Weekend BP: Carlos Rodón is a long ways away from pitching

Happy weekend, San Francisco Giants fan. Hey, how about that winning streak, huh?! How cool is that?

The Giants have drawn criticism in recent years for their inability to spend big in free agency. And while those criticisms are accurate and fair, it’s worth noting just how close they’ve come. They finished close second to the Philadelphia Phillies in the Bryce Harper sweepstakes. They finished a ... well maybe not close second, but a second to the New York Yankees in the race for Aaron Judge. And they even landed Platinum Glover Carlos Correa on a 13-year contract before taking a look at his x-rays and screeching inaudibly.

You might notice a theme here, and no, I’m not referring to the fact that the Giants keep almost landing guys. It’s that they’re all position players.

Farhan Zaidi fairly famously is uncomfortable with big contracts for pitchers, and that’s been on display. They never made a contract offer to Kevin Gausman after 2021. They never made a contract offer to Madison Bumgarner after 2019. One of those moves looks excellent. One of them does not.

They also never made a competitive offer to Carlos Rodón, who was one of the best pitchers in baseball last year, and turned it into a six-year, $162 million deal with the Yankees.

Except Rodón hasn’t played. And it’s looking like Rodón won’t play for quite a while.

Injuries are never a thing to celebrate, so hopefully the Giants aren’t taking a victory lap here. But gosh ... hindsight may be 20/20, but it sure is clear why the Giants didn’t want to give six expensive years to a pitcher who had rarely ever been healthy in his career.

Heal up soon, Carlos.

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants play the second game of their series against the Milwaukee Brewers tonight at 4:15 p.m. PT.