SF Giants have yet another roster crunch on the horizon when forgotten outfielder returns

The SF Giants have had decent output from their outfield all year, thanks mostly to the heroics of the "Grandson of the Wind," Jung Hoo Lee. Lee has fully realized the potential that Giants fans dreamt on when he was initially signed out of South Korea. After Sunday’s 3-2 squeaker against the Braves, Lee sports a .323/.355/.465 line (129 wRC+, 1.5 WAR), and has been one of the most valuable players on the team so far this season. He’s been the biggest standout performer among Giants outfielders, but he hasn’t been alone.

Casey Schmitt, although not really an outfielder, has filled in at left field admirably in Heliot Ramos’ absence, who coincidentally was just called back up from his rehab assignment in time for yesterday’s game, where he went 1-3 with a walk in the DH spot. Ramos had been sidelined since mid-May from a quad strain, and even though the Giants haven’t really missed his contributions too much, it can’t hurt that he slugged .346/.452/.577 in 31 minor league rehab plate appearances. Making room on the 26-man roster for Ramos wasn’t hard, anyway, since designating Buddy Kennedy for assignment was a painless subtraction.

Harrison Bader will be yet another outfielder vying for playing time

So now the outfield left-to right looks to be Schmitt, Lee, and Ramos. That’s a very sub-par defensive setup, but it could definitely be a plus from a run-scoring perspective. Victor Bericoto, Jonah Cox and Drew Gilbert are all on hand as backup outfielders, with Schmitt being the lone option to back up any of the 4-6 spots on the field. Unless the Giants decide they need more infield depth in these few weeks leading up to the trade deadline, Bericoto and Gilbert have probably proved their usefulness enough to stick in the majors for the time being. As for Cox, he’ll probably be the odd man out once a particular forgotten veteran returns to the mix.

As a courtesy reminder to our readers, the Giants also employ some guy by the name of Harrison Bader. That dude also happens to be getting paid eight figures by the Giants this season, and next year, too. He missed nearly a month from a hamstring strain back in April-May, and has now been back on the IL for another month due to plantar fasciitis in his left foot. Considering Bader’s calling card is his expansive range roaming center field, plantar fasciitis is a particularly unwelcome affliction.

All that to say, Bader hasn’t been on the field very much this season and when he has, it hasn’t been pretty. His .170/.198/.358 slash line will be hard to squeeze back into the lineup, no matter how much plugging him into center and sliding Lee back to right would help the outfield defense. Certainly there’s zero chance of moving Bader without eating next to all of his contract, so even though optioning Cox would get him back on the 26-man, there will still be too many cooks in the outfield kitchen when he returns.

Optioning one of Gilbert or Bericoto would improve the team’s positional flexibility, but the Giants are in a position where they should seriously consider selling off any pieces that don’t have the surnames of Webb, Eldridge or Schmitt. The team’s ineptitude has gone on for far too long, but the fanbase just being too darn loyal has put the kibosh on the team going all-out for a rebuild at any point over the last decade. Posey did make a few moves to reload last season when he traded away Tyler Rogers, Camilo Doval and Mike Yastrzemski, and he’d be wise to go at least that far this deadline if not a little further.

Robbie Ray has been very strong in his last couple starts, so he’s one that should be gone. At least one, but preferably two position players should also be moved at the deadline too, though, to alleviate all this redundancy. If Ramos’ return to the lineup was a sign of things to come, he was put in the DH spot Sunday while Eldridge was benched as the team faced lefty Chris Sale. Platoon advantage or not, Eldridge really should be playing every day save for rare rest days, which he doesn’t need many of since he’s typically the DH anyway.

If Ramos can tear it up over the next few weeks, he’d be a guy who might want to call his travel agent. The Giants haven’t missed him too much while he was gone, as I said before, and he does come with former All-Star pedigree that might at least perk other team’s interest a little bit. With Lee, Schmitt, Bericoto, Bader (sigh) and Gilbert all on hand, plus Cox, Jesus Rodriguez and other depth options, Ramos’ best value to the team would probably be in a trade. If the Phillies were to wake up tomorrow and decide they really, really need to reunite with Bader, though, who would we be to deprive them of that reunion?

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