© Orlando Ramirez | 2019 Mar 11
With the regular season starting a week from Thursday, the time for Farhan Zaidi and Bruce Bochy to make final cuts is fast approaching. The toughest decisions may involve the bullpen, and whether the club will start with 13 pitchers on their roster, or lose one of the young arms that has impressed in spring.
Giants beat writer Andrew Baggarly joined Murph & Mac on Thursday morning, and highlighted two young relievers he thinks San Francisco will have a hard time letting walk.
“Travis Bergen, the Rule 5 pick, hasn’t given up a run all spring,” Baggarly began. “He’s a Rule 5 guy so you have to keep him all year or you have to offer him back. I would be really shocked at this point if Bergen wasn’t on the team. I mean he’s left-handed, he’s got a fastball that plays, he’s got a good breaking ball, and I think that he’s definitely got some pitchability, so I think he’ll be part of the mix.”
In 43 combined appearances with the Blue Jays’ Single-A and Double-A affiliates, Bergen was similarly dominant in 2018, posting a 0.95 ERA while striking out 11.8 per nine innings.
“Trevor Gott is a guy who’s out of options who they got from the Nationals and I think that he would be pretty quickly snapped up if they lose him,” Baggs said. “So I think that both those guys they are going to want to keep.”
Gott also hasn’t allowed a run this spring in seven appearances. The 26-year old struggled with Washington last year, but was much better with their Triple-A affiliate posting a 1.057 WHIP in 28 games.
Though the Giants would likely want to keep both, the rest of the veteran talent in the bullpen could make the decision tricky.
“Then you’ve got your front line guys. You’ve got a Reyes Moronta, who’s got options but he’s so good you don’t want to start the season without him. And then everybody else you can’t send down, whether it’s (Tony) Watson or (Mark) Melancon or Will Smith or Sam Dyson. We could still see a trade I think. I’d say that’s possible if not likely at this point, but right now they don’t have enough spots for the people who deserve to be on the team.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Baggs on the bullpen, start from 2:50.