San Francisco Giants: Pair of signings bolsters relief pitching depth

On Monday, the San Francisco Giants signed a pair of relievers with significant MLB experience to minor league deals.

After trading away Mark Melancon, Sam Dyson and Drew Pomeranz from the MLB bullpen and hard-throwing Ray Black from the Triple-A bullpen, the San Francisco Giants have had to do a good deal of roster shuffling to put together a relief corps.

Sam Selman, Jandel Gustave and Andrew Suarez have all joined the MLB roster in the past week, leaving three holes to fill on the Triple-A staff.

The need for more arms was addressed at the Triple-A level on Monday with a pair of roster moves.

Ryan Dull, 29, had a solid season out of the Oakland bullpen in 2018 when he posted a 4.26 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 28 appearances, and he’s just a few years removed from a brilliant 2016 campaign where he logged a 2.42 ERA with 15 holds and three saves in 70 appearances.

Things haven’t gone as well this year, as he’s been hit hard with 19 hits and 12 earned runs allowed in nine innings, which amounts to a 12.00 ERA.

The right-hander owns a 5.45 ERA with a 50-to-13 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 39.2 innings with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate this year, and he now shifts over to the Triple-A Sacramento roster.

It’s not out of the question to think that Dull could rediscover some of his old magic, and he’s certainly worth a roll of the dice.

Carlos Torres, 36, has struggled since a solid 2016 season with the Milwaukee Brewers.

He had a 2.73 ERA and 1.15 WHIP with 20 holds and 78 strikeouts in 82.1 innings over 72 appearances that season as a key cog in the Brew Crew’s relief corps.

His ERA spiked to 4.21 over 67 games in 2017, and he’s been hit hard at the MLB level to the tune of a 6.89 ERA in 14 appearances over the past two seasons while pitching with the Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers.

While the MLB-level production has not been there of late, he has a 2.79 ERA in 28 games with three different team’s Triple-A squads this year, so he’ll provide depth with a chance for more.

To this point in his tenure as president of baseball operations, Farhan Zaidi has had some good luck finding diamonds in the rough. Who knows, he may have just found two more that could help the San Francisco Giants in their pursuit of a postseason berth.