SF Giants already have Camilo Doval's replacement (It's not who you think)

The SF Giants could potentially trade closer Camilo Doval ahead of the July 30th trade deadline. If they make this move, they already have a clear candidate to take over the closer role on the team. No, it's not Tyler Rogers or Ryan Walker: it's Jordan Hicks.

SF Giants already have Camilo Doval's replacement (It's not who you think)

Camilo Doval is one of the best trade chips that the Giants have. Even though he has struggled this season, he still has electric stuff on the mound that would make him an enticing acquisition for a number of contending clubs.

The struggles will definitely limit the return that the Giants could get for Doval, but the Giants could still get a decent prospect back especially if a team is desperate to bolster the back end of their bullpen.

Some fans may feel that trading Doval would be a foolish move. After all, the team is within striking distance of a postseason berth and they could really use Doval down the stretch especially if he is able to turn things around and be more consistent.

However, Giants fans should not fret. They could trade Doval and not affect their ability to contend because they already have the perfect candidate to replace him in the closer role.

Many minds will first go to Tyler Rogers and Ryan Walker. Both could more than handle 9th inning duties, even if Rogers has struggled mightily in save situations in his career. But the Giants have a pitcher on their team who has better raw stuff than both of them.

That would be Jordan Hicks.

Hicks, of course, was signed in the offseason with the intention of him being a starting pitcher after basically his entire time in the big leagues has been spent coming out of the bullpen. That experiment started off great as Hicks looked phenomenal early in the year. However, as the year has dragged on fatigue has set in and his velocity has started to drop.

With the Giants set to get Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb back in their rotation soon, the Giants are going to have to move some guys from the rotation. They should demote Hayden Birdsong even though he has looked pretty good, keep Kyle Harrison in the rotation, and then move Jordan Hicks to the closer role.

Hicks has experience as a closer, recording 32 saves in his career. When he is maxing out, he certainly has the raw stuff to be a closer. With a fastball that can touch triple digits, a wicked slider, and a nasty splitter, one could even argue that he has more tools at his disposal in the closer role than Doval since Doval throws a cutter, sinker, and slider and does not have a splitter.

Hicks has talked this season about how he will go into "closer mode" in his starts when runners get on base or he has to get out of a jam. That means his closer instincts are still intact. However, as a starter he has to limit himself to a certain degree and cannot max out because he is trying to go deep into games. This is wasting his talent as a guy who can throw the ball so hard.

If the Giants move Hicks to the closer role, they can let him max out and do not have to worry as much about the fatigue that has plagued him as of late. If the Giants do not want to commit fully to Hicks as closer or if he struggles in the role, they can lean upon Ryan Walker who has been excellent this year and has more traditional closer stuff than Rogers.

It may be odd to see a pitcher go from a starter to a closer over the course of a season, but with Hicks' history as a reliever, it just makes too much sense to slide Hicks into the closer role if the team trades Doval.