SF Giants roster deficiency has become glaringly obvious late in season

The SF Giants have been playing some great baseball as of late, but that does not mean they don't have any glaring holes on their roster. As of late, it has become glaringly obvious that their lack of starting pitching depth could come back to bite them.

On Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Carson Seymour got roughed up and did not make it through the second inning as he allowed four earned runs in 1 and 1/3 innings of work as the Giants lost 5-3.

SF Giants have a glaring roster weakness with their starting pitching depth

Right now, the Giants really only have three solid starting pitchers. Logan Webb has been excellent as of late, Robbie Ray has not been as good as he was in the first half but he is still healthy and reliable, and Justin Verlander has really started to come on as of late.

It is nice to have three starters you can count on, but the other two rotation spots have been much more of a question mark. Really, the team has been trying out some of their younger pitchers in those spots for the past month or so. Seymour, Kai-Wei Teng, and Carson Whisenhunt have all had at least one or two starts that make it seem like they belong in the big leagues. Yet, none has been consistent enough to fully trust in the rotation.

Teng has been shaky and Whisenhunt has struggled to find a groove while also dealing with injury so the team has really been at a loss for what to do. They could try more bullpen games or have openers start some games but their options in Triple-A are not all that enticing. Neither Hayden Birdsong nor Mason Black is going to come in and save the day so the Giants are really just going to have to patch things together the rest of the season.

This would be much less of an issue if the Giants did not have anything to play for. They could throw Teng and Seymour out there and let them figure things out and gain experience. The problem is that after the team's hot streak over the last few weeks they actually have a chance at the playoffs but every single game matters so much.

At this point, some sort of bullpen game or opener approach for those two spots in the rotation would probably be the best option. Sure, some fans will gripe about it but it would be interesting to see what their solution to this conundrum would be.

No matter what, the Giants clearly need to add to their rotation this offseason as it has been decimated by injuries and much of their depth has either been proven ineffective or traded away.

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