The San Francisco Giants have placed lefty starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left shoulder. Sanchez has started 24 games for the Giants this season and he is 8-9 with a 4.53 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. Sanchez brought heat all season long as he whiffed 133 batters in 135 innings but he just seemed to run out of steam lately as the workload got to him. 29-year old career minor leaguer Matt Palmer will replace Sanchez in the starting rotation for right now. He made his major league debut recently and it didn’t go well as he was the losing pitcher working only 2.1 innings in which he gave up 7 hits, 6 earned runs, walked 4 batters and whiffed none. He will have to pitch much better than that if he’s going to have an extended stay with the Giants. Palmer has started 24 games in AAA-ball this season and he was 6-9 with a 4.13 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. He was pretty wild in AAA as he walked 70 batters while whiffing 137 in only 135 innings pitched. The Giants have recalled righty reliever Sergio Romo to replace Sanchez on the active roster. Romo has pitched in 16 games (0 starts) with the Giants this season and he was 1-1 with a 4.41 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. Sanchez’ injury will hurt the Giants as he was pretty effective this season for them.

The Giants have sent John Bowker and Steve Holm to the minors and they have recalled Travis Ishikawa, Pablo Sandoval and Ryan Rohlinger from the minors. Bowker played well early in the season for the Giants but his bat has gone cold lately. He played in 96 games for the Giants and he was 74 for 300 (.247 avg, .693 OPS) with 28 runs scored, 9 homers and 40 RBIs. Bowker will likely return in September when rosters expand. Catcher Steve Holm played allright as Bengie Molina’s backup before being sent down to the minors. Holm played in 45 games for the Giants this season and he was 21 for 82 (.256 avg, .741 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 1 homer and 5 RBIs. Holm also will likely get called back up on September 1st as long as he plays well in the minors.

24-year old lefty swinging 1B Travis Ishikawa will likely get a lot of playing time this time around for the Giants. He last played for them in 2006 when he played in 12 games in which he was 7 for 24 (.292 avg, .820 OPS) with 1 run scored and 4 RBIs. He has played well in the minors this season appearing in 112 games between AA+AAA ball in which he is 121 for 405 (.299 avg, .955 OPS) with 69 runs scored, 24 homers, 94 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. 22-year old switch hitting C/1B Pablo Sandoval will likely get more time at 1B than catcher because of how well Bengie Molina has played this season. Sandoval has played in 112 games in A+AA ball this season and he is 157 for 448 (.350 avg, .972 OPS) with 90 runs scored, 20 homers, 96 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Shortstop Ryan Rohlinger made his major league debut last night at 24-years old and it was a good one as he was 1 for 4 with a double and a RBI. The righty swinging Rohlinger played in 117 games in A+AA ball this season and he is 126 for 436 (.289 avg, .811 OPS) with 72 runs scored, 13 homers, 65 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see how the kids do the rest of the season and give the Giants credit for not just sitting still.

The Giants have designated starting 3B Jose Castillo for assignment. Castillo played in 112 games for the Giants this season and he was 96 for 394 (.244 avg, .671 OPS) with 42 runs scored, 6 homers and 35 RBIs. The Giants are getting rid of him because they can’t afford to carry a all-field, no-hit 3B. Look for the Diamondbacks to have an interest in Castillo now that they have lost Orlando Hudson for the season.

26-year old righty reliever Brian Wilson has really excelled in his first season as a full time closer for the Giants. He plays a very important role because when the Giants do win most of the games are close because they don’t score a lot of runs. Wilson has pitched in 47 games (0 starts) this season for the Giants and he is 0-2 with 32 saves, a 4.08 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. Wilson has also whiffed 49 batters in only 46.1 innings this season which shows what kind of stuff that he has. Look for Wilson to be the stopper for a long time in San Francisco as he played in the first of hopefully many All-Star Games this summer.