ATLANTA — Four months ago, the Giants’ brass was tasked with figuring out how they would find enough innings for their abundance of starting pitchers. Now, the question has shifted:
Where do they find quality innings?
Hayden Birdsong’s demotion combined with Justin Verlander’s inconsistency highlight the team’s need for major-league rotation depth as the July 31 trade deadline looms. It’s an issue that has been brewing since the team sent Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Rafael Devers.
President of baseball operations Buster Posey capitalized on an opportunity to acquire a three-time All-Star in Devers, who made his debut at first base on Tuesday. With a week to go before the deadline, Posey and Co. have to figure out where to go from here.
The Giants have yet to announce who will take Birdsong’s spot in the rotation, and they may have an opportunity to kick that can down the road until next week.
Logan Webb and Robbie Ray are scheduled to pitch on Friday and Saturday against the New York Mets. Sunday’s starter has yet to be announced, but manager Bob Melvin could have Landen Roupp pitch to finish the series after Roupp pitched five innings on Tuesday.
The Giants have several in-house options to replace Birdsong, but none of those in-house options possesses the resumé that the Giants need as they fight for a wild card spot.
Carson Seymour was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento when Birdsong and Tristan Beck were optioned, but he’s never made a start at the major-league level. The same can be said of Carson Whisenhunt, who recently represented the Giants at the Futures Game.
Keaton Winn has made 17 starts in the majors, the most of anyone currently with Triple-A Sacramento, but he’s still building back up from a right shoulder injury that he sustained in April. On Tuesday, Winn made his longest appearance since the injury by pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Mason Black has a 4.78 ERA over 17 appearances (16 starts) at Triple-A this season. Trevor McDonald and Carson Ragsdale have made 31 combined starts with Sacramento but both have ERAs north of 5. Kai-Wei Teng has recently joined the rotation and has a 0.46 ERA over his last four starts, but he got rocked in limited MLB appearances last year (9.82 ERA).
This is all to say: If the Giants want to truly bolster their rotation, the best options will likely come outside the organization through the trade market. And after responding to Monday’s ugly loss with two thumping wins on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Giants affirmed that they can make a run at October baseball.
There’s also Roupp to consider in this equation. Roupp has emerged as a No. 3 starter behind Webb and Ray by posting a 3.11 ERA over 20 starts, but the Giants will likely monitor his workload in August and September. The most innings that Roupp has totaled in a professional season are the 107 1/3 that he threw in 2022. Following five scoreless frames on Tuesday, Roupp is currently sitting at 101 1/3 innings.
Birdsong, who walked 17 batters over his last four starts before being demoted, will likely be back at some point. When that happens will be contingent on him consistently finding the strike zone following an outing on Monday where he faced six batters and didn’t retire a single one.
As for Verlander, he finally won his first game as a Giant on Wednesday against the Atlanta Braves but has generally performed like a No. 5 starter. Overall, he has a 4.70 ERA over 17 starts. Since returning from the injured list, specifically, he has a 5.29 ERA over 32 2/3 innings.
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San Francisco may not have the assets to acquire the top-end starters on the market, a list that includes the Twins’ Joe Ryan, the Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore and the Pirates’ Mitch Keller. The Diamondbacks may also be wary of trading Zac Gallen or Merrill Kelly to another team in the division.
With Webb and Ray at the top of the rotation, the Giants are more in need of one or two middle-of-the-rotation arms. The list of pitchers who fit that label includes the likes of former Giants Jose Quintana (Brewers), Tyler Anderson (Angels) and Zack Littell (Rays), as well as Aaron Civale (White Sox), Adrian Houser (White Sox), Andrew Heaney (Pirates) and Charlie Morton (Orioles).
The Giants are currently 1.5 games behind the San Diego Padres for the final NL wild card spot and, realistically, need more than just a starter or two.
They could use another impact bat even after back-to-back nine-run games. With Erik Miller currently on the injured list, a leverage lefty for the backend of the bullpen would help as well. But with Birdsong currently in Triple-A, the Giants need reinforcements in the rotation.
