On the latest episode of the Giants Talk podcast, Cole Kuiper and Alex Pavlovic discuss the Giants top priority in free agency, a right-handed bat. Would Seiya Suzuki, Kris Bryant or Nick Castellanos be a good fit?
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- When the Giants' clubhouse reopened to the media Monday morning, there were starting pitching options in just about every corner.
In addition to the starting five -- completed early Monday when the Giants officially announced the Carlos Rodon deal -- they have familiar faces Tyler Beede (who is out of options) and Sammy Long in camp. It's impossible to miss Sean Hjelle, not just because he's nearly seven feet tall, but also because he came to Scottsdale with an impressive mustache.
The Giants seemingly have a wealth of options, but there was a newcomer in the morning. Veteran Jakob Junis signed a one-year, $1.75 million deal, adding another arm to the mix.
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Junis had a 5.26 ERA in 16 appearances, six of them starts, for the Kansas City Royals last year, but manager Gabe Kapler focused on another number. He pointed to Junis' xFIP, or expected fielding independent pitching, which estimates a pitcher's performance based on strikeouts, walks, hit batters and flyballs. In other words, it's a tidy way to say a pitcher can only control so much.
Junis had a 3.88 xFIP last year. In each of the past four seasons, his expected numbers were better than his actual ERA.
"He's an interesting dude," Kapler said of a right-hander who struck out more than a batter per inning last year and has historically had low walk rates.
"He struck dudes out, he pounded the zone, he threw a lot of strikes," Kapler continued. "He did give up some damage, which is going to change the final numbers, but if you control for some things like ballparks and just kind of play out what he did at the Major League level with the Royals, you can see an effective Major League pitcher in there, a pitcher that can stick and be a major piece of this team."
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There was another big reason the Giants were drawn to the 29-year-old: He has a minor league option remaining. Rostering optionable players, particularly starting pitchers, will be crucial this season as teams try to get through 162 games after a shortened spring.
The Giants brought Long back and forth last year to fill in, and they know they'll need similar players this year. Beede is out of options, but they are still discussing extending Kervin Castro, who didn't allow a run as a reliever last September and was a starter in the minors before the pandemic.
Kapler said it's too early to know exactly how they'll use Junis, but "bulk innings" might be the best way to describe what he can bring.
"I've been the bulk innings guy, I've been that 30-start-a-year guy, I've got a little bit of bullpen experience," Junis said. "I'm not sure where I fit right now, but I'm excited to be here and excited to find out."
The Junis deal was announced a few minutes after the Giants officially added Rodon to their roster, giving them what should be one of the National League's best rotations if healthy. Kapler said Logan Webb, Rodon, Alex Wood, Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Cobb are all on track to be ready for the start of the season, but you never know how a spring will play out.
If the five do stay healthy, the Giants still could find a way to sneak extra "bulk innings" arms onto the roster for the start of the year, which includes 16 games in the first 17 days. They expect MLB will expand the roster for April, which should help keep some guys fresh for a season that all involved hope will extend through October.
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"We have a lot of innings to cover in 2022," Kapler said. "Everybody in our organization has said this in some way or another: We don't think that we have five starters that are going to take down all of those innings and all of those starts. We need lots of contributors.
"I think we had some good fortune last year in the amount of pitchers that actually started games for us. It wasn't one of those areas where we set records (for pitchers used). In this particular case, I think we have to focus on eating all of those spring training innings, all of those regular-season innings, and -- if we do things the way we expect to do them -- a lot of playoff innings as well."
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