San Francisco Giants: 15 Greatest Relief Pitchers in Team History

It is difficult to compare relief pitchers across generations.  The position has evolved from the days when Cy Young threw nine complete games a week.  Nowadays, we must watch Jonathan Sanchez unleash 110 pitches in five innings followed by a procession of three to five "relief" specialists who face anywhere from one to six batters,   

During the '60s and '70s, "fireman" relievers were often brought in irregardless of inning to "save" the game at the first sign of trouble.  It was common for the best relievers to exceed 120 innings in a year.  Now Mariano Rivera can make the All-Star Game on 60 innings a year.    

In 1968, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry and Ray Sadecki threw 870 innings between them.  That's only 11 fewer innings than the whole starting rotation of the 2010 Baltimore Orioles.  

Bottom line:  Relief pitchers then were not like relief pitchers now.  Considering the different relief roles of different eras, here are the top 15 relief pitchers in San Francisco Giants history.  Due to the fickle nature of the position and the fact that the best relievers often become starters, longevity is given less weight than success, even if short-term.  

15. Javier Lopez

A World Series Championship heightens the legacy of every player on the team.  

Javier Lopez came over in a trade for John Bowker in the middle of 2010.  Another pitcher? Yawn.  Where's our big hitter? 

Lopez was unheralded—another left-handed specialist in a sea of nameless left-handed specialists.  

But Lopez was unhittable after coming to San Francisco.  Almost literally.  Left-handed batters are hitting .162 off of Lopez since he came to the Bay Area.  

He was also invaluable in the postseason, only allowing one hit over 5.2 innings.  He was paid to get out guys like Jason Heyward, Brian McCann, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Josh Hamilton and came through big time.  

Lopez was one of the surprise stars of the 2010 run and one of the best lefty specialists in Giants history.  

14. Craig Lefferts

Lefferts' most important role as a Giant was as the closer on the 1989 National League champion squad.  He's best remembered, however, for bolting out of the bullpen at a high-speed sprint when called to enter the game.  

Lefferts was the best arm out of the bullpen in 1988 and 1989, leading the club in appearances, saves, ERA and WHIP. 

Interesting unrelated fact:  Lefferts is the last pitcher to hit a walk-off home run, doing so against the Giants while playing for the Padres in 1986.  

13. Frank Linzy

Linzy was a sinkerball specialist who blew onto the scene as a rookie in 1965 collecting 21 saves and a 1.43 ERA.  From '65 to '69, Linzy's ERA was a measly 2.41.  Linzy was an old-school closer, known as a "fireman" who was called upon to put out the fire, whether it arose in the sixth inning or the ninth.  

I can't even imagine three or four innings of Brian Wilson.  Different times.  

12. Sergio Romo

The 2009-2011 Giants bullpen was fantastic.  It's interesting to think about where the 2009-2011 Giants starting rotation would be without it.  Probably in some freaky statistical twilight zone where Matt Cain goes 4-16 and leads the league in ERA.  

Sergio Romo has been an elite reliever since the day he came up from the minors in 2008.  Right-handed batters hit .188 against Romo, whose unique frisbee slider looks like it breaks in from the third base dugout.  

Romo is also a feel-good story, having been passed over for 27 rounds before being selected by the Giants in 2005.  He is small and he doesn't throw hard, but somehow it works.  

Romo could move up this list in coming years.  It looks increasingly possible that Romo might get a shot at closing should Brian Wilson hit the road through free agency next year.  

11. Tim Worrell

Robb Nen's shoulder injury in 2002 was devastating to the Giants' chances at repeating as NL champs in 2003.  Also, the post-Spiezio decline of Felix Rodriguez forced career setup man Tim Worrell into the closer's role.  Worrell rose to the occasion.

After two stellar seasons as the seventh-inning man in 2001 and 2002, Worrell picked up 38 saves in 2003 with a 2.87 ERA.  

