Tony Vitello's jarring SF Giants bullpen shakeup creates uncertainty at closer

Coming into the regular season for the SF Giants, it seemed pretty safe to assume that Ryan Walker would be handling closer duties to begin the season. Manager Tony Vitello threw everyone for a loop on Thursday night as he used Walker in the sixth inning.

It was definitely a surprise as the Giants were leading 6-2 in the sixth and Vitello decided to use Walker in relief of Robbie Ray who pitched 5 and 1/3 solid innings. Walker came in and got the final two outs of the inning. The decision to use Walker so early does beg the question: who will close games now?

SF Giants may have a new closer by committee approach now

Walker did come in to close the first save opportunity for the Giants this season on Monday against the San Diego Padres. It did not come without dramatics as Walker entered with a 3-0 lead and gave up a two-run homer as the team squeaked out a 3-2 victory in the end.

Last season Walker started off as the closer but eventually lost the job to Camilo Doval. After Doval was traded to the New York Yankees Randy Rodríguez got a shot but after he underwent Tommy John surgery Walker returned to the role by necessity.

He still struggled to close games coming down the stretch and yet the Giants did not bring in an established closer to give them a different option in the ninth inning.

Walker made it very clear that he wanted the closer job coming into camp this year and he looked good in spring training. He was never officially named the closer, but given the fact that he has the most closing experience of anyone in the bullpen it seemed like he'd get the lion's share of the opportunities at the beginning of the year.

Now, it seems Vitello is going a different route. There are other potential options who could close. Left-handed pitcher Erik Miller has the stuff to be a closer when he is right. Keaton Winn has already established himself as a potential setup man and Caleb Kilian has looked dominant with his stuff.

Maybe Blade Tidwell, Vitello's ace at the University of Tennessee who was just called up after José Buttó went on the 15-day IL, could close some games.

It will be interesting to see how the new skipper handles his relievers since he has never managed a big league bullpen before, so this is one of his first big shakeups of the season.