Tim Hudson's ankle injury should push Giants back into pitching market
By Mike
Axisa | Baseball Writer
January 6, 2015 5:44 pm ET
Tim Hudson had ankle surgery on Tuesday. (USATSI)Veteran right-hander
Tim Hudson underwent surgery to remove bone spurs from his right ankle and will need eight weeks for recovery, the
San Francisco Giants announced Tuesday.
The Giants have not yet announced when their pitchers and catchers will report to
spring training, but either way the eight-week timetable means Hudson will be out until early March. He's going to miss the start of
spring training and will be behind the other pitchers in camp, meaning the start of his regular season is in danger of being delayed as well.
This isn't good news for the defending World Series champion Giants, who were in need of pitching help even before Hudson's surgery. Their rotation depth chart without Hudson currently looks like this:
- Madison Bumgarner (Stud)
- Matt Cain (Coming off elbow and ankle surgey)
- Jake Peavy (Healthy)
- Tim Lincecum (74 ERA+ in 2014 and lost his rotation spot in August)
- Yusmeiro Petit (Healthy, has been a revelation since arriving in San Francisco)
The only other starting pitchers on the team's 40-man roster are
Chris Heston, who threw 5 1/3 innings during his MLB debut in September, and Joan Gregorio, who had a 4.37 ERA across two levels of Single-A ball in 2014. Rotation depth is clearly an issue.
The Giants were involved in the bidding for Jon Lester and they have been linked to James Shields this offseason, but I would be surprised if Hudson's surgery resulted in the club making a nine-figure investment in Shields or Max Scherzer. That would be quite the knee-jerk reaction. The Giants clearly have to do something, though.
More than likely, Hudson's injury will push the Giants back into the free agent market for lower cost pitchers. Former Giant Ryan Vogelsong is still unsigned, and I have to think his chances of returning to the team just improved. Chad Billinglsey, Scott Baker, Brandon Beachy, Paul Maholm, Roberto Hernandez and Chris Young are among the available free agent starters, though several of them (Billingsley, Beachy, Maholm) are coming off injuries themselves.
The good news is the Giants have time to find rotation help. They've proven they are adept at finding quality minor league free agents (Vogelsong, Petit, Gregor Blanco, etc.) and can build depth that way. I would bet they were planning to do that before Hudson got hurt. They still have a few weeks to improve the rotation, though Hudson's injury is a reminder of just how vulnerable the starting staff is in the first place.