Details fill in for a pitching staff that had still been a bit of a silhouette.
Some shocking news out of San Francisco Giants camp. This morning, Shayna Rubin reported, “Keaton Winn says he was optioned this morning. He plans to pitch in Sacramento tomorrow.” This follows up the most recent round of camp cuts announced yesterday. But that wasn’t the most surprising news. About a half hour later she added, “Kyle Harrison was optioned to minor league camp along with Keaton Winn. Joey Lucchesi was reassigned.”
I was very close to hitting publish on a post just about the Keaton Winn news, so it’s a good thing I went back and checked the timeline again. I had been wondering how the Kyle Harrison situation would play out, because I’ve been a firm believer in Hayden Birdsong having the majority of the papal conclave on his side. That dude has the juice. He’s got that dawg in him. Harrison was the favorite, but lost supporters along the way.
Meanwhile, Joey Lucchesi just seemed like a lock because the team looks to need another left-handed pitcher in their bullpen. Buster Posey disagrees (or maybe there’s a trade being worked out). In any case, this does help the pitching side of the roster snap into focus.
By rule, teams can carry a maximum of 13 pitchers, and the Giants’ pitching staff throughout the spring has been mostly teeming with quality arms. Presumably, Keaton Winn was in the Tristan Beck tier (Beck was optioned yesterday) where he could either be a multi-inning reliever or a fifth starter; and, like Beck, he’ll be down in Triple-A to start the season.
With Winn and now Harrison out of the picture, here are the “locks” for the staff:
Logan Webb
Justin Verlander
Robbie Ray
Jordan Hicks
Landen Roupp
Ryan Walker
Tyler Rogers
Camilo Doval
Erik Miller
Sean Hjelle
Lou Trivino
That leaves 2 spots with the following still in competition:
Hayden Birdsong
Randy Rodriguez
Spencer Bivens
Joel Peguero
Jerar Encarnación’s hand fracture adds a wrinkle to all this. For weeks, it’s been assumed that Tom Murphy’s ongoing back troubles and general unavailability would make him an automatic 60-day IL option, freeing up a spot for someone new to be added. This seems to be Trivino’s spot, as he was an NRI. If the Giants needed a second 40-man spot (which had been trending in Lucchesi’s direction), it seemed that it would be David Villar’s that’d be sacrificed. He’s had a tough spring on top of a tough major league track record (though in limited time). But now, with Encarnacion a probable 60-day add (Rubin reports, “Encarnacion says he expects to be out at least 4-5 weeks”), the potential problem is moot.
Plus, of the remaining group, only one needs to be added to the 40-man. Do the Giants like Peguero that much? The winner of the Barney Nugent Award hasn’t flown under the radar in camp, he’s loud and seen. Maybe velocity over handedness is the calculation.
On the other hand, maybe the Giants simply want to keep their options open. Could the Giants really go with Rodriguez & Bivens and send Birdsong & Harrison to the minors to get starter reps? It’s plausible. Of course, never discount the possibility that a trade is in the works. The Baltimore Orioles signed starter Kyle Gibson off the couch last night and for a substantial amount of money ($5.25 million). The Giants have depth to offer and now 40-man flexibility to do something interesting.
There’s probably more to say about Kyle Harrison’s fall from grace. It’s always newsworthy when a top prospect with service time gets demoted. Harrison has pitched 159 major league innings, made 31 starts. The Giants have seen enough for now, and that’s maybe not a terrible insult to him as the evaluation is being made against the rest of their depth. He might just need a little more work in the minors to sort things out. Not a terrible diagnosis for a 23-year old who was drafted straight out of high school.
It’s difficult to chalk it up to another one of the failures of the Zaidi era, since Hayden Birdsong is right there — Ryan Walker, Patrick Bailey, and the promise of Bryce Eldridge, too. And development isn’t linear, as development folk so often say. Still, this should be considered a significant demotion and a sign that the team doesn’t have him penciled in for anything. That’s probably for the best, but it’s still a shock.