Jordan Hicks inked a four-year, $44 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, completing the signing process. Following the transaction, Farhan Zaidi met with media and shot down the notion of adding more players to the rotation, stating, “We feel pretty good about where our pitching staff is.”
The SF Giants’ starting rotation is probably set given the available choices.
This comes as no great surprise. The Giants appear to have added Robbie Ray and Hicks to the rotation, which had a few holes at the beginning of the summer. Given that Alex Cobb (hip surgery) and Ray (Tommy John surgery) are both anticipated to miss the first few games of the season, the rotation has a patchwork feel to it.
This meant that, should the appropriate occasion present itself, the door felt slightly ajar for additional addition. Zaidi did, however, clarify that the strategy is to shift focus to the infield market. Even though there aren’t many good free agency possibilities, it makes sense to have one name on the trade market.
Therefore, there are still a lot of unanswered questions even if the Giants decide to stop adding players to their rotation. Logan Webb, who led baseball with 216 innings pitched in 2023 and finished second in the NL Cy Young voting, is the only player who is not. There appears to be a plan for the remainder of the rotation, aside from Webb.
Ross Stripling and Hicks will come next. Since making his MLB debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018, Hicks has largely worked as a reliever, so this will be a bit of an interesting experiment for him. There will be other inquiries, such as whether he will demonstrate better command and whether he is resilient enough to take on the workload of a starter. That second piece of information will determine whether he ends up becoming a low-volume starter or a reliever, even though he may never be a high-volume pitcher.
Due to their contracts, Hicks and Stripling will start the season in the starting lineup. Nevertheless, the Giants have enough depth to transfer one to the bullpen if either one struggles. Hicks would turn into a leverage option right away. Conversely, Stripling would go into a bulk-innings position.
The younger pitchers on the 40-man roster will have some early opportunities due to Cobb and Ray’s ailments. Tristan Beck, Keaton Winn, and Kyle Harrison will all have an opportunity to make the Opening Day roster, and there’s a strong likelihood that at least two of them will.
Their performance will decide how long they receive. Should they perform, it might increase the pressure on Hicks or Stripling to do so. Should they fail to do so, they might be optioned upon Ray or Cobb’s return.
This rotation offers lots of fungibility. They can go in a variety of different directions. When the others come back, Hicks shouldn’t be sent to the bullpen if he performs well. Regarding the three younger pitchers, the same might be stated. Who stays will depend on performance, but for now it looks like the Giants have everything they need.