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San Francisco Giants: Five Pitchers Compete for Final Bullpen Spot

By Neil Povio

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Spring Training games are under way for the San Francisco Giants in Arizona, which means the competition for those last few open spots on the Giants’ 25-man roster have begun.

Presumably, the Giants will have four open spots left currently on their 25-man roster, so competition between all the players looking to make the opening day roster is going to be fun to watch this Spring.

The toughest position that players will be competing for will likely be the one available opening in San Francisco’s bullpen.

The opening day bullpen (pending injuries) will consist of Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez, Yusmeiro Petit, Ryan Vogelsong, and one more open spot.

Currently the Giants have five guys trying to earn that final spot in the bullpen. Among those five are Hunter Strickland, Jean Machi, George Kontos, Juan Gutierrez, and Erik Cordier. Machi, Kontos, Gutierrez, and Cordier are all out of options, and if they do not make the Opening Day roster, the Giants would be forced to put them all on waivers and hope none of them were claimed in order to keep them within the organization at the minor league level. 

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    • Given that the Giants highly value all five of those pitchers, it’s safe to say we will likely see one of those four who are out of options make the Opening Day roster. The Giants will likely send Strickland to Sacramento to start the season, and allow him to season himself some more as a pitcher and work on his still-new changeup.

    Machi seems to be the guy most likely to make the team early on in Spring Training. Machi has been with the Giants for parts of three seasons, during which, the team has been impressed with his stuff out of the bullpen. In Machi’s career with the Giants, he owns a 2.71 ERA. Bruce Bochy used Machi a lot last season, a total of 71 times during the season, which is another good indication that the skipper likes Machi’s stuff, and most importantly, his ability to pitch to the situation and either strike a batter out, or use his sinker to induce a double play.

    Given that Machi has had very good success with the Giants, and that the organization already knows of his abilities at the big league level during his three seasons with the team, there’s a good chance Machi will make that final bullpen spot.

    "Machi will make that final bullpen spot"

    That being said, it’s still going to be a tough decision for Brian Sabean and Bochy to make come the beginning of April. Cordier throws the ball 100+ MPH, Gutierrez showed signs of success last season with a 3.96 ERA in 61 appearances, Kontos has been with the Giants organization most of his career, pitching in three seasons at the major league level and owning a 3.34 ERA, and when Strickland keeps the ball down, he’s next to impossible to hit.

    Now that Spring Training games have started though, it’s all up to the success of those five pitchers competing for that spot, along with any injuries to the current pitchers slated to make the Opening Day roster, to decide the destiny of their baseball future with the Giants.

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