SF Giants are wisely considering shutting down Logan Webb amid uneven season

Entering the 2026 season, SF Giants ace Logan Webb boasted a 3.29 career ERA in 70 regular-season appearances against division rivals. Against the San Diego Padres, the mark was even lower at 3.15 across 17 outings. But this year's campaign, in so many ways, has been a bizarre one for the team by the bay and its starting pitcher. Over seven starts against National League West opponents, Webb has posted a 6.88 ERA. In his three starts against the Padres, it's at 9.00 after the 29-year-old allowed six runs over five innings on Sunday at Oracle Park.

With basically a couple of weeks left on the schedule and nothing concrete to compete for, one question has started to arise: should Webb be shut down for the remainder of the season? When asked about it, manager Tony Vitello agreed it now has to be taken into consideration.

"I think it's a conversation at this point," Vitello admitted.

Webb has struggled to find consistency

It's been a weird year for Webb. His latest stretch is the perfect example of how inconsistent the three-time All-Star has been this season. Over his last five starts, he's failed to pitch through the third inning twice — giving up a career-high nine runs in Pittsburgh and five runs in Boston — but also allowed just two runs over six innings against the Reds a couple of weeks ago. He came into Sunday's game after holding the Cardinals to one run over six innings with eight strikeouts, only to fall apart again.

"I don't really got much for you guys today to be honest," Webb told reporters when asked about his recent up-and-down stretch.

Since his breakout season in 2021, Webb has been known to put his team in a good position to win every time he steps on the mound. He's led the league in innings pitched the last three seasons and has provided the most quality starts in baseball since that historic 2021 season.

This season, Webb has scuffled by his usual standards. He's allowed at least four earned runs nine times, the second-most in a season in his career. In seven of those games opponents managed to hang at least five earned runs on him — a career high — and five times the total went up to at least six runs — also a career high.

But despite those poor outings and missing around a month of competition and four scheduled starts, Webb's 160 2/3 innings pitched still rank 14th in the National League and his 17 quality starts are tied with Michael King and Jesús Luzardo for ninth-most. He's pitched through the eighth inning four times in 27 starts this year, which ties a career high from 2022 (32 starts) and 2023 (33). The issue has been finding a rhythm that lasts more than five starts.

After a rough start to his eighth season in the big leagues — he posted a 5.06 ERA over his first eight outings — Webb was placed on the injured list with right knee bursitis, his first trip to the IL since October of 2022. When he came back in late May, he looked a lot more like his usual self. Across five starts in June, he posted a staggering 0.71 ERA, which earned him his first National League Pitcher of the Month Award. Then he struggled again in July, posting a 6.59 ERA over five starts, before bouncing back yet again in August (2.83 ERA). So far in September, his ERA sits at 11.08 for the month and 4.31 on the year, his highest mark since 2020, and it might stop fluctuating for good. Maybe it should, given how this season has gone from an injury standpoint.

The last thing this organization needs is to lose yet another core piece and put next season in any kind of jeopardy. Out of the 26 names that were on the Opening Day roster, just four of them — Logan Webb, Jung Hoo Lee, Landen Roupp, and Christian Koss — are still on the current active roster. As for the 22 others, 11 are on the injured list, seven were traded away, three were designated for assignment, and one (Ryan Walker) has been optioned back to Sacramento.

Next year's rotation has already been affected by the losses of both Carson Whisenhunt and Trevor McDonald, as the two pitchers will need to undergo Tommy John surgery and are expected to miss all of next season. The Giants will need Webb to be Webb whenever 2027 tips off. He needs a normal offseason and a normal spring training, something he didn't get this year.

Did the WBC affect his performance?

When a player gets the opportunity to represent his country on the biggest stage, he usually doesn't say no. No matter what the timing is. For Webb and the Giants, the timing wasn't ideal. The World Baseball Classic took place right toward the end of spring training, forcing Webb to get ramped up quicker than usual.

On March 1, he left the Giants camp. About a week later, he made his first start with Team USA against Team Brazil, tossing four innings of one-run ball. A week later, he held Team Canada scoreless over 4 2/3 innings and flew back to Arizona on March 18, the day after Team USA lost the final against Team Venezuela. The next day, he gave up six runs over four innings against the Rockies in his final start before Opening Day.

At first, Webb was adamant that his sluggish start didn't have anything to do with the tournament. He initially rejected the idea on March 31 after a start in San Diego, saying that "it's not that. I'm just a little off." Then came the All-Star break and the joint decision to use the break to give him what appeared to be a much-needed breather after his knee injury and the early intensity of the WBC. Webb didn't pitch in the All-Star Game.

Fast-forward a couple of months, and Webb stated that he "had no clue" whether there was any carryover from the WBC after he put up a clunker against Paul Skenes and the Pirates, giving up nine runs in just two innings. Now in September, Webb acknowledged the possibility that the competition might have in some ways impacted his season. He told the San Francisco Standard's John Shea that he'll never know for sure and couldn't tell if that was the reason or not.

The bottom line is this: Webb received the impossible-to-turn-down opportunity to wear his country's colors on an international stage and went for it, even if it could disrupt his preparation for the season. Nobody can blame him for that. It might have been a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Whether his inconsistency and struggles have been related to his participation in the tournament will remain a mystery.

Plus, it might have actually been the right year for Webb to be a little off. Too many things went wrong with that team for it to contend. Even a prime Logan Webb couldn't have salvaged them. Who knows what next year will look like? Webb needs to be 100%. In the meantime, the Giants have enough young arms that are eager to prove themselves and can eat the rest of the innings.

Webb could be tempted to use his next two scheduled starts, both against the Dodgers, to improve those numbers against division rivals. No better team to do that against than the L.A. foe. But the decision isn't entirely his.

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