SF Giants: 4 ways Gabe Kapler has mismanaged the pitching staff

SF Giants manager Gabe Kapler was criticized throughout his tenure with the Philadelphia Phillies for mismanaging his pitching staff. It hasn’t taken long for some concerning trends to emerge in San Francisco.

The Giants have gotten off to a slow start to the 2020 season. Their 8-11 record probably doesn’t surprise many on-lookers, but how they’ve gotten there has been a bit different expected. As of August 12, the team ranked 9th in the majors in runs scored on the backs of breakouts from Donovan Solano, Mike Yastrzemski, and Austin Slater.

On the other hand, the pitching staff has been torched for a 5.07 ERA (24th in the league). Even then, those numbers understate what opponents have been able to do against the team. The Giants have committed the most errors in the league (21) by a pretty substantial margin. Opponents have added plenty of unearned runs that didn’t harm their rotation’s ERA.

The Giants pitching staff wasn’t exactly a particularly strong group entering the season. The organization further hamstrung their starting pitchers by slowly ramping up their pitch counts. Given the slew of injuries of pitchers around baseball, it appears the decision was beneficial to their long-term pitcher’s health.

However, there were costs. Costs obviously worth paying, but nonetheless were there. Forced to be more reliant on an inexperienced bullpen, manager Gabe Kapler’s bullpen management skills have been tested early in his tenure. It hasn’t exactly gone smoothly.

Kapler’s handling of his pitching staff was a source of criticism during his time at the helm of the Philadelphia Phillies. Early on in San Francisco, there have been similar problems. A number of concerning trends have emerged from Kapler’s decisionmaking. Especially around his bullpen management.

It’s obviously still early in Kapler’s tenure and he’s had to adjust on the fly more than usual. But there’s no denying that he’s made a number of questionable decisions.

How Gabe Kapler is mismanaging the SF Giants pitching staff: Misjudging talent

Over the past couple of days, Kapler and the team have changed their tune a bit, but some of their early-season rankings amongst the relief pitchers were perplexing at the time. While no one denied Trevor Gott was the best and most trustworthy option, Kapler seemed to behave like Tyler Rogers and Rico Garcia were his next best tier of setup options.

Rogers was incredibly effective at the end of 2019 but by the end of camp, Shaun Anderson and Wandy Peralta seemed to be flashing more premium stuff. That’s not to say Rogers, or even Garcia, shouldn’t have been considered high-leverage options, but at the start of the year, they were always the go-to options in those situations.

Kapler has prepared fans to expect the unexpected with the bullpen. Yet, thus far, he’s stuck to pretty standardized roles.

Both Rogers and Garcia have obviously struggled. However, it might have helped both to work in lower stress situations. Plenty of opportunities have been available, but Anderson and Peralta have both been used to fill those innings instead.

Before Garcia was optioned to the team’s alternate site in Sacramento, he had faced 30 batters on the season. 20 of those 30 plate appearances came in medium or high leverage situations. For Rogers, the numbers are even more extreme. 35 of the 46 batters Rogers has faced have come in high-leverage situations.

On the flip side, Anderson has faced nearly half of his batters (16 of 34) in low-leverage situations. Peralta has pitched in a larger number of low-leverage situations than Caleb Baragar.

Given the lack of track-record in the bullpen, a more egalitarian approach might help the players adjust to a more permanent higher stress role and help the team evaluate which players are most viable moving forward.

How Gabe Kapler is mismanaging the SF Giants pitching staff: Inconsistent patience with starters

In college, during one of my classes, my professor walked into the room a few minutes early. While he was setting up his lecture notes, he realized the room was hotter than he like. He walked over to the thermostat and turned it to its coldest temperature. He chuckled to the class and explained to the class the concept of an idiot in the shower.

The basic principle of the idiot in the shower is that they never allow for moderation. They turn the water on and since it is cold they turn it to its maximum temperature. Then when the water is scalding them they turn it to its minimum temperature. Then they are freezing and turn it all the way up… and so on and so on.

Since the Giants starters have been released from their tight early-season pitch counts, Kapler’s decisions have gone from hot to cold.

The juxtaposition of Johnny Cueto and Kevin Gausman’s starts against the Dodgers are the most obvious examples. Many fans, pundits, and even broadcaster Mike Krukow questioned Kapler’s decision.

Gausman was cruising through the Dodgers lineup into the 7th inning, but after his 81st pitch of the game resulted in a Cody Bellinger single, Kapler went to the pen. Tyler Rogers, who had pitched the day before, entered. Rogers went on to allow a three-run homer to A.J. Pollock that would ultimately be the difference.

