The Giants pitching last season was excellent as ever. Leading the pack was the dynamic duo of former two-time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum and reliable workhorse Matt Cain.
Along side of them was sophomore Madison Bumgarner in his first full season and travelling veteran Ryan Vogelsong, who barely cracked the roster.
The four pitchers had ERAs of 2.74, 2.88, 3.21 and 2.71 respectively. Three of them surpassed the 200 innings pitched plateau and all of them had an ERA+ above 110.
That starting four is as strong as they come. Vogelsong surprised, Cain repeated his steady form, Lincecum bounced back from a down season, and Bumgarner shut down any lineup put against him.
What about the fifth starter?
Well, that role was split between Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez and Eric Surkanp due to nagging injuries and streaks of mediocre performances.
Sanchez pitched like Sanchez, posting a 4.26 ERA with 102 strikeouts in 101.1 innings pitched. Zito…
Well, he pitched like the Zito we all know. He pitched in only 53 innings in 2011, with another terrible ERA of 5.87. To give an idea of how bad he was, Cain had one less home run allowed in almost four and a half times the amount of innings Zito pitched.
Surkamp was a last minute spot starter, appearing just six times toward the end of the season. He had some good performances, and he had some bad. Ultimately his 5.74 ERA proving that he is not yet ready for a starting job in the big leagues.
Now that the Giants are heading into the off season, they need to figure out who the fifth starter is going to be.
Here are some options the Giants are considering:
Option One- The No-Hitter No Brainer
This is the option we turn to every year: can Sanchez pull together a consistent season? Maybe.
He is a streaky pitcher who has some amazing stuff. He strikes out guys almost as well as Lincecum, but he falls apart every other start.
In 2010, Sanchez was a very effective pitcher, his ERA+ was 127, well above average, and he had a career-low ERA of 3.07 (lowest of all starters).
In 2009, he pitched a near perfect game that was broken up by an error by Juan Uribe. He settled for a no-hitter.
Last year he suffered injuries and made trips to the disabled list. He is arbitration eligible this year, and I assume he will be offered it. This is the safest option for the fifth starter, as he has the potential to be a very good pitcher.
But can he finally show he is worth keeping around?
Option Two- Zito…
Yeah, this is still an option. He cost the Giants $18.5 million last season, and he plans on sticking around until the end of the 2013 season.
Zito allows too many home runs, he was injured a majority of last year, and he shows no signs of getting better at pitching. If the Giants can trade him, good for them for clearing dead money off the payroll.
If the Giants can put him in a long reliever role in the bullpen for 2012, that might be acceptable. Alas, he is still an option for the Giants fifth starter.
Option Three- Young Guns
This option is less likely, but the Giants have some decent pitching talent in their farm system.
Surkamp is almost ready for the big leagues, as he pitched amazingly in the minors last year. In AA Richmond, he posted a 2.02 ERA with 165 strikeouts in just 142 innings while allowing just five home runs. He is just 24 years old and will likely start in AAA Fresno if he is not chosen for the opening day roster.
Dan Runzler has pitched for the Giants the past three seasons exclusively as a reliever. Last year he posted a 6.26 ERA in 27 innings pitched as a Giant.
Down in Fresno, he posted a 3.98 ERA last year while starting his first string of games. He doesn’t give up many home runs but he allows over five walks per nine innings in the bigs. That number is very concerning when looking at him as a starter.
Option Four- Hit the Market
This option is very unlikely and buying a free agent pitcher is not going to be a simple task. The Giants are short on cash and they already have pitchers in their system that can fill in.
But, this is still an option, no matter how foolish it may be.
Free agent pitchers that could see time on the Giants roster are: Mark Buehrle (33), Jeff Francis (30), Jon Garland (30), Rich Harden (30), Edwin Jackson (28), the list goes on and on.
Many pitchers could fit in this rotation, but I just don’t see the Giants going out to buy an arm.
J. Sanchez needs to be traded to a team that will value him better as a #3 or #4 starter. In SF, he can’t pitch w/o run support. It makes him too vulnerable. I bet he does well with a solidified role AND run support. Moving him from #2 to #6 in our rotation just isn’t for him.
On at least 12 MLB teams Dirty would be a #3 starter, I think.
We have Justin Fitzgerald, who I’d like to see in spring training and maybe ‘take the fifth.’ Or maybe Craig Wescott or Ryan Verdugo, but I think these two would be a real stretch. I doubt Surkamp is ready.
Zito will only be alright with me IF the Giants get some serious offense to support ALL our great pitchers. I’d bet Zito can win 12-14 games if he gets 5 runs of support consistently. The Giants need to get offense anyways. REAL offense. Not old shortstops (Rollins) or old outfielders on long contracts (Beltran) or oft-injured lead-off types (Reyes or Crisp).
To say in 2011, Zito “pitched like the Zito we all know” is unfair. I’m not a fan of him, but please be fair… He’s never been hurt before. He hovers around a 4+ ERA for his career. This 2011 season was EXTRAORDINARILY bad, even for Zito.
Maybe there’s a team that would take a chance on Zito if they only need to pay $4-5M per year for him, saving the Giants $8-10M on his $46 million remaining. Or trade him for the risk of Peavy. Or for Chone Figgins. Or Vernon Wells.
Or try to package him with some players/prospects (and cash)and get Wandy Rodriguez from the Astros while they go through a re-building phase. They’ll have new ownership. They are likely to move to the AL in 2013. Saves the ‘Stros some money.
Trade some prospects for a top pitching prospect. The Giants have a lot of position prospects that will be ‘blocked’ by current players. Like Adrianza, Culberson, and Gillaspie. Others with little organizational value like C Max Ramirez and CF Tyler Graham/Justin Christian. Or UT Manuel Burriss.
Maybe we could put a big prospect package together and get a prospect like Kyle McPherson or Justin Wilson from Pittsburgh. Or Brian Bogusevic from Houston.
Anaheim needs a closer for ONE year while Walden works into the closer role, maybe a straight swap of Brian Wilson for Garrett Richards?