariners, the Giants announced that Daniel Susac had been activated off of the 10-Day Injured List. He takes the place of veteran Eric Haase, who has been designated for assignment.
Susac returns after an injury sustained in late June. He had a three-game rehab stint with AAA Sacramento before the All-Star break and it went swimmingly, as he hit 4-11 with a home run, a double, and a walk. The Giants are hoping that — and a clean bill of health — can help him bust out of his slump. Susac hit 5-37 with 10 strikeouts in the 13 games leading up to his IL stint, lowing his season OPS to .640 and his wRC+ to 80.
While it seemed like the Giants were pivoting to Susac being the starting catcher when they traded Patrick Bailey, that may no longer be the case. Despite Susac’s return, he’s not in the lineup for Friday’s game, as Drew Cavanaugh — he started the year in AA — earned that honor. Cavanaugh’s offensive numbers (7-32, no extra-base hits, and nine strikeouts) are poor, but it’s a small sample size and he’s had decent quality at-bats). In addition to Susac and Cavanaugh, fellow rookie Jesús Rodríguez — who, like the other two, entered the year with no MLB experience — is also on the roster.
As for Haase, he departs after providing a steady veteran presence for a while. He’d been struggling quite a bit lately, including with some very poor defense. Since June 5, Haase had hit just 1-35 with 17 strikeouts. The Giants can work out a small trade should other teams be interested in Haase’s services while he’s in DFA limbo and, if not, they can try to re-sign him to the Minors. With Bailey traded, Haase and Logan Porter DFA’d, and Susac, Cavanaugh, and Rodríguez all promoted, the Giants have next to no catching depth in AAA. The only catchers on Sacramento’s roster are Thomas Gavello and Zach Morgan, a pair of late-round draft picks with sub-75 wRC+s.
Still, it’s exciting for a team as bad as the Giants to be pivoting more and more to youth, rather than giving meaningful playing time to veterans who won’t be on the roster next year. Although, with Haase’s DFA’ing, the Giants now have just 38 players on their 40-man roster, which is very odd and doesn’t seem like the best management of assets.
