{"id":198536,"date":"2026-02-28T22:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T22:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/198536\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T22:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T22:37:09","slug":"how-the-san-francisco-giants-are-actually-building-its-opening-day-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/198536\/","title":{"rendered":"How the San Francisco Giants Are Actually Building Its Opening Day Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Francisco Giants<\/a> are juggling several things this spring training, not the least of which is breaking in first-year manager Tony Vitello. <\/p>\n

The former Tennessee head coach is a rookie in his own right. He\u2019s never played or coached in professional baseball. His first spring training game as a manager was the first one he had ever seen in his life. <\/p>\n

So, as the Giants<\/a> work toward opening day, he has the things he believes in. But he\u2019s also leaning on his coaches and the organization to help him put the best 26 players on the team on the opening day roster. <\/p>\n

Here are three ways they\u2019re approaching it.<\/p>\n

The Steady Lineup\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames. | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it \u2014 there actually aren\u2019t that many question marks in spring training when it comes to the projected opening day starting lineup. If all goes as planned and no one gets seriously injured, it will probably look something like this:<\/p>\n

1B Rafael Devers<\/p>\n

2B Luis Arr\u00e1ez<\/p>\n

SS Willy Adames<\/p>\n

3B Matt Chapman<\/p>\n

C Patrick Bailey<\/p>\n

RF Jung Hoo Lee<\/p>\n

CF Harrison Bader<\/p>\n

LF Heliot Ramos<\/p>\n

DH Bryce Eldridge<\/p>\n

Devers and Eldridge will switch off when one needs a break from the field. But it\u2019s one of the easiest lineup cards to fill out in baseball right now. The trick is the lineup flow. There have been games in which seven of these players have been in the lineup at the same time and San Francisco is trying different arrangements. The one thing that seems most likely is that Arr\u00e1ez will lead off. Beyond that, Vitello and the Giants<\/a> must answer questions about how best to protect Adames and Devers in the lineup. <\/p>\n

Flexibility on the Bench\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald. | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

With those nine on the lineup card and a backup catcher for Bailey, the Giants have three more bench spots. The emphasis this spring has been on flexibility. How many positions can you play well? Does your bat play against left-handed and right-handed pitcher or just one side of the plate? <\/p>\n

With what San Francisco hopes is a set lineup, there are precious few spots and there\u2019s no room for a dedicated backup outside of whoever will be taking Bailey\u2019s days off. The Giants have several players like that \u2014 Tyler Fitzgerald, Christian Koss, Casey Schmitt and Jerar Encarnacion. The recently signed Will Brennan is limited to the outfield. So is Luis Matos and Grant McCray. <\/p>\n

The Giants may split the difference and keep two players with infield\/outfield flexibility and one that is primarily outfield. A couple of good players are going to be consigned to Triple-A or, worse yet, designated for assignment. <\/p>\n

A Work-in-Progress Bullpen\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Ryan Walker. | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The best way to put the Giants bullpen after a week of games is that is still a work in progress. The only thing that seems reasonable to assume is that Ryan Walker will break camp as the closer. Otherwise, roles are being worked out.<\/p>\n

With eight spots, San Francisco reasonably wants a couple of long relievers, a couple of dedicated set-up men that can close when Walker needs a break and three more that gives the Giants flexibility to do both. <\/p>\n

Does San Francisco have that yet? That\u2019s unclear. Spencer Bivens, Matt Gage, Tristan Beck and Erik Miller feel like they\u2019re in a pool by themselves working out the short relief options. And it could be all four of them. The Carsons \u2014 Seymour and Whisenhunt \u2014 along with a host of others seem to be fighting for those long relief options. <\/p>\n

Bullpens tend to take the longest to work out in spring training. The Giants won\u2019t be much different. That\u2019s why the construction of said bullpen is so murky right now. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco Giants are juggling several things this spring training, not the least of which is breaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-198536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-san-francisco","9":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","10":"tag-san-francisco-news","11":"tag-sf","12":"tag-sf-headlines","13":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}