Evaluating the SF Giants’ biggest trade deadline gamble (and why it makes sense)

Giants right-hander Logan Webb has already been sent from the rotation to the bullpen once this season.

As the trade deadline passed on Friday, the Giants’ front office made it clear Webb won’t be heading back into a relief role anytime soon.

President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris made the high-profile acquisition of star slugger Kris Bryant and also traded for veteran reliever Tony Watson, but the Giants’ top executives chose not to add a starting pitcher.

The lack of an additional move represented the biggest trade deadline gamble for a front office that knows the organization doesn’t have great starting depth at the upper levels of the minor leagues, but it’s a testament to the confidence the Giants have in Webb, who tossed six innings of two-run ball in a 5-3 win over the Astros on Sunday.

“I think (Sunday) showed you why we didn’t go out and grab a starter,” Harris told KNBR on Monday. “If we were to add a starter, most people would have expected that (Webb) might have been the odd man out. He’s throwing the ball as well as anyone in our rotation right now.”

Webb missed five weeks of game action with a right shoulder strain that forced him to the injured list at the end of May, but since returning to the Giants’ rotation in June, he’s been the team’s most effective starter. Dating back to May 11, Webb has posted a 1.76 ERA in eight starts, all of which ended as wins for the Giants.

The 24-year-old is the youngest member of the team’s rotation, but he hasn’t been fazed by pressure. In his last three starts, two of which have come against the Dodgers and one against the Astros, Webb has been outstanding against the league’s top competition as he’s allowed five runs over 17 innings while inducing 32 ground balls.

“It just feels like he’s taking that step in his development right now,” Harris said on KNBR. “We wanted to show our confidence in him and the rest of the rotation that this is a group that has performed well all year and we believe in this group. I think that’s one of the reasons why we didn’t go out and get a starter.”

In 2019 and 2020, Webb showed great potential but often came unraveled on the mound by a walk, a defensive miscue or an early string of hits from an opposing offense. The poise he’s demonstrated this year represents a major turning point for the Rocklin native and was on display again on Sunday against the Astros.

After giving up a two-run home run to first baseman Yuli Gurriel in the first inning, Webb settled in and followed with five scoreless frames.

“Gurriel, I just tried to make it too nasty and that’s what me and Buster said as soon as I got in the dugout,” Webb explained. “The sliders I’d thrown early in the at-bat were perfect and he asked to go further out and I tried to make it too nasty and left it over the plate. But we talked after that and we wanted to keep the same game plan and keep attacking these guys.”

With Webb pitching as well as anyone in the Giants’ rotation, the organization is hopeful a staff led by veterans Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Johnny Cueto and Alex Wood can help the club win its first NL West title since 2012. Doing so would allow the Giants to avoid a one-game wild card playoff scenario and likely force the Dodgers to use Max Scherzer or Walker Buehler in an elimination game prior to the start of a possible NLDS series.

The addition of Scherzer, the three-time Cy Young Award winner and former Nationals ace, would have transformed the Giants’ rotation at the deadline, but after the Dodgers moved to acquire him, the Giants are betting on a group with the third-best rotation ERA in the majors to help carry the club down the stretch.

Moving forward with its current rotation was likely a much tougher call than parting with two prospects, outfielder Alexander Canario and pitcher Caleb Kilian, to acquire a former NL MVP in Kris Bryant, but it’s also a decision that was made easier by Webb’s recent outings.