Last season, the San Francisco Giants defied conventional bullpen wisdom by deciding that left-handed relievers weren’t important. They went most of the season with just one lefty specialist in the bullpen, first Erik Miller and then Joey Lucchesi. Lucchesi finished 13th on the team with 38.1 innings and Miller was 15th with 30 innings in an injury-shortened season. Scott Eyre, Javy Lopez, and Alan Embree watched the 2025 Giants with tears in their eyes and when he learned about it, bullpen innovator Tony La Russa was rolling over in his car.
This season, the Giants may have no choice but to go short on left-handed short relievers. Wednesday, the club announced that bullpen hopeful Reiver Sanmartin will miss three months after his MRI revealed a severe hip flexor strain.
Sanmartin spent most of the last two seasons pitching for the Cincinnati Reds’ Triple-A affiliate, the Louisville Bats, after having Tommy John surgery in 2023. The Giants claimed him off waivers in November. The 29-year-old has been quite good in the minor leagues but struggled to stick in a regular role with the Reds, putting up a 5.66 ERA and a 4.45 FIP while logging 62 career appearances.
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He does have a minor-league option remaining, which may have been part of his appeal in the first place, and Sanmartin won’t take up a 40-man roster space while he’s on the extended injured list.
This leaves 33-year-old Matt Gage as the lone healthy left-handed short reliever in the Giants bullpen, though Miller is scheduled to return from his back injury Friday. The Giants resigned Lucchesi to a minor-league deal on Monday, perhaps anticipating the bad news about Sanmartin. There’s also Sam Hentges, who signed a one-year deal for $1.4M but has had serious surgeries on his shoulder and knee in the last 18 months and won’t be available when the season starts.
Is this an issue? Sort of! The Giants are following what’s been a league-wide trend where left-handed relievers have become more scarce. Thanks to the new rule, implemented in 2020, that relievers had to face at least three batters, the “LOOGY” (left-handed one-out guy) has disappeared. Frankly, Barry Bonds was supporting a whole division’s worth of LOOGIES for years — Chuck McElroy and Mike Myers were able to put their kids through college purely due to facing Bonds and then leaving the game before Jeff Kent hit.
Still, in a division where the Giants have to face elite left-handed hitters like Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Freddie Freeman, and Max Muncy on the Dodgers alone, not to mention Corbin Carroll, Jackson Merrill and other lefties whose names don’t rhyme, having southpaws in the bullpen does seem important!
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Maybe the signing of Lucchesi, who was fine-to-good last season, and Miller’s return to health will solve this issue. Maybe Gage will settle down and Hentges will come back refreshed.
But right now, the bullpen is short on left-handed relief help, and if it continues like this, Buster Posey is going to make Aaron Fultz and Jack Taschner cry.
