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San Francisco Giants’ Starting Rotation Already Facing Adversity

By Maggie Pilloton

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One of the biggest concerns for the San Francisco Giants heading into the 2015 season was their starting pitching staff. Although the Giants, unlike many other MLB teams, can boast the fact that they have seven capable starting pitchers on their 25-man roster, there are several questions surrounding every member of the starting rotation.

Even though Madison Bumgarner has proven that he is one of the best postseason pitchers in MLB history and that he’s the ace of the Giants’ pitching staff, he had an immense workload in 2014. Bumgarner pitched at least 200 innings in the 2011-2014 regular seasons. In addition, Bumgarner pitched 20.2 innings in the 2010 postseason, 15 innings in the 2012 postseason, and an astounding 52.2 in the 2014 postseason.

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This isn’t as much of a concern as the issues involving the other starters, but his workload and his potential fatigue in 2015 definitely needs to be monitored closely.

Matt Cain had elbow surgery in August of 2014, and it was announced on Opening Day on Monday that Cain was feeling tightness in his right forearm, which is concerning because that can sometimes mean a UCL tear, which can lead to Tommy John surgery. However, Cain had an MRI on Monday that revealed that he had a strained flexor tendon, not a UCL tear.

Bruce Bochy announced that Cain will not start on Wednesday as planned and that his injury was most likely a “two-week thing,” meaning Cain is probably headed to the DL. The Giants have some options for who will start in Cain’s place, as they could have Tim Lincecum pitch, or they could decide to call up a minor league starter, such as Chris Heston.

Cain spoke to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle about his prognosis after Monday’s game:

"“The trainers seem positive about it,” Cain said. “It should be something we can take care of. It’s definitely frustrating. It kind of goes with the territory. Sometimes there are going to be bumps in the road in the rehab process. I’m going to have to deal with it and move forward.”"

In addition, Jake Peavy will miss his scheduled start on Tuesday due to a lower back injury. Ryan Vogelsong will start in his place. Peavy hopes to be back for his next scheduled start on Sunday, and he said he feels better after getting treatment and taking some medication the last couple days.

Tim Hudson seems to be fully recovered from his offseason ankle surgery, but his health will also need to be monitored because of the offseason surgery but also his age, as he will turn 40 in July.

Even though Lincecum isn’t coming off any significant injuries or surgeries in 2014, his consistency has been in question for the last several seasons. He worked with his father, the architect of his funky delivery, in the offseason to try to re-work and fine-tune his mechanics, and this work seemed to be paying off at the beginning of Spring Training, as his teammates were impressed with his deceptive pitches.

However, he struggled later in Spring Training and will need to show consistency in mechanics in 2015 if he wants to keep his spot in the starting rotation.

It appears as if Vogelsong and Yusmeiro Petit will be called upon for some spot starts and extra innings in the beginning of the season. The Giants’ starting rotation is already facing adversity and is already one of the main concerns for the Giants in 2015. We’ll see if they can overcome this adversity and be effective and consistent throughout the rest of the 2015 season.

Next: Giants Mailbag: Lincecum, LF Power, Leadoff Spot

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