Six no-hitters have been thrown already this season, but the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw is not sure such mound dominance is what baseball needs right now.
So running out a starting rotation with Johnny Cueto and three or four prospects was out of the question. Beyond Cueto, 35, the Giants filled out a rotation with veterans on one-year contracts: Anthony DeSclafani, 31; Kevin Gausman, 30; Alex Wood, 30; and Aaron Sanchez, 28.“They’re all guys who have been really good — if not All-Star caliber — starting pitchers at the major league level,” Zaidi said.
In 32 combined seasons in the major leagues, the quartet has two All-Star appearances. The flood of veteran free agents, however, drives prices down, so the Giants extended a qualifying offer to Gausman and signed DeSclafani for $6 million, Sanchez for $4 million and Wood for $3 million.