Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants like options like most like pizza, and they will have some appetizing choices in the coming week.
With two off-days next week — Monday, after four games in San Diego, and Thursday, after two home games against the Mariners — they are likely to shuffle their rotation and could maximize starts from Johnny Cueto and Kevin Gausman, their Nos. 1 and 2 in the rotation. On Friday, Gabe Kapler said they are discussing three different ways to juggle starters who have been solid, with Drew Smyly possibly entering the crew and Jeff Samardzija in the wings.
“There’s a good chance that we’re going to tweak our rotation coming up here,” Kapler said before Cueto started Friday against the Padres.
Gausman will pitch Saturday and Logan Webb Sunday before the club can take a breath. Smyly was excellent in four innings of relief Thursday and could be ready for five innings next week. He took the ball from Trevor Cahill, who has not been sharp and has dealt with a hip issue recently and serves as the likeliest to be bumped from the rotation.
Tyler Anderson has been up and down since joining the rotation in early August, taking the spot that the injured Smyly vacated, but is coming off a strong, six-inning, no-run performance Wednesday against Seattle. Of course, if a team that enters Friday 23-22 and currently winning a playoff battle decides it needs to maximize its starts from Cueto and Gausman, it could ask Cueto to leapfrog the line and pitch Wednesday against the Mariners before opening next Friday’s series in Oakland with Gausman.
That game will be the first of 10 in a row without an off-day in the final sprint that the Giants hope ends in the postseason. Cueto’s, Gausman’s and Webb’s spots are secure, and the others will be discussed.
“There’s a bunch of different ways to view that last spot if you assume that Webby is taking down the fourth-starter role,” Kapler said. “We kind of have mix-and-match options for the five and the three.”
It seems unlikely Samardzija will join the rotation, but the big righty threw four innings in a Sacramento sim game Thursday.
“Stuff looked good,” said Kapler, who said they’ll decide in the next day what his next step will be.
The return of Samardzija was less anticipated than Smyly’s after his early-season struggles and diminished velocity. Kapler said “anything’s on the table” for the 35-year-old in his last season before free agency, his most likely path toward the Giants coming out of relief.
Samardzija was a solid option coming out of the bullpen for the Cubs in 2011.
The Giants picked up Justin Smoak and added him to the roster, but there hasn’t been a spot for him to debut yet, even against Padres righties.
Wilmer Flores was the Giants’ offense Thursday, slamming a home run. Donovan Solano had three hits. Kapler couldn’t bench either against San Diego righty Garrett Richards, so they were his DH and second baseman, respectively.
“We’re going look to get Smoak work as soon as possible,” Kapler said over Zoom. “At the same time, we have to kind of respect the work that Flo and Solano have been doing.”
Austin Slater still is not a defensive option, Kapler saying he threw to second Thursday. It’s “a day-to-day thing.”
The Giants sought a righty bullpen arm at the deadline and didn’t connect. Perhaps Reyes Moronta could be their addition.
“He’s doing really well, certainly still view him as an option at some point,” Kapler said of the fireballing right-hander coming off shoulder surgery. “He’s throwing live BPs, his stuff is coming back.”
Kapler declined to reveal how hard Moronta is throwing.