San Francisco Giants' Santiago Casilla (46) celebrates the final out of their 3-1 win against the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO – Giants manager Bruce Bochy delivered a nuanced take on his unsteady bullpen, saying that he would stick with closer Santiago Casilla but stopping short of issuing a vote of confidence in the veteran right-hander.
“Do I feel I need to back off him? Right now, no,” said Bochy, a day after Casilla served up a tiebreaking home run to the Dodgers’ Justin Turner in the ninth inning of Friday’s 3-2 loss.
“But if it gets to a point where it needs to be tweaked, we’ll do it. You saw it with (Sergio) Romo (in 2014).”
You’ve seen it twice, actually.
Casilla was the closer in 2012 when a knee issue began to affect his performance. Romo took over the job in June and held it all the way through his called third strike to the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera that clinched the World Series.
Romo was the closer in 2014 but yielded to Casilla after blowing three saves in a span of five chances in late June.
Here we are, in June of an even year. The problem this time: Romo is on the disabled list, and just resumed throwing lightly off a mound Saturday. His return from a strained flexor tendon near his right elbow is “a ways away,” Bochy said.
And while the Giants have a lot of younger, hard-throwing talent in their bullpen, Cory Gearrin is the only one who has had something resembling a consistent season. The choice to replace a player comes down to two things: your belief in that player, and your confidence in your available options.
Bochy made it clear where he stands.
“Not to make excuses, the blown saves are what they are,” Bochy said. “But I still think he’s our best option to close these games. You’ll see that I’ll help him if I feel I have to. You’ve seen (Javier) Lopez come in (to face a lefty). If I have to do more of that, I will. It’s all about what’s right to win the game.”
The surprising part about Turner’s home run is that Casilla hadn’t allowed one to a right-handed hitter. They were batting .170 against him.
Of his four blown saves, one came after Kelby Tomlinson made an error on a potential game-ending double-play grounder. Another came when Arizona’s Jake Lamb, a left-handed hitter, pounded a tying two-out, two-strike home run with the bases empty.
Although Casilla’s numbers show no red flags, the fact is, he hasn’t been consistent when asked to pitch in the tightest situations. Ideally, you’d back off your closer, give him a less leveraged spot or two to flush the bad vibes, and then reincorporate him. Given Bochy’s current bullpen composition, it’s obvious he doesn’t feel he has that luxury.
“It’s been a strange year,” Bochy said of Casilla. “His hiccups don’t add up to his numbers.”
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The Casilla questions with Bochy led to a broader discussion about a bullpen in which roles still haven’t been established. Interestingly, Bochy partly pointed the finger at himself.
“I’ve talked to them about that, and part of it is on me,” Bochy said. “I’ve told them, `Don’t get down. Don’t get discouraged.’ I’ll try to get this thing nailed down and get more defined roles.”
One major reason the roles remain in flux is that is left-hander Josh Osich is not the flexible presence the Giants were counting on him to be.
Osich was supposed to be a Jeremy Affeldt analog who could pitch full innings, or even pieces of multiple innings, without regard to matchups because his power stuff played against lefties and right-handers alike.
Osich is not having a terrible season. He’s inherited more runners (28) than any NL reliever, and stranded all but two of them. Left-handers are batting .136 against him.
But right-handed batters have a .414 average with three homers in 29 at-bats against him. Bochy sees a pitcher who needs to make an adjustment.
“I’ve talked to O about that,” Bochy said. “We’ve got to use all his pitches. He’s got a tendency to go hard with everything. He’s a perfect guy to assume the role Affeldt had, and be even a two-inning guy. He’s finding out you can’t bull your way through these lineups.”
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Bochy will have one more option in his bullpen behind Jeff Samardzija on Saturday. Albert Suarez, who was so impressive in two starts and a five-inning relief appearance for Matt Cain, will be available to pitch in relief Saturday.
The Giants are confident that Cain, who had a mild hamstring strain, will be ready to start Monday against the Milwaukee Brewers. They would activate him at that time.
Bochy said Suarez would serve as the long reliever but he’s earned enough confidence to appear “in some critical innings.” The Giants need relievers who can pitch full innings and whose usage isn’t driven heavily by platoon matchups. Suarez certainly flashed the kind of stuff that can work in that role.
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The Giants completed the final day of the MLB draft and took two familiar names.
With their 18th-round pick, they drafted Jacob Heyward, the younger brother of Cubs All-Star Jason Heyward. Jacob is a center fielder out of the University of Miami.
In the 37th round, they took UCLA (and former Palo Alto High) outfielder Christoph Bono, the son of former 49ers quarterback Steve Bono.
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Lineups:
CF Denard Span
2B Joe Panik
1B Brandon Belt
C Buster Posey
3B Matt Duffy
SS Brandon Crawford
LF Mac Williamson
RF Gregor Blanco
RHP Jeff Samardzija
2B Chase Utley
SS Corey Seager
3B Justin Turner
1B Adrian Gonzalez
RF Trayce Thompson
CF Joc Pederson
C Yasmani Grandal
LF Howie Kendrick
LHP Scott Kazmir
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