We all know what happened Saturday in San Diego. It was set up to be a stereotypical even-year Giants victory: Giants fall behind early, unlikely heroes of Ramiro Peña and Mac Williamson help mount a comeback, and the face of the franchise Buster Posey hits his first extra inning home run of his career to give San Francisco the lead. Except the season-long storyline of the struggling bullpen got in the way of the potential 58th victory of the season as Santiago Casilla balked in the winning run before retiring a single batter.
It’s easy to say it’s time for the Giants move on from Casilla as closer. But when it comes down to actually removing Casilla from the 9th inning relief slot, its much more complicated than simply replacing him with another bullpen arm.
Casilla first took the closer role in 2012 after Brian Wilson suffered an injury that forced him to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery. Casilla filled the void, but after a stretch of blowing five saves in nine opportunities, the Giants decided to use the “closer by committee” strategy. He would eventually return to the closer role part time in 2014, earning 19 saves, and in 2015 Casilla became the full time closer and finished the year with 38 saves and a sub-three ERA.
Now, more than halfway through the 2016 campaign, the cries from fans to give someone else a shot at closing out games has begun. Casilla ranks 7th in the National League with 21 saves and has an impressive strikeout per nine inning ratio of 11.42. However, he has blown five saves, and the most recent blown save in San Diego has left a bitter taste in the mouths of Giants fans everywhere.
Replacing Casilla is a much, much more difficult task than it seems at first glance. There are few in-house options that actually make sense to fill the role, but there are three who have gotten more attention recently.
The first choice would be Sergio Romo, who has experience as a closer. Romo closed out the 2012 World Series with a strikeout of Miguel Cabrera, but the fan favorite has struggled throughout his career when facing lefties. In 2015, left-handed batters hit .371 off Romo and slugged .486. Although he has performed substantially better versus lefties this season, the sample size is too small to determine if he can assume the responsibility of closer.
Romo has not only struggled with lefties, but he’s also coming off a recent elbow injury, which is a red flag for a potential closer. The ninth inning is often a high stress affair and closers are usually called on in consecutive games, which can put a lot of pressure on the elbow.
Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow talked with Murph & Mac about how an elbow injury limits the availability of a pitcher and said, “when you are the closer, there are going to be days when you are asked to go out there four days a week and throw an inning. Right now if Romo goes out there for four appearances a week, he may get an inning and two thirds out of it. It’s a little bit different of a workload on your arm.”
Giving the ninth inning to Romo would be something the Giants would have to ease into, not an immediate fix the fans are clamoring for.
Two other options for the closer role are Hunter Strickland and Josh Osich. Both young relievers have powerful arms and have proven themselves capable of dominant outings when they’re on. However, Strickland has shown a propensity to give up the long ball, and Osich has had control issues at times, where strikes seem to come few and far between. The inconsistency of the two make it difficult to rely on them to get the final three outs of the game this early in their careers.
The numbers show Casilla has the talent to be the closer and he has something the others don’t, which is the mental toughness needed to handle high-pressure situations. Kurkow told Murph & Mac Casilla’s mentality separates him from the other bullpen arms.
“I think he is bulletproof mentally,” Krukow said. “The best part about Casilla is that he is so stubborn, and I think you have to have that if you’re going to be a good closer and I think that’s his edge mentally.”
As the Giants try to hang onto their division lead to win the N.L. West, Casilla’s presence will be just as important as any player’s. Right now, he is the best option to get those crucial final three outs.