San Francisco Giants Notebook: Pitching Injuries, Trade Deadline, More

DENVER — Every year as the MLB trade deadline nears, there is always one team that could, in theory because of its injury situation, improve in the unofficial second half of the season despite very little trade activity. The San Francisco Giants could potentially be that team in 2024.

That’s not to say that the Giants will be quiet at this year’s deadline … as a buyer or a seller. The fate of the clubhouse lies directly in the road ahead, entering Friday’s series opener in Colorado against the Rockies, at 47-50 and 3.0 games out of the final National League Wild Card spot.

That less-than-.500 record has president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi telling KNBR Radio, “we need the players to show us what the right direction is for us.”

San Francisco has been bitten in a big way by the injury bug, but there are reinforcements on the way for the Giants, with starting pitchers Alex Cobb (right shoulder injury) and Robbie Ray (left elbow UCL surgery recovery) scheduled to throw for Triple-A Sacramento for four to five innings over the weekend. Their arrival (whenever it comes) would certainly change how the San Francisco rotation looks … but manager Bob Melvin also understands that neither can be rushed back to the mound.

“We’ll see when we get there,” Melvin said before Friday’s game. “It’s probably Robbie first, and then we will see where we are with Alex and how much we want to push on that.”

Melvin, however, dismissed the ideas of the Giants going with six starters in the rotation at any point during the second half of the season. With that in mind, a team that entered the All-Star break tied for 23rd among all MLB rotations with a cumulative 4.49 ERA and ranked 27th with a 1.37 cumulative WHIP will have to find a way to improve until Cobb and Ray return.

“I think we’ve been waiting for a while to get some of these guys back and you’re talking about some pretty good names on the back of the uniforms,” Melvin said. “Guys that take the mound that you feel like you have a lot of confidence when they take the mound. We’ve been looking forward to this for a while.”

San Francisco’s Road Ahead

When it comes to the post-All-Star schedule, the final 65 games on San Francisco’s schedule present, at least on paper, an opportunity for the Giants to make a strong postseason push.

However, while the overall schedule may favor the Giants, Melvin is certainly not taking anything for granted.

“As far as the schedule goes, everybody’s a Major League team,” Melvin shrugged. “We have four games with the (Los Angeles) Dodgers right after this. This team (Colorado) swung the bat really well in its series against (the New York Mets, right before the All-Star break). Every team is a challenge.”

And, yes, these first few games are extremely important for the Giants when it comes to what direction the team could take at the trade deadline.

“It’s out of our control, other than playing well,” Melvin said. “I don’t think as players and staff we think too much about the deadline. That’s more for the front office. But it would certainly make things a lot better for us if we got off to a good start.”

Bullpen collapses on Friday night

While Melvin was hoping for a good start to the second half, his bullpen blew a golden opportunity to make that happen against the Rockies on Friday.

Giants starter Kyle Harrison allowed only one hit over five shutout innings as San Francisco built a 3-0 lead. However, when the bullpen entered the equation in the sixth, the game changed completely.

Colorado scored two in the sixth, then tied the game in the seventh on a two-out infield single. The eighth, however, was the backbreaker as Tyler Rogers needed 24 pitches to record an out, giving up a single, double and three-run home run to Jake Cave, which provided the crushing blow in an eventual 7-3 loss.

Prior to the All-Star break, the San Francisco bullpen posted a 4.32 ERA, the third-highest bullpen ERA in the National League.

“Rogers is a submarine guy, so he’s tough anyway. For B-Rod (Brendan Rodgers) to put something in play, good things happen, and then (Michael) Toglia, that was awesome. He took a ball back here and hit a ball fair down the left field line for a double,” Cave said. “When I got up there, second and third, I just want to put something in fair territory. I want to get my eyes on where he’s throwing the ball from and preferably get something in the grass.”

Despite the Rockies being 35-63 on the season after Friday’s win, Cave said the mood inside the clubhouse is to play well as a spoiler, against the Giants and every other team left on the schedule.

“I think we have a good chance to make some people mad,” Cave smiled. “That’s what we want to do. Go in and play good teams and make them mad that we beat them.”