The team looked for established closers all throughout 2003, but eventually just decided to stick with Worrell.  Had it not been for Jose Cruz Jr., Worrell might have had the chance to avenge his eighth-inning breakdown in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series.  The fact that all three pitchers from that fateful night made this list is just another sign that I haven't fully accepted it.  

10. Scott Garrelts

Scott Garrelts was a starter, and then a reliever, and then a starter again.  A Giant for life, Garrelts was pretty effective in both roles.  He always seemed to be on the cusp of stardom throughout the '80s, but couldn't seem to get over the hump (Shawn Estes, anyone?).    

Garrelts represented a 100-loss Giants team in the 1985 All-Star Game.  Overall, he posted a 3.15 ERA in 263 relief appearances.  After a dominant '89 season where he finished sixth in Cy Young voting, Garrelts' star flamed out early and he was out of baseball by 1991 at the age of 29.  

9. Felix Rodriguez

Poor Felix Rodriguez.  On October 26, 2002, Rodriguez was in the midst of an eight-pitch battle with Scott Spiezio, the Giants leading 5-0 and eight outs away from a World Series Championship.  Spiezio was barely ticking away 98 mph fastballs on the outside corner when Felix changed course and hung a slider over the plate, which Spiezio promptly tucked into the right field bleachers.  

It's not Felix's fault that Dusty Baker gave Russ Ortiz the game ball, instantly turning the baseball gods into rally monkeys.  It's not his fault that Tim Worrell and Robb Nen continued the meltdown in the eighth inning.  

Rodriguez was untouchable at times as a setup man for Robb Nen.  From 2000-2001, Rodriguez was 13-3, with a 2.17 ERA, and 10.3 K/9.  The rest of the league beat down Brian Sabean's door trying to pry Felix loose.  Unfortunately, by the time the Giants finally dealt him in 2004, Rodriguez had declined.  

For a guy that was considered the top potential closer in baseball from 2000-2002, Rodriguez only ended up with 11 career saves.  

8. Jeff Brantley

Jeff Brantley's best years came after he left San Francisco, when he collected most of his 172 career saves during stints in St. Louis and Philadelphia.  In five years with the Giants, however, Brantley was a top-notch arm out of the bullpen.  In 1990, his best season, he posted a 1.56 ERA over 55 appearances and earned an All-Star nod.  

7. Randy Moffitt

In the late '70s, the Giants were short on playoff appearances but long on relief-pitcher extraordinaires.  Alongside Gary Lavelle, Greg Minton and Elias Sosa, Moffitt gave the Giants one of the best late-inning combinations in baseball.  Unfortunately, as can be seen on his Wall of Fame plaque, Moffitt's star was permanently eclipsed by his sister Billie Jean King.  

6. Stu Miller

Stu Miller came over to the Bay Area with the franchise in their move from New York.  Miller looked like he was 16 and pitched like he was 12.  Miller was famous for throwing puff balls to the plate that often bottomed out at 54 mph.  Teammate Billy Pierce said that Miller had the best changeup in the world while Milt Pappas claimed Miller had three speeds for his pitches:  "slow, slower, and slowest."  

Little Stu led the league in ERA in 1958 and was the first option out of the bullpen during the Giants' NL pennant run of 1962.  However, Miller is perhaps most memorable for an urban legend that occurred during the 1961 All-Star Game at Candlestick Park.  Miller was reportedly blown off the mound by Candlestick's infamous wind gusts, causing him to balk.  Miller claims the story was overblown, but anyone who braved the concourses at the 'Stick is apt to believe the original story.  

5. Gary Lavelle

Gary Lavelle had an interesting career.  He is the rare creature who pitched in relief for the same team for 11 years.  Between 1974 and 1984, the Giants were mostly atrocious, only winning more than 80 games twice and never sniffing the playoffs.  Lavelle was a constant throughout that period and his numbers were quite impressive.  He was both reliable, averaging 89 innings per year, and effective, with a 2.82 ERA.  

Lavelle's spot on this list is somewhat lower given that he consumed a lot of low-leverage innings as a mop-up man for some terrible teams.  However, his consistency is quite rare among relievers.  Lavelle never pitched fewer than 62 innings and teamed up with several other guys on this list in some surprisingly effective bullpens.  

