SF Giants absolutely must avoid another Jordan Hicks trap with free agent reliever

The SF Giants are looking to remake their bullpen this offseason, but one potential closer option may transition into a starting pitcher. The Giants cannot go down that road again after the failure of the Jordan Hicks experiment.

Ryan Helsley, one of the top free agent relievers on the free agent market, is reportedly drawing interest from teams who want to turn him into a starting pitcher. The Detroit Tigers are reportedly one of the teams interested in this experiment.

SF Giants cannot undertake another Jordan Hicks experiment

Giants fans are far too familiar with an experiment like this. Ahead of the 2024 season, the Giants signed hard-throwing reliever Jordan Hicks to a four-year, $44 million contract with the hope that he could successfully transition from being a late-inning reliever to being a starter.

This experiment looked like a stroke of genius for about a month in 2024 as Hicks looked phenomenal as a starter through his first few starts. However, as the season wore on it was clear that his body began to wear down and he lost the velocity on his fastball.

Hicks eventually was moved back to the bullpen in the middle of 2024 and was shut down by the end of the year. In 2025 the Giants decided to give him another shot in the rotation to begin the year but he struggled badly and was moved to the bullpen in favor of Hayden Birdsong.

The Giants decided to cut their losses and included him in the Rafael Devers trade with the Boston Red Sox. Hicks' struggles got even worse for Boston as he had an ERA of 8.20 in 21 appearances for the Red Sox which made Red Sox fans furious.

Going into this offseason, San Francisco has a clear need in their rotation. They have at least two rotation spots to fill and there are a number of names they have been connected to. However, the Giants should not entertain signing Helsley with the intention of turning him into a starter.

Helsley had a rough 2025 after he got traded to the New York Mets. The 2024 All-Star, who was at one point one of the most elite closers in the game, had a 7.20 ERA in 22 appearances for New York last season.

That sort of showing does not exactly inspire a team to turn a pitcher like that into a starter, but maybe the Tigers feel like they can fix him up and turn him into a solid rotation arm.

The Giants should still have interest in Helsley as a reliever and potentially even as a closer with the bullpen being another key area of need for San Francisco, but they should not even think about signing him as a starter after how poorly the Jordan Hicks experiment went.