by
Greek Giant

The answer to today’s headline question depends on how you look at the opening day pitching rotation. If you throw in the very real possibility that a guy like Kyle Harrison will make the Giants 25-man roster than the answer is,…. well… actually… maybe yes! Between Alex Wood, Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, Ross Stripling, Sean Manaea, Jakob Junis, and Anthony Desclafani you have seven starting hurlers to go along with Kyler Harrison as possibilities. You can see why, in today’s MLB with the roster juggling and Minor/Major League shuttle, Farhan Zaidi wants to stock up on arms to have depth in the very likely event of injury.

This means the Giants may actually in very good shape coming out of Scottsdale to start the 2023 season. It also means, with the addition of more young arms down on the farm we may see a potential trade to shore up the outfield or infield with Zaidi dealing one or more of the above arms in exchange. It’s a very real possibility that the Giants could have solid starting pitching depth and in a long and unpredictable season it could be the difference between making the Wild Card and staying home to watch the postseason on television.

Here are all the pitchers currently listed on the 25-man roster:

Scott Alexander
Scott Alexander 54 L/L 6′ 2″ 195 07/10/1989
Tristan Beck
Tristan Beck R/R 6′ 4″ 165 06/24/1996
John Brebbia
John Brebbia 59 L/R 6′ 1″ 200 05/30/1990
Alex Cobb
Alex Cobb 38 R/R 6′ 3″ 205 10/07/1987
Jose Cruz
Jose Cruz R/R 6′ 1″ 178 05/18/2000
Anthony DeSclafani
Anthony DeSclafani 26 R/R 6′ 2″ 195 04/18/1990
Camilo Doval
Camilo Doval 75 R/R 6′ 2″ 185 07/04/1997
Sean Hjelle
Sean Hjelle 64 R/R 6′ 11″ 228 05/07/1997
Luke Jackson
Luke Jackson 77 R/R 6′ 2″ 210 08/24/1991
Jakob Junis
Jakob Junis 34 R/R 6′ 3″ 220 09/16/1992
Sam Long
Sam Long 73 L/L 6′ 1″ 185 07/08/1995
Sean Manaea
Sean Manaea 52 R/L 6′ 5″ 245 02/01/1992
Randy Rodriguez
Randy Rodriguez 90 R/R 6′ 0″ 166 09/05/1999
Tyler Rogers
Tyler Rogers 71 R/R 6′ 3″ 181 12/17/1990
Taylor Rogers
Taylor Rogers L/L 6′ 3″ 190 12/17/1990
Ross Stripling
Ross Stripling 48 R/R 6′ 1″ 215 11/23/1989
Thomas Szapucki
Thomas Szapucki 61 R/L 6′ 2″ 210 06/12/1996
Cole Waites
Cole Waites 56 R/R 6′ 3″ 180 06/10/1998
Logan Webb
Logan Webb 62 R/R 6′ 1″ 220 11/18/1996
Keaton Winn
Keaton Winn R/R 6′ 4″ 238 02/20/1998
Alex Wood
Alex Wood 57

You can see I did not list a guy like Sam Long who could also spot start.

What is the point of this article? Well, with Carlos Rodon gone (sniff, sniff) and the Giants hoping to make the postseason the additions of Manaea and Stripling could very well be pleasant surprises a la Gausman and Rodon, examples of pitchers who re-establish their careers and star power on the magical Giants pitching staff. With the likely addition of Harrison we could see a Giants team, hopefully with better outfield defense, actually surprise some people and win more games than many believe possible.

GG always says: “Wins in baseball begin with starting pitching and defense.” We shall see what the Giants rotation has in store for us in 2023 but right now I am suddenly feeling optimistic.