Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE — Evan Longoria debuted a bit late and still has not played the field because of a foot issue. He has dealt with plantar fasciitis in the past, and it’s crept up again, which has led to the Giants slow-playing him.
There is additional reason to ensure Longoria is healthy later rather than rushing him now if the Giants have good reason to believe their season can continue into October.
There is no agreement between MLB and the Players Association that the postseason will be expanded again, and hopes by most are dim of the two warring sides coming together, even on a topic that both sides want. The league has tried making boatloads more money with playoff expansion by offering the union the universal DH, which the union doesn’t feel is a fair trade.
If there is the standard, five-teams-per-league playoff scenario, a Giants team that shares a division with the Dodgers and Padres is in dire shape. But last year’s expansion was agreed upon in the final hours before the season opened, and Longoria has faith in an encore.
“Ultimately, I think it will happen,” the 35-year-old, who hasn’t seen the postseason since 2013, said Saturday after his first game action of the season. “It just has to be negotiated the right way. It has to be mutually beneficial. And I believe that we’ll get there.”
The veteran clarified he was speaking his opinion, rather than from talking to others around the game. The Giants’ player rep for the union is Austin Slater.
“I think that Major League Baseball really wants it, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t want it,” he added. “And I think the players do, too. It’s just, we want it to be the right scenario for us and to be beneficial and not just not just be beneficial for one side.”
If Saturday was Longoria’s first step toward the expanded playoffs, it got off to a nice start.
Facing Kansas City lefty Kris Bubic, the designated-hitter Longoria hopped on a breaking ball and drove it to deep left-center for a bases-clearing double in the third inning of the Giants’ 8-6 loss to the Royals in front of 1,272 at Scottsdale Stadium.
The swing looked just fine, even if he will need plenty more reps to feel major league ready. The far bigger concern is the health of his foot.
“Hopefully we’ve got it taken care of,” Longoria said over Zoom. “We’re just kind of easing into it, so it’s not a big deal. It’s just something that we’re going to have to deal with.”
He has played through it in the past and played through an oblique issue last year, when the Giants had no one to properly replace him. This year they’re in better condition with Tommy La Stella and Jason Vosler added.
“I don’t see it as a rush to get him in games in third base,” Gabe Kapler said after San Francisco dropped to 1-3-2 in the Cactus League. “What we really want him to do is get his timing and rhythm down. He’s been taking plenty of ground balls at third base [in practice].”
Longoria’s bullet came after Vosler tripled, Jaylin Davis and La Stella singled and Mike Yastrzemski walked. With La Stella and Yastrzemski at the top, the Giants’ lineup is lengthened out, and their plate discipline should give players like Longoria better pitches to hit.
“This is probably the best lineup that we’ve had,” said Longoria, who is entering his fourth season with the Giants. “For sure, top to bottom. I think last year we showed that we can be a good offensive group, and I think we’ve added to that this year. So the expectations are pretty high for us, for ourselves internally here.”
It is hard to match the expectations for the defending-champion Dodgers and the reloaded Padres, who might be the two best teams in baseball. So Longoria’s expectations for the postseason may be nearly as significant as his expectations for his team.