San Francisco Giants Ready to Change Role of Coveted Offseason Acquisition

After an experiment where the San Francisco Giants moved one of their offseason acquisitions into the starting rotation, they are now ready to change his role.

Jun 27, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Jordan Hicks (12) throws a pitch against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at Oracle Park / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants were one of the most active teams during the offseason in an attempt to overhaul their roster and get themselves back into the playoffs for the first time since 2021.

In order to compete in their division where the Los Angeles Dodgers spent an extraordinary amount of money and the Arizona Diamondbacks were coming off a World Series trip, being aggressive in the free agency market was something this front office had to do.

Before they landed Matt Chapman and Blake Snell late in the process, one of their most prized signings was flamethrowing reliever Jordan Hicks.

He was completely dominant during his rookie season in 2018, posting a 3.59 ERA across his 73 appearances. That carried over into the next year when his ERA+ was 35 points above the league average, but just 29 games into the campaign, he underwent Tommy John surgery to repair his torn UCL.

Hicks sat out 2020 and only made 10 appearances in 2021 before being shut down for the season.

His struggles continued until he finally regained some of his past form last year and became a prized free agent target for multiple teams around the league during the offseason.

The Giants won the bidding war, though, handing him a four-year, $44 million deal.

Initially it was thought he was being brought in to bolster their bullpen, the role he had throughout his entire career, but then it was announced that San Francisco's plan was to transition him into becoming a starting pitcher.

Early returns looked great.

Hicks had a 2.70 ERA through his first 12 starts, but some warnings signs started to emerge in June that he might be hitting a wall when his ERA was 5.24 during five starts that month.

With him allowing 12 earned runs in 13 innings pitched this month, San Francisco is reportedly ready to change his role.

According to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, they will move him back into the bullpen after this weekend where he likely makes his last start of the season.

"We talked to (Hicks) today. It's just a matter of what we need on Sunday. We're going to have two starters on Saturday and there's going to be a need for a starter on Sunday. If it is him, we'll probably shorten it a little bit, because he's getting a little worn down, as we've seen," manager Bob Melvin said.

This shouldn't be a referendum on his ability to be a starting pitcher moving forward.

Hicks has already surpassed the most innings he's thrown in a year by 21 frames, something that is difficult for any reliever to do. Even with the amount of pitches he's tossed compared to what he's done previously in his career, the youngster's ERA still sits at 4.01 on the season.

With Snell looking like an elite pitcher again and Robbie Ray back in the mix, moving Hicks into the bullpen should only help this group as they try to get hot for the final two months and make their final push into the playoffs.