The Giants cut 17 players to reach 40. Now Henry Lalane needs a spot by Nov. 17
San Francisco's roster has been exactly full since Monday. The deadline to protect four young pitchers falls three days before the tender deadline, and the injured list that would free a surgery spot does not return until spring.
Henry Lalane threw 105 innings in 2026, counting two postseason outings, more than in his previous four seasons combined, and his fastball moved from 91 or 92 mph to the mid-90s, Maria Guardado of MLB.com reported. The Giants got the 22-year-old left-hander from the Yankees on Aug. 3 in the Heliot Ramos trade. Unless they add him to the 40-man roster by Nov. 17, he can be taken in the Rule 5 draft. As of Friday morning that roster has no open spot.
San Francisco reached an even 40 on Monday, Nov. 2, and got there by removing 17 players in five days from a list of 57. Other clubs claimed seven. Six were outrighted to Triple-A Sacramento, and the other four left by trade, release, designation and free agency. The cuts tracked the map Guardado published on Oct. 28: 15 of the 19 players she listed as on the bubble are gone. So is Jason Foley, whom she listed as a lock. The club made no qualifying offer, and no Giant appears among the eight players who received one, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Those moves took the club to the limit and no lower. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area wrote on Oct. 29 that the club figures it will "keep the best 33 or 34 guys" from this group, which leaves six or seven more to go to make room for prospects and free agents alike.
Nov. 17#
Guardado named four pitchers who could be added by the deadline, and five other eligible players behind them.
| Pitcher | Age | 2026 regular season | Strikeouts, walks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Henry Lalane, LHP | 22 | 3.16 ERA in 99 2/3 IP, Single-A and High-A | 28.1%, 8.4% of 405 |
| Joe Whitman, LHP | 25 | 3.54 ERA in 134 2/3 IP, Double-A and Triple-A | 23.8%, 6.4% of 563 |
| Luis De La Torre, LHP | 23 | 5.81 ERA in 100 2/3 IP, High-A | 27.2%, 17.7% of 464 |
| Marty Gair, RHP | 23 | 4.88 ERA in 48 IP, relief, three levels | 42.0%, 14.5% of 200 |
Lalane ranks 11th in the system on MLB Pipeline's list, Whitman 23rd and De La Torre 25th, and Gair is unranked. Lalane and Gair are both returns from the August deadline, Gair in the deal that sent Luis Arraez and Caleb Kilian to Philadelphia. At least two of the four are likely to be added, Lalane and Whitman first, because Guardado describes a club in desperate need of pitching depth and Whitman has already reached Triple-A.
The case against is the labor calendar. The collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1 and a lockout is expected. Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors, relaying a report by Evan Drellich of The Athletic on a league memo, wrote that a lockout would more or less bar club staff from contact with anyone on a 40-man roster, while minor leaguers off the 40-man will play 2027 regardless. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported in August that the Giants want to avoid adding top prospects to the 40-man unless the Rule 5 draft forces it. A pitcher added for protection could spend the winter away from his coaches, and Lalane is coming off more than double his previous high in innings.
The draft being protected against may not happen. Franco wrote that it is scheduled for mid-December, cannot take place during a lockout, and that its status will be settled in negotiations. Clubs have seen this before. On Nov. 19, 2021, the Giants added Ramos, Randy Rodríguez and Sean Hjelle to the 40-man, the lockout began less than two weeks later, and the major league phase was canceled the following March. Ramos, the player Lalane was traded for, was protected from a draft that never took place. The deadline is still Nov. 17, and no club is likely to know by then how this one ends.
The club has gone the other way too. The league's transaction log shows no contract selected in November 2025, after two additions in 2024, three in 2023 and five on deadline day in 2022.
Nov. 20#
The tender deadline is the usual place to find a free spot, and it arrives three days too late. Six players are eligible for arbitration: Casey Schmitt, Randy Rodríguez, Rowan Wick, Camilo Doval, Ryan Walker and Sam Hentges. Three others from October's class of nine, Foley, Andrew Knizner and José Buttó, are already off the roster, taking $4.1 million of the $18.4 million MLB Trade Rumors projected for the group.
The two names already raised as candidates are both pitchers. The club declined Wick's $800,000 option on Monday, which costs a $100,000 buyout, and Franco read that as a decent chance he is not tendered. Wick turns 34 on Monday and has not pitched in the majors since 2022. Walker had a 7.16 ERA in 32 2/3 innings and walked 19 of 155 batters, and Guardado named him a non-tender candidate on Oct. 28. Both remain on the roster today, along with Joel Peguero, the other pitcher left from her bubble.
To add a prospect by Nov. 17, the club has to remove someone first, by trade, waivers, release or designation, rather than waiting for the free exit on the 20th. Doval's $6.6 million projection is still the largest number in the group, and that decision can wait for the later date.
Spring, or later#
Three of the 22 pitchers on the 40-man are not expected to help soon. The club's injury page lists Blade Tidwell, who had elbow surgery in mid-October, and Carson Whisenhunt, who had Tommy John surgery on Sept. 16, as expected back in 2028. Trevor McDonald, who had Tommy John surgery on Aug. 5, is listed for late 2027 or 2028.
Those are the spots a club would normally clear first, and in November it cannot. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series and comes back when pitchers and catchers report, Darragh McDonald of MLB Trade Rumors wrote in February. The Giants moved Foley and Wick onto it on Feb. 13 and Feb. 15 this year. A lockout also bars transactions, so the list cannot help until there is a new agreement and a camp to report to.
Free agents have to fit in the same 40. All three MLB Trade Rumors writers predicted on Monday that Shota Imanaga would sign with San Francisco, and every pitcher the club signs from outside before a lockout needs a spot that does not exist yet. Eleven days separate Friday from the protection deadline. With three spots held until spring and the free exit coming three days late, whose name comes off first so that Lalane's can go on?
Sources: MLB Stats API (Giants transaction log for 2021 through 2026, 40-man roster, 2026 minor league and major league pitching lines); MLB.com (Giants 40-man roster, transactions and injury pages; Maria Guardado, October 28, November 2, November 3 and November 4); NBC Sports (Alex Pavlovic, October 29; 2026-27 offseason calendar, October 30); San Francisco Chronicle (Susan Slusser, August); MLB Trade Rumors (Darragh McDonald, February 2 and November 2; Anthony Franco, October 7 and November 2; Mark Polishuk, March 10, 2022; arbitration projections, October 2; Top 50 Free Agents, November 2).
