SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco second baseman Freddy Sanchez was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a strained left shoulder, a discouraging move for a club that acquired him before the trading deadline to make a playoff push.
Sanchez sat out his seventh straight game Monday at Colorado and the Giants couldn't afford to go on without some help in the infield. They're already short-handed considering third baseman Pablo Sandoval is sidelined with a bruised right calf.
"It's just one of those deals, I apologize to the fans and to the organization and my teammates and everybody," Sanchez said. "I got traded here for a reason and that was to play. For me not to be out there hurts."
Sanchez's DL stint is retroactive to Aug. 18, making him eligible to return Sept. 2. The Giants acquired Sanchez on July 29 from Pittsburgh when the Pirates were in town, so Sanchez merely had to change clubhouses to join his new team.
He has been limited to 13 games since, but is batting .304 for San Francisco with a home run, five RBIs and 17 hits.
"He just wouldn't come around," manager Bruce Bochy said of Sanchez. "It was taking longer than anticipated. We're going to need him healthy in September. We've been spinning our wheels trying to get him healthy."
The Giants recalled infielder Ryan Rohlinger from Triple-A Fresno to fill Sanchez's spot. Rohlinger provides some much-needed depth at third base with Sandoval expected to be out a couple of days.
Sanchez, who hadn't been on the DL since the start of the 2007 season, expects to have a rehab outing before returning to the Giants. The shoulder has been bothering him since he felt it on a swing doing some early work in the cage, but played through it for two weeks. During a game at New York during the Giants' recent road trip, it became too painful to swing.
"It's tough," he said. "I've always taken pride in trying to stay as healthy as possible, play through injuries and play through pain and going out and doing the best I can do to help my team win. This situation now, I can't do that. Obviously getting traded over here for that reason, to try to help out, it's disappointing and frustrating. I'll try to keep my head up and get healthy as soon as I can."