San Francisco Giants May Need To Return High-Priced Pitcher To Bullpen

The San Francisco Giants are off to a tremendous start this season in terms of their record within baseball's most competitive division.

While the offense has been better than expected, the starting rotation -- which was seen entering the year as a major weakness -- has been the issue that many predicted it would be.

As a staff, the starters have a collective ERA that places the Giants outside the top-20 in all of baseball.

Even pitchers who had decent springs have been a little bit of a letdown thus far, but there is no greater example of this than former reliever Jordan Hicks.

When San Francisco signed Hicks prior to the 2024 season on a four-year deal worth $44 million, he had made a total of just eight starts during his five MLB seasons to that point.

They did so with the intention of converting him into a starting pitcher, and while the results in the first year were mixed, Hicks did not instantly become the All-Star-caliber starter the team had hoped he could become.

With a 4.10 ERA and 1.450 WHIP in 29 appearances including 20 starts, it was far from a disaster. The thinking headed into Year 2 was that Hicks would start to turn into an elite starting pitcher with his legs now under him.

He looked to be well on the way towards making that happen with a dominating first start of the regular season where he threw six scoreless innings, but it's been all downhill for Hicks since then.

In his next three starts, Hicks gave up a combined 15 runs and raised his ERA up to a 6.04 with just 19 strikeouts in 22.1 innings, a figure which represents his lowest K's per nine innings of his career.

Because of the money they are paying him, the Giants will still continue giving Hicks every chance to prove he is capable of being a starter, though things are getting to a point where they may have to admit the experiment has failed.

On top of the fact that Hicks has not produced, there are other options who would make the rotation stronger, including young flamethrower Hayden Birdsong who made the roster following a spectacular spring training, but was relegated to the bullpen.

Birdsong is going to be a starter in this rotation eventually, but he may be more capable of helping the team now than Hicks is if the two were to be swapped.

On top of Birdsong, top pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt is dominating his way through Triple-A and could soon be a factor, as well.

It would sting to be paying a reliever in excess of $11 million a year, but this San Francisco team has a chance to make a real run this season, so leaving Hicks in the rotation while there are clearly better options runs counter to that goal.

If Hicks continues to struggle, it won't be long before moving him back to the bullpen or looking to move on from him entirely becomes a no-brainer.

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