Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports that the Giants will place Pat Burrell on the disabled list because of the bone spur in his right foot that’s been a problem for a while now.
Brandon Belt is healthy and crushing the ball at Triple-A, hitting .336 with a 1.026 OPS in 39 games, but rather than recall him the Giants are replacing Burrell on the roster with Hector Sanchez, a 21-year-old catcher who began this season at Single-A.
So instead of giving Belt a second chance to stick in the majors they’ll probably turn to postseason hero Cody Ross as the primary left fielder and use Sanchez to help replace Buster Posey behind the plate. Ross has predictably come back down to earth following his huge October, but his .270 batting average and .770 OPS represent upgrades over Burrell’s production and the defensive boost is substantial.
My guess is the Giants must believe Burrell’s stint on the DL will be relatively short term, because if the injury was a rest-of-the-season thing calling up Belt would seemingly be the better move.
