5 SF Giants who are stealing playing time from more worthy prospects

The SF Giants roster looks quite a bit different than it did a week ago. More casual fans understandably looked at recent lineups and probably thought, “Who the heck are these guys?”

Expect a lot more of that the rest of this season. In fact, encourage it. These last two months are about giving young players opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t get so there should be a lot more big league debuts in August and September if the Giants plan to fully take advantage of this bad season.

The only problem is there are some guys standing in the way of that right now. If the Giants are smart and at least try to get some of their younger players a taste of the big leagues, then they have to figure out what to do with these five players currently on the roster.

5 SF Giants who are blocking prospects from more playing time

Buddy Kennedy

You probably thought you’d never have to think about Buddy Kennedy again when he got DFA’d back in June, but the Giants decided they couldn’t get enough of the guy and brought him back.

It should be a fairly short-lived encore especially if Kennedy continues to hit so poorly. He has one hit in 26 plate appearances this year between his time with the Seattle Mariners and Giants. He's ht .161/.256/.250 in 81 career big league games since 2022.

San Francisco would be much better served getting a guy like Parks Harber, who has been tearing it up in Triple-A, some at-bats and allowing him to play third base with Matt Chapman possibly out the rest of the season with his abdominal injury.

Tristan Beck

The Giants got rid of one of their Stanford products by trading Erik Miller to the Boston Red Sox and there’s a chance their other Stanford guy, Tristan Beck, will be gone soon too. He has a 7.07 ERA on the year and it’s fair to wonder if he really has any future with the Giants at this point.

Why not turn to a young pitcher in Triple-A like Trent Harris who has put up a very respectable 3.12 ERA on the season? 

Adrian Houser

The Giants probably would’ve loved to get rid of Adrian Houser at the trade deadline but the fact that he is under contract next season probably scared teams away from taking a chance on him.

He began the year in the rotation and is now in the bullpen. He may have to reprise his role as a starter given the fact the Giants traded Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle, but the Giants should go with Carson Seymour or Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson instead. It’s been a bad year, please just give us the Tugboat.

JT Brubaker

Brubaker has been decent as a reliever for the team this year and it was a mild surprise that he did not get dealt at the trade deadline. He’s a free agent after the season so it’s unlikely he will be back. The Giants may be better served giving William Ramos another shot in the bullpen at this point to see if he’s improved at all from earlier in the season.

Willy Adames

It’s been a tough year for shortstop Willy Adames and to his credit he’s tried to play through his back injury. At this point though, it may be a smart move to just shut him down the rest of the year and let him heal up. 

If the Giants did that then it would give them greater ability to experiment in the infield. They could put Osleivis Basabe at shortstop and use different guys at second base and third base. If recently-acquired Marcelo Mayer is healthy enough to play this year he too could get some reps at shortstop.

“Let the kids play” will likely be the motto the rest of this season. These five players stand in the way of that goal so the Giants need to get creative to get opportunities for their younger players as this disappointing season winds to a close.

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