Of all the managers in major league baseball, Bruce Bochy has perhaps the best rapport with his players. He left Barry Zito, who was making $18.5 million, off the playoff roster completely in 2010; he demoted Tim Lincecum to the bullpen in 2012, and in 2014, he made just one appearance in October. He's shown time and time again that he knows what's best for his team, and he'll soon have to make a difficult decision.
As of today, their rotation consists of Madison Bumgarner, Chris Heston, Jake Peavy, Ryan Vogelsong, and Matt Cain; however Mike Leake is set to come off the DL in the next few days, and he'll undoubtedly be slotted back in. Unfortunately that means that someone will be pushed to the bullpen, or demoted to the minor leagues to make room.
| August | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | ERA | FIP | SIERA | fWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison Bumgarner | 25.1 | 12.4 | 0.36 | 0.00 | 0.71 | 0.46 | 1.48 | 1.7 |
| Ryan Vogelsong | 15.0 | 11.4 | 3.60 | 0.60 | 2.40 | 2.64 | 3.17 | 0.4 |
| Jake Peavy | 16.2 | 8.64 | 3.24 | 0.54 | 4.32 | 3.05 | 3.95 | 0.3 |
| Chris Heston | 19.2 | 5.03 | 5.95 | 1.37 | 4.58 | 6.11 | 6.01 | -0.3 |
| Matt Cain | 19.2 | 5.49 | 3.66 | 2.29 | 7.32 | 7.02 | 5.08 | -0.5 |
In Bochy's tenure as manager of the Giants, he's largely stuck with the hot hand when it comes to making decisions on playing time; and if that holds true, then it would seem likely that Heston or Cain is on the hot seat. Neither has performed well in August, and ultimately, the deciding factor could be how Heston pitches in his next start.
Cain has struggled mightily since returning from elbow and ankle surgery, and as the Giants have already done with Tim Hudson, could choose to place him on the DL for an extended rehab assignment. Despite giving up just two runs over six innings in his most recent outing, Cain allowed a 47.1 percent hard hit rate, and a soft hit rate of zero percent. For the 2015 season, his soft hit rate is just 16.2 percent, meaning that the vast majority of the time, batters are making strong contact against him.
While Cain undoubtedly hasn't pitched as well as the Giants had hoped he would, the simplest option could simply be to option Josh Osich back to the minor leagues, put Vogelsong back in the bullpen, and hope that their former ace will turn things around. Bochy hasn't given any indications as to what he'll do, but regardless of what it is, changes are coming to their rotation soon.