2:07pm: The Giants announced that Santos has indeed had his contract selected from Sacramento. Oliva was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. He’s now out until mid-June at the earliest. San Francisco optioned righty Blade Tidwell to Triple-A to clear a spot on the active roster. Tidwell would’ve been unavailable for several days after tossing 47 pitches in long relief yesterday.
9:21am: The Giants will select the contract of right-handed reliever Gregory Santos from Triple-A Sacramento today, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. San Francisco has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding transaction.
Santos won’t turn 27 until August but already has experience in parts of five major league seasons — including two seasons with the Giants. He originally signed with the Red Sox as a teenager out of his native Dominican Republic but wound up going to the Giants organization alongside righty Shaun Anderson in the 2017 trade that sent utilityman Eduardo Nunez to Boston. Santos made his big league debut with the Giants in 2021 and briefly appeared again in 2022, though he totaled only 5 2/3 innings in orange and black before being designated for assignment and flipped to the White Sox in a cash swap.
Santos had a breakout showing in the South Side bullpen, tossing 66 1/3 frames with a 3.39 ERA, five saves, six holds, a 22.8% strikeout rate, a 5.9% walk rate and a hefty 52.5% grounder rate. Those results, coupled with a sinker that averaged 98.9 mph and a sharp slider averaging 91.3 mph, made Santos look like a potential long-term piece in the bullpen for the White Sox … or for the Mariners, who pounced on that breakout and traded outfielder Zach DeLoach, righty Prelander Berroa and a Competitive Balance Round B pick to the Sox to acquire Santos in February of 2024.
Unfortunately for both the Mariners and Santos, injuries ruined his time with the Seattle organization. Santos suffered a lat strain during spring training just six weeks after the trade and was on the injured list into mid-July. He returned to throw 5 1/3 innings before a biceps injury put him back on the shelf for another eight weeks. Santos did make it back to close out the 2024 season with a pair of scoreless frames, at least giving some hope that he could be on track for a healthier, productive season in 2025.
That didn’t prove to be the case.
Santos opened the 2025 season with diminished velocity and yielded four runs in seven innings (5.14 ERA). He walked eight batters and didn’t strike anyone out. In late April, he underwent surgery to repair some cartilage in his right knee. That procedure effectively ended his season. Santos made it back to a minor league mound in mid-September but issued nine walks against five strikeouts in five rehab innings. He didn’t return to the majors. The Mariners non-tendered him in November.
Now back in the organization for which he made his major league debut, Santos has posted nice results in Triple-A. His sinker and slider are both down a bit more than a mile per hour from their peak, but he’s tossed 11 innings and held opponents to three runs (2.45 ERA) on nine hits and three walks. He’s only fanned six of his 44 opponents (13.6%) and has just a 7% swinging-strike rate, which are both cause for some concern, but he does have three strikeouts in his past 2 2/3 frames (12 batters faced). Given all the recent injuries, some early rust would only be natural.
Time will tell whether this is a a quick cup of coffee or an opportunity to grab a lasting job in the relief corps. Santos has a minor league option remaining, so now that he’s being added to the 40-man, he can be sent down again without needing to pass through waivers. If he can get back to his pre-injury form, he still has at least two seasons of club control remaining beyond the current season.
The Giants don’t have any surefire 60-day IL candidates to open a 40-man spot. Relievers Sam Hentges and Joel Peguero have spent the whole season on the IL but are both on minor league rehab assignments; Peguero is approaching the end of his rehab window. Outfielder Jared Oliva is a candidate after suffering a hamate fracture earlier this month, but while some hitters take eight or more weeks to return from that injury, there are plenty of cases of players returning after only four to five weeks.
