SF Giants: Rico Garcia Recalled, Andrew Suarez Optioned

The SF Giants announced a roster move on Sunday by recalling reliever Rico Garcia and sending down lefty Andrew Suarez to the alternative training site in Sacramento.

This move gives the SF Giants a fresh arm in Garcia after needing the bullpen to complete 6.1 innings in last night’s 4-3 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Similar to Steven Duggar, the Giants have yo-yo’d Suarez back and forth between the major league roster and the alternative training site based on need.

The left-handed hurler has posted a 5.14 ERA across seven frames as he has worked mostly in mop-up duty in 2020. Suarez has pitched through a lot of traffic including nine hits and five walks as well.

Interestingly, despite coming up as a starting pitcher, Suarez has worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen since Farhan Zaidi took over as the team president of baseball operations.

Since the start of 2019, the 27-year-old has posted a 5.67 ERA in 39.2 innings while appearing in 26 games including only two starts. As with Duggar, it does seem like the current front office views the former second-round pick differently than the prior regime.

SF Giants Suarez down, Garcia up

With Suarez being optioned, Rico Garcia gets another chance to audition for a role in the 2021 bullpen. The right-handed hurler originally came out to the SF Giants via a waiver claim from the Colorado Rockies in November of 2019.

The belief was that a move away from the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field would help Garcia put up better numbers. That has not gone as planned as he has generated a 7.50 ERA in six innings of work. Similar to Suarez, Garcia has allowed a fair bit of traffic on the basepaths as he has yielded 12 hits and two walks.

That said, the SF Giants are very thin on right-handed arms in the bullpen, and with a solid showing down the stretch, Garcia could quickly put his name on the map as someone to watch in 2021, especially since his fastball velocity sits comfortably in the mid-90’s.

After Trevor Cahill completed just 2.2 innings last night, the Giants deployed seven relievers to nab the win and tie the series against the Diamondbacks. The addition of Garcia brings a hard-throwing arm to the bullpen, and extra insurance in case a Giants starter runs into trouble and gets knocked out early.