San Francisco Giants: Can The Rotation Recover From A Poor 2013?

The San Francisco Giants did not have the 2013 season they wanted. Following a year in which they won the World Series pennant for the second time in three years, the Giants were expecting more than a 76-86 record and a third-place finish in the NL West. Entering the 2014 season, as fans, we just don’t know what to expect at this point.

While the team is leaning on their offensive cornerstones in Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval to have great years, the success of the San Francisco Giants has and continues to rest on the shoulders of their pitching staff. It was the foundational recipe behind both of their World Series runs, and it has been the centerpiece around which the front office has built the rest of the team.

As a result, it was no surprise that the Giants had a losing record for the first time since the 2008 season in the same year that the pitching staff faltered. There have been endless theories on why the starters all had poor years simultaneously (save for Madison Bumgarner) – fatigue, poor conditioning, etc. But the biggest question remains – can they recover in 2014?

To answer this question let’s examine each of the five starters.