SF Giants are already getting Adrian Houser's replacement ready in the minors

When SF Giants starter Adrian Houser gave up two straight home runs on Thursday to start Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies, fans were understandably questioning the logic behind giving him a two-year, $22 million contract in the offseason. The Giants may agree which is why they are already getting his replacement ready to go in the minors.

While Blade Tidwell was sent down to Triple-A on Wednesday to make room for reliever Gregory Santos on the roster, Tidwell is reportedly going to be stretched out as a starter for Sacramento.

SF Giants are getting Tidwell stretched out which is bad news for Houser

Clearly, the Giants know that the rotation could use some help so it would really not be a huge surprise if Tidwell supplanted Houser in the rotation within a month or so.

Tidwell had a 3.00 ERA in 8 appearances and 12 innings pitched for the Giants. He's looked really solid and obviously has a lot of familiarity with manager Tony Vitello from their days together at the University of Tennessee. He’s primarily been a starter in the minors so he has plenty of experience in that role even though he’s made just two big-league starts.

To Houser’s credit, he calmed down and pitched much better after that brutal start against the Phillies on Thursday. He made it into the fifth inning and exited the game with the score tied so he at least gave the Giants a chance to win the game which is commendable even if they did end up blowing it (again).

Still, the numbers do not lie. He has an 0-3 record on the year with a 7.12 ERA in six starts and 30 1/3 innings pitched. He’s given up 42 hits and six home runs as opponents are batting .323 against him. He’s struck out just 16 batters and walked 10. You get what you pay for.

The Giants knew they had two holes in the rotation last offseason and they decided to fill them as inexpensively as possible by signing Houser and Tyler Mahle for a combined $21 million for the 2026 season.

Those signings were not viewed favorably by many fans at the time and they have not exactly aged all that well. If the Giants didn’t want to spend on the rotation, I’d rather see them roll with a couple of young arms like Tidwell and Carson Whisenhunt rather than hope for the best with two inconsistent veterans who were relatively cheap for a reason.

Maybe the Giants will do just that as the season goes on. They’re headed the wrong direction so if they continue to languish in last place of the NL West then they should give their younger arms a look as starters to see how they fare and if they may have potential so they can at least get something out of this season.

A couple more bad starts from Houser and the calls for Tidwell, or literally anyone else, to be inserted into the rotation will become deafening.

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