San Francisco Giants sign Alex Cobb to two-year deal. Could a looming pitch clock be an issue?

Alex Cobb is set to return to the mound sporting black and orange once again after the Giants signed the veteran pitcher to a two-year, $20 million contract Tuesday.

The right-hander, who spent time with the similarly sartorial Baltimore Orioles from 2018 to 2020, followed by a brief stint with the Angels, is the second new starting pitcher that San Francisco has signed this offseason, with the other being Anthony DeSclafani.

At 34 years old, Cobb struggled with injuries for a good portion of the 2021 season with the Los Angeles Angels, but was still able to put up decent numbers when available. His most impressive statistic was a career-high strikeout rate of 25%. While the health factor is a concern, if there is a team that should not be worried about the health of a starting player in their mid-30s, it’s the Giants, who rode career years from multiple players in that age range to 107 wins and an NL West title.

The bigger concern is arguably what he does on the mound than the possibility that he won’t be on it. Cobb has a tendency to take his sweet, sweet time when he’s pitching. In a 2018 report from The Score, the new Giants pitcher had the second-longest wait time between pitches at 27.3 seconds.

Where this could be a problem is if a prediction from Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci comes true. Back in April, he suggested that a pitch clock, which would regulate how long pitchers got between their throws, would be coming to the league in 2022. The relevance here is that the times that have been tested out in the minors for this idea are all less than Cobb’s average wait time.

Should this come to pass, it could be particularly problematic for the Giants, not only because pitchers are creatures of serious habit, and any disruption to their flow could come at a great cost, but also because Cobb was signed in part to try and replace some of the production of the recently departed Kevin Gausman, who signed for the Blue Jays this offseason. It would be one thing if Cobb was unable to meet those expectations because of his own inability, it would be an entirely different thing if it was because of a league-mandated change.