Posted By Jeff Fletcher on September 26, 2010 11:04 am

The Giants have a very interesting situation upcoming with their rotation. Baggs and I were discussing it earlier this morning, and then apparently Bruce Bochy didn’t really say what he had planned regarding the rotation.

So we’re free to give our two cents.

Here’s the situation: the Giants currently have Sanchez, Bumgarner and Lincecum scheduled to go Tuesday through Thursday against Arizona, followed by Zito, Cain and Sanchez in the final three against the Padres. Because of the off day Monday, there are a lot of ways they could rework things in interest of putting Lincecum in the game you want him.

They could move Lincecum up to Wednesday against Arizona, and then have him available, on three days rest for the season finale, if he’s needed. If he’s not, he’d be well rested for Game 1 of the playoffs. If they did that, they’d either skip Bumgarner entirely (not a terrible idea, considering his innings), or they’d flip Bumgarner back to Thursday and keep Zito on Friday against the Padres.

Or, they could move Zito up to Thursday against Arizona and have Lincecum pitch on Friday against San Diego. Zito would be on regular rest and Lincecum would be on six days rest. That way you get him for sure in the first game against the Padres, and you get Zito out of the Padres series. Lincecum would then be on his normal four days rest, at least, to start Game 1 of the playoffs.

I think there may be some other possibilities, but those seem to be the two best. The Giants could also wait until after Tuesday’s game to make this decision. They will have played two more games between now and then, and the Rockies and Padres will have played three more, so they’ll have a lot more information at that point.

I would probably tell both Lincecum and Bumgarner to prepare as if they are pitching on Wednesday, and go from there.

What do you think?