It’s a really sad experience to watch Giants struggle to play for the upcoming…

The SF Giants made some notable changes this winter to strengthen their pitching and defense. However, their pitching staff was surprisingly weak and will need to improve in the second half if they want to be a serious playoff contender. The SF Giants will not be a serious playoff contender if they continue to struggle in the unexpected areas. It may be too early to talk about the playoffs.

The Giants have a 36-41 record, the third-worst winning percentage in the NL. Still, the NL seems to be in a slump this year, one win streak away from being one of the three wild card teams. Regardless of their current ranking, the Giants have not played consistently good baseball. However, the rankings could change drastically by the end of the season. The Giants have played 77 games, so there are 85 left. There is still a lot of baseball left.

For the Giants, the pitching staff will be their strength in the second half of the season. The first half was surprisingly weak. The pitchers’ ERA was 4.45, the sixth worst in baseball. The underlying numbers are also a bit more favorable, with a 3.90 FIP and 3.78 xFIP. Unfortunately, we can’t trust them at this point. I didn’t necessarily expect the bullpen to be a strength, but it does have some quality pieces.

His struggles are a result of limited depth and perhaps questionable in-game management by manager Bob Melvin. Meanwhile, the Giants have to carry the load on their rotation. Their rotation ERA in 2024 is 4.52, the seventh-worst in baseball. Logan Webb continues to be a mainstay and should be a candidate for the All-Star team in July. Jordan Hicks is a reliable option, and Kyle Harrison has shown some solid moments.

Meanwhile, Keaton Wynn has been an unreliable rotation pitcher, and Blake Snell has been very disappointing with just six starts in the first half of the season so far. It’s probably not a good sign that Eric Miller has been in the starting lineup as much as Snell this season. Related to this, we can’t ignore that the Giants are in the same position they were last year: they only have two reliable starting pitchers and need to patch the rest of the rotation with an opening pitcher and a high-inning relief pitcher.

The Giants are counting on their rotation to be a force in the second half of the season. In a way, it always felt like the rotation’s mission was to keep the first half afloat before handing the baton to a veteran in the second half.

The Giants do expect a trio of veterans to return soon. Robbie Ray has begun a rehab assignment and has advanced to Triple-A. Blake Snell will join Ray in Sacramento and Alex Cobb is not too far away from a rehab assignment according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.

One of the big questions in the first half was how the Giants were going to manage both Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison’s workload. The return of the veterans will help offload some of that workload to some degree.

The Giants hope and need some combination of Ray, Cobb, and Snell to hit the ground running. If the rotation continues to struggle, it is hard to envision the Giants being a serious playoff contender even in a weak NL. However, those three can really change the dynamic of the pitching staff and turn a weakness into a strength.