SF Giants send three players to the 60-day injured list

Catching up on the roster moves from last week. The SF Giants began the season by transferring three players to the 60-day injured list including Luis González (back surgery), Luke Jackson (Tommy John surgery), and Thomas Szapucki (left arm neuropathy).

SF Giants send three players to the 60-day injured list

This opened up three spots on the 40-man roster that the Giants used by adding Roberto Pérez, Matt Beaty, and Bryce Johnson. Given the injury to Joey Bart, Pérez is in line to see a fair share of playing time until he returns.

None of these injuries are necessarily news, but they were made official when the Giants finalized the Opening Day roster. In the case of the Jackson move, they did wait a day to move him to the 60-day injured list when it became apparent that they needed another center fielder in Johnson.

The news for González is a tough break as he is slated to undergo surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back. The left-handed bat is expected to miss the first half of the season as he recovers. González had some positive moments last year as he slashed .254/.323/.360 (93 OPS+) with four home runs, 36 RBI, and 31 runs in 250 plate appearances. Though, he had a handful of rough defensive miscues that clouded his overall performance.

The Giants have been rather quiet on Szapucki's injury, which is generally not a good thing. There is no timetable for his return, but he will miss the first two months of the season at the very least.

The hard-throwing lefty posted a 1.98 ERA, 3.55 FIP, 1.17 WHIP, 10.5 K/9, and a 4.00 SO/W ratio in 10 appearances following a midseason trade with the New York Mets. It felt like he had a chance to carve out a leverage role in this year's bullpen and, hopefully, that is still the case.

The prognosis for Jackson might be the most encouraging of the three players. The 31-year-old reliever underwent Tommy John surgery in April of 2022. He is 12 months removed from major surgery, which is generally the point in which pitchers can get back into game action assuming no setbacks.

If he is able to return by midseason, Jackson would give the Giants another solid option in the bullpen. The righty had a very nice 2021 campaign in which he tallied a 1.98 ERA, 3.66 FIP, 1.16 WHIP, 9.9 K/9, and a 2.41 SO/W ratio across 63.2 frames for the Atlanta Braves. He did not pitch in 2022.