State of the Bullpen

If this photo is not the first time you've ever seen Jose Mijares, you need new hobbies.

For 2010 and 2011, the Giants had one of the most noteworthy bullpens in all of baseball. And it wasn’t just the crazy beards; they were top 5 in baseball each season in both ERA and total WAR. However, without the enigmatic Brian Wilson and regression in a few other places, the bullpen has been much more middle of the road this season. At the trade deadline, many were clamoring for the Giants to acquire a “proven closer” to upgrade the bullpen, but with mostly only mediocre types like Jonathan Broxton available, the Giants were likely wise to not give up prospects for what would be such a minuscule if anything upgrade.

Today though, the Giants did decide to make a few changes. The Kansas City Royals are proving to be the gift that just keeps on giving, presenting the Giants quality lefty Jose Mijares for free today, after giving them Melky Cabrera basically for free this offseason. Mijares has an ERA of 2.56 this season, though his peripherals aren’t quite as great, with an FIP of 3.50 and an xFIP of 4.16. They also announced that Santiago Casilla is no longer the sole closer, and the Giants are going to a closer-by-committee situation. This move was to be expected, as Casilla has been struggling mightily since his hot start, putting up an ERA over seven in his past 17 appearances. So is the acquisition of Mijares enough, or do the Giants need to make another move?

If Mijares was right-handed, this move would probably be enough to call it a day with the bullpen moves. The right-handers in the Giants bullpen have been less than stellar this season. Sergio Romo has been excellent again and rookie Kontos has been good, but everyone else has his flaws. Both Penny and Loux have been awful, and whichever one of them isn’t sent packing to make room Mijares will go back to his last man in the bullpen duties. Hensley’s 3.38 ERA has been buoyed by a low HR/FB rate and a low BABIP. His peripherals show more of a replacement level reliever. The last righty reliever in the bullpen is Santiago Casilla, whose recent struggles were noted above.

And while Javier Lopez has the ability to do this to lefties:

Against righties in his career Lopez has allowed righties to hit for a .817 OPS. And the newly acquired Mijares is actually quite similar to Lopez, being consistently tough against lefties but allowing righties to hit for a .786 OPS. The one guy left is Jeremy Affeldt, who is also left-handed but doesn’t have as bad a platoon split as Lopez or Mijares.

With Romo, Kontos, and to a lesser extent Affeldt being the only guys who can be trusted later in the game against righties, the Giants have a need for another right-hander. It doesn’t need to be someone spectacular, just a guy who can be counted upon to get a couple of outs in the seventh or eight inning – like the role Ramon Ramirez played for the Giants the last two seasons.