NEW YORK -- The Giants made a change to their weekend plans, moving Alex Wood back a day so that he starts Saturday at Nationals Park instead of Friday. That means that the starter for the first game against the Washington Nationals is now TBD, the result of a doubleheader changing the pitching plans against the New York Mets earlier this week.
The change in Wood's schedule did not mean, though, that Gabe Kapler was any closer to publicly naming a fill-in starter.
"I'm comfortable with a bullpen day. I'm comfortable with somebody coming up and taking a longer start," he said. "I'm comfortable making sure that we don't give too much information to the Nationals or any other teams."
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SIGN UP HERE Kapler said he wanted to see how Thursday's finale in New York played out before making any final decisions. The Giants are carrying 11 relievers -- including starting options Sam Long and Tyler Beede -- and are currently pretty well-rested. If nothing significant happens to change that, it seems likely they go with their first bullpen game of the season. Another could soon follow.
Alex Cobb's groin injury leaves a hole at the back end of the rotation. The Giants could have gone with a spot starter Saturday and then shifted to a four-man rotation temporarily, but Kapler said the preference will be to give his other four starters extra rest when possible. There could be multiple bullpen games in the next couple of weeks to fill in for Cobb.
"Last year we trusted our bullpen on several bullpen days and those went really well for us," Kapler said. "We have (an 11-man) bullpen right now with a lot of capable arms. We can cover innings with those guys."
Kapler mentioned Dominic Leone and Jose Alvarez as guys who are comfortable being openers. The Giants won three of Leone's four "starts" last season, including a memorable game against Walker Buehler and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Had Cobb's injury been worse, the Giants might have slid an actual fifth starter in -- either Long, Beede or Jakob Junis or Sean Hjelle from Triple-A. But the initial diagnosis on Cobb was about as positive as the Giants could have hoped for.
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An MRI showed a Grade 1 strain and Cobb was already moving around pretty normally a day after the injury. He said he's optimistic he won't miss much time, and it's possible he could be ready soon after the 10-day IL stint is up.
"That's good news," Kapler said. "At this point, you turn the page and it's like, 'How do you come back with the stuff that Alex Cobb had before?' This is what's great about Alex Cobb, is he has a plan in place for how to return and return at the form that he had prior to this little injury.
"His process is going to be remembering his queues and just managing his workload, and I think he's pretty well equipped to come back at full strength."
