San Francisco Giants All-Star second baseman Joe Panik is likely to miss a considerable amount of time with a thumb injury, hoping MLB rumors of losing considerable time don’t come to fruition.
Any aspirations the San Francisco Giants have of making the 2018 MLB postseason took a significant blow, with All-Star second baseman Joe Panik now on the shelf for 15 days. According to Alex Pavlovic of NBCS, it may be even longer than that, pending further evaluation.
The San Francisco Giants are off to an even-Steven 14-14 start, well behind the surging Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West. Joe Panik missing two weeks is bad enough in itself, but if he loses more time than that, it could genuinely sink the Bayside Bombers.
Unfortunately for the San Francisco Giants faithful, that may be the case.
Joe Panik will see a specialist in Los Angeles. Bochy said "good chance" he needs thumb surgery. Giants aren't talking timetable but that's usually 6-8 weeks. Tommy/Hanson at 2B for now. Hanson/Blanco/Gorkys are leadoff options. McCutchen will hit second against lefties.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) April 29, 2018
According to numbers provided by MLBTradeRumors.com, Joe Panik’s absence will create a gaping hole within the San Francisco Giants lineup and fielding percentage.
"Panik has been his usual solid self, though, having batted .267/.323/.389 (102 wRC+) with a major league-leading 92.4 percent contact rate across his first 100 plate appearances of the year."
San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy seems to have accepted this fate, revealing in a recent interview that his stud second baseman is projected to miss significant time and has a date with a surgeon to repair his deformed digit.
Joe Panik could be out for awhile 😩 pic.twitter.com/piwi8Orrv7
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 29, 2018
A career .281 hitter and 2015 Gold Glove winner, Joe Panik’s presence will be truly missed. Maybe, just maybe, the San Francisco Giants could sustain a 15-day loss of their second baseman, but possibly two months? Not a chance.
What makes matters worse is that the San Francisco Giants went all in for this season, trading what little depth that had within their farm system to do so. Now, it seems like trading for Andrew McCutchen, among other acquisitions, are not worth the price they paid — especially if they miss the playoffs in 2018.
The San Francisco Giants are hoping that these MLB rumors, stay rumors. Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t seem to be the case, with (potentially) bad news awaiting the squad as early as Monday or Tuesday, regard Joe Panik.