Four Giants pitching takeaways: Alex Cobb hits snag, Robbie Ray says he'll be worth wait (2024)

PHOENIX — The San Francisco Giants figured on an uneven first half of the season from Blake Snell. They understood he would require time to ramp up his stuff and stamina after signing barely a week before the season opener.

They did not expect that runway to be riddled with potholes.

The Giants placed Snell on the 15-day injured list Monday, one day after he reinjured his left groin while throwing a pitch in the fifth inning against the New York Yankees. They’ve already had to cobble together a pitching plan without Snell five times in the 11 times his turn came around. They’ve had to soak up innings when he’s been able to take the mound, too. He is 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA in six starts and hasn’t completed five innings in any of them.

So puzzling through their rotation options without Snell is not really a new problem for the Giants. They’ve pretty much been doing it all season.

But now that it’s assured Snell will miss a minimum of three more starts, perhaps longer if an MRI on Tuesday shows a more significant strain than the initial groin injury, it’s a good time to take stock of the Giants’ options beyond Logan Webb, Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks.

Keaton Winn could return in Texas

The Giants would love to get back the April version of Winn, who had a 3.18 ERA through his first six outings and spun three consecutive quality starts to end the month. It was concerning when he got rocked in three starts in May, but there were a host of qualifiers. He was under the weather when he didn’t make it out of the first inning May 4 at Philadelphia, he gave up seven runs in 3 2/3 innings at Coors Field, and he dealt with forearm tightness May 14 when he allowed five runs in four innings at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Winn was shut down after that start with what he described as a forearm cramp, and despite the ominous nature of those injuries, he has made a full recovery. Winn was ecstatic with his stuff and his health after throwing two aggressive sessions in the bullpen. He was scheduled to make a minor-league rehab start Tuesday for Triple-A Sacramento. Instead, as a result of Snell’s injury, Winn traveled with the team to Arizona and will throw simulated innings to minor leaguers at Papago Park on Tuesday. If he comes out of that session with no setbacks, then the Giants will look at him as the primary candidate to take Snell’s place in the rotation this weekend at Texas.

The takeaway: Winn struggled to stay healthy as a minor leaguer, and he hasn’t been a picture of durability in the big leagues, either. But he’s putting himself in position to be a rotation asset again at a time when the team’s need is acute.

Alex Cobb’s shoulder pushes back his return another month

When Cobb underwent hip surgery in October, every recovery estimate pointed to a return in June or perhaps mid-May if all went well. As spring training came to a close, Cobb was flying ahead of that schedule. His hip wasn’t compromising his delivery, he was throwing 96 mph, and he felt in sync with his stuff and mechanics. The Giants held off transferring him to the 60-day injured list and even left open the possibility, at Cobb’s insistence, that he could rejoin the rotation in the second turn through.

But Cobb is 36 years old with a high-mileage arm. So it wasn’t a total surprise when he was shut down in early April because of forearm tendinitis. Then things got really strange. Three days into his shutdown period, he woke up and his shoulder was on fire.

“I just thought, ‘What in the world,'” Cobb said. “It’s like I tore the back of my shoulder. How did that happen?”

Cobb couldn’t raise his arm more than a couple of inches or put his hand behind his back. An extensive range of tests couldn’t find any structural issues, either.

“I’ve been pricked and zapped and everything you can imagine to try to figure out what’s going on,” Cobb said. “Nothing shows up. The elimination of everything leads to the nerve. It’s excruciating pain one day and the next day it’s nothing.”

Cobb started taking a nerve medication, gabapentin, and was encouraged last week when he had four consecutive pain-free days and started his throwing progression anew. He hopes to throw off a mound by next week. There’s almost no point in trying to predict a return date at this point, but Cobb is eyeing an activation in July.

“All sorts of thoughts happen: Is my career over? Did I throw my last pitch in the big leagues?” Cobb said. “You just want to be a part of the team. You want to bury that as soon as you walk in the locker room and not mope around or be a bad teammate. Some days are easier than others.

“I don’t want to put a number on it, but I know I’m running out of time. I’m at the point where if something else happens and I have to shut it down for another month or so … . It’s just tough being a starting pitcher to build up to five innings. And our bullpen is overworked as it is. You don’t want to be a guy who comes back throwing three or four innings and hand it off to the bullpen. I have to be ready to throw deep into a game, and that takes time.”

