Rafael Devers’ season-ending injury has left Jung Hoo Lee as the last man standing from the Giants’ Opening Day lineup, and it says almost everything about how this year has gone in San Francisco.
Devers had been one of the few reasons to keep watching over the final weeks, flashing as one of the hottest hitters in baseball and tracking toward 40 home runs and 100 RBIs. But on Sunday, it came out that he had been dealing with a core injury, and the Giants shut him down for the rest of the season by placing him on the 60-day injured list.
That leaves Lee on a lonely island, surrounded by a roster that has been stripped down so far that it now feels like a patchwork group trying to simply survive the final stretch. The turnover from Opening Day has been staggering.
Luis Arraez was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. Matt Chapman had season-ending core surgery.
Willy Adames is out for the year because of elbow and back issues. Heliot Ramos was traded to the New York Yankees.
Casey Schmitt tore his meniscus. Patrick Bailey was traded to Cleveland.
Harrison Bader crashed his scooter into a fire truck.
Truly astonishing.
The changes haven’t stopped there. Logan Webb and Landen Roupp are now the only two rotation pieces still around from the start of the season after Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle were traded and Adrian Houser was injured. The bullpen, too, looks nothing like it did in April.
At this point, the season can’t end fast enough for the Giants. Webb and Roupp probably ought to be shut down, with bullpen games filling the rest of the schedule just to get through the final two weeks without another major injury.
And maybe Lee should be put on the IL as well, so the younger players like Scott Bandura and Turner Hill can get a look for next season.
Nobody knows what 2026 will bring, but after a year like this, the only real hope is that it looks nothing like this mess. The Giants were already bad before the injuries piled up, and in a strange way the situation has only gotten better since some of them hit, so maybe the cleanup leads somewhere better in 2027.
In Other News...
Giants Face A Bigger Logan Webb Decision Than Fans Expected
Logan Webbs season has reached a point the Giants did not anticipate when the year began. After missing time earlier with right knee bursitis, the right-hander has been in and out of form since returning, and his uneven run has pushed the club into a late-season conversation about whether there is any real value in continuing to send him out there.
Manager Tony Vitello said the next step will come after a conversation with Webb, which leaves the situation unsettled for now. For a pitcher who has been one of the franchises more reliable arms, the concern is not just the career-worst 4.31 ERA, but what the Giants decide is best for a starter whose workload and health have already become part of the equation. [Read more 🡒]
Why Giants Fans Could Still See No. 21 On The Field
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Still, retired numbers in baseball can come with a little wiggle room on the calendar. MLB keeps No. 21 available on Roberto Clemente Day as a tribute to the late Pirates star, and the rule allows Pirates players, Puerto Rico-born players and Roberto Clemente Award nominees to wear it. The Giants do not appear to have anyone on the roster who fits those paths right now, which means the number is retired in practice as well as in name for the moment. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Have Another Roster Squeeze With A Feel-Good Story Brewing
Zach Morgan has spent time on the Giants major league roster this season without yet getting into a game, but his place in the organization still looks like a live one. Tony Vitello told Alex Pavlovic the club plans to bring Morgan back to the majors before the year is over, a sign that the Giants still see a role for him as they keep navigating a roster that has already matched a franchise record for players used in a season.
For San Francisco, the bigger picture is the squeeze that comes with an ever-growing list of bodies needed to get through a season. The Giants are expected to move past that franchise mark, and Morgan is among the players most likely to be part of the next wave, which keeps his return from feeling like a simple transaction and makes it part of a larger, ongoing search for the right mix. [Read more 🡒]