Right now the Giants have what is essentially a three-man rotation. Logan Webb, Alex Cobb and Anthony DeSclafani give SF three solid starting pitchers, but there isn’t much going on after them. Alex Wood and Ross Stripling are both on the injured list and have struggled when healthy. Sean Manaea was dropped to the bullpen after struggling early in the season as well.
It would seem like the Giants are in the market for a starting pitcher. Is that something they will target before the trade deadline? Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle doesn’t think so for a number of reasons.
“I think they’ve really only got to cover the one spot in the rotation,” Slusser told Papa & F.P. on Monday. “I think Alex Wood will be back Friday or Saturday. They’ve got regular starters lined up for all the games in St. Louis. Really, most of the time, using the opener and the bulk guy has worked pretty well. That’s an easy one. You can either switch Manaea to the starting spot if you want, or just keep going like this. Gabe Kapler seems to think that Manaea has taken to this bulk innings role really well and it sort of seems like he doesn’t want to mess with that, so I think we’ll sort of keep seeing that. To me, that’s a spot in the rotation if that’s a regular thing.
Still, the main thing to keep an eye on is Kyle Harrison at some point in the second half. And of course today, Keaton Winn joins them. I think this is a probably Sean Hjelle, Tristan Beck, he’ll provide some bulk innings, maybe gets a spot start somewhere. But he’s the other guy during the spring that the coaching staff was raving about. He throws upper 90s, he’s hit 100, he’s got a nasty splitter. This kid after Kyle Harrison was really creating the most stir among the young pitching prospects.
“He’s older, he’s 25, so he’s a little bit ahead of Kyle Harrison, but it’s interesting that they are going that way right now, with Tristan Beck pitching yesterday they might as well.”
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