San Francisco Giants Desperate for Starting Pitcher To Emerge Behind Logan Webb

The San Francisco Giants' starting pitching rotation behind Logan Webb is full of question marks.

Sep 3, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Kyle Harrison (45) throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning at Oracle Park. / John Hefti-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants suffered a few losses this offseason in free agency, but the biggest was starting pitcher Blake Snell.

He signed a two-year deal with the team ahead of the 2024 campaign. It took him a little while to get going, but from July through the end of the season, he was amongst the most dominant pitchers in baseball.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner decided to opt out of the second year of that contract and hit free agency again.

It was the right move for him, as he landed a five-year, $182 million contract. As if losing him wasn’t bad enough for the Giants, they will now have to face him in division since he agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

With Snell out of the mix, there was a huge void in the starting rotation behind their ace, Logan Webb.

The Giants attempted to fill that void in free agency, aggressively pursuing Baltimore Orioles ace Corbin Burnes.

Again they lost out to a division rival, as the Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to a six-year, $210 million deal with the star pitcher.

Not wanting to be shut out in free agency, San Francisco made an addition to their staff, agreeing to a deal with future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander.

Expecting the soon-to-be 42-year-old to step into the spot vacated by Snell and replicate his performance is an unfair ask.

Verlander is coming off the worst season of his career and battled injuries as well. If he remains healthy, he should be able to produce at a solid rate. But at this stage of his career, expecting him to produce as a co-ace is going to set the team up for failure.

Making a trade for someone such as Luis Castillo of the Seattle Mariners would make a lot of sense. He is under team control for three more years and has produced like a frontend starter.

However, unless another splash move is made to acquire an ace-caliber pitcher, the Giants need someone else to step up their performance in 2025.

Attention would turn to former Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray, who struggled at points after making his return to the mound from Tommy John surgery.

Further removed from that recovery, a return to form would be huge for San Francisco. While his overall statistics weren’t great, there were some underlying stats that were positive, such as strikeout rate and ability to limit hard contact.

The Giants know the level Ray can reach when operating at peak performance. The X-factors for the team are the lesser knowns, such as Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks.

Harrison is entering his second full big league season. Most of his production was average across the board, but he was a unanimous top 25 prospect heading into 2024.

If he can start to show some of that potential, he can ascend the pecking order in the rotation.

San Francisco would love that since their farm system is currently barren of any players who look like Major League contributors in the near future outside of Bryce Eldridge.

Hicks was unable to stay healthy during his first year as a starter in 2024, but if he can, he has the stuff to be a No. 2 or No. 3 in a rotation. If he can’t handle the role, the team can turn to another youngster such as Hayden Birdsong as someone else with some upside.

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