SF Giants were very wise to avoid Tony Vitello-Max Scherzer reunion

There’s not much for the SF Giants to be thankful for right now. The team is in a deep hole and they’re struggling to climb out of it. Their offseason moves look worse and worse, but one move they can feel good about is not reuniting manager Tony Vitello with veteran pitcher Max Scherzer. 

It was the one move that everyone was predicting at the start of the offseason. Surely, the team with the new manager fresh from college that had two big holes in its rotation would want to sign a future Hall of Fame starter who is close with that manager to help get buy-in.

That’s now how it worked out. Despite the fact that Vitello coached Scherzer at Mizzou, the reunion did not materialize. Vitello even said that they never really crossed that line so it seems like something the Giants didn’t really entertain all that seriously.

Max Scherzer has been bad, and injured, for Blue Jays

That’s probably for the best. Scherzer wound up re-signing with the Toronto Blue Jays and is currently on the IL with forearm tendinitis and ankle inflammation. The 41-year-old had a jarring 9.64 ERA in five starts before going on the IL so it seems like this may be his last rodeo.

This decline didn’t come out of nowhere. Last season Scherzer had a 5.19 ERA in 17 starts although he did look better in the playoffs. Still, betting on a 40-something-year-old pitcher is always a risky proposition. The Giants took a chance on Justin Verlander last year and it paid off quite well. Now he too is on the IL with no clear timetable for his return so the Giants were smart to stay away from both Scherzer and Verlander.

That doesn’t mean they hit it out of the park with the pitchers they did sign. Adrian Houser has been very bad and currently has a 7.12 ERA in six starts. The Giants are seemingly getting his replacement ready in the minors. Tyler Mahle hasn’t been much better as he has a 5.87 ERA in six starts.

Some fans wish the Giants would have went after some of the top free agents on the market. It sure would be nice to have Framber Valdez right about now, but we know this ownership group isn’t a fan of big contracts for starting pitchers.

The solution is to develop homegrown pitchers from within but the Giants have really struggled to do that as well. Perhaps the best success story in recent years is Kyle Harrison. The only problem is that he’s currently dealing for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Giants gave him up for…well, let’s not even think about it. 

But let’s try to stay positive even though the team is currently 13-20 and seems to be spiraling towards a 2017-like disaster. At least they didn’t sign Scherzer or Verlander. Point one for the front office’s offseason!  

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