SF Giants Offseason Preview: Bullpen

by Agent0

For the second edition of the San Francisco Giants Offseason preview I will be talking about the Bullpen.  The Giants bullpen is considered their second biggest weakness, behind middle lineup power.  First I'll start with Giants closer Brad Hennessy.  He wasn't the goto closer all year, mutliple relievers went into the game to close, but Hennessy had the most opportunities at 24, he ended up with 19 saves.  Although he wasn't perfect (who is?) he showed great promise, which is a reason why he is in the trade talks this winter.  He shows some value and the ability to bring a big bat to the Giants line-up.  Nothing better than young pitching in the form of a reliever.  31 year old Tyler Walker pitched very well comign out of the bullpen.  He ended the season with a 1.26 ERA in only 14 innings pitched.  Although very few appearences, he did show a great ability to shut down hitters and really help out the Giants pitching staff overall.  Two other semi-standouts were 25 year old Brian Wilson (2.28 ERA/23.2 IP) and 27 year old Kevin Correia (3.45 ERA/101 IP).  Both pretty young pitchers and Wilson, same as Waler, had few appearences, but still looked great.  Now Correia was a starter at the lower levels and did start 8 games in the pros, but was really brought up from Fresno for Bullpen support.  He has the ability to be a main anchor in this bullpen and he also is a reliever wh ocan cmoe in early and help save a game from being blown out of proportion.  Overall though the Giants have pretty young relievers and they don't really have a dominate reliever.  althuogh Wilson and Walker had great numbers they didn't have very many appearences.  Correia also looked great, but he still unproven, he needs another year under his belt to really solidify himself as a professional pitcher.