Sean Manaea’s latest rough outing has Giants pondering rotation plans

Giants Pondering Rotation As Manaea’s Troubles Continue originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

SAN FRANCISCO — Gabe Kapler showed reluctance ahead of Wednesday’s game when asked if the Giants had finalized their pitching plans for this weekend’s four-game series against the up-and-coming Arizona Diamondbacks. The Giants listed “TBA” for all four games, and Kapler said they continued to have discussions, noting that each game brings more information about specific options.

Wednesday’s game actually gave the Giants even more leeway. It could also lead to some end-of-rotation changes.

Sean Manaea gave up eight runs — four of them earned — in an 11-6 loss to the Washington Nationals, continuing a trend for the two off-season additions to the rotation. Manaea has a 7.96 ERA across eight appearances and Ross Stripling is 6.66 across four starts and three spares.

That’s unsustainable for a team looking to compete for a postseason spot, especially given what is typically an intense rotation. Asked after the game about the end of the rotation and Manaea in particular, Kapler said that this was a start he wanted to finish by re-watching the film before leaning in any direction.

“You learn every time. If you look at Sean’s last game, you can see that the work got a lot, lot better after the first inning. We had hoped that this would continue in this game, but we didn’t see that,” Kapler said. “The process metrics were pretty good, or better (than ever before). The batsmen’s shots were pretty good too. There were a lot of fouls and he just wasn’t able to take hitters.”

“We will take that into account. We’ll all be in the pitching room and get together and decide what’s best for the future. But I still think we need to analyze a little bit what happened today.”

The timing of the recent blast was interesting, and not just because Tuesday’s signing of Casey Schmitt was a signal that the Giants might be ready for youth development sooner than expected. The Giants will see Cy Young nominee Zac Gallen this weekend, but also rookie right-handers Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson and left-hander sophomore Tommy Henry.

The Giants’ answer to such a young group is left-wing Kyle Harrison, who dominated in his last Triple-A start and is poised to be ready for the big league. Harrison is scheduled to start for Sacramento this weekend, but if problems continue at the end of the big league rotation, his schedule could be accelerated.

RELATED: Schmitt’s first milestone for the Giants organization

The more immediate solution should be a known one. Alex Wood started a stint in rehab over the weekend and has spent the last three days at Oracle Park waiting to see if he will be activated for the Diamondbacks series. The Giants had talked internally about building up Wood with another rehab trip, but may decide it’s unnecessary for a veteran who was good at throwing before pulling his left hamstring three weeks ago.

Wood’s return would push either Manaea or Stripling back into the bullpen. Even though Manaea’s start on Wednesday was an audition of sorts, it didn’t go well. In the second round he allowed a three-run home run, in the third he could no longer avoid JD Davis’ mistake and was eliminated after only eight outs.

“All my stuff just sucked,” he said afterwards. “That’s what it came down to.”

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast