The workload finally caught up with Hicks.
The San Francisco Giants announced this afternoon that Jordan Hicks would be placed on the 15-day IL with right shoulder inflammation. It’s a blow to an overworked bullpen and another sign that the team’s pitching plan formulated this offseason didn’t survive reality.
Hicks’ conversion from reliever to starter more or less worked. I think you’d might grade it a C+/B- overall, especially after his first 12 starts (April through May) where he had a 2.70 ERA (3.85 FIP) in 63.1 innings. He made just 8 more starts after May ended, though, and posted a 6.37 ERA (5.15 FIP) in his next 35.1 IP. He went back to the bullpen at the end of July and was effective-ish (2.79 ERA / 5.03 FIP in 9.2 IP) but even in these limited appearances it was clear that he was more gassed than sharp.
Now we’ll see if the career-high 108.1 innings plus shoulder inflammation is enough to keep him shut down for the rest of the season. That might be a better scenario than him coming back in September after rosters have expanded because I’d think the team would simply want him to rest and get ready for next season versus risk injury that knocks him out for a long time. And certainly, the reporting on his health lately has been… concerning:
Melvin says that Hicks has been dealing with some shoulder discomfort for awhile, thus the zingers down his arm the other day.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) August 27, 2024
The 4-year deal was offered in part because everyone figured there’d be times like this.
Still, it’s a blow to the Giants’ pitching staff. Robbie Ray hit the IL this morning (retroactive to yesterday) with a left hamstring strain, and although that most likely means he won’t opt out, it might not mean he pitches very much the rest of the season (unless the rehab goes swimmingly). The team’s preseason pitching plan was thrown into disarray almost immediately, and these post-deadline blows have exacerbated a bad situation.
Susan Slusser reports:
Sounds as if Saturday is likely to be a bullpen game but Black or Beck also could be considered for Ray’s spot.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) August 27, 2024
That’s exciting news about Tristan Beck. He had the blood clot issue in the offseason that put this entire season in jeopardy, but he’s already appeared in four Triple-A games, posting a… well, you know what? That’s not important. What’s important is that he’s back and he’s getting reps. He’s struck out 12 in 10.1 innings and walked only 2. Meanwhile, Mason Black has made 20 starts for the River Cats and has a 4.59 ERA in 84.1 IP with 87 K against 39 walks. That 2:1 ratio is suboptimal, but at this point, the Giants need warm bodies to throw innings.
Hayden Birdsong wound up being what the team had hoped Mason Black would be, but it turns out that they needed Mason Black to still be the Mason Black who was hoped for alongside Birdsong. Kyle Harrison’s start on Wednesday suddenly becomes very important not just from a pitching staff workload standpoint but from a “does this guy have any gas left in the tank” perspective?
Austin Warren is a sinker-slider guy who fits into a long-running Giants tradition of adding pitchers with 95 mph sinkers and 2500+ rpm sliders. He had elbow surgery back in May 2023, and so this is another pitcher on the John Brebbia-Luke Jackson path the Giants have traveled from time to time, signing a guy to finish his rehab with them and serving as a bullpen arm. Luke Jackson did not wind up being John Brebbia 2.0, but maybe Austin Warren can be? He’s struck out 27 in 24 IP across three levels of the Giants’ minor league system here in 2024, walking only 6. He was drafted in the 6th round of the 2018 draft by the Angels and debuted for them in his age-25 season of 2021. That’s been his best flash of major league time, posting a 1.77 ERA in 20.1 innings.
The real John Brebbia is actually out there and available right now, as the White Sox released him so that he could go find an opportunity to pitch for a postseason bound team. Or not. After shutting down the Giants to secure a 6-2 win the other day, the Tigers lit him up just a few days later to the tune of 4 runs in 1 IP. He has a 12.66 ERA in the second half (10.2 IP), so, if nothing else, maybe it’s just a 101-loss team clearing the deck.
And just for the sake of completion, Landen Roupp was recalled to take Ray’s spot while Jakson Reetz, who’d been placed on waivers to make room for Andrew Knapp, was outrighted to Sacramento.