QUEENS, New York — The Giants’ starting rotation, which through the first week and a half of the season has been among the most effective in the majors, has a gaping hole in its fifth slot, after Alex Cobb landed on the 10-day injured list Tuesday, exiting his start with a strained right groin.
Cobb has missed significant chunks of time throughout his career with various ailments — three months lost in 2013 after taking a comebacker off his head, all of 2015 and most of 2016 taken by Tommy John surgery, back surgery that cost him all but three starts in 2019 — but entered this season throwing harder than ever, so he was particularly beaten up after being sidelined by another injury.
“It stinks,” Cobb said. “I’ve dealt with stuff all the time during my career. Finally felt like you’re in a good place physically, the ball’s coming out well, do everything you can do stay strong through a whole season. … Disappointing.”
Yet, he maintained confidence in the Giants’ ability to backfill his spot in the rotation.
“I think as an organization, they do a lot of things right. Depth is right up there at the top of the list,” Cobb said. “I wouldn’t expect it to hurt us too much. We’ve had some key guys go down and you wouldn’t even know. That’s what championship clubs do. This front office is far beyond any other place that I’ve seen in doing that. We’re gonna need everybody in the organization to accomplish what we want to accomplish this year.”
Following Tuesday’s doubleheader, manager Gabe Kapler said he had already given extensive thought to who would take Cobb’s place for at least the next two turns through the rotation, with Cobb on the 10-day IL (the 15-day IL for pitchers, a piece of the new collective bargaining agreement, doesn’t take effect until the start of May). However, he declined to provide any insight into the Giants’ plans.
So, with Cobb’s next turn in the rotation coming up Saturday against the Nationals, here’s a look at the candidates.
Sam Long, LHP: The Giants opted to carry Long as a guy who can eat innings and make the occasional spot start, so he would seem to be the most likely candidate to step in to Cobb’s rotation spot. He appeared in a similar role last season, appearing in 12 games, including five starts, with a 5.53 ERA. He had made only one appearance this year prior to Tuesday night and hadn’t pitched in more than a week. But he got 1⅓ innings of work — striking out two and not allowing a base runner — that could serve as a warm-up of sorts for a spot start Saturday against the Nationals, the next time Cobb’s rotation spot comes around.
Tyler Beede, RHP: Beede was the only member of the Giants’ bullpen not to appear in either game of the doubleheader Tuesday. That could either mean the Giants were saving him for more work later this week, or the more likely scenario, that they didn’t trust him in a game they believed was still winnable, trailing only 3-1. There’s no question Beede is the last option on the major-league pitching staff, almost certainly only on the roster due to his lack of minor-league options. That said, he started 22 games for them in 2019, before undergoing Tommy John surgery. However, that came under a different regime, one that didn’t prioritize strike-throwing and speedy work as much as Kapler and Co.
Jakob Junis, RHP: When the Giants optioned Junis to Triple-A Sacramento at the end of spring training, it came as a surprise, given that he signed a major-league contract and spent the better part of the past five seasons in the Kansas City Royals’ rotation. At the time, Kapler said Junis “profiles as a guy who can make starts for us at the major-league level.” But it has been a rough start to the season for Junis with the River Cats — who, it’s worth noting, play in the notoriously offensive friendly Pacific Coast League — making three starts, with an 8.74 ERA and being tagged for five home runs. He last pitched Saturday at Reno, allowing four runs on eight hits over four innings, which would line him up to make his next start Thursday or Friday, slightly out of line with Cobb’s rotation spot.
Sean Hjelle, RHP: The River Cats pitcher who does align with Cobb’s spot in the rotation is Hjelle, one of the Giants’ top pitching prospects and the one who is closest to the majors (and, at 6-foot-11, definitely the tallest). When he was optioned to Sacramento in spring training, Kapler said he believed that the 24-year-old “has a chance to start games for us this season … (and) be a contributor on our major league roster this year.” Unlike his companion his in the River Cats ‘rotation, Hjelle has enjoyed a strong start to the season at Triple-A, limiting opponents to one run over 8⅔ innings in his first two starts. He was effective but hittable in his third start Tuesday night, allowing twice as many runs (2) and hits (8) over 3⅔ innings against Oklahoma City as he had in his past two starts, combined.
