San Francisco Giants Turn To Cy Young-Caliber Rotation For Stretch Run

When San Francisco recycled DH Jorge Soler at the trade deadline last week, general manager Farhan Zaidi made it clear that pitching was the Giants’ best path forward.

“We feel we have the best rotation in baseball,” Zaidi told reporters after the deadline passed with few adjustments.

A staff of perennial Cy Young candidates has made a strong early case that Zaidi has the right approach for always-pitcher-friendly Oracle Park as the Giants look for their first postseason appearance since a wondrous 107-win 2021 season.

“We expect to be there,” Zaidi said.

So far, so good, even though the Giants were 8 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers and four games out of the last of three wild card positions entering Saturday games.

Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell’s 114-pitch no-hitter at Cincinnati on Friday was the Giants’ second consecutive shutout since the July 30 trade deadline, coming a day after Logan Webb gave up five hits in a 1-0 victory over Oakland.

The Giants also have been buoyed by the return of 2021 AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray, who threw five hitless innings an 8-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 24. Ray made his first appearance in 14 months, since undergoing after Tommy John surgery in May, 2023.

Pitching has always been top of mind. Ray and Snell were acquired during the Giants’ spending spree last winter, when they committed $271 million to four free agents — center fielder Jung-hoo Lee, third baseman Matt Chapman, Soler and left-hander Snell.

Ray and his $23 million salary came over from Seattle in a January trade for Mitch Haniger and Anthony DeSclafani. The deadline calculation enabled them to save the remaining $30 million on Soler’s three-year deal.

Lee, who signed a six-year, $113 million contact, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in mid-May, but the Giants have compensated offensively because of the strong play of Heliot Ramos, a former No. 1 draft pick who has blossomed at age 24 and was one of two Giants (Webb was the other) to make the NL All-Star team.

Touted prospect Marco Luciano, who received a $2.6 million signing bonus in 2018, is expected to take many of Soler’s at-bats as both designated hitter and as an occasional infielder, and the Giants also added outfielder Mark Canha at the deadline. Soler had 12 homers, a precipitous drop from the 36 he hit with Miami last season, so any loss may be negligible.

The Giants were last in the majors in stolen bases and 24th in home runs despite 15 from Chapman and Ramos, numbers that give extra weight to their dependence on a pitching staff that may finally be healthy.

“It’s been a long road to get our rotation to the place that it’s in now,” Zaidi said. “When you have starting pitching like that, it can get you on a roll. For us, to keep that group together … was a really high priority. That was really our central philosophy going into the deadline. We have a rotation that can carry this team down the stretch and get us on a roll.”

Snell, won the NL Cy Young award with San Diego last season after winning it with Tampa Bay in 2018, has made only 11 starts this season because of adductor and groin injuries but has been been virtually unhittable in five starts since returning July 9.

He has given up eight hits and two runs while striking out 41 in 33 innings in that stretch, and Marquee Sports Network player development analyst Lance Brozdowski has noticed a change in Snell’s approach.

Snell is throwing his four-seam fastball to right-handed hitters more to the inside part of the plate, which has reduced hard contact. He also is throwing more curveballs and fewer changeups to righties.

“If anybody has the stuff to throw a no-hitter, it’s Blake Snell,” said Giants manager Bob Melvin, who managed Snell with the Padres the last two seasons.

With Snell and Ray in place, the Giants traded starter Alex Cobb to Cleveland at the deadline and placed Jordan Hicks in the bullpen in deference to the strong showings by rookies Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong.

Harrison is 6-4 with a 3.69 ERA in 18 starts and Birdsong is 3-0 with a 2.97 ERA in six major league starts after opening the season at from Double A Richmond and making a quick stop at Triple-A Sacramento.

“The job Hayden’s done, for us to really believe in the roll this group of five starters can get on,” Zaidi said, “you have to take a little bit of a chance and a leap of faith that they’re going to pitch and they’re going to be healthy. If something happens, we’ll have to figure out another plan.”