Giants Rotation Gets Royal Boost

Cincinnati, Ohio--A last minute call up, and Dustin Hermanson pitches six strong innings, earns the win and helps the Giants avoid an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Reds. He is the eleventh starting pitcher the club has used this season. He won’t be the last. Through the gathering of arms from a number of sources, a loose confederacy of hurlers has emerged in San Francisco, causing mayhem on the road to Fresno, their AAA affiliate. Yet, judging from the standings, the efforts of the supporting cast have been (give or take some decidedly dodgy base running) truly commendable. Two youngsters in particular have leant a helping arm in trying times. Now, as heads start to turn toward October, the organization must whittle the number eleven down to the number four. As of last leek, a solution may be in sight. Tailored for those of us who demand quality as well as quantity, number twelve just rolled into town.

Outside San Francisco the pitching problems of the Giants have gone relatively unnoticed. Discussions of the ball club not involving Barry Bonds tend to concern formidable ace Jason Schmidt instead. Of the post-season contenders, the pitching vitriol is usually reserved for the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals, whose team ERAs stand at 4.60; seventy-five points above the Giants at 3.85. Indeed, a look at the numbers does little to betray the prevailing wisdom that the Giant’s staff is in good working order. The starting rotation stands at an impressive 51-32; the bullpen ERA is below 3.50 (fifth in the NL); closer Tim Worrell has converted 25 out of 29 saves.

Closer to home however, Giant’s fans are slightly nervous. There is a perceived, and real, lack of continuity in the starting rotation; on this matter there is no shortage of armchair criticism. It doesn’t help that across the bay the staff of Oakland is once again the class of the American League. In San Francisco, with Robb Nenn also on the sidelines, concern seems to have spilled over into the bullpen, despite its solid, if unspectacular, performance.

The Giants have been solid, if unspectacular, for most of the season. With a bucket-load of experience in most of the appropriate places, the team ranks third in the Majors in fielding percentage and first in one run contests (18-7). Unfortunately, whilst steady gloves and narrow victories are often the stuff of champions, they can also be the stuff of smoke, and mirrors.

In addition to using eleven different starters, thirteen pitchers have won a game for the Giants this season. Only the Padres, with fifteen, have more men in the win column. This could be a testament to the team’s adaptability or its strength in depth; more likely it is a testament to the team’s instability, caused by a steady stream of injuries to pitching personnel. Giant’s starters have logged 687 innings in 116 games; only seven Major League rotations have thrown less than this. Apart from Schmidt, no Giant has even thrown 100 innings. With a number of key position players also hogging the treatment table, it seems that Alou & co. have done well to avoid a rotation-induced meltdown in San Francisco. The club have used 43 players this season. It is the most since 1996, when they finished bottom of the division.

*

Consequently, on Thursday, a few telephone calls were made and reinforcements arrived. Bringing with him 14 wins (and a knighthood), Sidney Ponson was promptly anointed by MLB.com as the “second half of the most potent pitching duo in baseball.” Quite a billing for a pitcher with a career record of 55-58, who has never played in either a pennant race or the post-season. But you might say with the NL West all but sown up, Ponson has plenty of time to make a good impression. However, as Bobby Valentine knows only too well, commanding leads come, and commanding leads go.

At any rate, the arrival of Ponson marks a critical juncture in the Giants’ season. It is at the time when the contenders finish tuning and start revving their metaphorical engines. With this trade, the Giants are making plenty of noise in the NL West. In many ways, this signing marks the culmination of GM Brian Sabean’s organizational philosophy, and should come as no surprise to Giants aficionados. In his development plan for the ball club, Sabean has laid great emphasis on pitching. In the last three drafts, more than 85% of the Giants’ selections have been pitchers. In 2003, this strategy has brought results both on and off the field. Crucially therefore, in spite of the questions regarding the rotation, the organization has ended up trading from the very strength that others perceive as a weakness: pitching.

The lengthy process began, however unwillingly, with the exodus of Russ Ortiz in November, and continued on the eve of opening day when the Montreal Expos were paid $3.5 million dollars to take Livan Hernandez. Last week’s events could be squeezed into a Sabean model of sorts as the Giants outflanked their cash-strapped rivals by offloading the remainder of their pitching surplus.

It all sounds coherent enough, but the reality is a little choppier. Because of increasing financial constraints, the roles of GMs are characterized more by reaction than action. Strategies tend to be as much ad hoc as by design, and risks are seldom without consequence. Ortiz, for example, could win the Cy Young award this year with the Braves; his replacement, Damian Moss, is no longer even a Giant. Hernandez has thrived in Montreal, where he has won as many games as Jason Schmidt, pitched more innings than any Giant, and thrown four complete games .

