Bullpen to be a top priority for Giants’ brass this offseason.
SAN FRANCISCO — Fresh off a crushing playoff defeat, Giants General Manager Bobby Evans said Thursday that the team will “explore all options” in pursuit of a full-time closer.
“We have to do everything we can to make that sure we’re clear on who is finishing our games,” Evans said.
The Giants blew 30 saves during the regular season, the most by any team to make the playoffs since saves became an official stat in 1969.
They blew two more in the postseason, including a three- run, ninth-inning lead Tuesday when the Chicago Cubs roared back to win 6-5 and eliminate the Giants in Game 4 of the National League Division Series.
Evans did not identify any potential targets during a season wrap-up news conference at
AT&T Park. But he compared the Giants’ bullpen search to their pursuit of rotation depth last off-season, “when we explored all options. And we’ll do the same things relative to free agents, trades and internal options.”
Giants CEO Larry Baer, sitting to Evans’ right, said: “We have every commitment to 2017 to return to a championship-caliber club. Resources will be expended as necessary to get us there.”
There could be some big names on the menu: Mark Melancon (47 saves), Kanley Jansen (47 saves) and Aroldis Chapman (36 saves) are all scheduled to be free agents.
Melancon, 31, might be the most attractive target. Splitting the season between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals, the right-hander had a 1.64 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP and blew only four saves all season. Melancon and Chapman were both traded during the regular season, which means a team can sign them without having to surrender a compensatory draft pick.
Still, questions lingered about why the Giants’ front office didn’t make a harder push for a premier closer at the trade deadline, when it was clear Santiago Casilla was having an off year. Casilla’s nine blown saves were the most by a Giants pitcher since Robb Nen also had nine in 1999.
Brian Sabean, the Giants’ executive vice president of baseball operations, when asked about why the team didn’t push harder, said, “that’s kind of a loaded question.” Sabean said the sellers’ market for closers was so brutal that the Giants were sometimes told early in talks: “You just don’t have enough to get active, like we have on the table from other folks.”
Evans, talking specifically about All-Star Andrew Miller, who wound up with the Cleveland Indians, said: “The ‘ask’ on him was really beyond (our resources) — and it was just a ‘starting ask.’ We never got to the full ask as the deal was made elsewhere.”
As a result, the Giants wobbled in the second half with their closer situation in flux. Evans said it will be a priority to solve that riddle in the off-season. He said that an “overhaul would be a tremendous overstatement,’’ but indicated that one adding big piece could solve multiple late-inning woes.
“I think that the bullpen performs at a much-higher level when you know who your ninth-inning guy is. I think that puts everybody at ease,” he said. “It helps (Manager Bruce) Bochy, as he defines roles. I think with ambiguity, it creates tensions and unknowns that detract from performance.”
Several of the Giants’ most experienced relievers are impending free agent: Casilla, Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez. They, along with retired left-hander Jeremy Affeldt, were the bullpen links on teams that won World Series titles in 2010, ‘12 and ‘14.
“When I addressed the team after we lost — a very tough loss, as we all know — I made it a point to talk to all the free agents,” Bochy said Thursday. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s baseball. What they’ve done for us, with our success, I couldn’t thank them enough.”
After Game 4, the Mercury News found Casilla disconsolate at his locker. He pitched only two-thirds of an inning in the postseason and was not used at all in the fateful ninth against the Cubs.
“I didn’t get a chance to talk to Casilla, but I will touch base with him,” Bochy said. “He did so much for us, when you look at his body of work, in the postseason and during the season.
“And I know there were some hiccups with him. ... But this guy really helped us. He put some rings on our finger and I’ll never forget that.”