Royals have a chance to fix whatever broke with Spencer Bivens on SF Giants

If one can remember back earlier to this year, right before Opening Day when there was still hope for the 2026 SF Giants, one of the few Opening Day roster decisions that came as a bit of a surprise was the decision to keep Spencer Bivens off the initial 26-man roster.

He was a solid reliever for the team in 2024 and 2025, so it seemed like he’d factor into the bullpen picture yet again in 2026 but the Giants went with other options. He barely appeared at all in the big leagues for the Giants and was just recently designated for assignment.

The Kansas City Royals scooped him up off waivers, and now they will have a chance to try to fix Bivens who clearly can be a competent reliever but for whatever reason it just didn’t work with the Giants this season.

San Francisco made some interesting usage decisions with him in the minors. He was used as a starter on seven occasions, and not just as an opener. He went four or more innings in several of those starts and it seemed like the Giants may have been trying to convert him into more of a starter, but he returned to conventional reliever duties.

In total he had a 4.92 ERA in 35 appearances and 75 innings pitched with the Sacramento River Cats. That’s not awful, but he just really struggled with the Giants to the tune of a 14.40 ERA in four appearances including a brutal outing in late August against the Cincinnati Reds in which he gave up four earned runs and contributed to a bullpen collapse that allowed the Reds to come back from eight runs down and win.

Spencer Bivens had bright moments with Giants even if ending was rough

That probably sealed his fate with San Francisco, although he did have some really good moments with the Giants. He had a very memorable start back in 2024 against the Los Angeles Dodgers where he went five innings and ended it by striking out Shohei Ohtani but could also be an effective late-inning reliever at times so it will be interesting to see how Kansas City chooses to use him since he’s very versatile.

Looking at his velocity, it’s not as if Bivens suddenly lost a bunch of velocity or anything. His fastball actually has a little more heat than it did in 2024 and 2025 so maybe he is just a little out of wack mechanically.

After seeing Tyler Mahle and Erik Miller both get traded at the deadline and pitch great with their new teams, it wouldn’t come as a shock if the Royals are able to find something with Bivens and turn him back into a solid reliever. 

If they do, then the Giants really need to look in the mirror and ask whether they are getting the most out of their pitchers which could lead to come sort of shakeup on the coaching staff. 

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