SF Giants now have two months to hold open auditions for 2027 starting rotation

Logan Webb has two years left on the five-year, $90 million extension he signed with the franchise in April 2023. Despite the SF Giants being one of the main sellers at this year's trade deadline, president of baseball operations Buster Posey still believes his team will contend before Webb's contract comes to an end.

"I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities at all to think that we can be in contention," he said to reporters on Monday. "Yes, I do think that there is still a chance, as bad as this year as been, that we can be a team that can be in contention."

That's why rebuilding isn't necessarily the right word to describe what this organization accomplished at the deadline. Retooling would be a more appropriate term. Yes, their All-Star second baseman is gone, two of their three experienced starters were dealt, their homegrown former All-Star in left field is no longer with the organization and two of their more efficient relief arms were shipped out. But if they actually decided to commit to a rebuild, Webb would be gone, and they would have paid down most of the money owed on Willy Adames’, Matt Chapman’s and Rafael Devers’ contracts to desperately get rid of them. They would have started from scratch. That's not what went down.

They did subtract six major-league players and added arguably one in former Boston Red Sox top prospect Marcelo Mayer, who’s still recovering from a bone stress reaction. Still, the core remains the same. So, when asked what would need to happen for this team to contend again over the next couple of years, Posey’s answer was simple:

"Score more runs and prevent more runs."

The scoring part will largely rely on the performances of their big-contracts bats, such as Devers, Adames, Chapman and Lee. Casey Schmitt, who will likely miss the rest of the season due to a torn meniscus, is expected to be an important piece of that lineup.

As for the pitching, the overall picture is murkier. With both Tyler Mahle and Robbie Ray leaving at the deadline, and Trevor McDonald set to miss all of next season due to Tommy John surgery, three-fifths of a possible rotation are now out of the equation. Webb and Landen Roupp stand as the only two mainstays. The other three spots are still up for grabs.

Internal arms will now get a chance to shine for Giants

The remaining two months of this season will serve as an opportunity to see whether part of the answer can be found in-house. The whole solution probably won’t come from within, though. Some of the work will have to be done during the offseason. Players like Shane Bieber, Casey Mize and Zac Gallen will be free agents this winter and could all be realistic targets to bolster this group of arms.

One thing Posey and his staff nailed at this deadline was bringing more quality arms into the system in exchange for their impending free agents. They acquired three potential starters in Ramón Márquez, Henry Lalane and Miguel Méndez. Throw in Jackson Flora, whom they selected fourth overall in the draft, and the future looks a lot brighter.

But those players are still young and need development. They probably won’t make a sustainable impact until at least 2028, and baseball won’t stop until then — though the lockout might make it feel sooner than it actually is.

For the rest of this season, the coaching staff will have to mix and match. Experimenting a bit could be an option, whether that means using a few openers or throwing some bullpen games now and then to see who is more comfortable in each situation. Some young pitchers will get the runway they need to show their true worth instead of receiving just one or two starts in September.

Two of those young pitchers are Blade Tidwell and Carson Whisenhunt. The latter has already made four starts this season, and the results have been mixed so far. He pitched at least five innings, allowed just two runs and picked up the win the first two times he took the ball, but then failed to replicate that success in his next two starts, allowing 10 runs and walking eight batters in just over eight innings. Those types of results are expected with young arms. They’re going to make mistakes and be inconsistent, that’s part of the process.

On Tuesday in Texas, Blade Tidwell will make his first start in a Giants uniform and the third of his major-league career — he started a couple of games for the Mets last season that went rather poorly. The 25-year-old, acquired in the Tyler Rogers trade last season, made his big-league debut with San Francisco during the first week of the season and stayed on the big-league team for most of April before being optioned back on April 29. All eight of his appearances came out of the bullpen, as he posted a 3.00 ERA in 12 relief innings and recorded one save.

During his time in Sacramento, Tidwell has transitioned into a starter. He has posted a 3.82 ERA over 15 starts with the River Cats and pitched at least five innings eight times. Now, he gets an opportunity to do it under the bright lights and potentially earn a spot in next year’s rotation. Just like with Whisenhunt, mistakes are expected, and that's totally fine.

Another candidate for one of those spots is Adrian Houser, who’s under contract next season with a club option for 2028. Houser struggled during his 14 starts with the Giants, posting a 5.73 ERA over 66 innings and allowing lefties to hit .339 with a 1.042 OPS against him. So, he was moved to the bullpen. Since then, he's looked a lot more like the White Sox version of himself. He has made seven relief appearances and pitched 28 2/3 innings out of the bullpen, posting a 2.10 ERA, issuing just five walks and holding left-handed hitters to a .114 batting average. He’s expected to cover the bulk of the innings on Wednesday, probably with an opener in front of him.

Come September, when active rosters expand from 26 to 28 players, Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson could be granted a chance to make his major-league debut. Acquired in the Patrick Bailey trade, the 23-year-old lefty started the year in Double-A with Cleveland before joining Richmond in May. He made just three starts there before earning a promotion to Triple-A Sacramento, where he has posted a 4.41 ERA over eight starts. His last outing was his most impressive: seven shutout innings on just three hits while striking out nine batters. It might be a long shot, but it would certainly be a lot of fun. A few more performances like his last one would make the decision much easier.

As it currently stands, only two of the five spots in next year’s rotation are secured. Webb and Roupp should pitch every five days. Beyond those two, the Giants will have to evaluate what they have and what they can add during the offseason. A realistic guess would be Webb, Roupp, Houser — because he’s under contract — one free-agent acquisition and one homegrown option, such as Whisenhunt or Tidwell. But who am I to even try to predict baseball?

One thing is for sure: if Posey and the Giants want to contend with Webb, they’ll have to give him a supporting cast. The auditions start today. The work will continue throughout the offseason.

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