On Saturday afternoon, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said he hoped to give outfielder Mac Williamson an extended look in left field during the second half of July.
After rookie left fielder Austin Slater tore the adductor muscle in his right hip, it made sense that the Giants would want to give Williamson more at-bats, especially considering San Francisco has struggled to find a consistent left fielder this year.
However, on Monday afternoon, the Giants announced that Williamson had been optioned to AAA Sacramento after spending just two games with the Major League club this weekend.
Williamson appeared in Saturday’s game as a pinch runner, and then went 0-for-1 with a strikeout in Sunday’s contest against the Miami Marlins.
With Williamson heading back to the Minor Leagues, the Giants will only have three outfielders on their active roster, with Gorkys Hernandez, Denard Span and Hunter Pence serving as the remaining healthy options.
However, Eduardo Nunez is expected to start a rehab assignment on Wednesday, and could rejoin the team on Friday in San Diego if all goes according to plan. Nunez is on the 10-day disabled list with a hamstring strain, and stopped his previous rehab assignment after experiencing complications from his injury. Nunez is capable of playing left field, but he’s been the Giants’ starting third baseman for much of the season and it’s likely that he’ll re-assume that role when he returns to the active roster.
With Williamson headed back to AAA, the Giants have an open roster spot, and if Nunez isn’t healthy by the weekend, San Francisco has a variety of different avenues it could pursue to activate a 25th player.
The Giants could use their open roster spot on pitcher Madison Bumgarner, but that’s less likely considering the team already has 13 pitchers and 12 position players. Bumgarner is making his final rehab start in San Jose on Monday evening, and the Giants are hopeful that he’ll re-join the rotation Saturday in San Diego.
When the time comes to activate Bumgarner, the Giants will have a decision to make with their 25-man roster and their 40-man roster, because Bumgarner isn’t currently counted against either total considering the team moved him to the 60-day disabled list in June.
Down the line, the Giants would like outfielder Jarrett Parker to return to the Major League level after Parker’s latest rehab assignment was halted due to neck stiffness. On Sunday, Bochy said Parker will likely resume his rehab later this week, but it’s highly unlikely Parker would be ready to fill the slot vacated by Williamson.
San Francisco is also expecting rookie Ryder Jones to come off the disabled list later this month, as Jones is recovering from a right wrist contusion. It’s possible that when Jones is healthy, the Giants will send him back down to AAA because the rookie struggled in his limited plate appearances at the Major League level.
The most viable scenario for the Giants right now is for Nunez to return to the team on Friday, but if he’s not ready to go, San Francisco will have an open roster spot it needs to fill before the start of the second half of the season.