The Giants have a 6-foot-5, 245-pound issue in their rotation.
Sean Manaea, the Giants’ veteran southpaw, left San Francisco’s bullpen with an eight-run deficit and 6.1 innings to cover against the Nationals.
The imposing veteran who entered the series finale in the second percentile in barrel rate while walking far too many hitters got smacked around by Washington. Manaea, 31, hardly shored up his status in San Francisco’s rotation in an 11-6 loss in which center fielder Austin Slater departed early with left hamstring tightness.
“All my stuff just sucked, that’s really what it comes down to,” Manaea said postgame.
The Giants (16-20) lost the series after taking two of three from the Brewers and Astros. SF has now lost series to the Nationals, Royals, Marlins and Tigers — none of whom are expected to contend.
Manaea signed a two-year, $25 million contract with a player option for the $12.5 million he’s due next season. It’s the same structure and average annual value Ross Stripling, who has also struggled so far, signed.
The Giants added Manaea with the veteran coming off the worst year of his career. He posted a 4.96 ERA in 30 starts while allowing 1.7 home runs per nine innings — sixth highest among all pitchers with at least 100 innings.
Buying low on an established pitcher coming off a down year with a prove-it contract isn’t necessarily foolish. Especially when that pitcher trains at Driveline and shows a spike in fastball velocity during spring training. But through the eight appearances, Manaea hasn’t shown many indications of a bounce-back at all.
Riley Adams’ three-run home run in the second inning was Manaea’s seventh on the season.
Many of Manaea’s misfires, including the one to Adam, were up in the zone. He said he thinks the issue was more execution than mechanical, but isn’t entirely sure.
A pitcher who has historically struggled with walks — antithetical to San Francisco’s organizational philosophy — has walked 16 batters in 26 innings. He started the first four batters he faced with an 0-2 count Wednesday, a sign of improved command, but gave three free passes in the second and third innings.
Manaea didn’t make it out of the third, surrendering eight runs (four earned) on five hits and three walks. The last batter he faced, Ildemaro Vargas, tripled off him to boost his average to .238.
A J.D. Davis fielding error hurt Manaea, but the same issues remained: walks and home runs. Manaea’s outing increased his season ERA to 7.96. In one of his six starts, he lasted longer than five innings.
Part of the value of having Manaea, and Stripling to the same degree, in the rotation is to buy time for Kyle Harrison to develop in Triple-A. The Giants prefer their prospects to dominate their level before getting promoted, and probably don’t want to rush the sport’s top left-handed pitching prospect into big league action before he’s totally prepared.
But with both Manaea and Stripling ranking in the top 10 in home runs allowed per nine innings, plus Harrison coming off a four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts — his best performance with Sacramento — might Harrison’s timeline get accelerated.
As for Manaea’s place in the rotation, Kapler said he wanted to sit down and process this game before having conversations.
Before the series finale, the Giants listed four To Be Announced as their starters for the club’s upcoming weekend series in Arizona. They wanted to wait to see how Manaea pitched to determine how to line up the pitching for the Diamondbacks. If Manaea went deep and preserved the already rested bullpen, San Francisco would have more options to play with. If not, they could lose some flexibility.
Even though Manaea’s 2.2-inning start doomed the Giants, Tristan Beck zambonied 5.1 innings behind him to save SF’s high-leverage bullpen arms. Home runs from Michael Conforto and LaMonte Wade Jr. made the score look better the game felt.
Beck’s commendable work gives the Giants more wiggle room to line up the Diamondbacks series, but more complicated decisions may have also arrived as Slater headed to the trainer’s room. Slater missed the first three weeks of the season with a left hamstring strain and tweaked the same leg while running to first on a sixth-inning dribbler.
“It’s definitely very frustrating,” Slater said. “It doesn’t feel like I can catch a break right now. Hopefully it’s nothing major.”
With Mike Yastrzemski (hamstring) already on the injured list, the Giants’ depth chart at center field currently only includes Brett Wisely, a utility player who started at second on Wednesday.
The center field conundrum, though, appears more short-term. Manaea’s struggles, in a worst case scenario, could bleed all the way through next season.