SAN FRANCISCO – The Giants sought to protect as much of their minor league pitching inventory as possible, adding eight arms to the 40-man roster to shield them from being taken in next month’s Rule 5 draft.
The list includes a couple of relatively disappointing former first-round picks (right-handers Chris Stratton and Kyle Crick), two strike-throwing members of the rotation at Triple-A Sacramento last year (lefty Ty Blach and right-hander Clayton Blackburn), a promising pitcher coming off a season interrupted by a drug suspension (lefty Adalberto Mejia) and three relief prospects with power stuff (lefty Steven Okert, right-hander Jake Smith, right-hander Ian Gardeck).