SAN FRANCISCO – The quote was so exciting that it was mentioned often as the Giants fell out of contention in the second half.

“It's been a long road to get our rotation up to speed and we feel like we have the best rotation in baseball,” Farhan Zaidi said. “When you start pitching like that, it can get you going.”

The former president of baseball operations made some mistakes, but he really shouldn't regret that optimism. It was daring, but the Giants could have certainly lived up to this claim.

As the Giants had hoped, Blake Snell was the most dominant pitcher in baseball after that post-deadline press conference. Logan Webb hasn't always been at his best this season, but he's still the game's most reliable innings eater and should finish ahead in the Cy Young voting again. At the time of Zaidi's statement, Robbie Ray was just days away from his spectacular debut at Dodger Stadium, in which he pitched five hitless innings against the team that would go on to win the pennant. The final two spots belonged to promising rookies Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong.

There were reasons to believe that the Giants might actually have the best rotation in baseball in the long run, but the group ranked 13th with a 4.02 ERA after the trade deadline. The Giants never got into that role and that led to Buster Posey taking over the day after the final game of the season.

Posey knows better than anyone in the world that a midfield rotation won't work in San Francisco. The Giants have never been a draw for hitters, but with Posey at the helm, they rode strong pitching to three titles.

That's how it is at Oracle Park. As the first steps of the offseason quickly approach, here's how the Giants stack up with their starting pitching and what might lie ahead:

To the 40 man:

Tristan Beck, Hayden Birdsong, Mason Black, Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, Trevor McDonald, Robbie Ray, Landen Roupp, Blake Snell, Kai-Wei Teng, Logan Webb, Keaton Winn.

What went right

While the rotation ranked 18th overall in ERA (4.22), the group ranked second in the NL and fifth in the majors in FIP (3.84), drawing a lot of attention. However, the best thing that happened to the rotation in 2024 had nothing to do with stats.

The Giants starting in 2025 will benefit from the injuries and ineffectiveness that caused Birdsong, Roupp, Black, McDonald and others to get their feet wet. The Giants ranked second in the major leagues in innings pitched by rookies, and their future rotations could be heavily comprised of pitchers who learned at the big league level in 2024.

Birdsong was electric, ranking seventh in the big leagues in K/9 among starters with at least 70 innings pitched. On July 21, he set a franchise record with 12 strikeouts at Coors Field and finished his year by joining Snell and Jason Schmidt as the only Giants pitchers in the divisional era to have 10 strikeouts in the first four innings of a start achieved.

Roupp won a job with a surprisingly strong spring, posting a 3.58 ERA while playing primarily as a reliever. He had three strong starts in September before a tough start in his last appearance.

The Giants spent years recruiting young pitchers, with Harrison leading the group, and everything started to fall into place last season.

What went wrong

Although Webb led the NL in innings pitched for the second straight year, the Giants finished 29th with 778 2/3. Their Opening Day starter accounted for 26 percent of the rotation's workload and was the only Giant to reach 125 innings. The game has changed, but this is still unacceptable.

Some of this was intentional, as the staff planned to lean heavily on Ray (Tommy John Rehab) and Hicks (who moved from relief), but many of their key pieces fell short of workload expectations. Injuries particularly affected Snell and Harrison.

However, the biggest issue in 2024 was simply the lack of veteran performance. Snell performed spectacularly over the last three months, but his early struggles plunged the team into crisis and contributed to an overall lackluster first half. Ray had a 5.26 ERA after his eye-opening debut at Dodger Stadium, and a hamstring strain kept him from pitching in September. Hicks ran out of gas in the middle of the summer, although it's hard to blame someone who has always provided relief. Alex Cobb never threw a pitch for the Giants in 2024.

The front office built the season around a pitching puzzle that never materialized. Young options like Black and Teng should help keep the season on track until Ray and Cobb return, and Snell should dominate throughout. With the exception of a good weekend against the struggling Colorado Rockies in late July, the rotation never really got going.

Prospect to keep an eye on: Carson Whisenhunt

With all the promotions in 2024, the Giants have very few high-end pitching prospects still in the minors, but the guy who spent all year in Triple-A probably has an equally high-level prospect Cap like almost everyone who debuted in the past season.

At the start of the season, Whisenhunt was behind only Harrison on the prospect list, but a foot injury in July cost him more than a month and kept him from playing when the team needed reinforcements in September. The left-hander finished with a 5.42 ERA in 25 Triple-A starts, but Giants officials aren't at all concerned about that number. Much of the PCL resembles Coors Field and Whisenhunt had a 2.34 ERA in Sacramento, where the ballpark is more neutral. The move has him ready for the big leagues and has helped him strike out 11.6 batters per nine innings.

Potential free agent targets

The best pitcher on the market is the one who will be getting out of his Giants deal in a few days, but we'll get to Snell in a moment.

Corbin Burnes is a St. Mary's product who is coming off another strong year and would be a great fit for Webb. Max Fried is the other potential ace available this offseason.

Depending on the opt-outs, the rest of the class could be highlighted by Jack Flaherty, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha, Yusei Kikuchi, old friend Sean Manaea, Walker Buehler, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Shane Bieber, who is recovering from Tommy John become . If 23-year-old Japanese star Roki Sasaki is signed, the Giants will be heavily involved.

The big offseason question: Will the Giants try to bring Snell back?

There weren't many within the organization this season who expected Snell to return, although the calculation has certainly changed a bit now that Posey has taken charge. What no one knows, however, is how much it has changed. Zaidi didn't like long-term contracts for older pitchers, but he also worked for an ownership group that has avoided them since the Cueto-Samardzija offseason.

Snell turns 32 in December and there are still real questions about how much workload he can handle year-over-year. He said in September that the pitcher the Giants saw in the second half – one who repeatedly topped the 100-pitch mark – is the one who will emerge after he gets his long-term contract but the season began and ended with clear reminders that he does things at his own pace.

Posey personally made sure Matt Chapman avoided free agency, but Snell will hit the open market seeking the huge long-term deal that wasn't available last offseason. He's confident it will be on the table this time, and he also plans to sign before the start of spring this time.

Assuming Ray doesn't opt ​​out as well, the Giants will enter the offseason with Webb, Ray, Hicks, Harrison and Birdsong as their starting five and have solid young depth behind them. There are major holes elsewhere on the roster, and it's likely they will let Snell go and focus on improving the lineup.

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