Giants add Trevor Cahill to intriguing mix of veteran starters

The San Francisco Giants added Trevor Cahill to a growing mix of veteran starting pitcher options earlier this week. How do all of those piece fit together?

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Giants signed veteran starter Trevor Cahill to a minor league deal. He joins a plethora of other veteran starters inked on low-cost deals who will battle this spring for a spot in the rotation.

Cahill joins the likes of Drew Smyly, Kevin Gausman, and Tyson Ross, all veteran starters who the Giants felt could help out a weak rotation in the short-term. With Madison Bumgarner gone, that really only leaves Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto as known entities in the rotation.

Instead of pursuing a big-name starter, the team has chosen to nibble around the edges by adding several respectable veterans who have struggled in recent years but have enjoyed success in the past.

Not all of these pitchers will play the same role.

Some will start, while others will be asked to come out of the bullpen and log innings in a long or middle relief role.

We all know Drew Pomeranz was signed last offseason to be a starter, but when that didn’t work out, he proved to be extremely effective coming out of the bullpen. So effective, in fact, that the Brewers felt comfortable coughing up Mauricio Dubon to acquire him.

Not to play the trade chip game in February, but it is worth noting that if any of the aforementioned crop of veteran starters exceeds expectations, the Giants could try to get something out of them via trade in the same way that they did with Pomeranz.

Until that time comes, we still need to figure out how all of these pieces will fit on the roster to begin the 2020 season. Ahead we’ll take a look at each of these veteran starters, what they bring to the table, and what role they are most likely to fill in 2020.