SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Whereas Alex Cobb initially appeared to avert the worst-case state of affairs when he took a hard-hit line drive off his left knee in a spring begin virtually two weeks in the past, the Giants’ No. 2 starter remains to be coping with swelling within the knee that would put his first flip by the rotation in jeopardy.
“I believe till we've got that swelling out of there and he feels actually assured that he can full his work off the mound, it nonetheless could also be a pair days,” supervisor Gabe Kapler mentioned Thursday. “We had him slated for the second sport of the season. We might must push that begin again. We’ll see.”
After struggling the harm on March 11, Cobb made his subsequent scheduled begin and threw one other bullpen. However virtually two weeks later, the knee remains to be bothering him, Kapler mentioned. On Thursday, he threw off flat floor, however the Giants are going to be cautious with Cobb, 35, who is anticipated to fill a major function on the beginning employees.
Cobb mentioned he was “honored” to be named the No. 2 starter, however that now seems to be in jeopardy.
Cobb, who has 18 strikeouts and solely two walks in 13 innings of labor this spring, pitched 5 shutout innings in opposition to Seattle within the begin following the comebacker. Whereas he mentioned then that it was nonetheless painful to the contact and that he felt some discomfort overlaying first base, “it’s not prohibiting me from doing something I need to do on the rubber.”
Cobb additionally mentioned that he believed “it ought to be zero think about per week or so.”
That was March 16.
It's now per week later, March 23, and Cobb’s standing for the second sport of the season remains to be in query.
The excellent news for the Giants is there isn't a space the place they've extra depth than of their beginning rotation. If Cobb is unable to go, fellow righties Ross Stripling or Anthony DeSclafani may slide their turns as much as face the right-handed heavy Yankees lineup within the opening collection.
With two off days of their first two collection, the Giants can get to their residence opener with solely 4 starters.
“We’re nonetheless working by it,” Kapler mentioned. “We've a bunch of beginning pitchers, so we’ll see who makes probably the most sense for us.”
Notable
— In a little bit of optimistic well being information for the pitching employees, reliever Cole Waites made his spring debut Thursday evening in opposition to Cleveland. Waites, who missed the primary portion of camp with a strained lat, sat at 97-98 mph along with his fastball and struck out two whereas pitching a scoreless seventh inning. “That was fairly spectacular,” Kapler mentioned. As for his eventual availability within the big-league bullpen, Kapler mentioned, “it gained’t take lengthy, we gained’t must see numerous innings from him.”