The San Francisco Giants recent struggles must come to an end soon. They came out of the All-Star break on fire and swept the Pittsburg Pirates in three games. After taking the first two contests against the Cincinnati Reds, however, they hit a skid. The Reds won the next two to even up the series. And then the Giants were swept in a three-game series by the Washington Nationals.
Thinking Back to Last Year
This is not meant to make anyone panic. After all, it would be unrealistically coincidental if the Giants had the kind of skid they did last year around this time. And the Giants 2023 season has been a seesaw all the way through. They play well and then they don’t play well. We probably shouldn’t look at this like anything out of the ordinary is happening. That said, it would be pretty serious if history did repeat itself.
The main problem with getting swept by the Nationals is that they’re a noncontending team. In fact, they hadn’t completed a sweep since 2021. It isn’t as if the Giants fell to an opponent that even appeared to be a match for them.
The Starting Rotation Must Be Dealt With
The Giants recent struggles are a good reminder of an important concept. A prediction of strength or weakness in a team can be well-founded and accurate while not having an immediately crucial impact. Sometimes, you can get away with something for a while. But it will still be a problem in the long run. Such is the case with the Giants rotation. They don’t have the quality depth that they need. Logan Webb and Alex Cobb are their only consistent starters, and even they are human, as we saw in their last respective starts.
The Giants remain in realistic division contention. If they want to remain in the NL West race, they will have to get things together right away. And they will have to achieve a level of consistency.
Consistency probably will not come unless they can solve their rotation crisis. They need at least one more good starter. The options are there at the trade deadline. Shohei Ohtani would be ideal, but even if they can’t land him they have to get someone to fill the hole. The Giants recent struggles have made their need obvious, and now it’s time for them to try to fix it.
The Path to a Full Rotation
If the Giants can trade for a good starter, things will start to improve. It would also be a smart move to call up Keaton Winn and give him another look in the rotation. Then too, the time is drawing nearer when Kyle Harrison will be ready for a big-league shot. Winn and Harrison would both be a gamble. And the Giants shouldn’t stick with either one if it would become another “Tyler Beede” situation.
But consider what might happen if things work out. The Giants would have a five-man rotation of Webb, Cobb, the trade deadline acquisition, Winn, and Harrison. Sure, there are things we just have to hope for. But if the ideal becomes the reality, such a plan might work.
Photo Credit: © Sam Greene/The Enquirer/USA TODAY NETWORK
Players Mentioned:
Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, Shohei Ohtani, Keaton Winn, Kyle Harrison, Tyler Beede
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