Former Cy Young winner Robbie Ray is excited about the SF Giants ' collection of starting pitchers, which will add him and Alex Cobb midseason. But he's echoing the sentiments of the entire fanbase when he suggested that the team still needs to add some hitters.
On a video call with reporters, Ray said, "I think we’re in a really good spot as far as it goes with arms and it seems like we have a really good group of guys. We could probably add a few bats — a couple of bats wouldn’t hurt."
Farhan Zaidi has made a few moves to bolster the starting rotation, trading for Ray and signing reliever Jordan Hicks with the aim of making him a starter. But on the offensive side, the Giants haven't done much since inking KBO star Jung-Ho Lee back in December.
Sure, the Giants signed a new backup catcher in Tom Murphy. The team also added another catcher/outfielder to hang out with Blake Sabol when they acquired Cooper Hummel from the New York Mets.
Still, that does not seem like enough to move the needle for an offense that scored the fifth-fewest runs in baseball in 2023. Murphy hits lefties well, slashing .264/.352/.489 for his career, but he's a backup
Absent additional signings, the Giants are looking at below-average hitting at most of the positions on the field. Only LaMonte Wade Jr. and Wilmer Flores reached base in even 35% of their trips to the plate last season. Only Flores hit more than 18 home runs. Four Giants struck out more than 100 times, and only Wade cracked the 60-walk mark.
Unless a "couple of bats" arrive, the offense will have to lean heavily against very young players and some past-their-prime players. Primarily, these are also slow players, though Ray was polite enough not to request that the Giants also add "a couple of gloves" or "some shoes that don't have lead in them."
Ray will be out until at least the All-Star break, recovering from Tommy John surgery, a timetable Ray called a "best-case scenario." So Ray and the Giants will have two months, after which Ray has the option to opt out of the last two years and $50 million on his deal.
That decision may depend on how well Ray pitches after missing 16 months, but it also may depend on how well the Giants can add bats. Their new number two starter hasn't started throwing off the mound yet, but he's already started throwing his weight around on personnel moves.
As he should. The SF Giants would love to have a complement to Logan Webb at the top of their rotation, but they don't want that guy to get Webb's terrible run support either.
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