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