SF Giants: What releasing Jerry Blevins means for the bullpen

It appears that the San Francisco Giants have decided to release left-handed reliever Jerry Blevins and a number of other players, per Baseball America’s Chris Trenkle. What does the release of Blevins mean for the rest of the bullpen, specifically other left-handed options?

When the Giants signed Blevins as a non-roster invitee to spring training, it seemed like there was a good chance he could earn a spot on the Opening Day roster. The bullpen competition was wide open, and he was effective with the Atlanta Braves.

But he struggled mightily in spring training, giving up nine earned runs in 3-2/3 innings pitched. Even though he was a veteran who could have provided some stability to such a shaky bullpen, he was not able to earn a roster spot with such a dismal spring.

Does this mean that the Giants will not have any viable left-handed relievers this season? No! Fear not, for some other southpaws proved their mettle in spring training.

SF Giants left-handed relief pitchers after Jerry Blevins released

One individual that stood out was Jarlin Garcia. The Giants were able to get him off waivers during the offseason from the Miami Marlins, and he was impressive in spring: he allowed no runs in five innings pitched while recording eight strikeouts. He could definitely be a late-inning guy with a nasty slider and a mid-90s fastball.

Another lefty standout was Wandy Peralta. He pitched in eight games for the Giants last year and didn’t do anything extraordinary, but he was on fire during the spring, recording 10 strikeouts in five innings pitched without allowing a single run.

These are obviously small sample sizes for Garcia and Peralta, but they bode well for their ability to be solid contributors for the team. With how weak the Giants bullpen is any solid performance is a welcome sight.

At the end of the day, Garcia and Peralta went out and earned a spot even though they do not have the same track record as Blevins. Let us hope their solid springs foretell solid regular seasons for the Giants.