Latest roster move shelves SF Giants offseason signing for the remainder of the year

The 2024 season is effectively over for Jordan Hicks. On Friday, the SF Giants placed Hicks on the injured list with shoulder inflammation while recalling Austin Warren in a corresponding roster move, per the team's transaction log.

Latest roster move shelves SF Giants offseason signing for the remainder of the year

The Giants signed Hicks to a four-year, $44 million pact in the offseason with the hopes of transitioning him to the rotation. The early returns on that move looked promising but he dealt with fatigue as the season progressed.

The right-handed hurler came up as a starter in the minors, but worked primarily out of the bullpen in the majors. The St. Louis Cardinals attempted to return him back to the rotation in 2022 but that proved to be a short-lived experiment.

Plus, Hicks had never thrown more than 77.2 innings in a season since debuting in 2017. The Giants knew that he would not be able to make 30 starts or throw 150 innings, but they were hoping that he could slowly build up to it over the next few years.

Through the first two months of the year, that experiment looked like it was going to pay dividends as Hicks posted a 2.70 ERA in 12 starts. He had already tallied 63.1 innings by that point, so he was nearing his career-high in innings pitched with four months left to go.

The 28-year-old pitcher remained in the rotation until the final week of July when he transitioned back to the bullpen. Overall, he registered a 4.10 ERA, 4.38 FIP, 1.45 WHIP, 7.9 K/9, and a 2.04 SO/W rate in 29 outings with San Francisco. With less than two weeks to go, there is not enough time for him to make it back to the mound, so his first year with the Giants is over.

Reliever Austin Warren will take his place on the roster. The Giants signed him to a major league deal in the offseason as he continued to recover from Tommy John surgery. He still had two minor league options remaining, so the front office liked that he had some level of roster flexibility.

Since joining San Francisco, Warren has yielded two earned runs with four strikeouts and three walks in 6.2 innings. He will get a chance to audition for a larger role with the bullpen next year.