Designated for assignment by the Giants earlier this week, Spencer Howard didn’t have to go far to find his new team.
The 27-year-old right-hander from San Luis Obispo was acquired by the Cleveland Guardians, the team against whom the Giants begin a three-game series Friday night. They sent cash to San Francisco to complete the transaction, jumping the waiver wire with a trade.
Howard appeared in seven games, starting two, with a 5.63 ERA providing what amounted to emergency innings for a pitching staff overwhelmed by injuries.
The circumstances that provided the former second-round pick the opportunity, however, then took it away, when he was designated for assignment Sunday to clear room for another pitcher, after getting knocked around for six runs in his final appearance.
The Giants filled Howard’s spot on the active roster with Landen Roupp, who threw 2⅔ innings that night behind Spencer Bivens and was optioned back to the minor leagues the next day, and didn’t let his 40-man spot sit vacant for long, claiming 27-year-old left-hander Kolton Ingram off waivers from the Cardinals on Monday.
While Howard filled in dutifully, and the club hoped to keep him in the organization, the best-case scenario for the remaining 74 games is that the bulk of them are started by Logan Webb, Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, Blake Snell, Alex Cobb and Robbie Ray.
To date, those pitchers have started 54 of their 88 games, but only Snell’s underwhelming six between the three Cy Young awards and trio of All-Star appearances among the group. It is no coincidence, then, that no team’s bullpen has pitched a larger share of its innings than the Giants’, with a league-leading 363⅔.
As the team gears up for the second half, with nine games until the All-Star break, manager Bob Melvin can begin to envision a more stable starting rotation, provided there are no more setbacks in each pitcher’s recovery.
After spraining his ankle in the weight room between starts, Harrison is set to return Saturday.
Snell, who struck out nine over five hitless innings in his final rehab start, is not far behind, tentatively slotted in against the Blue Jays when the team begins its final home stand before the break.
And sometime shortly after the season resumes, the Giants expect Cobb and Ray to take the mound for them for the first time. The two veteran starters, both recovering from surgeries, are each in the final stages of their rehabs.
In his seventh rehab appearance Thursday, Ray threw 58 pitches (33 strikes) over three innings for Triple-A Sacramento at Reno, allowing three runs on two hits and a walk with three strikeouts. All three runs scored on a home run in his third and final inning.
Cobb, who made his first rehab start Sunday, is set to make his second Friday night for Single-A San Jose at Stockton. He is scheduled to throw 45 pitches.