Skip to main content

Bullpen Preview, Plus Camp Notes

Alright, we've finally arrived at the last projection post we'll do until around opening day when the 25-man roster is actually announced. Also, again, we'll do sort of a double-post as there's been a lot going on in Giants camp with Cactus League a week away.

Bullpen Preview

Brian Wilson, RHP: The Giants bearded closer entered spring with some question marks surrounding the health of his right arm, but according to him and Giants trainers, he's around 100%, and even though he may not play a whole spring, he'll be bright and ready for April! I expect a rebound from Wilson this year, as he was another Giant who fell off a bit after the Championship run the year prior. I expect things to get back to normal and without all the media and Showtime productions around, it should get things back to how they were during the year in 2010. I don't see another 1.81 ERA, but that's the type of Wilson I expect!

2012 Prediction: 62 G, 5-3, 2.67 ERA, 63 IP, 44 saves, 72 K's, 27 BB's, 1.21 WHIP, .228 BAA

Sergio Romo, RHP: Much like Wilson, Romo enters the spring in cautionary state as he had some arm troubles at the end of the 2011 season. However, you won't find a more dominant set-up man in the game than Romo. Ever since the start of 2010 (minus a brief blunder in the playoffs), he's turned into this out-making machine. Last season was ridiculous as he walked just 5 batters and posted a 0.71 WHIP. While I expect those numbers to rise a bit, I still expect Romo to be All-Star caliber in the 8th inning.

2012 Prediction: 72 G, 4-1, 1.97 ERA, 65 IP, 32 holds, 78 K's, 14 BB's, 0.92 WHIP, .185 BAA

Javier Lopez, LHP: Lopez will again be that guy called upon to get the key lefty late in a ballgame, and as he's done his whole career, he'll again be proficient. He's been a rock since putting on the Giants uniform and has become one of the best left-handed specialist in baseball, who also gets righties!

2012 Prediction: 77 G, 2-2, 2.45 ERA, 56 IP, 23 holds, 46 K's, 22 BB's, 1.08 WHIP, .212 BAA

Santiago Casilla, RHP: The Giants have the pleasure of basically having two set-up men as Casilla can fill that job nearly as well as Romo does. He even filled in for Wilson very admirably as closer in September last season. Like with this whole bullpen, I don't expect a whole lot of change from the 2 prior years, and I feel the same with Casilla!

2012 Prediction: 58 G, 2-3, 2.21 ERA, 55 IP, 18 holds, 52 K's, 24 BB's, 1.20 WHIP, .205 BAA

Jeremy Affeldt, LHP: Now, I like Affeldt just like most Giants fans seem to, but I don't think he's worth the $5 million option the Giants exercised on him. I think they could have gotten him for 2 million cheaper had they declined the option, however, they also would have ran the risk of demeaning him a bit and having him walk on them. They apparently felt it was a gamble worth taking, and are hoping for another 2009 from from their quirky lefty.

2012 Prediction: 77 G, 4-5, 3.13 ERA, 68 IP, 13 holds, 64 K's, 28 BB's, 1.18 WHIP, .227 BAA

Guillermo Mota, RHP: One of the most underrated Giants relievers over the last few years has been another guy, like Lopez, who's been nails since putting on that Giants uniform. It's almost like it's given his career new life at 38! He's not quite as dominant as the other arms in the Giants pen, but still very dependable and has been a Swiss Army knife for this bullpen.

2012 Prediction: 50 G, 2-4, 3.99 ERA, 72 IP, 3 holds, 61 K's, 32 BB's, 1.31 WHIP, .252 BAA

Clay Hensley, RHP: Hensley enters the spring as the favorite for the last bullpen slot, however, if the Giants decide to start the year with 3 catchers, he could start the year in Fresno. Still, I expect him to be a part of the Giants bullpen for the better part of 2012, at the least. He was lights out in 2010 (2.16 ERA), but fell off miserably last season for the Marlins (5.19 ERA). I expect somewhere in between, plus. Also, due to the lack of starting pitching depth, I expect him to log a more than a few starts as he could become the newer, younger version of the bullpen's Guillermo Mota.

