Giants leaning towards putting 11 pitchers on Playoff roster

[SFrush90]

Manager Bruce Bochy said he and the staff are “real close” to picking a 25-man playoff roster. Though someone’s performance (or lack thereof) over the final four games could come into play, Bochy said, “We’re pretty well set.”

The headline here is that the Giants are leaning toward an 11-man pitching staff, taking an extra bench player over another reliever. Bochy stressed it’s “not much of a lean,” so they could change their minds.

All five starters are going to be included this time, so whoever does not start one of the four Division Series games will be part of the bullpen. That leaves room for six true relievers. Five are locks: Sergio Romo, Jeremy Affeldt, Javier Lopez, Santiago Casilla and Jose Mijares. That would create a tough choice between Guillermo Mota and George Kontos for the last spot. Given Mota’s experience, especially in the postseason, he’d have the edge.

The odd man out in that equation could lose his spot to a speedster such as Justin Christian or Emmanuel Burriss.

“We’ve talked about speed on the bench,” Bochy said. “We’re talking about all the variables.”

He acknowledged that he and the staff specifically discussed the disastrous ending to the Giants’ 2003 Division Series at Florida. The Giants had opted to place another pitcher on their roster, because Jason Schmidt had an elbow injury, and left off speedy outfielder Eric Young. In Game 4, with the Marlins holding a lead of two games to one and a one-run lead in the ninth inning, J.T. Snow tried to score the tying run from second on a Jeffrey Hammonds single to left but was thrown out by Jeff Conine, who did not have a great arm.

Snow tried to crash into catcher Pudge Rodriguez to dislodge the ball, but Rodriguez held the ball in the air with his bare hand, waving it triumphantly, as the Marlins began their celebration and the Giants’ season ended. Snow later said he was standing at second base, staring at the inactive Young and shaking his head knowing that Young would have been a better choice to run there.

http://blog.sfgate.com/giants/2012/0...-for-playoffs/

"Five are locks: Sergio Romo, Jeremy Affeldt, Javier Lopez, Santiago Casilla and Jose Mijares. That would create a tough choice between Guillermo Mota and George Kontos for the last spot. Given Mota’s experience, especially in the postseason, he’d have the edge."

Please put Zito in the bullpen ray:

[UPRock]

Mota over Kontos? Are you ****ing kidding me? My god.

[SFrush90]

It's only speculation on Schulman's part, but they better not ****ing do that.

[spliff(TONE)]

Please put Zito on a slow boat to China.

[SFrush90]

Please put Zito on a slow boat to China.

And Mota.

[SFrush90]

And I have a feeling Zito will be that fourth starter since I'm sure they're aware he's useless out of the pen. God I hope I'm wrong.

[d79cheese]

It really is not a big deal if mota goes over Kontos cuz neither would pitch unless a blowout was occurring in either direction

[SFrush90]

Kontos is a very useful arm and has been good for the majority of the year. I'd feel more confident seeing Kontos at the end of the bench than Mota. It'd be stupid if they chose Mota.

[d79cheese]

Kontos is a very useful arm and has been good for the majority of the year. I'd feel more confident seeing Kontos at the end of the bench than Mota. It'd be stupid if they chose Mota.

Kontos won't pitch in any useful innings unless its like a 14 inning game. It really is not a big deal if mota is on the team. Would I prefer kontos, yes.. But I'm not gonna worry and ***** if he doesnt

[SFrush90]

And what if we do go to extra innings for one game? And Bochy throws outs Mota because he left out Kontos. Will you ***** then? Just saying. It's the Postseason. You absolutely have to field your best team. No excuses.

[d79cheese]

And what if we do go to extra innings for one game? And Bochy throws outs Mota because he left out Kontos. Will you ***** then? Just saying. It's the Postseason. You absolutely have to field your best team. No excuses.

It would have to go deep into extra innings for either of them to see action... Go look back to moats game log from 2010 postseason. If we lose in the playoffs cuz kontos was not on the roster then we are screwed in many more ways

[RTL]

You absolutely have to field your best team. No excuses.

Amen

[SFrush90]

There's still no excuse for Mota to be on the roster over Kontos. What if one of the relievers get hurt? Kontos is a much better option to step in than Mota. I would be upset if he was left off because that's not our best team.

[UPRock]

^+1

But you know how much Bochy loves his veterans, so If he selects Mota over Kontos I won't be surprised.

[SFrush90]

Neither would I.