San Francisco Giants: Let’s Give Santiago Casilla His Fair Due

Santiago Casilla was highly successful during his tenure with the San Francisco Giants, but still doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

After seven seasons with the San Francisco Giants, Santiago Casilla is heading back to where it all started for him. He has signed a two-year contract with Oakland Athletics, the team that originally signed him as an amateur free agent in 2000.

The response to Casilla leaving has been pretty predictable, but the disdain that he’s receiving is rather unnecessary.

2016 was not a good year for Casilla, there is no denying that. He led baseball with nine blown saves, contributing a large chunk to the team’s league-leading 32 blown saves. He allowed 1.2 home runs per nine innings, a .399 slugging percentage, and a 3.57 ERA, all the worst marks of his tenure in San Francisco. He was certainly a contributing factor to the team’s late-season slide.

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But from 2010 to 2015, the first six years he called San Francisco home, Casilla was one of the best in the game coming out of the bullpen. As a Giant, he flourished in a way that seemed downright unthinkable compared to his time in Oakland. In those six seasons, he posted a 2.22 ERA, 1.155 WHIP, 164 ERA+ (league average is 100), and eight strikeouts per nine innings.

Compared to the other members of the Giants’ “Core Four” (Sergio Romo, Javier Lopez, and Jeremy Affeldt), there’s a legitimate argument to be made that Casilla was the best of the bunch. His numbers rank quite favorably to his three counterpart in the quartet.

Casilla: 2.22 ERA, 1.155 WHIP, 164 ERA+, 8 K/9
Romo: 2.58 ERA, 0.955 WHIP, 148 ERA+, 10.2 K/9
Lopez: 2.47 ERA, 1.187 WHIP, 148 ERA+, 6.6 K/9
Affeldt: 3.06 ERA, 1.288 WHIP, 122 ERA+, 7.3 K/9

The postseason was no different for Casilla, as he normally did his best work under the bright lights. He owns a 0.92 ERA and more strikeouts than innings pitched. He leaves San Francisco not having allowed a run in 19 consecutive postseason outings, the third-longest streak ever, behind only his former teammate Affeldt and the legendary Mariano Rivera. He also saved all four of his opportunities in 2012.

Casilla never really had that one signature moment as a Giant, like others have. He doesn’t have that Travis Ishikawa moment, or those Madison Bumgarner game seven heroics.

He was never the man to get the last out of a World Series, like Brian Wilson, Romo, and Bumgarner were. But he was the winner in 2012 World Series game four, getting the final out in the ninth inning before the Giants took the lead in the 10th.

He didn’t have a notably dominant single postseason series, like Lopez did against the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2010 NLCS. Lopez dominated Philly’s left-handed duo in the middle of the order that series, holding Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hitless in nine at-bats with four strikeouts. Cody Ross also made his name in that series, hitting three home runs and winning NLCS MVP.

Casilla didn’t have a Giants’ commercial, like the other three members of the Core Four did. Instead, he went about his business quietly on the field, and far more often than not, he got the job done. He didn’t cause problems, until one incident on May 12th last season when Casilla was demonstratively unhappy about being pulled in the ninth. Although, according to Giants’ insider Alex Pavlovic, it rubbed fans the wrong way more than it did the team.

But Casilla is the one that leaves with a bad reputation. While guys like Ishikawa and Ross, guys who had much shorter, and much less successful tenures with the Giants, are looked at as darlings (as they should be), Casilla is basically told to not let the door hit him on the way out.

Casilla was a great pitcher during his tenure with the Giants, and should be remembered as such. His one bad year shouldn’t outweigh the six great years he enjoyed beforehand. His contributions to three World Series teams should be remembered fondly, as Affeldt’s are, and as Lopez’s and Romo’s will be. He was part of the “Core Four” for a very good reason.

Maybe his biggest accomplishment as a Giant didn’t even come during the postseason. On May 17th, 2015, Casilla threw the 79th immaculate inning in MLB history, striking out Marlon Byrd, Brandon Phillips, and Jay Bruce on nine pitches in the ninth inning. After a combined 17 runs, 28 hits, and a 26-minute rain delay thrown in just for fun, Casilla ended it as quickly as is possible. There’s only been one immaculate inning since.

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When Casilla comes back to San Francisco in early August with the A’s, he should be met with a hearty ovation from the fans he played in front of for seven years, rather than boos or overall indifference. After everything he accomplished in his time, he deserves nothing less.

Thanks for everything, Santiago, and good luck in Oakland.