2012 Prediction: 59 G, 13 GS, 6-5, 4.06 ERA, 102 IP, 84 K's, 1.29 WHIP, .247 BAA

_______________________________________

Spring Notes: As I mentioned in his capsule, some of the good news to come out of camp Monday was that Brian Wilson was throwing at a high velocity and was displaying that he obviously feels and looks better than he did towards the end of 2011. He'll be 100% for opening day, baring any set-backs, but Freddy Sanchez is still being brought along much slower than Posey. He's been off on a side field just fielding some grounders and doing light throwing, and hasn't hit yet to my knowledge. We all knew Sanchez would miss some time this spring, but I was hoping he'd get to play in the majority of Cactus League games, just cause he hasn't played in so long and he needs the at-bats. Speaking of recovering players, Buster Posey faced a major league pitcher for the first time since his injury last May, and rocked Sergio Romo, who probably wasn't throwing at 100%, but it's still great to see Posey knocking the ball around the yard. He also got down in a squat after to catch Matt Cain's session. The Giants also apparently dodged a couple of bullets too, almost literally, as Matt Cain took a Hector Sanchez line drive off his right leg, but was declared fine. Cain also drilled Panda in the ribs with a slider that slipped, but Pablo also apparently escaped the beaning unscathed. And last but not least on our notes section, Ryan Vogelsong got back in action a little sooner than everyone was expecting, throwing on Monday and reporting a painless session. Good news certainly, though the Giants still could still hold their right-hander out of his first spring start.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Getting Posey back will be like adding a big free agent. Giants offense will be alright i think!
Yeah, and I think Pagan is clearly better than Torres. I think the offense will be better than everybody thinks. They got guys like Belt, Panda and Posey and Aubrey Huff got in shape. He's going to be better too.

Giants should be in good shape unless Panda tears an ACL or some crap like that. That picture of him moving to his side below shows he's out of shape, you can tell by the way he's moving and how chunky the guy is. I'm worried he lost some motivation after getting that contract which basically guarantees him a great life, no matter what he does ever again on a field.

J-Bill
Anonymous said…
Amazing! I'm really enjoying the design of your blog. Are you using a custom made template or is this freely available to all individuals? If you really don't want to say the
name of it out in the general public, please make sure to email
me. I'd absolutely love to get my hands on this theme! Thank you.

Feel free to visit my website - How to Golf
My page: how to golf

Popular posts from this blog

WORLD SERIES: Giants Move Up 2-0 on Texas

PreGame After taking game one in a surprising slug-fest , the Giants look to go up 2-0 on the Rangers in the World Series on Thursday night. The Giants are sending out Matt Cain, a guy who I'm sure every Giants' fan is pretty confident in. He'll be a opposed by C.J. Wilson, who's in his first year as a full-time starter, but has been brilliant in the role. He did struggle his last time out though, so hopefully the Giants can get to him early and get into his head a bit. I'm going to do something I've never done here on this unique occasion, and sort of do an in-game post. updating this post every time I feel I have something to add. So go Giants, and be sure to check back throughout the game, and after, to vent or whatever! As long as Matt Cain keeps rolling, and the Giants keep coming up with those clutch 2-out hits, we should be OK. Texas has that high-powered offense that can score in a hurry, as we saw last night, so the Giants cannot let down and have to t

Giants Notes: Lincecum Signs, Ross to Boston

Well, even though I touched on it a little bit in our last post, I haven't really had a chance to get my thoughts out on the new Lincecum deal since he and the Giants agreed earlier in the week. Also, on the other end of things, the Giants missed out on shoring up their outfield by letting Cody Ross sign in Boston for only $3 million in 2012. First off, obviously, wanted to talk a bit about Lincecum. I've already said here that I didn't expect him to sign a long-term deal that takes him through free agency, but it doesn't mean he wants to leave San Francisco like everyone is suspecting. I mean, if I were Lincecum, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I planned on eventually signing with the Giants long-term. Why take a chance at mitigating your value to just sign a deal? Granted, a 5 year, $100 million deal isn't anything to sneeze at, in this market, if he were a free agent, Lincecum could probably easily command a 8 year, $200 million deal. If he could get

Johnny Cueto.. The Savior!

After a red hot first week-plus to start out April, the Giants hit about a 2-week rough stretch, but it looks like they're finally breaking out of it. Oh yeah, that Johnny Cueto guy looks like he's going to be pretty good too! San Francisco has won four of their last five ballgames to get back to the .500 mark at 11-11, and they did it behind the best pitching performance we've seen to start the 2016 season, hands down! Johnny Cueto dazzled the San Diego Padres Tuesday night at AT&T Park, and while the Pads don't exactly supply the most imposing offensive lineup, it was impressive nonetheless. The Giants' 30 year-old prized off-season signing threw the team's first complete game of 2016, allowing 7 hits and a walk while using 11 K's to help get him out of any trouble he ran into, which wasn't much at all. This was the exactly what the Giants had in mind when they gave Cueto that big deal in December, and this is exactly why I was all for his 2-ye