The SF Giants demoted Hayden Birdsong after his disastrous start on Monday against the Atlanta Braves. He leaves a hole in the starting rotation that may end up being filled by employing a reviled strategy under Farhan Zaidi: the opener.
The Giants employed the "opener" strategy quite a bit during Zaidi's tenure as president of baseball operations. This strategy involves having a relief pitcher pitch the first inning of a game before handing things off to the rest of the bullpen, usually with a long reliever coming in second.
SF Giants may have to employ opener strategy due to rotation woes
The strategy proved to be successful at times for the Giants, but the major gripe with it was that it created an unappealing brand of baseball that fans did not love.