In this fragile, victim-rich environment, the deal for Ponson was sealed just ten minutes before the trading doors were slammed shut for the year. With quality arms in scarce supply, and plenty of willing (if not able) bidders, the Giants have paid their price – and in blood. In return for Ponson, they have sent Moss, injured Kurt Ainsworth, and touted prospect Ryan Hannaman to Baltimore. That means that the Giants have effectively traded Ortiz, Moss and Ainsworth for Ponson. Considering that Ainsworth was declared by Baseball America 2002 to be the fourth most promising pitcher in baseball, and Ortiz paces the Majors with sixteen wins, this was a heavy price indeed.

There is another, even mightier catch. In a little over two months, Ponson will be eligible for free agency. The Giants will be hard pressed to hold on to him, particularly if he excels in the pitcher friendly confines of Pacific Bell Park. For the moment, the native of Arubia adds a meagre $775,000 to the payroll. With the bankroll already stretched in San Francisco, Ponson proved a suitable candidate by virtue of salary as well as caliber. Come the fall, his income should increase by a factor of five. With reports that, in the off-season, up to $10 million in wages will be slashed, Ponson may end up leaving the Giants for the same reason that he arrived.

*

The fanfare that surrounds Ponson’s arrival is less a case of collective euphoria than it is something of a collective sigh of relief. Regrettably, Sidney can only represent one fifth of the rotation. The other four fifths have been in a state of constant flux; with the exceptions of Kirk Rueter and Jason Schmidt, worthy occupants for the starting slots have been hard to find. The organization has flirted with a number of mediocre options, including Chad Zerbe, Ryan Jensen, Brian Powell, Jim Brower, and Dustin Hermanson. Zerbe has spent most of this season travelling from San Francisco to Fresno. Powell, after one unfortunate start in Colorado, was packed off to Philadelphia – indefinitely. The Giants picked up journeyman Hermanson only after pitcher depraved St Louis released him. And Brower was on the other end of the “trade” that sent Hernandez to the Expos. In making four quality starts in five attempts for the Giants, he is the pick of the bunch. His knack for eating up innings however has been of greater value, by protecting leads and preserving superior arms. Afflicted by the irony of the traded – and perhaps eroding the convictions of men like Sabean – the consumption of innings is Livan’s bread and butter.

Meanwhile, after just two starts in April, Ryan Jensen was relegated to Fresno, where he has remained since. Both Jensen and Moss were successful rookies last year, each winning 13 games. Perhaps, if they had been members of a ball club that could afford to either lose or wait, they (along with Ainsworth) would have been given a longer audition. But that is, presumably, what separates the Giants from the Orioles: the contenders of today, the contenders of tomorrow. Not many World Series winning teams, after all, have had more than two youngsters in their starting rotation. Thus, when in the spring two more rookies emerged to steal the limelight, the fate of their sophomore colleagues was all but sealed.

To great expectations, Jesse Foppert was the first through the door. After memorable duels with Kevin Millwood, Greg Maddux and Curt Schilling, the talented right-hander was handed a regular slot in the starting rotation. Then in late May, Kirk Rueter’s recurring shoulder stiffness created an opening for Jerome Williams, who could still develop into a legitimate candidate for rookie of the year . He has chalked up eighty-two innings with an ERA of 3.02. Better yet, he has held batters to a miserly .325 slugging percentage – eighth best in the Majors among starting pitchers. According to Sabean, it is on these healthy shoulders, aged respectively 23 and 22 that the future of the starting rotation lies. In the meantime, acquiring Ponson will take some pressure off the youngsters in their quest to perform consistently.

In bringing his man to San Francisco, Brian Sabean has proven as ambitious as he is calculating. Ponson was affordable, but he was costly too. The real price we will not know until October, because winning the World Series is priceless. However temporarily, the addition of Ponson will maximise the Giant’s chances.

It may not be enough. Ultimately there is a difference between Ponson being a good pitcher and the Giants winning the World Series. Naturally Sabean has both in mind; as is avoiding a repeat of last October. Since their heart-rending loss in Anaheim, Sabean has tinkered and tailored with a depleted roster, balancing additions both old and new around the offensive fulcrum of Bonds, the defensive pivot of Snow, the golden arm of Schmidt, and the kernel of composure that only veterans bring to a club house. By raising the stakes, on a player less tried and tested, and potentially less permanent, his latest move presents much more of a gamble.

Still, the starting rotation has been upgraded if not solidified by Sabean’s antics; the bills are all but unblemished; the best blood has been preserved. If Ponson really is as good as the Giants' scouts say he is, he may become this year's trade of the decade. With the decade’s player of all time already on their roster, they ought to do well. The galling reality is that Ponson may win the World Series, but with a different ball-club. In that case, only Sabean will have to live with his decision. But he need not worry. By then we’ll all be clamoring for a return to the ways that served us best: the twelve-man rotation.