With a week to go before the MLB trade deadline and the Giants having lost six games in a row, there are far more questions than answers about San Francisco’s outlook.
Should they prioritize adding another starter? Does the struggling offense need a jolt? Is it took weak to salvage?
Travis Ishikawa joined Paulie Mac and Markus Boucher on Monday to discuss the situation before the Giants fell to to Detroit.
While Ishikawa thinks that another bat in the lineup would absolutely help, he put an emphasis on the pitching rotation.
The use of a starter and a mixed bag of relievers to get through games is something that could use amending.
“As good as that bullpen was, it’s a lot to ask for a club to go two or three bullpen games every five days,” Ishikawa said. “I know we have kind of a couple of long guys in the middle that were kind of bridging the gap between your opener and your back half of the bullpen which definitely was helpful.
“But I gotta believe if you’re not really relying on those guys to start the game for you, I can’t see where maybe we don’t try to get an arm to help alleviate some of that workload and some of that demand for the bullpen guys, give them a little bit of break.”
He also believers adding another arm would help solidify roles in the rotation.
“We know Doval’s got the closer role and then Rogers’ got the setup role, but maybe just giving some of those other guys more defined roles so they can kind of put all their focus into that,” Ishikawa said.
The short, six-game free fall from the Giants has moved them from a game back of the Los Angeles Dodgers and top of the Wild Card standings to 4.5 games back of L.A. and in a three-way tie for the last Wild Card spot.
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