According to Jon Morosi of MLB Network and Fox Sports, the Giants are looking into adding another starting pitcher to their rotation, although it likely won't be via trade.
Obviously the Giants rotation is in disarray after the losses of both Bumgarner (out first two months of season) and Samardzija (out first month of season). And being in a year in which they're really trying to go for it, it's no surprise they'll be looking into adding another starter to their roster, possibly before opening day. Morosi said that his source says it's probably not gonna be through a trade. So either the Giants will take a look at the scrap heap that is released here in the final days before the seasons starts, or they'll take a look at some guys already on the market.
The two guys I see as the most logical fits, if they can get here and somehow be ready to go for the Giants in a couple weeks when they first will need to use a 5th starter, are Matt Garza and R.A. Dickey. The 34 year-old Garza was strong in his first 16 starts last season in Milwaukee, posting a 3.68 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and a .248 BAA but then suffered some sort of injury and wasn't the same pitcher for most of the 2nd half. Dickey, on the other hand, was pretty strong from start to finish last season, posting 10 wins (would have led Giants), a 4.26 ERA (would have been 2nd behind Bumgarner) and threw 190 innings at age 42, (which would have been good for 2nd behind Samardzija on the Giants). Yes, he is 43 now, but he showed last year he still can get guys out at a better rate than a lot of guys.
The thing about both pitchers too, is that I believe both would be willing to take minor league deals, as that's pretty much all the Giants can offer at this point anyway. If I had to chose between the two I'd probably go Dickey, just because of how solid he was last year, although either would look great as 5th starters at this point and provide the team with another veteran arm so they're not relying on a bunch of guys with limited or no big league experience.
John Lackey is the only other name that I know for sure is still floating out there, but he apparently is willing to hang em up and retire if he doesn't get the right offer, and he may not view a minor league deal from a team that lost 98 games a year ago as just that. However, if the Giants guaranteed him a rotation spot for the full season-as long as he pitched well enough to hold it- then he may remember that a lot of these guys have won multiple tittles, and they revamped this winter., He could see that, when they get healthy and everyone back with still hopefully 4+ months of baseball left, they've got something good going and that bringing him in would only improve the team that much more.
Anyway, we'll see where it goes, and if they are able to get anything done before the opener. Again, there also could be some names hitting the streets pretty soon too that don't quite make other teams rosters and are out of options or big league guys that get released instead of accepting a AAA role to see what else is out there. I wouldn't hold my breath for anyone bigger than the three names I mentioned, but you never know, I'm just trying to stay more optimistic than pessimistic at this point but it's challenging for sure.
Obviously the Giants rotation is in disarray after the losses of both Bumgarner (out first two months of season) and Samardzija (out first month of season). And being in a year in which they're really trying to go for it, it's no surprise they'll be looking into adding another starter to their roster, possibly before opening day. Morosi said that his source says it's probably not gonna be through a trade. So either the Giants will take a look at the scrap heap that is released here in the final days before the seasons starts, or they'll take a look at some guys already on the market.
The two guys I see as the most logical fits, if they can get here and somehow be ready to go for the Giants in a couple weeks when they first will need to use a 5th starter, are Matt Garza and R.A. Dickey. The 34 year-old Garza was strong in his first 16 starts last season in Milwaukee, posting a 3.68 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and a .248 BAA but then suffered some sort of injury and wasn't the same pitcher for most of the 2nd half. Dickey, on the other hand, was pretty strong from start to finish last season, posting 10 wins (would have led Giants), a 4.26 ERA (would have been 2nd behind Bumgarner) and threw 190 innings at age 42, (which would have been good for 2nd behind Samardzija on the Giants). Yes, he is 43 now, but he showed last year he still can get guys out at a better rate than a lot of guys.The thing about both pitchers too, is that I believe both would be willing to take minor league deals, as that's pretty much all the Giants can offer at this point anyway. If I had to chose between the two I'd probably go Dickey, just because of how solid he was last year, although either would look great as 5th starters at this point and provide the team with another veteran arm so they're not relying on a bunch of guys with limited or no big league experience.
John Lackey is the only other name that I know for sure is still floating out there, but he apparently is willing to hang em up and retire if he doesn't get the right offer, and he may not view a minor league deal from a team that lost 98 games a year ago as just that. However, if the Giants guaranteed him a rotation spot for the full season-as long as he pitched well enough to hold it- then he may remember that a lot of these guys have won multiple tittles, and they revamped this winter., He could see that, when they get healthy and everyone back with still hopefully 4+ months of baseball left, they've got something good going and that bringing him in would only improve the team that much more.
Anyway, we'll see where it goes, and if they are able to get anything done before the opener. Again, there also could be some names hitting the streets pretty soon too that don't quite make other teams rosters and are out of options or big league guys that get released instead of accepting a AAA role to see what else is out there. I wouldn't hold my breath for anyone bigger than the three names I mentioned, but you never know, I'm just trying to stay more optimistic than pessimistic at this point but it's challenging for sure.
Comments
Maybe our new special adviser to our CEO Larry Baer, Dusty Baker, can help with some insight. I was glad to see one of my all time favorite baseball people back where he belongs in San Fran!