San Francisco Giants News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Image credit: ClutchPoints

Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee injury update, brutal loss to Dodgers add to woes

Originally posted on ClutchPoints | By Jedd Pagaduan | Last updated 5/14/24

The San Francisco Giants might have greater difficulty in getting their 2024 season back on track in the aftermath of what transpired on Monday. Not only did the Giants lose the battle to the Los Angeles Dodgers by taking a painful 6-4 defeat in 10 innings, they also lost the war. On Monday, the Giants had to place center fielder Jung Hoo Lee, the team’s blockbuster offseason acquisition, on the 10-day injured list following the shoulder injury he sustained on Sunday.

Lee had been showing off his range in the outfield through the first 37 games of his MLB career. But in the final game of their three-game set against the Cincinnati Reds, the 25-year old center fielder flew too close to the sun. He injured his shoulder in the very first inning of that game when he careened towards the right-center field wall in an attempt to make a diving catch.

At this point, it remains unclear how long Jung Hoo Lee will have to spend on the injury list. The Giants center fielder will be meeting with team doctors to determine the exact severity of the injury, which would then give the team an idea of how much game time the Korean international will have to miss.

Giants manager Bob Melvin expressed how unfortunate it was for his center fielder to sustain an injury in a play where he just chose to give it his all.

“He’s very team oriented and wants to be out there for his team and therefore is disappointed. But there’s not much you can do about it. You make an all out effort like that to catch a ball in the first inning. If you make that play it’s a huge momentum swing. Now all of a sudden our center fielder is down,” Melvin said.

A tough season continues to be tougher for a Giants team that intended to compete with the Dodgers prior to the start of the season. The Dodgers continue to show that they’re the cream of the crop in the MLB, while the Giants have to contend with a ton of injury problems that are further compounded by Jung Hoo Lee’s absence.

Giants’ injury luck takes a turn for the worse

It was difficult to envision the Giants’ luck becoming progressively worse as the season goes on. The Giants’ outfield was already depleted as it is; they have been missing Austin Slater and Michael Conforto, and now Jung Hoo Lee is going to join them. Plus, it’s not like Slater was raking prior to his injury, while Mike Yastrzemski has also started off the 2024 season poorly.

Joining those outfielders on the injured list are slugger Jorge Soler, infielder Nick Ahmed, backup catcher Tom Murphy, and major offseason addition, starting pitcher Blake Snell.

Four position player starters are currently out for the Giants, and two backups that would usually step in amid injuries are also dealing with knocks of their own. This has opened up playing time for players who might not be too ready to contribute in the big leagues.

But somehow, the Giants have to find a way to survive, especially when the Dodgers are, once again, running away with the NL West crown with ease.

Dodgers show why they’re the ultimate powerhouse

The Dodgers’ embarrassment of riches is unreal; they have taken control of the NL West over the past decade or so, and the Giants, outside of that magical 107-win season in 2021, have played second-fiddle. This past offseason, the Giants decided that they too would want to splash the cash, doing whatever is necessary to stop LA’s reign of terror.

Alas, the Dodgers won the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes as well as the pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, both of whom spurned an interested Giants team. On Monday, during the Dodgers’ 6-4 win over the Giants, Ohtani went 2-5 with an RBI, while it was Yamamoto who started the game. The two gave the Giants a painful reminder of what they lost out on.

It’s not like the Giants did not make moves to improve in the offseason. They added Jung Hoo Lee, Matt Chapman, and Blake Snell after all. But Lee’s bat isn’t exactly top tier, as he has only posted an OPS of .641 through his first 37 MLB games. Chapman has been woeful from the plate, as he has tallied an even worse .603 OPS. Snell, meanwhile, has been limited to three starts thanks to an adductor injury.

The Giants may have started the season with a disappointing 19-24 record, but they will take comfort in the fact that it’s still early days. After all, teams have only played barely a quarter of the season. But they have to right the ship soon, as the Dodgers now have a nine-game lead over them in the division.

This article first appeared on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: