The San Francisco Giants will be without outfielder Alex Dickerson on Saturday against the Oakland A’s, but his absence is for a joyful occasion.
Dickerson was placed on the paternity list on Saturday as he and his wife Jennifer are expecting the birth of their first child over the weekend.
The Giants also made several other roster moves ahead of their matchup with the Oakland A’s as the club added utility man Daniel Robertson and left-handed reliever Wandy Peralta to the active roster and optioned lefty Andrew Suárez.
Peralta was optioned to the Sacramento alternate site after throwing three hitless innings in the Giants’ 6-4 win over the Mariners on Thursday, but he’s eligible to rejoin the club because he’s technically taking the roster spot of Dickerson. A player who is optioned is not allowed to return to the major league roster for 10 days unless he replaces an injured player or a player placed on paternity or bereavement lists.
As the A’s turn to left-hander Jesús Luzardo to start on Saturday, Giants manager Gabe Kapler filled out a lineup with nine right-handed hitting starters. Robertson will play shortstop and give Brandon Crawford a breather while rookie Luis Alexander Basabe will make his first career start in right field.
It’s unclear how much time Dickerson will miss, but the Giants chose Robertson over other options available at the Sacramento alternate site including left-handed hitters Steven Duggar and Chris Shaw so they could gain an additional matchup advantage against Luzardo.
With Dickerson on the paternity list and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski unlikely to play Saturday due to a right calf strain, the Giants are missing their two of their top overall hitters and a pair of starting outfielders. Austin Slater is also unable to play the field due to an elbow injury, so the Giants’ outfield depth is down to a Basabe, rookie center fielder Mauricio Dubón, Saturday’s starting left fielder Darin Ruf and a utility man with limited outfield experience in Robertson.
Suárez tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief on Friday, but Kapler indicated postgame the Giants needed another fresh arm in the bullpen as the team’s last three starters have failed to complete four innings. Peralta has the second-most appearances of any Giants relievers this season with 22, so it came as a mild surprise when he was optioned to the Sacramento alternate site following a dominant performance on Thursday.
Right-hander Shaun Anderson, who was added to the roster Friday and threw a scoreless inning against the A’s, will remain with the club. The Giants do have hard-throwing prospect Camilo Doval on the taxi squad in Oakland, but swapping out Doval for Anderson would require the organization to first add Doval to the 40-man roster.
Dickerson hinted recently he would soon be going on the paternity list after his family endured an emotionally exhausting week in San Diego. The Giants outfielder received a positive COVID-19 test result on Friday, September 11 that required the immediate postponement of the team’s next two games, but subsequent tests proved Dickerson’s result was either a false-positive or contaminated sample.
Dickerson and the Giants returned to the field for a doubleheader against the Padres on Sunday, September 13, but the outfielder was understandably upset after a USA Today report said an “unidentified” Giants player who had tested positive for COVID-19 “told several members of the Giants traveling party that he believed he was possibly infected by a family member or friend in San Diego.”
Dickerson called the report “completely false” and said it caused significant and unnecessary stress on his family.
“Those kinds of statements lead to a steamrolling effect that caused my wife, who is 39 weeks pregnant, to deal with a lot of stuff she did not deserve to deal with. It was not easy,” Dickerson said. “When you’re dealing with pregnancy and COVID-19, it is not a good thing to make the assumption that I came in and went and broke protocol and saw family and friends when I’m only permitted to see my wife and she is the only person I saw, and she has been quarantining and on bed rest. It caused a lot of problems, a lot of hate to come towards you and it was kind of unwarranted.”
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