The San Francisco Giants have gone to great lengths to upgrade their lineup this off-season, landing top free agent short stop Willy Adames to fill a long-vacant hole in their order, and even more help could be on the way.
But ace starting pitcher Logan Webb saw his running mate from last season Blake Snell depart to San Francisco’s arch rival Los Angeles Dodgers, leaving a huge vacancy in the club’s starting rotation and placing a heavy burden on the 28-year-old to carry the pitching staff.
Snell only made 20 starts in the 2024 campaign, but he proved impactful once he recovered from an injury, posting a 3.12 ERA and striking out 145 hitters in 104 innings pitched.
The one-two punch of Webb and Snell allowed the Giants to stay close to the league average in team ERA despite struggles throughout the rest of the staff, but the group is going to need to improve as a whole if San Francisco is to succeed in improving upon last season’s 80-82 mark.
It seemed as though the team made an effort to replicate that duo by trying to land this year’s top free agent arm Corbin Burnes. But Burnes’ decision to sign with NL West rival Arizona forced new president of baseball operations Buster Posey to look elsewhere.
Looking at the organizational depth chart, you can see Posey’s vision in trying to piece together a solid rotation behind Webb.
Veteran Robbie Ray flashed outstanding strikeout stuff with 12.62 punchouts per nine innings pitched, but he struggled to prevent runs with a 4.70 ERA. However, the 33-year-old could have gotten better results, as evidenced by the 4.09 xFIP that lurked beneath his ERA.
If Justin Verlander can stay healthy, there is reason to believe the future Hall of Famer can bounce back from his putrid results with the Astros last season. His best days are clearly behind him, but he’s only three years removed from a 1.75 ERA over a full season in 2022. And, Verlander dealt with injuries much of last season.
Youngster Kyle Harrison could take a major step forward, and perhaps Jordan Hicks unlocks some better results in his second season since converting from reliever to starter.
Even if three of those four starters land on the positive side, it’s not likely any of them will provide what Snell did, which means Webb will likely have to approach a career year for the Giants to achieve the aspirations that the Adames acquisition suggest.
He’s certainly capable of that. Webb’s combination of availability and consistency is impeccable. In 2022, he made 32 starts and pitched to a 2.90 ERA. He followed that up with a 3.25 mark with even better underlying numbers in 33 starts in 2023. Last year, his 3.47 in 33 starts marked another chapter in what is quickly becoming a prolific career.
The Giants have been able to count on Webb to make every start in a season, and if he can do that again this year while elevating his K-rate and making marginal improvements in run prevention, he has a great chance to collect his first Cy Young award after finishing as the runner-up in the National League in 2023.
If the Giants are going to re-capture the magic that saw them finish with the best record in the league in 2021, it will be in large part because Webb found a new gear to further cement himself as one of the top aces in the sport.
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