SF Giants may be forced to have a difficult Matt Chapman conversation soon

After the fan uproar over Bryce Eldridge being out of the lineup yet again on Monday, the SF Giants made sure to have him in the lineup on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Third baseman Matt Chapman was on the bench to begin the game and it’s fair to wonder if the Giants may need to have a difficult conversation about Chapman at some point.

It’s no secret that Chapman has been cold at the plate this season. He’s hitting .227/.308/.312 with just one home run and 14 runs batted in. The lack of power has been alarming and even though Chapman is still a huge asset defensively, if he continues to stay cold at the plate he may have to have more days off.

That would obviously be a blow for a veteran like Chapman. He’s a guy who prides himself on playing every day so he can’t like being out of the lineup. Yet, with the team’s rough start it’s become clear that the Giants are going to have to shake things up.

Giants may need to make more difficult decisions with Chapman if struggles continue

That’s why they called up Eldridge and Jesus Rodriguez and then traded away Patrick Bailey in the matter of a week. They have given Chapman and shortstop Willy Adames days off which is odd because if those guys are healthy and playing well they would not come out of the lineup.

For now, there probably isn’t any real concern that Chapman will be benched consistently. Eldridge has not hit all that well since being called up. He’s got just two hits in 17 at-bats, even though one of them was a home run, and he’s struck out six times so he may be spending a decent time on the bench no matter how much fans complain about it on social media.

But what if Eldridge gets really hot at some point? The Giants will have to try to make room for him in the lineup and outside of an injury or a trade that means benching someone. As of right now based on merit alone, Chapman would be the guy who should be benched if you ignore how much he’s getting paid and his past performance.

The Giants are going to give Chapman ample opportunities to work through his struggles. He deserves that much being a leader on the team. But at what point does the benching start becoming a more regular occurrence?

These aren’t going to be easy questions for rookie manager Tony Vitello to answer. With the way the roster is constructed there is definitely a possibility of feelings getting hurt and egos being bruised so the Giants will have to be careful with how they handle things but if the current results on the field continue then there may be more difficult conversations to be had with Chapman in the future. 

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