3 SF Giants players who made the Opening Day roster but won't finish the year on it

To open the 2023 regular season, the SF Giants sit at 3-3, right at .500. This is where the club finished last year, too, and is a hump the team is surely desperate to get over after failing to meet expectations in 2022. The team is still filled to the brim with talent, despite the fact that it has one of the oldest groups of position players and pitching staffs around the league.

3 SF Giants players who made the Opening Day roster but won't finish the year on it

On the position player side of things, this year's Giants will feature largely the same cast as the previous. Mike Yastrzemski, Thairo Estrada, Brandon Crawford and LaMonte Wade Jr. are all back. Then there's shiny new outfielder Michael Conforto, who is making his triumphant return to Major League Baseball after sitting out last year with an injury.

For pitchers, Ross Stripling, Taylor Rogers and Sean Manaea are the three newest additions. Logan Webb, Alex Wood, Alex Cobb and Anthony DeSclafani are back to form 75% of the starting rotation while Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers return to their crucial bullpen roles.

When the Giants announced their Opening Day roster, there weren't too many surprises. However, there are a few players who began the season on the roster but are not likely to finish the season on it.

Let's check out 3 Giants players who opened the season on the roster but will not finish the year on it.

3 SF Giants players who made the Opening Day roster but won't finish the year on it

1. Corner infielder J.D. Davis

Davis, 29, is a man without a position for the 2023 Giants. He has lined up at third base, first base and left field over the course of his seven-year career but does not play any of them particularly well.

Acquired last year at the trade deadline for a package including Darin Ruf (who is a comparable player to Davis), he hit well on his new club in a 49-game showing (eight home runs, 140 OPS+) but remained without a solid defensive home.

During the current season, Davis has made three appearances; two at third base and one at first. He is a guy who can also spend time at designated hitter on days Joc Pederson either has off or plays first/outfield, so there are at-bats to be had for Davis. The main issue, if there was one, is that Davis and Wilmer Flores are essentially the exact same player.

For the Giants, it depends on how long you're comfortable rostering two slow, power-hitting corner infielders who have virtually identical offensive profiles. One would think that at some point down the line, there becomes a need for some additional roster flexibility with one of these bench spots.

Davis is a solid hitter who has performed well on offense wherever he's played. He is not a free agent until the conclusion of next season and does have two minor league options left, so a demotion could be in the cards for him if he's the one the Giants choose to cut loose.

3. Catcher/corner outfielder Blake Sabol

Sabol, 25, has been a feel-good story for the Giants early on in the season, but he is not a guarantee to spend the entire year on the active roster. He swings it from the left side and has displayed some impressive power throughout his minor league career, so his bat is not the question.

On defense, Sabol is a catcher who has also spent considerable time in the corner outfield, mainly in left field, where his decent but uninspiring throwing arm is not as exposed as it is in right field. He has been known to grade poorly behind the plate, but has been putting in a ton of work to improve his craft at catcher, so there's a chance he has what it takes to stick on the roster.

The fact that he's a Rule 5 Draft pick is what makes this a tough call. Since he is a R5 selection, Sabol must spend the entire season on the Giants' active roster, or the club will have to offer him back to the team they selected him from.

Rule 5 Draft picks are always finicky. If the Giants choose to keep him around, they'd essentially be going with a three catcher rotation, which few teams can comfortably pull off down the stretch of any given season. With Joey Bart struggling with consistency, Sabol has a path to sticking around, but if the former is able to right the ship, the latter seems to be the odd man out in the catcher picture.