NEW YORK — With the additions of two veterans on minor-league deals and the selection of an unproven outfielder-turned-catcher in the Rule 5 draft, the Giants have given every indication that they are not satisfied with the state of things behind the plate.
But, manager Gabe Kapler reiterated Saturday before the second game of their series with the Yankees, the “best possible outcome” has been here all along. On Saturday, he was supposed to receive his first start of the season but instead Joey Bart was scratched with back tightness.
“I can’t stress it enough: We really want to see Joey (Bart) kick some ass tonight and going forward,” Kapler said prior to the lineup change. “I know there’s been a lot of conversation about Joey and how we feel about Joey. There’s nothing that would be more impactful for the San Francisco Giants than Joey being a great major-league catcher.”
While that was certainly the expectation when the previous regime drafted Bart second overall in 2018, the problem is that Bart has not been a great major-league catcher. Awarded the starting job and some runway to begin last season, Bart wasn’t even a league-average backstop; he was barely better than a replacement-level player behind the plate.
After failing to claim the job last season, the Giants challenged Bart to earn his spot in spring training. But on Opening Day, it was veteran Roberto Pérez, who entered camp as a non-roster invitee, who received the starting nod. After Bart was was scratched Saturday, they went back to Pérez.
Time is of the essence now for Bart, with the addition of Gary Sánchez on a minor-league deal, which the club made official Saturday. Sánchez, 30, will eventually report to Triple-A Sacramento but reportedly has an option to opt out if he’s not added to the active roster by May 1.
“I think every opportunity is important for Joey. That’s been true for the last couple of years,” Kapler said. “While I don’t think it’s an easy road to be challenged in any way … but I don’t think it’s impacted his confidence levels. I think he’s done a really, really good job of staying with his work, controlling the things he can control, dating back to the first moment I met Joey Bart.”
In many ways, Sánchez gives the Giants a more proven version of Bart. While he is a career .225 hitter, Sánchez has twice topped 30 homers in a season and combined for 39 the past two years with the Yankees and Twins. Like Bart, he’s known defensively for his rocket arm, and Kapler said Twins evaluators were pleasantly surprised with his other defensive metrics last season.
Even before they brought in Pérez at the start of February, the Giants had been considering Sánchez, who may have been holding out in hope of something more than a minor-league deal after earning $9 million on a major-league deal in 2022.
“We’ve been talking to and thinking about Gary for quite some time and had done a lot of work on him dating back to the middle of the offseason, maybe even earlier,” Kapler said. “We thought it was a good opportunity to add some depth on a guy that we feel has a chance to make a contribution on the major-league roster at some point. …
“I watched a lot of video on Gary. I also talked to a lot of people, people with the Twins who had some experience with him. Solid, quality reports. A better framer last year than he had been in the past. I think we all know he’s got a really good arm. That might be valuable this season as we see stolen base attempts and success rates rise. Pretty powerful bat at times. A guy when we played the Twins, we considered to be a dangerous bat.”
Where does the addition of Sánchez leave the Giants’ catching situation?
He is expected to join Austin Wynns in Triple-A, and both players would have to be added to the 40-man roster if they are called up. In the majors, Bart and Pérez should continue to split time, but what about Rule 5 pick Blake Sabol? He made his second straight start in left field Saturday, but Kapler said, “I see Blake as a guy we need to get behind the plate soon. He needs to get some opportunities back there.”
— Outfielders Mitch Haniger (oblique) and Austin Slater (hamstring) will be re-evaluated when the club returns home Friday. That likely means it will be a little while longer beyond the home opener for either to return, though Kapler said Slater took batting practice Saturday and was “moving in the right direction.” Haniger, Kapler said, is “just building back into his baseball activities again.”
— The Giants added spring standout Bryce Johnson for their second game of the season and optioned Brett Wisely, who made their initial 26-man roster and made his major-league debut on Opening Day as a defensive replacement in center field. Ultimately the reason for the roster machinations, which robbed Johnson of experiencing Opening Day at Yankee Stadium and Wisely of his parents attending his major-league debut, came down to 40-man maneuvers. San Francisco “had some things in the works,” Kapler said. Already on the 40-man, Wisely provided them more flexibility than Johnson, who had to be added before Saturday’s game and cannot be outrighted off the 40-man again without passing through waivers.
— In a corresponding move to create Johnson’s spot on the 40-man, the Giants placed reliever Luke Jackson (Tommy John surgery) on the 60-day injured list. He joins outfielder Luis González (back surgery) and fellow reliever Thomas Szapucki (left arm neuropathy), ensuring he will not return until the end of May at the earliest.
