For a while, the bullpen was, shockingly, the only part of the San Francisco Giants that was competent. But lately that hasn’t been the case. San Francisco’s bullpen has fallen apart lately: since the start of the month, Giants relievers are 24th in ERA (6.33), 26th in FIP (4.98), 28th in fWAR (-0.4), 28th in walks per nine innings (5.33), and dead last in strikeouts per nine innings (4.00).
And so, after Saturday’s atrocious loss in which the bullpen ceded 12 runs in five innings of work, the Giants
are making some changes. Ahead of Sunday’s series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Giants announced that they had optioned right-handed relievers Ryan Walker and Gregory Santos. Taking their place are righty Dylan Smith, who was called up for his Giants debut, and lefty Sam Hentges, who was activated off the 15-Day Injured List.
The Walker news is shocking in the sense that he opened the season as the closest thing the Giants had to a closer, and isn’t all that far removed from being one of the top relievers in baseball. But he’s been struggling mightily this year, with a 6.46 ERA and a 4.96 FIP, and has been falling apart lately: he’s given up runs in each of his last five appearances, including seven earned runs in his last four games. He was particularly wild on Saturday, when he threw just 12 of 26 pitches for strikes. Hopefully he can reset in some lower leverage situations and find his stuff again, because he does have some electric pitches.
Santos also wasn’t sharp on Saturday, but him being optioned is probably more about the fact that the Giants need fresh arms for a day game a night after their relievers got heavily taxed. He threw 32 pitches in the game, so it’s possible that he wouldn’t have been available until Tuesday. He’ll surely be back at some point, as the Giants cannot afford to be dismissing the few pitchers they have who can touch triple digits.
As for the players coming up, Hentges is finally making his Giants debut after a lengthy injury. Signed to a Major League deal over the winter, Hentges was initially hoping to be healthy for Opening Day, but that didn’t happen. His rehab numbers have been decent: he has a 1.93 ERA with just three hits allowed in 9.1 innings over 10 appearances (nine with AAA Sacramento and one with Low-A San Jose). There are some serious underlying concerns, though: Hentges has walked six, has only struck out eight, and his velocity has sat 91-92, after being 95 the last time he was in the Majors. But his rehab time had run out, so the Giants hands were tied. This gives them their desired three lefties in the bullpen again, after Erik Miller hit the Injured List.
Smith, who was a third-round pick in 2021, came to the Giants at the start of the season in a cash trade with the Detriot Tigers, after he had been designated for assignment. He’s arguably been AAA Sacramento’s best reliever, with a 2.13 ERA and a 3.38 FIP, though he’s been walking quite a lot of batters as well (eight in 12.2 innings). He gets a lot of ground balls, so he’ll fit right in on the Giants.
After starting the season with a remarkably stable roster, the Giants have started to make moves with regularity. This quartet of transactions comes after a very busy Saturday, in which Logan Webb was placed on the Injured List and Patrick Bailey was traded.
