Andrew Triggs. Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants won’t be seeing Drew Smyly for a little while and had to make some dominoing roster moves in his wake.
An MRI found the lefty Smyly has a left index finger strain after he felt discomfort in the finger in his start Saturday. On Sunday, before the Giants hosted the series finale with the Rangers, they placed him on the 10-day injured list.
To replace his spot on the 30-man, they called up veteran righty Andrew Triggs from Sacramento. Because they needed to add Triggs to the 40-man roster, they designated Jandel Gustave for assignment.
A finger strain is typically an injury that takes weeks, rather than months, to recover from. Still, Smyly is a significant loss, on the verge of becoming the first Giants starter to complete five innings before injury struck.
Without Smyly, Tyler Anderson could more formally enter the rotation and Logan Webb could stick. Of course, that suggests that Smyly would be traditionally replaced; the Giants could turn to openers and bullpen games, as their pen has been a real strength in the early going.
Triggs, who was impressive in spring training 1.0, will be eager for his first game action since May 17, 2018, with the A’s. He had surgery to fix thoracic outlet syndrome, and the 31-year-old has not completed his comeback just yet.
As for Gustave, it’s not surprising considering he had been demoted to minor league camp in April and then wasn’t invited to summer training. Still, the 27-year-old’s fall is steep, impressing last season and entering camp 1.0 with an outside chance of being the team’s closer.