No Relief In Sight

The Giants bullpen once again has to take the blame for the teams' loses in Philadelphia and Arizona. Armando Benitez is gone, but it seems like the Giants are giving up more games late than they did with him here. I have been a supporter of Kevin Corriea all year, and I have posted numerous times that I think he is the toughest Giants' reliever to hit, when he's on. I still think Corriea has good stuff and I still think he is one of the better relievers on this staff (not saying much) but this guy has blown a lot of games, whether they've been his fault or not. However, You can't really put all the blame on Corriea, even though it's the popular thing to do. The ball Shane Victorino hit out of the park on Saturday wouldn't have even made it to the warning track in San Francisco. And sure, on paper it looks like Corriea is the gofer for Saturday's game, but it was Jack Taschner that gave up the game changing, 3-run home to Ryan Howard on a 1-2 fastball right down the middle. The brightest spot for the bullpen over the weekend was the way Ryan Messenger pitched. Messenger has showed his wildness, but hasn't given up a hit in 2 1/3 innings. With this bunch, that's almost good enough to anoint him the new setup man.

The Giants have fallen 3 games back of .500 now and while it's still very early in the season, they've made it pretty clear that this team is not a playoff team. With the July 31st trade deadline slowly approaching, the Giants are going to have to make a decision as to whether they think they have a shot at making a run and adding players, or if they are going to concede and sell some players. The Giants haven't been sellers at all for about 12 years now, so I would expect the trend of adding at the deadline to continue. I was reading the Oakland Tribune this weekend and came across this piece:

" -The Giants need a veteran closer to anchor their pen. With a starting rotation that ranks with the best in the NL, a closer who has been through the pressure of a pennant race will help keep the Giants in the race. GM Brian Sabean should make an offer to the Rangers for Eric Gagne. The former Dodger still has the stuff to
make big league hitters look silly."

Interesting theory. He has been lights out when healthy this year. He'd definitely be a guy who could really turn the pen around. Imagine having a reliable closer, and reliable 8th inning guy like Henny with a staff like this that pretty consistently is going 7 innings a start. Pat Misch, Travis Blackley and Brian Wilson for Gagne? Doubt Texas would do it, but I guarantee Sabean would. That being said, I personally think this season is a good year to be "sellers", seeing this team has too many holes to make any real run. Plus they have a few guys who some teams could use (Vizquel, Morris, Klesko, Ortiz, Feliz). Who knows, only time will tell.