San Francisco Giants Sign a new Big class key player Kansas City Royals…
Before Monday’s heartbreaking loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Francisco Giants made the sort of move that always has people in my social media comments exceptionally livid: they optioned Hayden Birdsong.
We’ve all been wondering how the team will handle their starting pitching logjam when Robbie Ray returns on Wednesday, and Alex Cobb presumably next week, and at first glance it appears the Giants answer to that puzzle was to get rid of their electric rookie who struck out 12 batters the night before. But thankfully that’s not really the case.
The optioning of Birdsong is likely just some roster tinkering to maximize arms for a four-game set against a brilliant Dodgers offense. Birdsong being optioned allowed the Giants to squeeze a ninth arm into the bullpen when they added Mike Baumann, acquired from — who else — the Seattle Mariners for cash considerations.
With a scheduled doubleheader on Saturday against the Colorado Rockies, the Giants are allotted a 27th player, and that player isn’t subject to the restrictions about how recently an optioned player can return. So Birdsong — who was optioned to Low-A, not AAA, further signaling the move — will almost surely start one of those games.
