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San Francisco Giants Predicted To Bring Back Veteran Slugger at Key Position

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San Francisco Giants Predicted To Bring Back Veteran Slugger at Key Position


One thing the San Francisco Giants are looking to do this winter is become younger and more athletic across their lineup, something that was clearly lacking this past season based on the veterans they had on the roster and injuries that piled up.

However, the emergence of Tyler Fitzgerald should help boost their infield, putting him either at shortstop or moving him to second base if they sign a high-profile free agent. And with Jung Hoo Lee set to return after shoulder surgery, he and Heliot Ramos give them rising stars in the outfield.

As the Giants figure out a way to get younger while still having a productive offense that can compete for a spot in the playoffs, they’re weighing if they should pursue more players on the open market or turn things over to some star prospects.

At first base, that conversation features their No. 1 guy Bryce Eldridge.

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Taken 16th overall in the 2023 draft, he flew up San Francisco’s pipeline in his first full season of professional baseball to reach Triple-A to close the year after beginning in Single-A.

There is a real chance the Giants call him up for his Major League debut at some point in 2025, calling up the lefty slugger who has a career slash line of .292/.379/.514 with 29 homers and 110 RBI through his 147 minor league games.

But for a team looking to contend for the playoffs, relying on a young player like Eldridge is tough.

That’s why Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area thinks San Francisco will bring back veteran first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. on an estimated $4.3 million arbitration deal.

“Ultimately, Wade makes sense in part because of what’s on the way. The Giants don’t want to block first base long-term because they anticipate Bryce Eldridge debuting in 2025, but they do need someone who can continue to handle the position until Eldridge is ready. Wade on another one-year commitment is a pretty good option,” he writes.

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If and when Eldridge does debut next season, the natural issue with having Wade also on the roster is they are both left-handed hitters.

Other names have been thrown out there as players they could pursue to add a right-handed batter, but they will be more expensive options who might not join on a short-term deal.

The combination of Wade and Eldridge could be what the Giants roll with in 2025.



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San Francisco, CA

Sea lion pup found in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset malnourished but ‘feisty’

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Sea lion pup found in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset malnourished but ‘feisty’


A California sea lion pup found last week on a San Francisco street corner is malnourished but “active and quite feisty,” The Marine Mammal Center said Monday.

The sea lion, believed to be about 10 months old, had apparently wandered into city’s Outer Sunset neighborhood and was discovered early Thursday morning, authorities said.

The pup was spotted near 48th and Irving Streets, one block from Ocean Beach and Sunset Dunes park. A trained responder from the Marine Mammal Center was joined by San Francisco park rangers and police officers to safely corral the pup, now named ‘Irving’, into a carrier crate.

Dubbed ‘Irving’ by his rescuers, Irving weighed in at 40 pounds and is considered malnourished, the Marine Mammal Center said.

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“The sea lion is active and quite feisty which is a positive initial sign in terms of general behavior,” the center said in a news release on Monday.

During an exam by veterinarians, a series of blood samples were also taken to determine whether there’s any underlying ailment.

Irving is being tube fed a fish smoothie blend two times per day to boost hydration and weight; offers of whole herring will also begin shortly.

The quick actions by police, recreation and parks staff and Ocean Avenue Animal Hospital gave the young sea lion a second chance at life, said Lauren Campbell, animal husbandry manager at The Marine Mammal Center.

“As a roughly 10-month-old pup in his first year of learning how to forage on his own, this animal has a long road to recovery due to his severe malnutrition,” Campbell said. “We are hopeful that in the coming weeks with continued specialized care that this pup starts to make positive strides toward recovery and release.”

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Irving will be held in the Center’s Intensive Quarantine Unit until clearing medical protocols, before likely being transferred this week to a traditional rehabilitation pool pen. A long-term prognosis and potential release timeline are not currently known.



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Giants Head Home to San Francisco After Shutout Loss

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Giants Head Home to San Francisco After Shutout Loss


After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.

The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.

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So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.

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Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.

Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.

The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.

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They just didn’t get the job done.

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Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.

With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.

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Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.

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The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.

All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.

Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.

That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.

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Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.

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Why do gray whales keep dying in San Francisco’s waters?

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Why do gray whales keep dying in San Francisco’s waters?


The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.



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