Tuesday BP: Ross Stripling says he’ll opt-in

Happy Tuesday, San Francisco Giants fans.

Here’s hoping you’re still riding the high and enjoyment of Monday night’s thrilling win over the Cleveland Guardians, which pushed the Giants winning streak to four games. Let’s make it five tonight, please!

And hey, on that note, let’s enjoy this together:

Before the game, some news was broken. Sort of. Kind of. Right-handed pitcher Ross Stripling told reporters that he intends to opt-in to his 2024 contract with the Giants, which will pay him $12.5 million for his second season with the team, plus the remaining $2.5 million of his signing bonus.

This is hardly breaking news, since most of us could have figured as much. Stripling has struggled with both injury and performance this season. After posting a 3.01 ERA as a starter for the Toronto Blue Jays last year, Stripling has pitched in just 19 games this year, started just 11, thrown a mere 78.1 innings, and posted a dastardly 5.29 ERA, in large part because he’s given up 20 home runs.

But it’s still surprising to see a player talk openly about how they haven’t been good enough to opt-out of their contract, especially while the season is still going on.

Stripling is in limbo at the moment. He’s been ready to come off the IL for nearly two weeks now, but the Giants have been waiting for an opening in the rotation or bullpen ... and it hasn’t arrived. He has expressed frustration with the situation, and even referred to it as phantom IL’ing, but he also seems to understand what’s going on.

It’s a weird situation. But given his work ethic, and how good he was a year ago, it very much might be for the Giants best that he’ll be around in 2024.

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants host the Guardians tonight at 6:45 p.m. PT.