SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants got concerning news on reliever José Buttó, who was diagnosed with a blood clot in his right arm and underwent a procedure on Friday to have it removed.
Buttó landed on the 15-day injured list with right arm fatigue after his velocity dipped during a rough relief outing against the Padres on Wednesday, when he surrendered four runs on three hits and four walks while recording only one out.
The Giants initially described Buttó’s injury as right elbow/forearm tightness, though the blood clot issue was discovered after the 28-year-old was evaluated by Dr. Jason Lee, a vascular surgeon at the Stanford Medical Center, on Friday. The club expects to have another update on Buttó on Saturday.
Manager Tony Vitello said Buttó previously dealt with some circulation issues when he was with the Mets, who dealt the Venezuelan hurler to the Giants as part of the Tyler Rogers trade last July.
“It seems like this is something that occurred before he was with the Giants, or at least [he had] symptoms of it,” Vitello said before the Giants' 10-3 loss to the Mets at Oracle Park on Friday. “So maybe this has been building up for a while. For him to be at a crossroads, finally, where he knows what the problem is and it's kind of boiled over -- it’s unfortunate that he's not with us and active on the mound, but I think everybody likes the guy so much.
“Everybody's concern immediately is going to be with someone's health. But he's a very, very, very well-liked and well-respected guy. Everyone was concerned right away. I think the fact it's not worst-case scenario, or it could be worse, is good. Long story short, time will tell if it's a decent layoff or an extended layoff.”
Vitello said Buttó was in good spirits following his procedure on Friday, though the Giants have yet to provide a possible timetable for his return.
It might not be a fully analogous situation, but it’s worth noting that Giants right-hander Tristan Beck also underwent surgery to remove an aneurysm in his right arm in March 2024. Beck spent most of the season on the IL, but he started a rehab assignment in August 2024 and managed to return to the Majors in September.
Buttó fired 5 2/3 scoreless innings over five appearances to help Venezuela win the World Baseball Classic title last month, but he got off to a bumpy start to the year for the Giants. He allowed five runs on six hits -- including a pair of homers to the Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton and the Padres’ Ramón Laureano -- over two innings in his first three relief outings of 2026.
With Buttó likely out indefinitely, the Giants will have to lean on other emerging right-handers such as Keaton Winn, Caleb Kilian and Blade Tidwell to continue to step up and fortify the bullpen. Tidwell, who came over from the Mets alongside Buttó in the Rogers trade, earned a rare three-inning save in his Giants debut on Thursday, while Winn and Kilian have combined to pitch six scoreless innings in their first six appearances of the year.
“I think we had more confidence as a coaching staff in that group than other people,” Vitello said. “We saw that there’s really good pieces.”
Schmitt scratched, Encarnacion debuts at 1B
Casey Schmitt was scratched from the Giants’ starting lineup with lower back tightness on Friday, allowing Jerar Encarnacion to get his first start of the season at first base. Encarnacion finished 1-for-3 with an eighth-inning double off left-hander Richard Lovelady, which was one of five hits for San Francisco.
“I thought he looked outstanding,” Vitello said of Encarnacion. “The best type of experience is game experience. It was good to get him over there. And then at the plate, I thought he looked like he did in Spring Training. He’s a threat.”
Even with Encarnacion’s bat in the order, the Giants were utterly stifled by Mets rookie Nolan McLean, who retired the first 15 batters he faced on 67 pitches. Harrison Bader and Patrick Bailey led off the sixth with back-to-back walks to give the Giants their first baserunners of the night, and Willy Adames followed with a one-out RBI double to finally break up McLean’s no-hit bid.
“He was obviously throwing good stuff up there because I don’t think he was even kind of in a comfort zone as it related to the strike zone,” Vitello said. “We got a bunch of 3-2 counts, but every time push came to shove, he kind of seemed to come out on the winning side until we eventually kind of wore him down.”