San Francisco Giants Starting Rotation 'Downgraded' This Offseason

Is the starting rotation for the San Francisco Giants worse than last year?

Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander takes the mound before pitching against Detroit Tigers during the first inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Sunday, May 12, 2024. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants are getting set for the start of Spring Training, but there are certainly some question marks remaining for the team.

After addressing a big need in their lineup to start the offseason, it has been a lackluster winter for the Giants.

In a division that is stacked with potential playoff teams, San Francisco is looking like a fourth-place finisher once again on paper.

While the lineup should be a bit better with the addition of Willy Adames, the team looks like it took a step back in their starting rotation.

Even though Blake Snell basically only pitched for the Giants effectively in the second half of the season, he was arguably one of the best pitchers in baseball during that stretch.

Losing him to the Los Angeles Dodgers was a big blow and even though they aggressively pursued Corbin Burnes this winter, they were unable to land him.

Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently predicted what the starting rotation would look like for the Giants. He highlighted them going in the wrong direction this offseason.

“It's hard to look at the Giants rotation as anything but downgraded from where it was a year ago after Blake Snell was replaced with an aging Justin Verlander on a one-year, $15 million deal.”

Going from Snell to Justin Verlander might have sounded alright a couple of years ago, but the veteran right-hander is coming off one of the worst years of his career in 2024.

The 41-year-old battled injuries last year, but when he was on the mound, he totaled a (5-6) record and a 5.46 ERA. Despite being a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, Verlander was a risky signing by San Francisco this offseason if they are expecting him to start 25+ games.

Despite the dreadful start to the year for Snell, he still finished the campaign with a 3.12 ERA and in the second half of the year his ERA was a ridiculous 1.45.

Obviously, the financial commitment that the Dodgers made to Snell is a much larger one than the Giants had to make to Verlander, but the likely level of performance will be much higher as well.

While it’s nearly impossible to predict what the 41-year-old will do in 2025, San Francisco will be hoping that some other pitchers on the staff step up. Robbie Ray will be back and healthy and youngster Kyle Harrison will be expected to take a step forward.

However, the rotation certainly did downgrade this offseason with the loss of Snell and the only addition being Verlander. Time will tell if the veteran right-hander can bounce back in 2025, but it will be an uphill climb at his age.