Gausman had thrown 83 pitches in his outing five days prior and was at a minimum built up to throw 90 pitches. While velocity isn’t everything, his final pitch was his hardest of the day, clocking in at more than 99 mph.

We can’t know whether this played into Kapler’s decision or not, but it felt like he was overcorrecting for a mistake he’d made the day before. Cueto had been working a no-hitter into the sixth inning. However, after Hunter Pence misplayed a flyout into a triple, things began to unravel.

Cueto induced an RBI groundout from Austin Barnes, walked Joc Pederson, and then got Mookie Betts to popout. During Betts’ hit, Cueto showed a clear limp and Kapler went out with a trainer to talk to Cueto. He’d already thrown 84 pitches, and with a 5-1 lead, Kapler could’ve played it safe with the veteran.

Cueto’s command was beginning to falter. He’d already thrown 18 pitches in the inning and only 7 were strikes. Furthermore, Tony Watson was available in the bullpen (he would replace Cueto two batters later) to face off against Cody Bellinger. Instead, Kapler left Cueto in. He walked Bellinger and allowed a home run to Justin Turner.

The Giants won the game 5-4, but Kapler pushed a hampered Cueto (he was dealing with a toe blister) with a better matchup waiting in the bullpen. The next day, Kapler seemed to have the Cueto mistake in the back of his mind when he pulled Gausman.

It didn’t end there. The day after Gausman’s early removal, Logan Webb was on the bump. Still just 23-years old and only a couple years removed from Tommy John surgery, you’d expect Kapler to show even more care for Webb’s arm than Gausman’s.

Yet after Webb labored through a 36-pitch, 4-run third inning, Kapler sent him back out to start the 4th inning. He ultimately was pulled two batters later (finishing the night with 81 pitches), but it got the attention of Giants beat writer Henry Schulman.

Obviously each starter is their own player. Kapler shouldn’t treat them all the same, but between Gausman, Cueto, and Webb, Gausman probably has the healthiest resume and had thrown the least-stressful pitches. Yet, of the three, he received the quickest pull.

How Gabe Kapler is mismanaging the SF Giants pitching staff: Rest

This, perhaps more than any other trend, should concern Giants fans the most. Odds are, rosters will be smaller following this strange pandemic-impacted season. Given commissioner Rob Manfred’s focus on limiting pitching changes, a cap on pitchers on the roster wouldn’t be shocking either.

Yet even with an abnormally large pitching staff, Kapler’s rest management has been questionable. The Giants have selected Andrew Suarez’s contract twice from the alternate site, but he’s yet to appear in a game.

Obviously Suarez wasn’t going to be a go-to high-leverage option, but in two of the team’s games at Coors Field, Kapler went to other southpaws (Caleb Baragar, Conner Menez, and Sam Selman) while the team trailed. It seemed logical to use Suarez and save his other arms since Suarez was set to be optioned as soon as rosters contracted from 30 to 28 just a day later.

Even with 16 pitchers for much of the season, Kapler has turned to the same pitchers on back-to-back days over and over again. Listed below are all the Giants relievers who have pitched on back-to-back days this season (with their total appearances in parenthesis).

Tyler Rogers: 3 (10)
Shaun Anderson: 3 (10)
Wandy Peralta: 3 (10)
Rico Garcia: 2 (9)
Tony Watson: 1 (5)
Trevor Gott: 1 (6)
Sam Selman: 1 (6)

Even after Anderson and Peralta added 1.1 shutout innings in Wednesday’s loss to the Astros, the bullpen’s ERA on back-to-back outings is 8.76. It’s obviously been a small-sample thus far and ERA can be a particularly misleading statistic for relievers. However, it aligns with eons of baseball wisdom. Pitching on back-to-back days is going to generally lead to worse outcomes.

It’s weird to see Kapler making this mistake given his focus on preventing starters from facing opposing lineups a third time. The premise is very similar. Whether a pitcher is a starter or reliever, they generally get worse the more they pitch.

To be fair, the team has been relatively limited with righthanded relievers. While there were still some questionable decisions, it’s easier to justify Anderson, Rogers, and Garcia’s places higher on the list. At the same time, it’s what makes Peralta’s presence so confusing.

Kapler has clearly not viewed Peralta as a high-leverage arm from his usage, yet even with a glut of southpaws on the roster, has gone to him multiple times on back-to-back days. It’s setting him up for failure.

Giants relievers flood the league’s leaderboard for appearances on the season. Since the team eased in starters, that is to be expected to a certain degree. However, Kapler hasn’t done his bullpen any favors. Wasting Suarez’s time on the roster is a prime example.

Perhaps Kapler is still adjusting to the Giants roster amidst a new season. If that’s the case, fans should hope to see some of these alarming trends disappear sooner rather than later.