4. Brian Wilson

It's easy to bash the bearded one after he force-fed himself into the 24-hour news cycle before posting a lackluster 2011 season.  One year removed from the World Series title, some Giants fans are even calling for Brian Sabean to flip Wilson in a trade for a hitter.  It's tough being a relief pitcher.  

It's hard to argue against Wilson's numbers.  Since he assumed the closer's role in 2008, Wilson has averaged 41 saves per year, converting 163 out of 187 save opportunities.  In the 2010 postseason, Wilson cemented his place on this list.  During the title run, Wilson pitched 11.2 scoreless innings while converting all six save opportunities.  

Wilson will forever be known for creating, and often easing the "torture" that the 2009-2010 Giants were known for.  The stats back it up.  Opponents sport a respectable .246 average against Wilson with no one on base.  When runners find their way into scoring position, however, the average drops to .191.  

Wilson ended the NLCS with a dramatic strikeout of Ryan Howard and stood on the mound after Game 5 of the World Series, giving Giants fans two images they will never forget.    

3. Rod Beck

On September 17, 1997, in one of the most iconic Giants games of the last 20 years, Rod Beck miraculously worked his way out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam against the Dodgers, sending Kruk, Kuip, Dusty and 54,000 Candlestick faithful into hysterics.  Two innings later, Brian Johnson hit an unforgettable walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th to sweep the Dodgers and put the Giants in an unexpected tie atop the NL West.  

That game remains one of my favorite Giant memories and "Shooter" Beck is one of the most beloved Giants ever.  Beck posted 199 saves in a Giants uniform between 1991 and 1997.  He sported the mullet, the Fu Manchu, the pendulum arm swing and a devastating split-finger fastball.  Beck is arguably one of the best closers of the 1990s.  

Beck passed away at the young age of 41.  No Giants fan can forget the image of Beck striking out the Padres' Greg Vaughn on the second-to-last day of the season, giving the overachieving 1997 Giants the NL West title.  

2. Greg Minton

Greg Minton was the right-handed counterpart to Gary Lavelle for 11 years out of the Giants 'pen.  The "Moon Man" possessed one of the best sinkers in baseball history.  During one stretch in the early '80s Minton pitched 269.2 innings without giving up a home run, an unbelievable record that still stands.  

Legend says that in 1979 Minton tore up his knee.  When he returned, his sore knee forced him to lower his leg kick, and a magical drop-off-the-table sinker resulted.  Sounds a little Henry Rosengartner-esque.  

From 1976-1986, Minton sinker-balled the National League to death, accumulating a 3.14 ERA and 124 saves.  He was not meant to see the postseason, however, as the Giants cut him halfway through the 1987 season.  

1. Robb Nen

Before "Torture," there was Robb Nen.  

The scene is nostalgic.  A Giants lead after eight innings meant only one thing: "Smoke on the Water."  A total of 194 times between 1998 and 2002, Deep Purple's guitar riff blared over the speakers at Candlestick and AT&T Park as Nen came in from the bullpen to slam the door on a Giants victory.  Forty percent of all Giants games during that period ended with Nen as the pitcher of record.  

The "Nenth Inning" was as predictable as anything else in baseball.  Nen complemented a high-90s fastball with the nastiest slider in the league.  During his Giants tenure, he was remarkably consistent, averaging a 2.43 ERA, 41 saves and 4.01 K/BB. 

Fortunately, Nen's popularity as a Giant has overshadowed a heartbreaking, even tragic, end to his career.  Nen pitched through the playoffs in 2002, risking further injury to a torn rotator cuff that would need postseason surgery.  Nen was also on the mound when the Anaheim Angels completed their comeback from a 5-0 deficit in Game 6 of the World Series.

It was the last game Nen ever pitched.  Further complications forced Nen into retirement in 2005.  Had he achieved the longevity of Trevor Hoffman or Mariano Rivera, Nen may have ended up as the best closer in the history of baseball.