Following Rafael Devers trade, how does SF Giants’ rotation depth look going forward?

SAN FRANCISCO The Giants are a better organization with three-time All-Star Rafael Devers than without him Their offense was a weakness so they dipped into a strength their pitching to acquire one of baseball s best bats Now Buster Posey and San Francisco s brass has a different question to answer After sending Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks to the Boston Red Sox how does their rotation shake out for the rest of the season The Giants rotation has been one of baseball s best up to this point Through Sunday that unit currently featuring Logan Webb Robbie Ray Justin Verlander Landen Roupp and Hayden Birdsong ranked fifth in WAR Webb is on his way to a second All-Star appearance Ray has been fantastic in his first season post-Tommy John surgery and Roupp quietly has a ERA since May San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Ray Robbie throws against the Cleveland Guardians in the fourth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco Calif on Tuesday June Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group But without Harrison and Hicks the Giants have significantly less major-league quality rotation depth The Giants demoted Hicks to the bullpen in favor of Birdsong ERA over six starts but he was at least capable of a spot start if needed San Francisco has already had eight different pitchers start a competition this year and it s very unlikely they can rely on their current quintet to account for every start until October The Giants do have plenty of arms waiting in the wings at Triple-A Sacramento a list that includes Keaton Winn Mason Black Trevor McDonald and the trio of Carsons Carson Ragsdale Carson Seymour and Carson Whisenhunt That mentioned this group collectively has very little experience starting in the majors Winn s starts in the majors are the bulk of the bunch but he hasn t pitched since April due to a shoulder injury Black had a ERA over nine games eight starts last season with the Giants and has ERA over appearances with Sacramento this season McDonald pitched only three innings last year for the Giants none of the Carsons have pitched in the majors Keaton Winn of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Texas Rangers during the first inning at Globe Life Field on June in Arlington Texas Photo by Ron Jenkins Getty Images Whisenhunt the Giants top pitching prospect stands out as an option to start at particular point for the Giants this season The -year-old left-hander pitched well to begin the season posting a ERA over his first nine starts and twice winning PCL Pitcher of the Week but he has a ERA over his last five starts The Giants bullpen also right now features Joey Lucchesi who has made major-league starts in his career but the left-hander has exclusively pitched as a reliever with both Sacramento and San Francisco this season Lucchesi could provide a multi-inning spot start in a pinch but he hasn t pitched more than two innings in a single outing this season For the Giants it s when not if they ll have to use another starter While Webb is on pace for another -inning season San Francisco will have to manage the workloads of other arms Roupp threw total innings last season between the majors and minors Following six scoreless frames on Saturday Roupp is up to innings this year As a professional the the bulk that Roupp has thrown in a single year is innings in San Francisco Giants pitcher Landen Roupp pitches against the Sacramento River Cats in the third inning of their exhibition match at Sutter Wellbeing Park in Sacramento Calif on Sunday March Jose Carlos Fajardo Bay Area News Group I m not worried about it at all I m just going to go out there and keep competing Roupp stated Like I noted during spring training I want to start and I feel better when I m starting When we get to that point it s kind of their decision and we ll talk about that but we haven t talked about anything like that so far Added manager Bob Melvin I think still here in the first half we ll kind of let it play out a little bit and see how it goes If we see at a few point where the velo is coming down or the stuff s not as good but I don t think we re there yet Ray is in a different position than Roupp but San Francisco will have to be cognizant of his innings as well The -year-old left-hander is in the midst of his first full season since after undergoing Tommy John surgery in He threw innings last year upon returning and is already up to innings this season The Giants can handle Ray differently than Roupp since the veteran lefty has thrown a high volume of innings in the past Ray averaged about innings per year from - excluding the COVID- impacted season Still San Francisco should be mindful given the spike between last year to this year It s not really something we ve talked about Ray commented I think it s going to be predicated on how I feel They ll kind of give me a little more leeway than they would somebody else just being over years in baseball There will maybe be conversations at specific point We ve already talked about several games where I don t reach the -pitch plateau or don t go over it just trying to limit it that way Related Articles SF Giants capitalize on Red Sox s costly errors to secure series win Rafael Devers powers SF Giants to win over old company with first home run SF Giants pitcher Sean Hjelle accused of abuse by estranged wife in social-media post Red Sox phenom Roman Anthony says Rafael Devers dependably great to me before deal to Giants SF Giants fall to Red Sox in Rafael Devers first competition against former company There s also the matter of Verlander the oldest current athlete in baseball The -year-old just missed a month due to right pectoral soreness and threw a career-low frames last year How multiple innings can the Giants depend on Verlander to throw Birdsong is a strategies away from matching last year s inning total The -year-old right-hander is only at innings after beginning the year in the bullpen and likely won t match last year s output of total innings until deep into the season The Giants have already swung the big bargain to sign Devers but do they potentially swing a smaller one to add major-league rotation depth Perhaps look for a few waiver candidates Or do they roll the dice with their litany of in-house options