Alex Cobb won’t pitch again for the Giants this year, ending his first All-Star campaign as late-career bloom reached its apex.
Cobb, 35, was placed on the 15-day injured list before Wednesday afternoon’s game in Arizona. With 11 games remaining, Cobb won’t be eligible to return to the Giants unless they make a shocking surge into the postseason.
The Giants have just a slim chance at reaching the postseason — 5.5%, per Fangraphs — and Cobb’s hip impingement has gotten progressively worse.
The veteran lasted just two innings in Tuesday’s start in a pivotal game against Arizona.
“It (has) become a little bit too much,” Cobb told reporters in Phoenix postgame.
Cobb has been battling a hip injury since early June. In early September, he received a cortisone shot to relieve pain and inflammation with his sights set on pitching through the injury as long as the Giants maintained their position in the playoff hunt.
But the Giants have gone 6-11 in September, falling to the periphery of a tight National League wild card race. It’s possible they won’t be mathematically eliminated from the postseason until the last day of the season, but they’re extreme long shots now.
Cobb finished the season 7-7 with a 3.87 ERA. He earned the first All-Star selection of his career, racked up his 1,000th career strikeout and came one out shy of his first no-hitter.
But, in all likelihood, he won’t pitch in the postseason, extending a personal playoff drought of a decade now.
In other roster moves, the Giants placed Keaton Winn on the COVID IL and brought up top prospect Kyle Harrison, plus Sean Hjelle. Harrison’s development may be the primary story to watch for the final two weeks of San Francisco’s season.