The one key element SF Giants are missing in their bullpen

The SF Giants had a good bullpen in 2025. Their 3.48 ERA was the fourth best in all of baseball, while their 34 wins ranked 13th in the league. They had the seventh-best WHIP of any bullpen in the league. One thing they did not do?

Strike guys out. The Giants bullpen was 27th in the league in strikeouts, and 27th in K/9.

The Giants would be wise to add some element of strikeouts to their bullpen this offseason.

SF Giants need more strikeout arms in their bullpen next season

Having guys in the 'pen you can rely upon for strikeouts is one of the best comforts in baseball. Especially when you're in a jam, being able to make the call to the bullpen for a strikeout is one of the easiest decisions a manager can make.

While the ERA landed in a good spot in 2025, the Giants should get greedy and improve the bullpen even more in 2026.

Only two regular Giants relievers had K/9 rates above 9 (meaning they averaged more than one strikeout per game). That included the second-year budding star Randy Rodríguez and closer Camilo Doval. Every other member of the Giants' bullpen was averaging less than one punchout per inning in 2025. On the bright side, many of them induced lots of soft contact, and they didn't walk anybody (they walked the sixth fewest batters in the league).

However, Doval is gone, and Rodríguez can't carry the bullpen all on his own. Strikeouts are a necessary part of the game. In a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam, a strikeout is perhaps the best possible outcome. Runners on second and third, one out? A strikeout is the only way to get the second out without potentially letting a run score.

For that reason, San Francisco needs at least one more strikeout artist in their bullpen. Free agent Devin Williams might be at the top of that list, with 90 strikeouts in 67 innings last year, but there are plenty of good options the Giants could target. Adding a punch-out artist should be a top priority for the Giants this offseason.