San Francisco Giants Can’t Forget About the Left Side of the Bullpen

The San Francisco Giants are busy trying to upgrade their outfield, but they can’t forget about the bullpen, particularly the lefties.

Most of the San Francisco Giants’ focus seems to be on fixing the outfield, which is something they certainly need to do. Outfield isn’t the only concern, though, and the team has to get a bit stronger in the bullpen, particularly on the left-handed side.

Will Smith will be back in 2018, as long as there are no unforeseen setbacks, and he should figure heavily into the Giants’ bullpen plans. He pitched well down the stretch in 2016 after a trade brought him over from Milwaukee, posting a 2.95 ERA while striking out 12.8 batters per nine innings, but Tommy John surgery ended his 2017 season before it ever started.

He was a bit miscast as a left-handed specialist in his time with the Giants, but he has the arsenal to pitch full innings while facing both righties and lefties. He was actually better against right-handers in 2016, holding them to a .192 average compared to a .229 average for lefties.

After the surgery the team will probably bring him along slowly to start the 2018 season, giving him a bit of a grace period to get back into game shape and prove that he’s fully back. So the team will need to fortify their left-handed relief group to not heap all that responsibility on Smith from the beginning.

Internally, the Giants have two other left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster, Josh Osich and Steven Okert, and both were unreliable in 2017. Osich had another supremely disappointing season last year, continuing to struggle horribly with his command. He walked a career-worst 5.6 batters per nine innings in 2017, and doesn’t have the pure dominating, strikeout ability to pitch through that.

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Osich still has killer stuff, and when he’s on top of his game, he’s as good an option as there is in the Giants’ bullpen. The problem is that he’s off his game far too often to be a consistent and reliable option. He’s 29 years old and now out of minor league options, so his time with the team could be coming to an end if the team goes with an outside option.

2017 was Okert’s second big league season and he also struggled to get outs consistently. He did, however, show flashes of being a good option, particularly during his last call-up in September. He allowed one earned run in 12 appearances, and held his opponents to an .053 average and .353 OPS. Over the whole season, however, lefties hit .263 against Okert, and that number would look a lot uglier if not for his final month. He’s still only 26 and has options left, so he will have more opportunities to prove himself in the future.

D.J. Snelten has become a name to watch after the lefty reliever put together a fantastic season in 2017. In 51 games between Double-A and Triple-A, he pitched to a 2.20 ERA, 1.086 WHIP, and .206/.269/.278 slash-line. He’s a groundball pitcher by trade (63 percent groundball rate in 2017), but can also get strikeouts when necessary (8.7 K/9).

He’s continued that momentum in the Arizona Fall League, posting a 2.25 ERA, 1.167 WHIP, and 11 strikeouts in 12 innings. In eight appearances, he’s pitched two innings four times, and hasn’t allowed a run in those four games. Snelten has certainly turned himself into an option, and the Giants can’t ignore him heading forward.

Smith will certainly be in the Giants’ bullpen next season, elbow permitting, but the other three lefties aren’t exactly studs. Osich’s future is iffy, Okert was far too inconsistent in 2017 to be given a big role out of the gate in 2018, and Snelten hasn’t yet reached the majors. If the Giants want to shore up the left side of their bullpen, they will probably be looking outside the organization, and there are options on the market.

Jake McGee figures to be one of the top left-handed relievers on that market this offseason after spending two years with the Colorado Rockies. He put together a strong campaign in 2017, posting a 3.61 ERA, 1.099 WHIP, and striking out more than a batter per inning.

As is usually the case for Colorado pitchers, McGee was much better on the road than at Coors Field. His numbers at home were rather pedestrian (4.73 ERA, 1.350 WHIP, .275 average, .788 OPS in 26.2 innings), but he was outstanding on the road (2.64 ERA, 0.880 WHIP, .176 average, .469 OPS, no home runs allowed in 30.2 innings). A change of scenery could make McGee one of the game’s top relievers again, as he was during his time in Tampa Bay.

McGee is 31 years old, but his average fastball velocity in 2017, 94.9 miles per hour, was his best since 2014. He will likely get a multi-year deal worth somewhere between $5 and $8 million, and that could turn out to be a bargain if McGee reverts to the form he showed with the Rays.

Mike Minor joins McGee at the top of the lefty list, and is coming off a huge resurgence in 2017. He hadn’t appeared in a big league game since 2014 because of shoulder injuries, but he enjoyed a tremendous year coming out of the Kansas City bullpen last year. He made 65 appearances and threw 77.2 innings, posting a 2.55 ERA, 1.017 WHIP, .204 opponent average, and over 10 strikeouts per nine. His fastball velocity was 94.4 and slider velocity was 88.5, both three or four ticks above his career norm from before 2017.

There will definitely be plenty of interest for Minor, but teams will have to take his injury history into consideration. 2017 was a stellar year and he’s earned the contract he will get, but teams should be cautious.

Those are only the top-two options, and there’s many more beyond them. Brian Duensing will be 35 years old before Opening Day next year, but is coming off the best season of his career in 2017 with the Chicago Cubs. Oliver Perez just finished his 15th big league season and is 36 years old, and didn’t have a great season last year. His 4.64 ERA and 1.333 WHIP aren’t pretty to look at, but he did hold lefties to a .227 average and strike out 10.6 batters per nine. Zach Duke finished 2017 with two solid months after returning from Tommy John surgery in only nine months, but the Giants shouldn’t rely on two lefties so shortly removed from major elbow surgery.

One of the more intriguing minor league free agents is Jonny Venters, who was among the game’s best young relievers a few years ago. He owned a 2.23 ERA and struck out 10.1 batters per nine in 230 appearances with the Atlanta Braves from 2010 to 2012, but hasn’t made a big league appearance since. Over the past five years, Venters has undergone Tommy John surgery three times, bringing his lifetime total to four, and has made just 29 minor league appearances.

2017 was promising for Venters, as he made 24 appearances in the Tampa Bay minor league system and pitched to a 2.28 ERA, 1.099 WHIP, and struck out 29 batters in 23.2 innings. The track record of pitchers who have undergone three or more Tommy John surgeries is not good, with Jason Isringhausen being the only one to pitch in the big leagues after the third operation. Venters is in uncharted territory. Any team that signs him wouldn’t be relying on him to contribute to the major league club in a big way, but he could become a diamond in the rough. A minor league deal wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Next: The Hunter Pence Dilemma

The options are there, and as the Giants make their interest in every outfielder under the sun known, they should be doing their due diligence on left-handed relievers as well.