SF Giants may reprise Farhan Zaidi’s favorite strategy for series opener vs. Tigers

The SF Giants will take on the Detroit Tigers in a three-game series beginning on Friday night. It was announced ahead of the game that JT Brubaker will be the team’s starter for the first game of the series.

It’s a bit of an unorthodox choice since Brubaker has not started a game all year which leads one to believe he will probably be used as an “opener” which was former president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi’s favorite strategy.

Zaidi especially liked the opener strategy in which a reliever will pitch the first inning before handing the ball over to a bulk-innings guy in his first few years running the Giants, but the team backed off the approach a bit in 2024, his final year with the team.

Ever since Zaidi’s ouster, the team has mostly opted to go with conventional starters which may be a reaction to how some fans really didn’t like the opener and platoon strategies that were a hallmark of the Zaidi era.

Giants are going to have to get creative with their rotation the rest of the season

But after the Giants traded away two of their five starting pitchers in Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle, they’re going to have to get a bit creative with the rotation the rest of this season especially after Trevor McDonald had to undergo Tommy John surgery.

On Friday night it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Giants try to get an inning or two out of Brubaker before turning the ball over to Adrian Houser who should be able to provide four or five innings in relief even though he was bounced from the starting rotation earlier this year.

Brubaker used to be a starter earlier in his career. He started 28 games with Pittsburgh back in 2022 but since an injury in 2023 he has been relegated to relief duties. This season with the Giants he’s had a respectable 3.17 ERA in 34 outings.

It was a little bit of a surprise that Brubaker wasn’t dealt at the trade deadline since he is a free agent after the year, but maybe other teams just didn’t express all that much interest since he’s more of a bulk innings and low-leverage guy rather than a late-inning flamethrower.

The Giants would probably like to avoid openers if they can and there’s a case to be made that they should be letting younger pitchers get an opportunity but at least in the short-term they’re going to have to resort to a Farhan Zaidi favorite to try to get through this slog of a season.

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