San Francisco called up RHP Jesse Foppert last week to replace Ryan Jensen on the roster and in the rotation. However, rain postponed their Saturday game, which left them without need for a fifth starter. Consequently, although Foppert debuted on Monday as expected, he pitched out of the bullpen rather than as the game's starter.

Foppert made his major league debut in relief of Damian Moss in the top of the seventh inning of the Giants' April 14th game against Houston. He logged his first major league out when the first batter of the inning, Julio Lugo grounded out to third. The inning went one-two-three, as Geoff Blum flied out to center and Craig Biggio struck out swinging to give Foppert his first major league K. Foppert opened the eighth with another K as Brian Hunter struck out looking. Jeff Bagwell grounded out to second, but Foppert then issued the first walk of his major league career to Jeff Kent before Richard Hidalgo flew out to end the inning and Foppert's outing. Tim Worrell relieved Foppert before the top of the ninth.

While circumstances combined to remove most of the flair from his debut, today's column title is the result of a handy seasonal pun and not a reflection on Foppert's potential. The Giants drafted Foppert out of the University of San Francisco with their second round pick of the 2001 draft. He spent the remainder of that season at Salem-Keizer in the Short-Season Northwest League. Last season, Foppert opened the year at AA Shreveport in the Texas League, moving up to AAA Fresno in the Pacific Coast League midway through the year.

Foppert struck out in excess of ten batters per nine innings at both AA and AAA. His walk rate rose when he advanced to Fresno, but his hit rate remained below target levels, keeping his total baserunners allowed at a very solid level. As he's still adding pitches to his repertoire and has spent little time in the minors, I'm inclined to believe that the Giants should allow him to hone his skills at AAA, unless he's needed for a spot start in the majors. While working out of the major league pen for a portion of the season shouldn't be bad for the 22-year-old, he'll be more prepared for a regular role in the 2004 rotation if he returns to AAA. If Foppert takes on a large role now, batters likely will find occasional weaknesses of which to take advantage. Next season, those weaknesses should be very hard to find.

Jensen hit the disabled list with strained muscles in his lower back. When the trainer discovered the problem, the Giants decided to place him on the DL, so he could rest and make a rehab start or two, as he hasn't started the season on a strong note. Jensen is paranoid about losing his job, which likely hasn't helped him and which appears to have caused him not to report the first symptoms of his injury. I won't hop onto my soapbox regarding players hiding injuries again at this time. Luckily, Jensen's problem doesn't seem severe. He'll be eligible to return to the team on the 25th, and depending on the dates of his rehab starts he should rejoin the team within a few days of that date. Nevertheless, the Giants reportedly plan to allow Foppert to start on the 26th, as they're considering adding Foppert to the rotation and moving Jensen to the pen.

While Tim Worrell has effectively handled most of the Giants' save opportunities, their bullpen misses closer Robb Nen. If Nen were present, San Francisco would be able to use Worrell earlier in the game, allowing them to pitch their lesser relievers less frequently. Unfortunately, Nen won't be rejoining the Giants in the near future.

When Nen began feeling pain similar to the sensation that prompted his off-season surgery, the Giants scheduled the closer for diagnostic surgery. Nen will undergo the procedure on Friday morning, but until the surgeons close we're only guessing whether he'll be out a month or struggling to return at this time next year.

Meanwhile, Jason Christiansen also encountered a setback in his rehab process, so he won't be available to supplement the pen any time soon. Christiansen underwent Tommy John surgery late last May and appeared to be coming along nicely. He started his rehab assignment last week and expected to return sometime in May. Unfortunately, as is often the case, he experienced some soreness in the elbow after an outing and so the team cancelled his next scheduled appearance. He won't resume pitching until after this coming weekend.

If the soreness dissipates, this bump probably won't push back his return more than two or three weeks. However, if he continues to experience pain, his return could be delayed until near the All-Star break or later. As a reliever, he doesn't need to build up as much strength in the elbow as a starter would need, so the process is shorter, but a year is still the short end of the recovery timetable after Tommy John.

Ray Durham left Sunday's game with a groin strain the Giants believe is minor. In order to avoid exacerbating the injury, Durham sat out two more games and left yesterday's game when the field became wet with rain. He'll likely play sporadically for the next week while San Francisco watches over the injury. However, unless he over exerts himself and increases the damage, he should not spend any time on the disabled list as a result of this problem.

Barry Bonds sat out yesterday's game as a precaution due to a tight hamstring. While he'll probably rest today as well, they've given him the time off to avoid an injury rather than because he needs time to heal. I suspect they might pull him out of rainy games, but for now, he should be healthy when he returns to the field this weekend.