So much for the hope that Hector Sanchez' injury isn't serious -- the Giants placed the backup catcher on the disabled list Wednesday after he suffered a knee injury on Tuesday.
That's according to CSNBayArea.com's Giants Insider Andrew Baggarly, who also reports that the Giants will call up Eli Whiteside from Triple-A Fresno.
Sanchez absence will put pressure squarely on Buster Posey and Brandon Belt.
Posey, who's been playing stupendously all season long, doesn't have metaphorical "pressure," per se, because he simply needs to keep playing the way he has. Posey might have some literal pressure, however, as catching more games will result in more strain on his knees.
The very last thing the Giants need is for Posey to suffer an injury related to his surgically-repaired ankle.
Belt is a different story. Bruce Bochy recently said that Hector Sanchez is a better bat than Belt. We glossed over it earlier because we thought Sanchez would be back, but this is categorically false, no matter how hard people try to argue against it.
Belt is Captain Criticism in Giants circles and no one can agree on his worth.
But with Posey behind the plate more often, he'll be given every chance to prove his worth at first base. If Belt can come through with a big-time performance in the absence of Sanchez, he'll reach hero-level status.
Until Sanchez comes back and Bochy replaces him anyway. Look for Whiteside to at least take some starts from Posey -- the Giants won't feel comfortable giving him too many at-bats, but they'll also want to limit the damage that could be done to Posey by being behind the plate too often.
