San Francisco Giants: Addressing Concerns about Vogelsong, Peavy

Entering the 2015 season, the biggest concern for the reigning World Series champion San Francisco Giants was their starting rotation. As the season rolls on, this continues to be their main concern, especially as some of the starters are dealing with injuries, and Ryan Vogelsong has had to be utilized more as a spot starter than a long reliever.

Matt Cain (flexor tendon strain) and Jake Peavy (lower back strain) are still on the DL. Cain is still a few weeks away from starting a rehab assignment, and Peavy is closer to starting a rehab assignment but still probably a week or two away from being ready to start.

Although Cain’s recovery is expected to take longer than Peavy’s and even though his injury is arguably more serious than Peavy’s, there are more concerns about Peavy’s effectiveness when he returns than for Cain. In two starts this year, Peavy recorded a 9.39 ERA in just 7.2 innings. This would most likely be attributed to his back injury, but his effectiveness is still questionable.

Giants color commentator Mike Krukow believes a significant change might need to be made, in terms of Peavy’s role. Here’s what Krukow said in an interview on KNBR:

"“Right now, (Peavy) is best suited for the bullpen,” Krukow said. “He’s had a hard time getting loose. His body is locking up on him. He has to be able to get up and pitch and sit down and do that five or six time in his outing.“They’re calming down an inflamation in a joint that’s kind of locked up in his hip. That has to get better. … He’s throwing without his whole body — losing velocity, losing sink.”"

In addition to concerns surrounding Peavy, Krukow also believes there are concerns about Vogelsong. Here’s what he said about Vogelsong in the same interview on KNBR:

"Likewise, according to Krukow, “Vogelsong is a concern.”The velocity is there; he’s averaging nearly 89.9 miles per hour on the fastball.“He’s getting beat on breaking balls and he’s getting beat on location,” Krukow added on KNBR. “He has to get his mechanics to a point where he can rely on the movement of his fastball and the snap on his breaking ball.“Right now he has to have a perfect storm — big yard and a big strike zone.”"

According to Krukow’s quotes, it seems as if Vogelsong’s problems are fixable. His velocity is still there, so he really just needs to focus on improving his mechanics so his command of his pitches is more consistent.

For Peavy though, Krukow believes that given Peavy’s back issues, he should be pitching out of the bullpen. That seems unlikely though, especially since the Giants just signed Peavy in the offseason to a two-year, $24 million deal. A team doesn’t just hand out that money to a starting pitcher who they plan to put in the bullpen, as seen in the Giants’ one-year, $5 million deal this past offseason with Vogelsong, who’s now a long reliever.

Bruce Bochy believes that the Giants have admirably faced the adversity of losing two starting pitchers, and that they’ll be okay in the future. Bobby Evans, the Giants general manager, admitted that the starting pitching is still a concern, but he also hinted to Andrew Baggarly of the Bay Area News Group that the Giants will keep an open mind, in terms of addressing the rotation and improving the team, in the future:

"“The pitching has been such an important part of our success, and starting the year without Cain was a punch in the gut because you certainly didn’t anticipate that,” Evans said. “Going through the spring we felt like we were on a good trajectory with him. And Peavy’s lower back problem, not anticipating that to bother him — he was a core part of what took us over the hump after the deadline last year.“So those are significant areas of concern. But we appreciate what Heston has done. … Our rotation is a key, key piece for us and we’ve got good defenders behind them, but we’ve got to try to stay the course while we get guys healthy and keep ourselves in it. And we’ll always keep an open mind to ways to improve the club when the opportunity presents itself.”"

Obviously, when Cain or Peavy returns, Vogelsong will go back to the bullpen as a long reliever, but is Krukow right that Peavy should be headed there as well?

This might be a far-fetched notion, but imagine a Giants starting rotation of Madison Bumgarner, Cain, Chris Heston, Tim Lincecum, and Tim Hudson.

Apr 12, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Jake Peavy (22) pitches during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Ever since Heston was called up from the minors when Cain was placed on the DL, he has been incredibly impressive. He has a 2.51 ERA in five starts and 32.1 innings so far. In addition, Lincecum has started off the season with a 2.40 ERA in five starts, and Hudson has bounced back from a rough start to 2015 with a solid eight-inning start in which he gave up two hits and three earned earns that last time he pitched.

A rotation of those five players would be an improvement over the current rotation. As mentioned before though, it’s unlikely that Bochy or anyone in the Giants’ front office would want to send Peavy to the bullpen because of his contract. If he comes back from the DL and continues to struggle while healthy, then perhaps they would consider a change because it could be best for the team and would allow Heston to stay in the rotation, but it’s unlikely.

As for Vogelsong though, if he struggles in his next few starts with Cain and Peavy out, he’ll still be headed to the bullpen, where perhaps his struggles can be somewhat hidden, as he won’t be called upon for as many innings. However, is he taking up a valuable bullpen spot, since Yusmeiro Petit has shown that he can be more successful as long reliever? Do the Giants really need two long relievers, especially given the emergence of Heston?

More from Golden Gate Sports

Home/San Francisco Giants