Mike Yastrzemski, SF Giants hope early-season caution pays off in September

The SF Giants have been cautious managing several players with injury histories this season. They hope that pays off down the stretch.

The SF Giants expect to welcome outfielder Michael Conforto, catcher Patrick Bailey, and pitcher Ross Stripling back from the injured list in the next week. While each team's injured list tends to be a revolving door as the season goes on, the Giants are in a position to be at their healthiest point this season over the coming weeks. It's surprising for any team to be this healthy in September, but especially one with as many players in their 30s with long injury histories. Giants manager Gabe Kapler told reporters on Sunday that getting to this point has come through a combination of caution, patience, and honest communication with players.

"We're in a pretty good spot," Kapler said. "Michael [Conforto] comes back, and then we have a really full position player roster with some depth at Triple-A. So everything is predicated on, can we have that group together all the way down to the last game of the season? If anyone is trying to be a hero, it might help us in the moment but compromise us for the season. So we just need really consistent and honest feedback so we can help protect these players."

Outfielder Mike Yastrzemski has been at the center of many conversations between Kapler and the team's training staff. After fairly consistent availability in his first four big-league seasons, Yastrzemski landed on the injured list three times this year with a recurring hamstring strain. Accepting a more patient approach in his recovery has been Yastrzemski's biggest challenge this season.

"That's probably the toughest thing about this year," Yastrzemski told reporters after a four-hit game on Saturday night. "Dealing with injuries, I don't do that very well. I'm a bad patient. I don't listen very well. So, that's been a learning curve, and I've started to embrace how beneficial actually listening to these guys is instead of trying to push the envelope every time. So, I think playing with that in mind has also helped performance."

Kapler acknowledged that the Giants have occasionally shied away from using Yastrzemski, even in situations with a favorable matchup, at times this season with longevity in mind. The team took a similar approach with outfielder Austin Slater earlier after he missed time with a hamstring strain and elbow injury.

Sometimes that caution has limited their options defensively as well. The team credited Joc Pederson for making defensive strides, shifting him from solely a designated hitter to a more consistent presence in the outfield over the course of the summer. However, Pederson only began seeing time in the outfield this season when LaMonte Wade Jr. stopped receiving those opportunities.

Wade has consistently been at least an average defensive outfielder, something not true of Pederson. Wade played in the outfield during 16 games before the end of April. He has only played in the outfield six times since and never for more than two innings in a game. It's no secret that Wade was hampered by a knee injury last season and has been forced out of action this year due to side and back issues. Kapler acknowledged that the team has adjusted their usage to try and keep his bat in the lineup.

"It's been, to some degree or another, a protection mechanism for LaMonte," Kapler said. "There have been times when it may have made sense to put him out there. For the most part, his body holds up better at first base."

"We're at a place where in emergency situations or situations where we're pinch-hitting in the middle of the game, and he has to go out there and cover a few innings, we probably have to do it even though it doesn't make us the most comfortable."

On the mound, veteran starting pitcher Alex Cobb has been dealing with a hip impingement for months, dating back to his start on June 8th in Colorado. Cobb decided to receive a cortisone shot last week and pushed his start back a day, hoping it could alleviate the discomfort through at least the end of the season.

Then, on his second pitch during Monday night's 5-4 victory, he felt the shooting pain return. Cobb was disappointed, but after a visit from Kapler and senior director of athletic training Dave Groeschner gave him some time for the pain to subside, he was ready to get back to facing the Guardians lineup. Doctors have told him that there is no structural damage to his hip, making it easier for him to grind through the discomfort.

"I'm not going out there thinking I'm putting myself at risk other than the small impingement or inflammation that's going on in there," Cobb told reporters. "Structurally, it looks pretty good. I don't fear that I'm hurting anything by doing it. It's really just being able to tolerate every once in a while getting a zinger in there."

Even though the team may be confident that Cobb can play through his current injury without long-term damage, it's easy for players to develop other injuries in these situations as their body strains to push through the pain. For Kapler, his trust in Cobb's ability to understand his body and communicate when something is going wrong has made the situation far easier to manage than it would otherwise.

"Alex is about as competitive a person as I've seen," Kapler said. "He just always wants the baseball. He's always going to try to give you, meaning our team, an additional inning. He wants the big moment and he's prepared for the big moment and he just doesn't get outcompeted. But sometimes his health is going to dictate if he's able to go five innings, like today, or you know, nine innings like he did on the near no-hitter. It's just gonna be start to start with him."

Given the Giants' lack of star power, it would seem like they would be better suited to deal with injuries than other teams. But Kapler thinks the opposite is true. 

At their best this season, San Francisco was able to produce in line with far more star-studded lineups. Kapler believes that success came from the synergy between a deep rotation of hitters who complement each other well. In a situation where the Giants need the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts, losing any player can cause the lineup's production to collapse.

"Specifically with our roster, it's incredibly important because we see the cascading effect when one piece of this puzzle that has to fit together isn't in place," Kapler said. "We kind of need all of our left-handed bats to face right-handed pitchers and all of our right-handed bats to face the left-handed pitchers."

The SF Giants have lost many key contributors to injury at some point this season. Even players who have remained on the active roster have dealt with the injury bug and forced Kapler to adjust the team's plans with his eyes to the end of the season. Now in September, with just 18 games remaining, the team's lineup is as healthy as it has been all season. They hope their previous caution will help push them over the edge and into the playoffs.