THE KEY: GET BALL TO MELANCON
Buying an expensive glass vase and resting it on a rickety table would make no sense. If the legs collapse, the vase shatters.
As the Giants open the 2017 season at Arizona on Sunday, their hopes of ending a twoyear World Series championship “drought” could hinge on the success of their fouryear, $62 million centerpiece: Mark Melancon.
But what good is a closer like Melancon if the relievers who pitch before him cannot preserve a lead?
The Giants’ 30 blown saves and 28-27 record in one-run games last year cannot be laid totally before the feet of nowdeparted closer Santiago Casilla. The end of the Core Four era was marked by a total bullpen breakdown.
How to divide the blame among the pitchers and manager Bruce Bochy for how he used them is worthy of debate. However, when the season ended with five relievers blowing a three-run, ninth-inning lead in Game 4 of the Division Series against the Cubs, the front office did not debate what to do next.
The brass pursued Melancon with a bounty hunter’s zeal and, just as significantly, did not spend any free-agent dollars on another reliever. Instead, the Giants are placing their faith in what general manager Bobby Evans calls his “young core,” which inninth-inning cludes many perpetrators of the 2016 collapse.
Evans did not deny that money was a factor. He said the choice was pursuing a big-time closer and not spending on the rest of the bullpen, or bypassing the big-ticket ninth-inning man and spreading that money among several lesser pitchers.
“You’re always assessing the value of your external options and the value of your internal options, and the relative cost,” Evans said. He expressed faith in the relatively inexperienced relievers he has.
“You don’t go with guys like that if you don’t believe in them,” he said.
The “young core” features right-handers Hunter Strickland, Derek Law and Cory Gearrin, with left-handers Josh Osich and Steven Okert and Will Smith. “Grandpa” George Kontos, at 31, is the longest-tenured Giants reliever (since 2012).
Smith was to have a large setup role, so one cannot downplay his loss for the season to Tommy John surgery.
Whether they form a sturdy table that supports Melancon, or one of those cheap card tables with the four folding legs, will factor significantly into the Giants’ win-loss record. And they know it. “Now that we have Melancon, it’s understood that we better get the ball to him,” Law said.
Law is a strong candidate to be the principal setup man. The 26-year-old right-hander had an excellent rookie season that could have been better if not for a dead arm that landed him on the disabled list at the beginning of September. Like others in the bullpen, Law was asked to pitch a lot — 61 times — in an environment far less controlled than in the minors.
Law hopes to pace himself better in pregame and between-game throwing this year, having learned from a master like recently retired Core Four reliever Javier Lopez.
Strickland also will have an important role after pitching in a career-high 72 games last year.
From the left side, Okert’s great spring elevated his stock, but the more interesting development is Ty Blach as a potential setup man to cover the innings the Giants lose with Smith out.
All of the relievers had their hiccups in key situations in a 2016 season defined by bullpen failure. Strickland had five blown saves; Gearrin and Kontos three apiece. The bullpen was 25-24, which reflects the team’s struggles in close games.
Then, in Game 4 against the Cubs, the season reached its logical conclusion when Law, Lopez, Sergio Romo, Smith and Strickland let the Cubs score four runs to erase a three-run lead.
The fans knew that was an awful way for the Giants to slink into the winter. Imagine how the relievers felt.
“It was a bitter end to the season,” Law said. “You read the stuff. You hear what people are saying. It kind of fuels the fire a little bit, and you want to prove them wrong.”
Management has asked fans embittered by that ending to have faith that 2017 will be different. Not only is Melancon present, but setup roles will be better defined and fewer relief innings should be needed with a stronger rotation. The young core will develop with another season of experience, and there should better bullpen management from Bochy now that he knows the pitchers better. The stuff is there. “They see what we can do,” Law said, referring to the folks in management. “All of us have had those spurts where we’re unhittable. It’s just being consistent, and they know that we can do that as a group.
“You’re not going to replace the Core Four, all that experience and the World Series rings, but if you can start something up again, that’s kind of what we’re hoping for.”