Jose Butto Injury Paves Way for Giants to Give Blake Tidwell MLB Shot

The San Francisco Giants have called up the last piece of the puzzle from their Tyler Rogers trade from a season ago.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Jose Butto. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

It’s not clear if the San Francisco Giants expected such a quick payoff from their trade with the New York Mets last season.

The Giants parted ways with reliever Tyler Rogers at the trade deadline, moving him to the Mets for three players — right-handed pitcher Blade Tidwell, right-handed pitcher José Buttó and outfielder Drew Gilbert.

Buttó was put on the 26-man roster right away. Gilbert got his shot Aug. 8. Tidwell got his shot on Friday — at Buttó’s expense.

The Giants placed Buttó on the 15-day injured list with what they called right arm fatigue after he left his appearance on Wednesday with right arm tightness. In his place, San Francisco promoted Tidwell, who had four MLB appearances with the Mets last season but hasn’t pitched for the Giants in the Majors yet.

Blake Tidwell Gets His Shot

Tennessee pitcher Blake Tidwell. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Tidwell could pitch as early as Thursday’s game with the New York Mets, putting Tidwell in the unusual position of pitching against his former team in his MLB debut. The promotion also puts Tidwell working for his old boss at Tennessee — Tony Vitello. The Giants manager was Tidwell’s head coach with the Volunteers before he was drafted in the second round of the 2022 MLB draft by the Mets.

With the Mets last season, he started two games and made two relief appearances. He went 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA as he struck out 10 and walked 10 in 15 innings. When he joined the Giants last year, he was optioned to Sacramento and went on the 7-day injured list in mid-August. With Sacramento last season he had a 1.50 ERA in four games (three starts), with 24 strikeouts and five walks in 18 innings.

The right-hander made a start last week with Sacramento in which he allowed no runs and no hits in 2.2 innings, as he struck out three and walked one.

As for Buttó, the hope is that he won’t need more than the 15 days on the injured list. He appeared in three games and had a 22.50 ERA. Most of that was accumulated in his last appearance on Wednesday as he experienced a drop in velocity and was removed after recording just one out. He allowed three hits, four earned runs and four walks while he struck out one.

He was coming off a solid 2025 in which he went 5-3 with a. 23.90 ERA in 55 games with the Mets and Giants. He struck out 58 and walked 32 in 67 innings. He had six holds and one save in five chances.