SAN FRANCISCO–There will be no shortage of issues for the San Francisco Giants to work to improve on as they enter the offseason and head into Spring Training next year. It’s a pretty obvious statement for a ballclub that sits at 49-74, closer to sniffing the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft next June than it has ever been at contending for a playoff spot in 2017.
With all the uncertainty that there will understandably be for the Giants over the coming months, the back end of the team’s bullpen is looking to be one of the more solidified aspects of the organization.
Jeff Samardzija has been battling lately and throwing a lot of pitches in the process. In Thursday night’s series-opener versus the Philadelphia Phillies, Samardzija looked strong over the first five innings before a three-run sixth inning ended up being his last. Although not the ideal way to exit his outing, the Giants still held on to a slim 5-4 lead.
Earlier in the season, a one-run lead for the Giants with three innings left to play seemed like a kiss of death, with the only question being how the Giants would find a way to lose the game. The path through the bullpen to end of the game was as foggy as a chilly San Francisco night.
No lead is 100 percent safe in the late innings of a ballgame. That’s just baseball. As of late, however, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy has had a late inning gameplan for his bullpen that he feels as confident about as he has all season long.
Mark Melancon. Hunter Strickland. Sam Dyson.
On Thursday night, that gameplan worked to perfection. Melancon, Strickland and Dyson put up zeroes in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings respectively to protect the one-run lead and give the Giants the 5-4 win on Thursday.
“Our last three guys, they threw the ball very well,” Bochy said following the game. “It went like clockwork.”
If you hadn’t watched a single game all season until Thursday night, seeing the back end of the Giants’ bullpen might have led you to believe that the organization is right in the thick of the pennant race. That, of course, is not the case. But a solid back of the bullpen like the Giants showed on Thursday is consistent with the formula that teams with much better records than the Giants have.
“It’s great to see,” Samardzija said. “It’s leadership like that throughout the team that you got to put together through a whole season to win.”
“That’s how it’s supposed to work,” Denard Span added. “To see those guys come out 7-8-9 and shut the door, that was impressive to see and fun to watch.”
The wobbly Giants bullpen in 2016 and for much of 2017 should make fans appreciate the lock-down relievers the organization has had over the decade. Guys like Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla, Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez were a consistent and steady part for three world championship teams.
Those watching the Giants closely over the years have seen first hand – especially in the epic collapse during Game 4 of the 2016 NLDS – what happens when that consistency in the ‘pen isn’t there. You don’t win.
The Strickland-Melancon-Dyson setup doesn’t appear to be a flash in the pan, either. All three of the relievers are under club control for the next couple of seasons. Melancon – who signed a four-year, $62 million contract prior to the season – still has the confidence of the Giants staff and will ideally be 100 percent healthy heading into 2018.
This back end of the Giants’ bullpen is starting to figure it out. It’s starting to take shape. It won’t result in success in 2017. However, if the starting rotation and bats in the lineup turn it around in 2018 like many within the organization have confidence they will, then the Giants bullpen looks to be ready to close out what hopes to be many more victories in 2018.