The takeaway: Cobb is the kind of feisty competitor who can be effective at less than his best. Right now, he’s operating with a lot less than that.

Robbie Ray could return after the break

The Giants were so confident that Ray could recapture his 2021 AL Cy Young Award-winning form that they plucked him out of Tommy John rehab protocols and took on $78 million in payroll obligations when they acquired him from the Seattle Mariners.

Half measures don’t come naturally to Ray, who was grunting with every high-effort throw off flat ground in spring training. He’s continued to attack his rehab schedule with gusto at the Giants’ Papago Park complex in Arizona and will take a major step Tuesday when he throws an inning in the Giants’ Arizona Complex League game at Peoria.

There’s no expediting the schedule from here based on team need. Ray will have to keep checking off boxes in order as he eyes a return shortly after the All-Star break in July. The good news is that optimism abounds that he will be the best version of himself when he joins the Giants rotation.

“I think so,” said Ray, who checked in with Giants teammates at Chase Field on Monday. “I feel really good. The ball is coming out really good. All my stuff, I’ve been super happy with the way things have been going. I’m just looking forward to getting into a game.”

Cobb has watched video of Ray’s simulated innings and said he wishes the Arizona Complex League kids lots of luck.

“As someone who’s gone through Tommy John surgery, I tell you what, his mindset is fantastic right now,” said Cobb, who plans to attend Ray’s appearance Tuesday. “He’s very confident in where his stuff is and very confident he’ll be a key contributor. I watched his live last outing and he looked like Robbie Ray. That’s the simplest way to describe it.”

Ray figures he will have roughly 14 starts to make an impact in the regular season with plenty in the tank for a potential playoff run. Left unsaid: A dominant finish could set up the 32-year-old left-hander to opt out of the remaining two years and $50 million on his contract and seek another long-term deal.

“I feel I’ve done a pretty good job of hitting every milestone throughout the process,” Ray said. “It’s been a long process, but it’s been a good one. The training staff here picked up where the Mariners left off. They really helped get me back to where I am right now. I’m super fortunate for that.

“For me, most of my success comes from physicality. When I am in good shape and my arm is in good shape, and I’m getting after it in the gym, that’s when everything on the field kind of falls into place. It’s all been about getting my body right and everything else comes with that.”

The takeaway: The Giants have every reason to be optimistic about Ray’s second-half impact. But there’s no rushing the process to have him ready any earlier than that.

What the rest of the depth chart looks like

Tristan Beck is throwing without discomfort after surgery to repair an aneurysm in his right upper arm. He hasn’t touched a mound yet, though.

Carson Whisenhunt has a 6.15 ERA in 12 starts for Sacramento and he’s walking 5.2 per nine innings. He’s also missing a lot of bats — 65 strikeouts in 45 1/3 innings — but probably needs to be in the zone a little more consistently before he’d be an option for the big-league rotation. He’s also not on the 40-man roster, which makes him a near-term option only if the Giants suffer another injury to the rotation.

Landen Roupp hasn’t pitched since May 16 because of elbow discomfort. The Giants are hoping it’s minor inflammation and that he will be able to return within another week or two. But he’s not a candidate to be promoted the next time the big-league club needs a fresh arm.

Mason Black struggled in four big-league appearances in May. He tossed four shutout innings and struck out seven in a start for Sacramento on Sunday. Spencer Howard gave up some loud contact Monday but pitched credibly behind an opener after he adjusted and started to throw early-count offspeed pitches to Arizona’s aggressive, fastball-hunting lineup. Giants manager Bob Melvin said Howard pitched well enough to remain in his role. Critically, Howard is also out of minor-league options.

Takeaway: This isn’t an ideal time for the Giants to sacrifice starting pitching depth. Expect Howard to continue to contribute — behind a left-handed opener when it makes sense — until the Giants can bring other options online.

(Top photo of Alex Cobb: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)

Andrew Baggarly is a senior writer for The Athletic and covers the San Francisco Giants. He has covered Major League Baseball for more than two decades, including the Giants since 2004 for the Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. He is the author of two books that document the most successful era in franchise history: “A Band of Misfits: Tales of the 2010 San Francisco Giants” and “Giant Splash: Bondsian Blasts, World Series Parades and Other Thrilling Moments By the Bay.” Follow Andrew on Twitter @extrabaggs