Former Giants pitchers to face off in ALCS Game 1

It’ll be Alex Cobb versus Carlos Rodon to lead off the Yankees-Guardians series Monday night.

Farhan Zaidi showed this fall he has the ability to assemble a playoff rotation. Unfortunately, as Monday’s games showed, those starters are all on teams that aren’t the San Francisco Giants.

Former Giant Alex Cobb is going up against former Giant Carlos Rodon in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series Monday night. It’s a matchup of two starting pitchers who signed contracts that were a Zaidi specialty, short-term deals with an option year. Rodon signed a two-year, $44 million deal with a player option on the second year, while Cobb signed a three-year deal for $30M, with a team option for the final year.

Rodon enjoyed a tremendous season for the Giants in 2022, going 14-8 with a 2.88 ERA. He led the league with an FIP of 2.25 and 12 strikeouts per nine innings. That put him out of the Giants’ price range, and he went on to sign a six-year contract with the New York Yankees for $162M. He had a rough 2023 season, starting 14 games and putting up a 6.85 ERA. This season he was much better, making 32 starts and going 16-9.

Cobb didn’t pitch at all for the Giants in 2024 after the team picked up his $10M option. He had hip surgery in the offseason, then the Giants traded him to the Cleveland Guardians at the deadline. The 37-year-old righty made just three starts for Cleveland, pitching 16.1 innings, but showed enough that he started Game 3 of the Division Series for Cleveland, where he gave up two runs in three innings in a 3-0 loss.

The New York Mets also started a former Giant Monday. Lefty Sean Manaea struck out seven Dodgers in 5+ innings in Game 2 of the NLCS in the Mets’ 7-3 win, somewhat betrayed by his infield defense in a three-run Dodgers 6th inning. He also had a one-plus-one deal with the Giants last season, opting out of his $12.5M salary for 2024 to sign a two-year $28M deal with the Mets, which also has a player opt-out for 2025.

While the Giants could have used these starters this season, particularly Manaea (12-6, 184 strikeouts in 181.1 innings), they did get something back. The compensation pick for Rodon’s departure was left-hander Joe Whitman, who MLB.com ranks as the team’s No. 6 prospect. SF got 19-year-old lefty Jacob Bresnahan (No. 17 prospect) in the deal for Cobb, along with infielder Nate Furman, Cleveland’s 4th-round pick in 2022.

There’s also Jose Quintana, who threw 9.2 innings for the 2021 Giants. He’s been on a roll for the Mets, throwing six shutout innings in his first playoff start, then beating the Phillies in a start wher ehe yielded only an unearned run in five innings. In fact, counting a start for the St. Lous Cardinals in 2022, Quintana has now made three straight postseason starts of at least five innings where he hasn’t given up a single earned run.

Cleveland may start another former member of the Giants’ roster, albeit one who never actually pitched for the team. Matthew Boyd started Game 2 and Game 5 of the Division Series for the Guardians, two seasons after Zaidi signed the injured Boyd to a speculative one-year contract for $5.2M while he was recovering from arm surgery. But the team traded him to Seattle at the deadline without Boyd ever appearing in a game for the orange and black.

The Giants may not be in the playoffs. But fans can live vicariously through the efforts of beloved, or not-so-beloved former hurlers on the playoff hill. It’s almost like watching the Giants beat the Dodgers or the Yankees!

Somewhere Zaidi is congratulating himself and dreaming about offering a 35-year-old pitcher coming off major surgery a one-plus-one deal. How can you not be romantic about playoff baseball?