San Francisco Giants Add Much-Needed Lefty to the Bullpen with Tony Watson

The San Francisco Giants made a much-needed move on Friday night, adding left-hander Tony Watson to the back of their bullpen.

Though pitchers and catchers have already reported, the San Francisco Giants are still working to fill out the empty spaces of their roster before Opening Day. Late Friday night, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reported that the team has agreed to a multi-year contract with left-handed reliever Tony Watson.

The move was necessitated further by the news earlier in the week that Will Smith, who the Giants will certainly be counting on to be their go-to left-handed reliever at some point this season, will likely be out until May as the team continues to bring him along slowly.

The three other left-handed reliever on the roster don’t inspire much confidence, either. Josh Osich has put together two abysmal seasons in a row, while Steven Okert faltered heavily last year. D.J. Snelten had a fantastic year in the minor leagues last season (2.20 ERA, 1.086 WHIP in 51 appearances between AA and AAA), but is as unproven as it gets with no big league appearances under his belt.

Watson, on the other hand, is a seven-year veteran with 474 appearances to his record. After spending the first six-and-a-half years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he spent the latter half of 2017 with the Los Angeles Dodgers following a mid-season trade. In his career, he owns a 2.68 ERA and 1.086 WHIP, striking out 7.9 batters per nine innings while walking 2.5.

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He’s long been one of the most reliable and durable southpaws in the game. He’s made at least 60 appearances in six straight seasons, and thrown at least 60 innings in five straight.

Watson features a hard fastball that has averaged over 93 miles per hour in the last six seasons, and adds in a sinker that comes in about the same velocity. Throw in a changeup with about a seven-to-eight mph difference and a slider in the mid-80s, and Watson has four legitimate weapons he can use to keep hitters guessing.

He comes at hitters from a low three-quarters arm angle, which makes it difficult for both righties and lefties to pick up the offering. Throughout his career, Watson has always been able to get both hitters out from both sides of the plate effectively. Lefties own a career .216/.276/.298 line, while righties don’t fare much better at .226/.292/.369.

In 2017, Watson’s numbers were elevated across the board, but it was the tale of two seasons. In Pittsburgh, he was solid but not his usual dominant self. He posted a 3.66 ERA and 1.521 WHIP, while his strikeout rate dipped to a career-low 6.8 per nine, and his home runs rose to a career-high 1.4 per nine.

After the trade took him to Los Angeles, he started to throw the sinker more and the results were great. The ERA dropped to 2.70 while the WHIP tumbled to 1.050, and his strikeouts normalized toward his career rate (8.1) and home runs allowed also fell to fewer than one per nine innings. Importantly, his groundball rate rocketed from 43.6 percent with Pittsburgh to 59.3 percent with Los Angeles. If he can continue to get groundballs at that rate, it certainly sounds good with the Giants’ infield defense playing behind him.

He’ll be reunited with another guy who locked down plenty of games in the backend of the Pirates’ bullpen. Mark Melancon figures to be the team’s closer in 2018 after offseason surgery, and was teammates with Watson from 2013 to 2016.

With Watson now in the fold, the Giants won’t have to rely so heavily on the unproven guys like Osich and Okert while Smith continues to rehab. Watson can now pair with one of those guys, or even a rookie like Snelten without so much pressure being placed on the younger option. When Smith does come back, he will give the Giants a pair of left-handers who can work full innings.

The front office has been adamant this offseason about staying under the luxury cap after a potential Giancarlo Stanton trade was off the table, and it was thought that the team wouldn’t be able to bring Watson in without going over that mark. In the previously linked article, however, Heyman says that may not be the case.

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He mentions that terms of the deal are not yet disclosed, but adds “the belief is that things were worked out so that the Giants still have a chance to stay under the threshold”. Whether that means a trade is in the works to shed some salary or Watson’s deal is much cheaper than expected remains to be seen.

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