The Giants may need to take a cautious approach with Harrison Bader, and that could open the door for Drew Gilbert to open the season in center field.
Bader’s path back has been anything but smooth. Injuries limited him to 30 games in 2026, and his comeback from a left foot injury hit more than one snag.
The club said in its Sept. 29 injury update that Bader was projected to be ready for spring training, and MLB.com was still carrying that same timetable on Nov. 6.
San Francisco also brought Bader back onto the 40-man roster on Nov. 2 as part of its offseason roster shuffle. He has one year left on the two-year contract he signed last winter.
The injuries piled up through the season. A left hamstring strain sidelined him for almost a month before he returned May 11.
Then, on May 29, he aggravated plantar fasciitis in his left foot in what became his final game of the year. Bader had already dealt with the same issue in his right foot in 2022, when it kept him out for nearly three months.
His recovery did not stay on track. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on July 24 that Bader had stopped baseball activities after setbacks while running the bases.
Later that month, a scooter crash made the foot problem worse. Manager Tony Vitello later confirmed that Bader would miss the rest of the season.
Even with all that, Bader still has a path to playing center field once he gets back on the field. The former Gold Glove winner can still force his way into the role, but the Giants should first see how he handles the demands of the position again - the gaps, the direction changes, the day-to-day grind of consecutive games. That would give them a clearer read on how much he can carry early in the season.
Gilbert has already given the Giants a usable option there. He started 83 games in center in 2026 and posted five Outs Above Average at the position, according to Statcast. At the plate, he hit .238/.330/.394 in 134 games, which gives San Francisco a reason to lean on him for regular starts if Bader needs more time.
Jonah Cox is another possibility in center. In his rookie season, he hit .252/.298/.384 and stole 16 bases in 62 games. The 65 strikeouts in 169 plate appearances show he still has work to do as an everyday bat, but he could handle starts on Gilbert’s off days and serve as a pinch-run option in tighter games.
The Giants also lost some depth when the Seattle Mariners claimed Grant McCray off waivers. That makes it more important for San Francisco to find another veteran center fielder on a minor league deal with an invitation to camp, giving the club one more player to evaluate and a possible insurance policy at Triple-A Sacramento.
If Bader is ready to play in April but still needs rest between starts, the Giants could divide the workload between him and Gilbert. That setup would let Bader build back toward a fuller role as his range and ability to handle back-to-back games return.
In Other News...
Giants Catcher Depth Problem Leaves Familiar Name In The Mix
The Giants catching picture has been unsettled enough this season that a familiar face is suddenly back in the conversation. Andrew Knizner returned to the organization after opting out of a minor league deal with the Boston Red Sox, giving San Francisco another experienced option at a position that has been thinned out by injuries and roster shuffling.
Knizners stint with the Giants covered 29 games, and his production looked a lot like what the club already knew from him a year earlier. After the season, San Francisco put him on waivers, then outrighted him to Triple-A when no one claimed him, and he is expected to elect free agency. Even so, a return on another minor league deal is still on the table, which leaves the Giants with one more familiar name in a spot they clearly still need to sort out. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Infield Crunch Just Put Christian Koss On Notice
Christian Koss spent most of 2026 trying to carve out a place in the Giants infield, and he did enough to stay in the conversation. He appeared in 70 games, mostly at shortstop, but the season also showed the limits of his current role. The bat was light, with a .217 average, four home runs and 12 RBIs, and the defensive side brought its own challenges as he tried to hold down a spot on a crowded roster.
The squeeze only gets tighter heading into 2027, with newly acquired infielder Marcelo Mayer joining a group that already includes Matt Chapman, Willy Adames and Casey Schmitt. For Koss, the issue is no longer just whether he can stick around, but where the opportunities will come from if the Giants start sorting out playing time differently under Tony Vitello. In a situation like this, every spring rep matters, and every mistake can shift the depth chart a little more. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Risk Another Costly Rotation Mistake With Former All-Star
The Giants are once again circling the starting-pitching market, and Zac Gallens name naturally comes up because of what he was before the wheels came off. The former Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander built his reputation on earlier success, the kind of track record that can still carry weight in an offseason search, especially for a club looking to stabilize a rotation without overcommitting.
But the recent version of Gallen is a far tougher sell. He struggled to a 6.07 ERA in 2026, posted a career-high 1.547 WHIP and was limited to 20 starts by an elbow injury, which is exactly the sort of durability concern that can turn a seemingly sensible target into another expensive misfire. If San Francisco does decide to take a chance, the safest path would seem to be a short-term, inexpensive deal, because the upside is obvious but the risk is just as clear. [Read more 🡒]