For the majority of the season, the Giants have played ball without the Bearded One, Brian Wilson. By mid-April, the closer's season was confirmed to be finished.
Santiago Casilla's filled in admirably, posting a 2.91 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP with 23 saves and 36 strikeouts in 34 innings. But the result of losing a closer to Tommy John surgery is a thinned out bullpen, and it shouldn't be a surprise that the Giants are looking for more relievers.
That's according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, who writes in his latest column that Brian Sabean's out shopping for his bullpen.
"The Giants’ search for a reliever is hardly a surprise considering that they’ve been without their closer, Brian Wilson, virtually all season," Rosenthal writes. "Here’s a stat that might surprise you, considering the perceived strength of the Giants’ bullpen: The combined strikeout rate of their relievers is the third-lowest in the NL."
Sergio Romo's strikes guys out and so does Casilla. But this bullpen would benefit greatly from grabbing another strikeout artists and/or potential closer to beef up the Giants late-inning ability to shut down teams.
Rael Enteen put together a list of possible closers the Giants could acquire; the one problem with buying a closer is that you're overpaying for the title of closer. Which is why you're more likely, over the next two weeks, to see Sabean go out and acquire some cheaper middle relief.
Doing that means he doesn't have to pay the high price that is attached to a guy like Jonathan Broxton just because he has a lot of saves. And, as Casilla's proved, even
