For much of the offseason the San Francisco Giants' starting rotation was a bit of a mystery. It was relatively unknown who would be returning to the team, who would be in the bullpen and who would be healthy. Manager Bruce Bochy helped clear most of it up on Wednesday.
According to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, Bochy said Ryan Vogelsong and Yusmeiro Petit will enter spring training as relievers, which all but officially announces Tim Lincecum as the team's fifth starter (he failed to explicitly mention that). If Bochy were to submit a lineup card for the starting rotation it would look like the Giants' depth chart: Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain, Tim Hudson, Jake Peavy and Lincecum.
Following the Giants' World Series victory, a number of questions surrounded the status of their rotation for 2015. Would Cain be healthy coming off elbow surgery? Was the team planning to re-sign Peavy and Vogelsong? Would Lincecum continue assuming a role in the bullpen while Petit gets promoted to the rotation after his impressive postseason?
They have now seemingly addressed all of those questions because Cain is expected to be ready for Opening Day, the team re-signed Peavy and Vogelsong, and faith is restored in Lincecum to return as a starter, at least heading into spring training. Lincecum, a two-time Cy Young winner, is entering the final year of his two-year, $35 million contract, which is likely why the Giants will have him in a starting role to kick off 2015 because investing $18 million in a reliever for one season is not a plausible option.
"This represents a bit of a change from what the team suggested when it signed Vogelsong. It had said Vogelsong and Lincecum would compete for the fifth spot, but Bochy said this morning, 'I think we're pretty well set with this rotation. We haven't put the order down,'" writes Schulman.
"This dovetails with what the Giants said before they signed Vogelsong, that they expected Lincecum to start in the final year of his two-year, $35 million deal, which the club admitted was starter's money."
They can always demote him if he has another lackluster campaign as a starter, which they did at the end of last season and during their 2012 World Series run. But right now it appears Bochy is set with having Lincecum go through spring training as the fifth starter, and if all goes well he'll be there once the 2015 season begins.
