Giants: 3 players who won’t be on the roster by August 1

Giants rumors: Sean Manaea may have numbered days with San Francisco

There are few roles in a major league bullpen that holds as much weight and stress as the high-leverage lefty specialist. This role is brought in late games to face the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto or Bryce Harper and their sole purpose is to get these left-handed hitters out. There’s much more room for error with other spots in the bullpen. That’s why the Giants can’t continue to use Sean Manaea as one of their bullpen lefties, because he just hasn’t played up to the bill.

Another team will likely be willing to take on his 2024 player option as a left-handed option in their bullpen, but the Giants shouldn’t be that team. The 2023 MLB trade market will have other left-handed relievers available at the deadline for the Giants to upgrade on Manaea’s role. In 2023, his ERA is near six and his WAR is -1.2. Yikes.

Whatever the Giants decide to do with their bullpen, Manaea is the obvious weak link. As a whole, they have a tremendous bullpen with a ton of solid late-inning options. If they add another left-handed reliever to replace Manaea, they will be one of the most complete bullpens in the game.