BULLPEN REVAMP
The Giants quietly remade their bullpen, and why they could do it again
Of the eight relievers who made the Giants’ opening day roster this season, only four remain active members of the club’s bullpen.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has never been afraid to tinker with a roster in the middle of a season, and the team’s current bullpen construction showcases the ways the front office has attempted to make subtle improvements.
Right-hander Tyler Rogers and lefties Jake McGee, Jarlín García and José Álvarez are the four holdovers, and as the club opens a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, they’re now joined by righties Dominic Leone, Zack Littell and Jimmie Sherfy plus southpaw Conner Menez.
Rookie Sammy Long is also counted as a bullpen arm, but
he threw four innings behind an “opener” in his MLB debut on Wednesday and is being treated as someone who will pitch every fifth day like a starter.
What happened to the four others who joined Rogers, McGee, García and Álvarez in the opening bullpen? Two pitchers, Wandy Peralta and Matt Wisler, were dealt to AL East teams in trades while lefty Caleb Baragar was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday.
Right-hander Reyes Moronta made just three appearances for the Giants this season before landing on the injured list. It’s uncertain whether he’ll be available again this year.
Through 65 games this season, the Giants’ bullpen ranks sixth in the majors with a 3.38 ERA. The
team’s 24 saves lead all teams and their 2.84 strikeout-towalk ratio is the seventh-best mark of any MLB bullpen, but anyone who’s watched manager Gabe
Kapler attempt to navigate the late innings likely isn’t surprised by the Giants’ desire to tweak the makeup of their relief corps.
The Giants’
14 blown saves trails only the Marlins (16) and Dodgers (15) for the league lead and while Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee have both proven capable in the ninth inning, neither has been lights-out as a closer this season. And for a winning club with visions of breaking a four-year playoff drought, the value of easing the tension, stress and variability of the ninth inning increases each day.
That’s part of the reason why Zaidi may be tempted to continue changing some of the personnel in a bullpen that has quietly been one of the best in the majors over the last month.
Since McGee and Camilo Doval combined to blow a four-run lead at Coors Field in an 8-6 walk-off loss to the Rockies on May 4, Giants relievers
have posted a 2.51 ERA and walked a major leaguelow 35 batters. The addition of Littell, who owns a 1.47 ERA over 20 games, and recent promotions of Menez and Leone have increased the number of reliable options the Giants can turn to in high-leverage situations and provided the club with more stability than it had at the beginning of the season.
Since the Giants charged into first place, fans have been clamoring for the team to acquire another veteran arm with experience pitching in the eighth and ninth inning. It’s possible Zaidi and general
manager Scott Harris have already begun considering potential trade targets, but the Giants are anticipating righthander John Brebbia, who has a 3.14 ERA in 161 career games, to rejoin the club in the near future.
The Giants signed Brebbia this offseason after he was non-tendered by the Cardinals while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. San Francisco knew it couldn’t expect Brebbia to be ready to pitch in the majors until mid-June at the earliest, but his rehab has gone well and he’s slated to pitch on back-to-back days at
Triple-A Sacramento for the first time on Monday and today.
Determining who stays and who goes when Brebbia is ready to rejoin the roster will be a difficult task for the Giants because as the personnel in the bullpen has changed, some of the flexibility the club enjoyed earlier this season has disappeared.
Moronta, Baragar, Doval, Sam Selman and Gregory Santos, who made his MLB debut in April, all have minor league options available and could be sent back and forth from the big leagues to Triple-A Sacramento. In the Giants’ current bullpen, only Menez, Littell, Rogers and Long can be optioned, but Menez hasn’t allowed a run this season, Littell has quickly emerged as one of the team’s most reliable arms and Rogers ranks second in the majors in appearances.
If any of the pitchers without options such as Álvarez, Leone or Sherfy struggle for a prolonged period, the Giants could once again find themselves with an incentive to shake up their personnel. Zaidi and Harris can always promote from within and bring Baragar, Doval or another Triple-A arm up to the majors, but if the Giants continue to look like a playoff team, they may feel there’s value in trading for a more proven, experienced arm who can slot in alongside Rogers and McGee and help close out games.