{"id":191568,"date":"2026-02-24T16:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/191568\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T16:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:19:09","slug":"what-the-san-francisco-giants-are-quietly-prioritizing-in-bullpen-roles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/191568\/","title":{"rendered":"What the San Francisco Giants are Quietly Prioritizing in Bullpen Roles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Francisco Giants<\/a> were already behind the curve when it came to their bullpen entering spring training. <\/p>\n

Randy Rodriguez<\/a> is out for the season after Tommy John surgery. He was one of the best relievers in baseball last season and was an All-Star. But the surgery keeps him out for the season. The Giants are also without Camilo Doval <\/a>after trading him at last year\u2019s deadline. The return was solid, but he would come in handy right now. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are three things the Giants<\/a> are quietly prioritizing when it comes to bullpen roles as spring training continues in Scottsdale, Ariz.<\/p>\n

The Closer Back-Up Plan\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants pitcher Tristan Beck. | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Barring a complete collapse this spring, Ryan Walker should be the closer going into the regular season. He\u2019s the most experienced healthy option and he\u2019s been clear all offseason \u2014 he wants the job. He had two quality stretches last season. But he lost the job in between, first to Doval and then to Rodriguez after the trade. <\/p>\n

Closer is a tricky job. It doesn\u2019t take much for a pitcher to lose it. After he blew a save on April 20 of last season, he regained the job briefly in May before Doval took over. From May 25 to Aug. 24, he didn\u2019t record a save. He was still used, but he wasn\u2019t given the ball in that situation. Now, San Francisco doesn\u2019t have much of a choice. <\/p>\n

San Francisco is using camp to quietly put together a back-up plan in case Walker falters again. Expect Spencer Bivens and Tristan Beck to be a part of that plan. They\u2019re the only returning relievers that recorded saves last season. Until Jason Foley is healthy, watch those two closely this spring. <\/p>\n

Keeping the Carsons\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants pitcher Carson Whisenhunt. | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Carson Seymour and Carson Whisenhunt need to stick in the Majors this year. They\u2019ve both matured to the point where returning either to the minor leagues really doesn\u2019t do them \u2014 or the Giants \u2014 much good. So, San Francisco will give both plenty of opportunities to prove they\u2019re right for the role, as there really aren\u2019t spots in the starting rotation.<\/p>\n

Seymour logged 13 relief appearances out of his 16 games, as he went 1-3 with a 4.75 ERA. Whisenhunt started five games and went 2-1 with a 5.01 ERA. It\u2019s easy to see Seymour emerging as a bridge option to the high-leverage arms and Whisenhunt settling into a multi-inning option. <\/p>\n

The Set-Up Men\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants pitcher Erik Miller. | Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

If the Giants are cultivating Bivens and Beck as potential closing options on the down low, it makes sense they would be the set-up men. The problem is the pair don\u2019t have much experience in the area as they combined for five holds last season. With Walker, Doval and Rodriguez on the roster for most of the season, the trio dominated that category. Plus, Tyler Rogers was traded at the deadline too. <\/p>\n

So, who fits into that role if Bivens and Beck can\u2019t do it? That may be the most important question of spring training. It could be Jos\u00e9 Butt\u00f3, who was acquired in a trade last year. It could be Joel Peguero, who is working his way back from a hamstring injury. Erik Miller is also a name to watch here, too. He missed half the season due to an injury but can help in this department. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco Giants were already behind the curve when it came to their bullpen entering spring training.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-191568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-san-francisco","9":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","10":"tag-san-francisco-news","11":"tag-sf","12":"tag-sf-headlines","13":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}