The Giants just placed Willy Adames on the 10 day injured list with a sprained left elbow, and the expectation is he is going to be out longer than the minimum. That is not what San Francisco needed as they try to hold on to a wild card spot.
Adames signed a massive contract with San Francisco in the offseason to be the veteran anchor of a rebuilding roster. The idea was that his glove at short and his consistent bat would stabilize a lineup around Jung Hoo Lee and Matt Chapman. Chapman is already done for the season with core muscle surgery. Now Adames goes on the IL.
Sprained elbows in position players are frustrating because there is no clean timeline. It depends entirely on how the swing feels. If Adames can grip the bat and take a full cut without pain by day 12, he is back. If not, this becomes a three or four week absence, and San Francisco is looking at September without both of its infield leaders.
The Giants are hanging around the NL wild card race by a thread. Every game they play against a playoff caliber team from here on out matters. Losing Adames is the kind of injury that turns a fighting chance into a fading one.
Here is the honest read. San Francisco was already a long shot. The lineup depth was thin before Chapman went down. Now they are asking their bench and their Triple A infielders to hold the line while Adames heals. That is a big ask.
The bullpen is fine. Logan Webb is still starting every fifth day. The starting rotation is solid. But you cannot win close games with a lineup that suddenly has no leverage bats. That is where the Giants sit right now.
The front office is not going to make a waiver claim big enough to fix this. It is late August. The move is to trust the roster and hope Adames heals fast.
Expect him back by September 8. If he plays the last three weeks at 80 percent, San Francisco has a puncher’s chance. If he does not, October gets planned in San Diego and Chicago instead of San Francisco.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
