Opening Day roster steps closer into focus as Giants make another round of camp cuts

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30-03-2025

Photo byThis morning, the San Francisco Giants optioned RHP Tristan Beck and OF Wade Meckler to Triple-A Sacramento as part of a cutdown before the final week of Spring Training games. That's half of an interesting development. The other half helps us bring the Opening Day roster into better focus.
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The other players to get cut, per Maria Guardado, were non-roster invitees 1B/DH Jake Lamb (mentioned as a dark horse candidate to make the team in this post from yesterday), catcher Logan Porter (who co-starred in Susan Slusser's profile of left-handed pitcher Joey Lucchesi as a sort of 'churve'-catching expert), and left-handed pitcher Enny Romero.
This means just four non-roster invites remain on the Spring Training roster: catcher Max Stassi, RHP Lou Trivino, the fire-throwing RHP Joel Peguero (Barney Nugent Award winner), and the aforementioned Joey Lucchesi. In fact, as Baseball Jeff points, out Lucchesi is the only NRI lefty remaining in camp and the Giants have only one lefty reliever currently on their 40-man roster (Erik Miller).
With Beck and Meckler being optioned, the remaining 40-man crew is down to 32; so, 36 total players left in Giants camp. 10 will be cut between now and... (gulps after looking at the calendar) this coming Thursday when the team opens the season in Cincinnati.
In my look at the position player group last night, Meckler felt like the odd guy out, and today that proved to be the case. With Grant McCray a more immediate help from a defensive standpoint and slightly more success in limited MLB time — both in comparison to Meckler (namely, home runs and stolen bases) — he seemed like the logical fallback option should Jung Hoo Lee be unavailable to start the season... a condition that appears more likely every day. Prior to her reporting on the cuts, Guardado posted the Giants' lineup for their game today versus Cleveland, and prefaced it with this ominous note:
The Giants were hoping Jung Hoo Lee would be able to play today, but he's still out of the lineup vs. CLE
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Recall that Bob Melvin thought if he could play in the majority of games in the final week of the season that he ought to be in shape to open the season with the big league squad. After today, just four spring games remain. Likely, we'll know at some point tomorrow about his status. He'll either be in the lineup against the Diamondbacks or the Giants will either say 'he won't play today [Saturday], but he feels good to go and the team plans to use him for the three remaining games in California [one in Sacramento and two in Oracle Park],' or they'll say 'he's not expected to travel with the team'/be ready for Opening Day.
Luis Matos got the start in Lee's place today, but you can see very easily how the Giants might platoon centerfield between McCray and Matos if they wind up with an outfield mix that's absent Lee at the start of the season.
Beyond the injury issue, there are some important camp battles that remain. Before I list them out, can I just say I'm stunned that Tristan Beck lost to Sean Hjelle and — at least for now — Spencer Bivens? I suspected that Melvin would cling to the security blanket that seems to be Lou Trivino (an NRI they'll need to clear room on the 40-man roster to make room for before that Thursday opener), but Beck has only been impressive in his stints on the roster, and last year might've been a great year were it not for that blood clot.
Anyway, here are the remaining camp battles:
The backup catcher role: Sam Huff vs. Max Stassi
Max Stassi is on a minor league deal with an opt-out, so if he doesn't win it in camp, that doesn't mean he's got no path to the roster. Sam Huff would have to pass through waivers without being claimed by another team and then agree to a minor league deal in order to stay with the Giants if they wind up cutting him (he's out of options and has already been outrighted in his career), so I'd give Huff the edge here in the final week.
Bullpen spots: Joey Lucchesi vs. Joel Peguero vs. Randy Rodriguez vs. Spencer Bivens
If we assume that Trivino has a job, that means the bullpen is:
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Ryan Walker
Tyler Rogers
Camilo Doval
Erik Miller
Lou Trivino
Solidifying the rotation will also add to that group with one or even two of the guys who don't make it in. Of that group, Webb, Ray, Verlander, and Hicks are locks, and Landen Roupp might as well be, too. But Roupp could also be dynamite out of the bullpen. So, then it comes down to Hayden Birdsong vs. Kyle Harrison. Brady looked at the issue and arrived at the conclusion that at least one of the three will be optioned to Sacramento. Let's go with that and say that the Giants have 11 pitchers as virtual locks (teams can carry a max of 13).
Which two of these four could make it? It certainly seems like Lucchesi is one of them, which leaves a fearsome battle for the final spot, which might be taken by Peguero, Rodriguez, or Bivens. If we assume that David Villar will be waived and outrighted/released and Tom Murphy placed on the 60-day IL, that creates the two roster spots that might be needed if they add both Trivino and Lucchesi. I don't know who else might face a DFA to clear another 40-man spot should they really want Peguero and not Rodriguez or Bivens — Bivens's spot, maybe? That would be quite a cample battle if it came to that.
Edited to add: How could I forget about Keaton Winn??? That rotation battle has a lot of spillover. In the pool of Roupp, Birdsong, Harrison, and Winn, I'd give Roupp the edge to make the rotation, but I don't think that means all three of the remainder go to Triple-A. At least one from that group sticks around, I suspect, which means Lucchesi might win by default... unless the team doesn't feel that it needs a second lefty reliever right away (or get weird and have Harrison come out of the pen to start the year).
Bench bats: Luis Matos, Casey Schmitt, Brett Wisely, Grant McCray
Talked about this yesterday. If Jung Hoo Lee hits the IL, then McCray will replace him, but that would still leave two bench spots open. If Lee doesn't start the year on the IL, then McCray is likely optioned. In either scenario, we're talking about two from this group.
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These aren't season-defining decisions on the table, but they're intriguing dilemmas for the new front office as it tries to build a new identity while competing in the NL West.
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