The Giants suffered their toughest injury news of the season about 45 minutes before their series opener against the Seattle Mariners, when the results on Thairo Estrada’s scans came back.
Estrada, the team announced, has a fractured left hand and will hit the 10-day injured list, sidelining him through the All-Star break and likely longer.
According to Fangraphs WAR, Estrada has been San Francisco’s most valuable player. The second baseman has nine home runs and 18 stolen bases on the season. He’s played in 70 of SF’s 84 games.
The Giants also placed starter Anthony DeSclafani on the IL with right shoulder fatigue. He’d publicly said that he’s felt fatigued and has a 6.92 ERA over his past six starts. In corresponding moves, the Giants recalled Brett Wisely and activated Mike Yastrzemski from the IL.
Losing Estrada is a major blow. His 2.6 fWAR leads the Giants and he has provided stability in the middle infield as Brandon Crawford, then Casey Schmitt, have struggled. Estrada hit just .217 since June, but has remained productive defensively and is always a threat on the base paths.
Crawford, too, is banged up. He’s not starting on Monday night after getting banged up diving. Schmitt is starting at shortstop with Wisely at second against Alameda native Bryan Woo and the Mariners in the series opener.
Hand fractures, like all injuries, carry recovery times that vary based on severity and on the particular patient. Earlier this year, Padres star Manny Machado suffered a hairline fracture in his hand but missed just two weeks. Giants designated hitter Joc Pederson, meanwhile, missed about four weeks with a hand contusion.
Estrada’s injured hand is his left, which supplies the power as his bottom hand as a hitter. It’s also, of course, his glove hand.
The All-Star break begins July 11 and extends until July 14.
DeSclafani’s absence should be easier for San Francisco to manage. The Giants have several pitchers rostered with starting experience who have been used out of the bullpen with openers in front of them. That group of pitchers includes Alex Wood, Sean Manaea, Ross Stripling, Keaton Winn, Tristan Beck, and Jakob Junis. The Giants have had success covering innings with those arms while not taxing their high-leverage relievers.
Asked pregame whether the group of pseudo starters are auditioning for a concrete role in the rotation, manager Gabe Kapler said he wouldn’t use the particular term “audition,” but maintained that competition is “really, really healthy.”
“As long as I’ve been in baseball, I’ve never seen a manager or a team not take a guy who is the surefire best option to start a baseball game and do something else with it,” Kapler said. “So what I’d say is, the opportunity is always right in front of our group of pitchers to take control of a spot in the rotation, go out there and start and be given as much rope as possible.”
The bar for a “surefire” starter, in Kapler’s eyes, is a pitcher who is consistently the best option to take down a lineup multiple times through. Wood has historically had trouble doing that. Manaea’s results have been mixed this year. Stripling has looked promising in his brief appearances since returning from the IL. Winn pitched six strong innings but is a largely unproven rookie. Beck and Junis are likely best used as bulk relievers.
But if no one emerges, the Giants will have just Logan Webb and Alex Cobb as traditional starting pitchers until DeSclafani gets healthy.
“I’ve mentioned this on the road trip, but the Justin Verlander start for the Mets, that’s not an ‘every time through’ kind of start for most pitchers around the game,” Kapler said. “There are a handful of guys who you look to who can do that on a near-regular basis, and those guys are just rare. We have a couple that are in that boat. And for the most part right now, we’re looking for somebody else to step up and be that pitcher. We think we have a lot of talented guys who are capable of doing that.”