Then Bumgarner and Samardzija got hurt before the season and Cueto got injured about a month later. Bumgarner looked effective enough after his return, while Samardzija struggled through only 10 starts for the San Francisco Giants.
Meanwhile, Cueto had to go under the knife and will miss all of 2019 while he recovers from Tommy John.
Injuries aren’t fun.
However, these injuries forced the rotation to include rookies Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez as well, who now look like key future contributors.
The 2019 version of the team looks like it’ll feature a Bumgarner-Rodriguez combo at the top of the rotation, with Samardzija likely working his way in somewhere after due to the roughly $40 million he’s due over the next two years.