Latest injury probably ends cautious SF Giants project's disappointing season

The SF Giants have been completely ravaged by injuries this season, so it really shouldn’t come as a shock that left-handed reliever Sam Hentges went on the IL with a forearm strain. He’s been placed on the 15-day IL, but odds are this injury will shut him down the rest of the season which will be a disappointing end to a fairly disappointing year.

The Giants signed Hentges as part of their “damaged goods” strategy to address the bullpen in the offseason. Hentges was an interesting project coming off an injury and they got him at a discount like he was a bruised apple at a farmer’s market. Just shine it up a bit and no one will notice, right?

Not really. Hentges wasn’t completely awful for the Giants as he had a 3.27 ERA in 40 appearances on the year. He pitched 33 innings and struck out 35 batters while walking 23 so it’s a bit of a wonder his FIP wasn’t higher since it was 3.42. 

Still, his 1-6 record on the year speaks to why he was such a disappointment: he just rarely had the goods in high leverage spots. With all the injuries and lack of support from the rest of the bullpen Hentges was used as a late-inning guy quite a few times and it seemed like whenever he came in with the game on the line it went poorly. His ERA in the 9th inning this year was 13.50 and in extras it was 27.00.

Sam Hentges will most likely return in 2027 despite disappointing Giants campaign

Despite this, he is probably going to be back next season. According to Spotrac he is arbitration-eligible after this season and he did not allow a single home run on the year which is pretty impressive. We already know general manager Zack Minasian doesn’t think the Giants need to tear the bullpen down so if he’s still around expect Hentges to be back.

It’s important to note that Hentges did come off a major injury so maybe in year two with the Giants he will be better and could turn into that reliable high-leverage arm they envisioned, but it’s hard to see how just running it back with a lot of the same pieces is going to lead to better results in 2027.

Hentges was also apart of the contingent of Giants pitchers who protested the team’s Pride Night earlier in the season. He famously said that he did not “morally support” the message of the team’s Pride hats and so he felt the need to write a biblical verse on it. One can only hope he starts showing some moral opposition towards blown leads and walks next season.

In all it was a disappointing campaign for Hentges. The tall lefty will probably be back in 2027 so the Giants had better hope he cleans some things up if they are to have a better bullpen next year. 

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