Can you fumigate for injury bugs?

How may remember this lovely headline from the San Francisco Chronicle back on December 3: “Giants’ Hunter Pence, newly engaged, declares his injury rehab over”.

Yeah, not so much. Okay, maybe that rebab is over, but now?

Pence with a 

Fast forward to February 27 and this headline from the same paper of record:  “Pence joins Cain with early ailment in Giants spring training”.

Are you kidding? Thankfully this was in print on not on the radio; hearing those words in the car would have sent us looking for a guard rail to ram.

It’s a given the key to a successful season is health. You know it. We know it. Lou Seal, Crazy Crab, that guy on the Lefty O’Doul Bridge asking for beer money … the importance of avoiding injury is common knowledge. The Giants could be forgiven if even the McCovey, Mays and Marichal statues were encased in bubble wrap this year (the seal at the marina gate is on his own).

Giants 2015 team charter

We just knew, knew, that last season’s M*A*S*H unit of a campaign couldn’t be repeated. Karma isn’t that cruel unless you inhabit Wrigley Field. And yet, here we are again, with a starting pitcher and a key cog in the line-up back on the shelf.

Matt Cain’s issues were previously chronicled. Hot on the heels (no pun intended) of that news comes the word that Pence has an injured Achilles. Sometime the baseball gods smile at you. Sometime they’re laughing their butts off.

We figured Pence was immune to injury; or at least got the bug out of his system after that whole sliding glass door thing back in ’08. He went to the post in every game as a Giant until he ran into a bone-seeking fastball in last year’s spring training…or was it the other way around?

   

MLB.com says Pence reported the new injury Saturday, with trainers approaching his treatment "conservatively" since the regulars weren’t expected to see much early action. Bruce Bochy himself said the injury would set Pence back about a week. Encouraging words were it not for recent history and Bochy's lack of a medical degree.

 

Another reason to hate the Cubs

After the afore-mentioned fastball, Pence was listed as day-to-day from March 3^rd to March 27. He finally went to the DL, came back after a month, then a sore left wrist put him back on the 15-day list in June. A left oblique strain in in August effectively ended his season. He was awesome when he played, batting .287, but the number of games totaled was just 52.

That’s a nice way of saying the Giants tend to low-ball these things. It’s a fine line between pulling a Life of Brian and always looking on the bright side and covering your ears while whistling in the dark. We won’t claim that's happening, but it’s not unreasonable for Giants fans to fear the worst.

Pence is just 32 so you wouldn’t chalk this up to age, but playing nearly 1,300 regular season games since 2007 has to be a grind. Assuming he does return as expected, and an MRI on Monday was supposedly a precaution and not a harbinger of doom, every awkward movement (and this guy is the definition of awkward anyway) will have fans’ collective hearts in their throats.

If the Giants are to best The Hated Dodgers for the first time in four seasons, they have to stay healthy. Baseball is a game of attrition anyway, as San Francisco demonstrated in spades last time around. That even-year mojo doesn’t work in traction.

The Giants said yesterday that  Pence has made strong progress in his recovery from the “mild" issue, with Bay Area News Group (why don’t they just call it BANG?) scribe Andrew Baggarly reporting it as "minor" tendinitis. Pence reportedly held back in base running drills while his condition was monitored. Minor is what it needs to be; if the Giants don’t have Pence for an extended period there isn’t much available on the free agent market.

Austin Jackson is still looking for work, and the team has been linked to Ryan Rayburn. Both were highly touted at one time but had fallen into disfavor with their respective clubs. Both do hit right-handed; not a small thing on a team that is becoming increasingly left-sided and has to deal with a lefty-heavy Dodgers rotation.

Gregor Blanco: Plan B

But given the amount of payroll already in play, San rancisco is more likely to look in house with Gregor Blanco coming off a stellar season and both Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson in the wings. Blanco is a lock for the opening day roster anyway with the other duo among contenders for the fifth OF spot, along with new signee Kyle Blanks..

Is it time for panic? Of course not. There’s a lot of spring left, with the Giants not opening the campaign until April 4 at Milwaukee. But after that opening three-gamer they play 14 straight and 17 of 20 within the division, including seven with LA.

A year ago the Giants got behind early and, despite a game effort, never got back over the hump. If that is to be avoided in 2016, their best has to be on the field.