Photo by Chris Mezzavilla/KNBR
SAN FRANCISCO–With the Giants in the midst of their last homestand of August, the final month of the 2017 season is looming near — and many players are still plagued with injuries.
With no timetable estimated for Brandon Belt’s return, and Mark Melancon announcing mid-Friday afternoon that offseason surgery may be a possibility, Bruce Bochy faced questions regarding why the Giants continue to play certain injury-plagued players when the postseason is far from a possibility.
“He (Melancon) pitched last night because he could pitch,” Bochy said before Friday’s game. “When you talk to your training staff every game and you check with the players — who’s available, who’s able — that’s how this works. Mark, sure he’s dealing with something but he’s able to pitch, which isn’t so uncommon in our game. There’s players with other things going on but that’s why we’ve been taking care of him too. We pitch him, and we’re going to every other day. It’s something I checked with the medical staff, training staff and with all these players.”
For Belt, the approach is similar. Although there still isn’t an official announcement regarding when Belt will return to the team, Bochy remained optimistic and reiterated that the goal for Belt to return before the end of the year hasn’t changed.
“I think for him (Belt), it would be fairly important for him to get back knowing that he’s good to go as we head into the offseason and before he gets to spring training, that he’s fine, he’s healthy — probably for presence of mind as much as anything,” Bochy said. For us, it’ll be good to have him out there, having his presence and bat in the lineup.
“If they’re able to play, and the doctors say they’re able to play, and they want to play then no I don’t have any reservations. You have reservations when a player is not able to play and there’s a lot of risk. That’s not the case here.”
Even though the Giants sit in last-place in the National League West and could benefit from giving certain players an extended rest at the end of the season, Bochy said San Francisco won’t shortchange its fans. The players were brought in to play baseball, and for the time being, that’s exactly what they’re going to do.
“You know, we haven’t stopped playing,” Bochy added. “We have a lot of fans here that we’re trying to win games for and play better baseball — which has gotten a little better here. There’s nobody here that’s saying the season’s over. We have quite a few games left. We haven’t forgotten that, the players haven’t it. I think that’s what Mark (Melancon) was touching on.”