San Francisco Giants Announce Pitchers for the First Weekend

The San Francisco Giants have unveiled their starting pitchers for the first weekend of Spring Training! Take a look at who you might see if you’re in Arizona this weekend.

The San Francisco Giants will kick of their 2017 Spring Training games tomorrow against the Cincinnati Reds. After falling to the Chicago Cubs in the most spectacular of implosions, there is a lot of anticipation and excitement behind this year’s squad. A lot of competition will be taking place on the roster, and one of the big positions open is the fifth starter. We’ll get to see this competition start right before our eyes this weekend.

Yesterday, Bruce Bochy unveiled his plan for who the Giants pitchers would be for the weekend. That setup looks like this:

• Friday: Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner
• Saturday: Ty Blach
• Sunday: Matt Moore and Tyler Beede
• Monday: Jeff Samardzija

While it would be nice to see Cueto in the mix, we know now that there was some issues going on with the health of his father. According to reports from Henry Schulman from the San Francisco Chronicle, Cueto should be in Scottsdale by the weekend.

In regards to Bumgarner, Schulman also unveiled this in his report on the starters for the weekend:

"“Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain will pitch in Friday’s opener against the Reds, if Bumgarner chooses to pitch. He has the option to wait until a later game if he prefers to work on the side.”"

Schulman tweeted that we shouldn’t expect more than an inning of work from each pitcher:

One thing that both Schulman and Alex Pavlovic have pointed out is that this pretty much sets the rotation going into the year. Expect it to be the same order as last season, one through four, and then Cain being the “incumbent” to the fifth starter spot with Beede and Blach the main challengers. When asked by a fan about where Chris Stratton sat in the mix, Pavlovic had this to say:

Even though Pavlovic said he’s in the mix, it just feels more like a technicality at this point. Stratton showed no signs of being near Beede or Blach level in the 2016 Arizona Fall League. The only other starter in the mix would be Albert Suarez. We’ll probably see Suarez at some point this weekend, if not next week. But still, the general consensus is that it’s Beede, Blach, and Cain for the fifth starter role.

Next: Tyler Beede Drops Fire Freestyle

Overall, it’s time to be excited! Baseball is back. The Giants are Back, and ready to compete in 2017.