San Francisco Giants' Petition to Activate Star Slugger Denied by MLB

Ahead of the San Francisco Giants' much-anticipated matchup at Rickwood Field, they petitioned to activate one of their injured starts but was declined by the league.

May 12, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants infielder LaMonte Wade Jr. (31) runs the bases after hitting a two run home run against the Cincinnati Reds during the fifth inning at Oracle Park / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants will try to put the disappointing series loss against the reeling Chicago Cubs behind them as they head into their highly-anticipated game at Rickwood Field that takes on a whole new meaning following the passing of franchise legend Willie Mays.

There will be a lot that goes into the special event, but when speaking solely about baseball matters, the Giants are able to add a position player to their roster as a 27th man. Reportedly, they could call up a minor leaguer to their 40-man roster without burning one of their options.

With that in mind, they apparently were looking to activate injured first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. for the contest, who has been out on the injured list since May 28 with a strained left hamstring.

San Francisco's injury page reports that, according to manager Bob Melvin, they "appealed to the league" so they could activate their star slugger for the game, but that request was "declined."

In addition, they also report that if Wade were to go back to the IL following his activation for Thursday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals, they wouldn't be able to backlog his injured date to May 28, causing him to be out for a longer period of time.

Whether or not that was what the petition was about is unknown, but it seems likely that's what the Giants were looking to get waived.

It's interesting that they would be looking to activate Wade if there was a possibility he would need more time on the injured list.

Why wouldn't they just promote a minor leaguer for the day and not worry about it since that wouldn't burn an option?

It would seem to suggest that if they are looking to bring back the first baseman for one contest, then he would be healthy enough be officially activated off the IL since he's already surpassed the 10-day designation.

But apparently, he might need more time.

Wade had been producing at a high level this season, put together the best performance of his career with a slash line of .333/.470/.426, two homers, eight extra-base hits, and 17 RBI across 52 games.

This puts into question how close he is to actually returning.

However, it is a positive sign they are even thinking about getting him back onto the roster as he works his way back from a Grade 2 hamstring strain that is always tricky to rehab.

Initially he was expected to miss four weeks, putting his estimated return date sometime in late-June.