Uh-oh.
Last Thursday, Buster Posey went on the San Francisco Giants flagship radio station KNBR and said he wasn’t concerned about the projected remaining innings for Landen Roupp and Hayden Birdsong the rest of the season, even though they were on track to blow past their personal records. Eight days later, and both players are out of the rotation. Birdsong with a case of pitching bad for a while and now Landen Roupp with elbow inflammation.
Roupp last appeared on Tuesday in Atlanta and would’ve been set to start again on Sunday in the finale against the Mets. I guess I should’ve put it together when compiling my series preview that something was wrong, as the Giants listed “TBD” for their starter then.
Roupp has been a solidly above average presence in the rotation and seems to be more of a red ass or intense competitor than even Hayden Birdsong. Roupp’s 6 IP 1 ER 8 K game wasn’t only because of Atlanta’s lackluster offense, but because of his stuff, which Pitching Ninja highlighted in this video the other day:
A couple of weeks ago, Roupp went on 95.7 The Game and took a free swing at last year’s front office, claiming that he would’ve been sent down after his first couple of rough outings this season. It was a nice bit of revisionist history that plays strongly with the base of Giants fandom (which foams at the mouth when they get a chance to take a bite out of Teh Analytics Guyzzz) and an example of pro athletes always needing something — a person, a perception — to work against to make themselves better.
Roupp had impressed last year’s brass so much so that they worked to move him into their plans as quickly as possible. They certainly were aware of his injury history and his previous innings history and worked within that as well. The Giants removing the training wheels this season had the potential downside of the realized effect we’re seeing now. Elbow inflammation doesn’t always end a season for a pitcher, of course, but with just 9 weeks and 2 days left in the season (59 games) there’s not much time left for that to calm down and allow for him to rehab or get back into pitching 5+ innings.
This certainly puts pressure on the front office with the trade deadline just 6 days away. There is no doubt that they need another starting pitcher. Last week, in the wake of Posey’s radio hit, I looked at some left-handed options, but depending on the severity of the injury, the Giants might be in a position where they’ll need to find somebody better than a fifth starter-type to put alongside Webb and Ray, because Justin Verlander is not a rock solid #3 option in a playoff series.
Tristan Beck has been recalled to take Roupp’s place, and that’s great. The team was pleased with his last stint and only sent him down because he had an option. He’s back instead of the mandatory 10-day waiting period because he’s replacing an injured player. Beck, Carson Seymour, and Sean Hjelle are all multi-inning relievers and so chances are the Giants might try to do some sort of bulk/piggyback start or two (but don’t call it a Bullpen Game!) until they sort out the situation.
Anyway, here’s hoping that the Giants are using the typical post-start inflammation as an opportunity to build in some rest and stretch out that innings limit rather than the injury being something structural that requires surgery. In any case, this has the chance to hamper the pitching in the same way that Matt Chapman’s missed time hurt the lineup. Until the Giants find another innings eater, the knock-on effects with the bullpen might be intense enough to blowup in the team’s faces in September when they really can’t afford it.