SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Opportunity. That was the word of the day when Buster Posey and Tony Vitello answered questions on Tuesday about the composition of the Giants’ bullpen.
Opportunity, opportunity, opportunity.
“I think there’s opportunity for a lot of guys. I think that’s the first thing that comes to my mind,” Posey, the team’s president of baseball operations, said. “So, when you have opportunity, it’s exciting to me to see who wants to grab that opportunity and run with it. … I think bullpens are the one piece of the team sometimes that is really hard to predict — good or bad.”
Trades and injuries almost sapped the Giants’ bullpen of its strength by the end of last season. Camilo Doval was traded to the Yankees, and Tyler Rogers was traded to the Mets. Randy Rodríguez underwent Tommy John surgery, and Erik Miller sustained a left elbow sprain in early July that never healed. Ryan Walker was the team’s only core reliever who ended the season on the active roster.
San Francisco’s bullpen still had a fine season, finishing fourth in the majors in ERA (3.48) and sixth in FIP (3.76). This group of relievers, however, doesn’t form the foundation of a shutdown bullpen. Bullpens are hard to forecast, but the Giants project to have one of the worst bullpens in the majors.
San Francisco barely invested in its bullpen this offseason. They gave a pair of one-year deals to left-hander Sam Hentges ($1.4 million) and right-hander Jason Foley ($2 million), the latter of whom will not be healthy until midseason. Left-hander Reiver Sanmartin was also claimed off waivers.
This unit lacks the high-octane stuff that most great bullpens possess. San Francisco’s bullpen has solid pieces, but collectively, the group lacks a high floor and a high ceiling.
Additions: Sam Hentges (Free Agent), Jason Foley (Free Agent), Reiver Sanmartin (Waivers)
Subtractions: Joey Lucchesi (Non-Tendered), Mason Black (DFA/Trade), Sean Hjelle (MiLB Free Agent)
Projected Position WAR Ranking: 28th
Vitello has been a bit ambiguous when discussing how he might manage high-leverage innings. He said during the first day of camp that things are “pretty wide open” as far as where guys could be slotted. Vitello also mentioned he constructed a “dream scenario” and was “pretty stuck on a team I watched a long time ago.”
When Vitello was asked if his “dream scenario” was the 2014-15 Kansas City Royals, which employed a three-headed monster of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, Vitello had a roundabout way of answering the question.
“You know when your phone starts popping up ads that you were talking about? Sometimes I feel like your phone throws advertisements at you because you were thinking about something. That’d be my response to that question,” Vitello laughed.
Teams frequently talk about exploiting late-game matchups in spring, but Vitello’s first year in the majors would easier if he had a definitive guy for the ninth inning. He’s yet to name a closer, but there’s a certain crossfiring right-hander who’d make plenty of sense.
The 30-year-old Walker’s third season can be divided into three chapters. After snatching the closer role at the end of a dominant 2024 season (1.91 ERA), Walker entered last spring as the incumbent. By June, he ceded responsibility to Doval. Over his first 21 appearances, Walker had an unrecognizable 5.21 ERA.
Walker pitched in lower-leverage situations for the next three months and looked more like himself, posting a 2.62 ERA and 2.96 FIP over his next 36 appearances. He stepped back into the closer’s role after Rodríguez’s injury but again struggled, posting a 6.10 ERA over 14 appearances (10 1/3 innings).
When Walker is on, he combines a biting sinker with a disgusting slider. Reclaiming that ability to strike out batters en masse will be key, because this bullpen is light on strikeout material. The league-wide average strikeout rate for relievers last year was 22.8 percent, and here are the career strikeout rates of the relievers on the 40-man roster:
Ryan Walker: 28.3%
Erik Miller: 26.5%
Sam Hentges: 25.4%
JT Brubaker: 23.0%
José Buttó: 23.1%
Matt Gage: 22.0%
Keaton Winn: 20.4%
Joel Peguero: 19.8%
Reiver Sanmartin: 19.2%
Tristan Beck: 18.8%
Jason Foley: 18.1%
Spencer Bivens: 18.0%
Carson Seymour: 16.7%
Even with Doval (28.9%) and Rodríguez (28.6%), the Giants’ relievers didn’t generate a ton of strikeouts last season. In 2025, San Francisco’s relievers ranked 25th in strikeout rate (21.0%). Strikeouts aren’t everything, but with relievers, they certainly aren’t nothing.
One of the nastier pitchers on the Giants’ 40-man roster is Hentges, but he’s currently recovering from both left shoulder surgery (September 2024) and arthroscopic right knee surgery (September ‘25). The left-hander threw a bullpen on Tuesday, but his status for Opening Day isn’t a guarantee.
If San Francisco’s bullpen is light in the stuff department, the front office will need to assemble a crew that knows how to get outs in some way, shape, or form.
Of the eight pitchers on the non-roster invitees list, no name stands out more than Michael Fulmer, the 2016 AL Rookie of the Year and a one-time All-Star.
The past several years have been tumultuous for Fulmer. He underwent UCL revision surgery in October 2023 and missed all of ‘24 before returning to action in ‘25. Aside from 5 2/3 innings in the majors, he spent the entire year in the minors. Fulmer, who turns 33 in March, hasn’t had a full-ish season since 2023, but his résumé makes him a consideration for a spot.
Right-hander Gregory Santos, who originally made his debut with the Giants, has an interesting case as well. Santos has only thrown 14 1/3 innings in the majors over the last two seasons due to injuries. His last full season was 2023, a breakout year where he had a 3.39 ERA and 2.65 FIP over 66 1/3 innings for the Chicago White Sox.
Along with its current candidates, there’s also the possibility that the Giants ask one of their young starters to pitch out of the bullpen. The main name to monitor is 24-year-old right-hander Hayden Birdsong, who made the Opening Day roster last season as a reliever and enjoyed decent success.
“It depends on how things shake out,” said general manager Zack Minasian. “It’s not just on him. There are a lot of pitchers in camp, and we just try and put the best group together. Certainly think he has the ability to be a major league starter and a very good one. I think we’ve seen that in flashes, but if we leave camp and feel really strongly that this is one of the best eight guys that go in the ‘pen, it’s at least going to be a consideration.”
Posey said on Tuesday that he understands it’s rare for teams to assemble bullpens like those the Giants boasted en route to winning World Series titles in 2010, ‘12 and ‘14. The Core Four of Sergio Romo, Javier López, Santiago Casilla and Jeremy Affeldt have a spot on the Wall of Fame for a reason.
Vitello doesn’t necessarily need a bullpen of that caliber. What he does need, though, is a group he can depend on in high-leverage situations. Yes, there will be opportunities. Whether they’re seized is another matter entirely.
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