Spring training is a time of unbridled optimism, so let me offer you some:
The Giants are looking pretty good down in Scottsdale. This might be a functional, perhaps even quality baseball operation.
The lineup has a pulse — mostly because Bryce Eldridge is a monstrous human being who looks poised to legitimize the bottom third of the lineup with glove-exploding exit velocities.
The rotation? Completely usable, if not impressive. Logan Webb is still a horse, Robbie Ray found a mechanical tweak to unlock his best stuff (or so he says — I’ll buy it for now), Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle look solid, and there are enough warm bodies in camp to field a legitimate No. 5 starter with perhaps a bit of depth behind him.
So, playoff-bound, right?
Not so fast.
Because we’re forgetting an important part of the team: The bullpen.
And, sweet mercy, what is this Giants’ bullpen?
I know to many, the bullpen is the equivalent of special teams in football or the deep bench in basketball: present, but ignorable.
But that is an outlandish stance. No, bullpens are like a football team’s offensive line: Mysterious to most, but instrumental to team success.
The Giants’ bullpen is certainly a mystery.
A “hot mess” might be another way to put it.
I’ve always subscribed to the adage that bullpens win divisions. The Giants aren’t winning the NL West in 2026 — let’s not delude ourselves there — but this relief corps could be the reason their real goal of a Wild Card spot might go up in flames.
Because, for all the positives in the lineup and rotation, San Francisco isn’t a squad built to blow out teams. No, they are going to play a grueling slate of tight, ulcer-inducing baseball games, as is tradition around these parts.
And in 2026, when asking a starting pitcher to go six innings is treated like a human rights violation, bullpens are the only way you survive those tight games.
This is the crew Buster Posey is trusting with the second-half of games?
The Giants are apparently riding with Ryan Walker as the closer, because, well, who else in this ‘pen would be the closer? But going back into that role is a massive ask for a guy who couldn’t command his slider last year and watched his ERA swell to 4.11. Walker claims to have found a fix for that mechanical issue. For everyone’s sanity, that fix better be bulletproof. Without it, the ninth inning will require a Prop 65 label.
Behind him, you’re just spinning a giant carnival wheel of JAGs (just a guys): Trevor McDonald (or whoever loses the No. 5 starter derby). Gregory Santos and Caleb Kilian (a pair of non-roster invitees). Spencer Bivens. José Buttó. Matt Gage. JT Brubaker.
I’m sure Bryce Harper, Ronald Acuña, Christian Yelich, and Alex Bregman are worried sick they’ll face one of those guys in a critical spot…
But hold on, folks — reinforcements are coming! The Giants can add Joel Peguero (great “stuff” that stubbornly refuses to miss bats), Sam Hentges (hasn’t pitched since 2024), Erik Miller (sporting a strikeout-minus-walk rate that makes you wince), and Jason Foley (maybe back around the All-Star break?) to the mix.
I’m trying to find a silver lining here, but it’s heavily tarnished. On paper, this is the fourth-best bullpen in the division. Thank the baseball gods for the Colorado Rockies, the Giants’ permanent buffer against being in last place and go-to excuse for why things could be worse.
But let’s be clear: This isn’t good.
How would you like to be a heavily-scrutinized first-year manager tasked with finding the right combination of these arms to win games?
It’s easy to ignore a glaring bullpen issue in Arizona because every spring training game is essentially a bullpen game. It’s a blur of guys wearing numbers in the 70s and 80s. Hell, you can barely watch the games anyway.
But you don’t have the luxury of confusion or obfuscation in the regular season. In games that matter, one bad inning — one weak link on the chain — ruins a whole game.
And I’m not liking the gauge — or Gage — of this chain.
Perhaps the mysterious nature of bullpens works in the Giants’ favor. They might be brewing up something special behind that fence. Jesse Chavez could work miracles.
He might also prove to be the best reliever out in the ‘pen.
Unless the Giants plan on moving a big-stuff starter prospect like Hayden Birdsong or Carson Whisenhunt to the ‘pen — a move that would be something close to permanent for this season — it sure seems like they desperately need outside reinforcements.
Of course, finding a serious, high-leverage arm in March is tough.
But keep three names in mind: Michael Kopech, changeup maestro Tommy Kahnle, and old friend Zack Littell.
There’s a reason all three are still sitting on the open market. Not one of them is going to single-handedly change the brutal fortune that seems destined for this bullpen, and by extension, this team. I’m just looking to provide some solutions to problems, folks.
Hey, maybe the Giants can sign all three. It’s not like they lack the cash.
Because I suspect if we have to watch this current crew try to navigate a 50-to-60 one-run games this season, we’re all going to need beer sales at the ballpark to extend through the 9th inning.
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