The Giants’ bullpen that’s leading MLB with a 3.04 ERA will look a lot different as the calendar turns from September to October.
Ahead of Thursday’s showdown with the Diamondbacks, the Giants designated José Quintana for assignment and placed reliever Tony Watson on the 10-day injured list with a left shoulder strain. They also activated Johnny Cueto, who will come out of the bullpen for the first time in his 14-year career.
Watson, who’s allowed just eight runs since the Giants re-acquired him at the trade deadline, had been dealing with shoulder soreness for several days leading up to the move. His IL stint is retroactive to Sept. 29, and manager Gabe Kapler didn’t rule him out completely for the playoffs.
The 36-year-old left-handed reliever has posted a 2.96 ERA for the Giants this year while often handling high leverage situations.
Watson last pitched Sept. 28, when he allowed his first home run since returning to SF. Bullpen and catching coach Craig Albernaz recently noticed Watson didn’t look right while warming up, Kapler said. The manager added that this type of injury is common for pitchers.
Kapler and the coaching staff has erred on the side of caution with injuries all season. There’s a culture of pushing through injuries baseball, especially late in the season, but the Giants have balanced posting with performance and long-term health. Darin Ruf, who has been activated from the IL after his oblique injury, is an example of taking care.
Losing Watson and Quintana, along with Jake McGee being on the injured list with an oblique strain, leaves the Giants bereft of left-handed relievers. Kapler said José Álvarez has earned trust to pitch in big spots against lefties. Jarlin García could also be an option, and Tyler Rogers’ unorthodox approach is actually harder on lefties than righties. McGee came out of his bullpen feeling good, Kapler said, and the hope is for him to return this weekend against the Padres.
Quintana, whose San Francisco stint lasted one month, is a less significant loss. The former All-Star appeared in five games, pitching 9.2 innings. He “showed flashes of a high-caliber major league pitcher” Kapler said, but is now off the 40-man roster and can be claimed off waivers.
For Cueto, coming out of the bullpen is foreign territory. He’s had conversations with Kapler and the pitching coaches about how they can support him with the transition. Communication will be key, Kapler said, as will having Watson around.
“Watson is dedicated to continuing to build the camaraderie in the bullpen for us and (he’ll) be around help from an experience standpoint,” Kapler said.
- Ruf was activated and is hitting in the two-spot against Madison Bumgarner Thursday. Ruf has hit nine of his 15 home runs on the season and recorded a .999 OPS against southpaws this season.
- Kapler said he’s comfortable with Camilo Doval in any situation. Doval recorded his first and second career saves in the opening two games of this Diamondbacks series. The rookie has pitched 14 straight scoreless appearances. “His stuff is going to be somewhat matchup-agnostic,” Kapler said.
- Buster Posey is starting against his former teammate Bumgarner. Typically Posey rests the third game of a series, but he told Kapler he’s feeling strong enough to go.
- The Giants hold a two-game lead over the Dodgers, as LA rallied with four home runs to come back against the Padres Wednesday night.
- Anthony DeSclafani will start the series-opener against San Diego Friday. He’ll be followed by Kevin Gausman and Logan Webb to finish the season. That sets up either DeSclafani or Alex Wood for a potential Wild Card game or divisional series opener. There’s a clear emphasis on the remaining four regular season games, and — as SF has all year — trying to get the strongest versions of all their players. In this case, that means there’s less rotation-finagling for the postseason than some may have expected.