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Today is the one-year anniversary of the Giants signing Santiago Casilla to a three-year, $15 million extension. I know, I know. I can't believe it either. I'm pretty emotional. How quickly time passes!
The reaction here on the site one year ago was far less emotional.
Said Grant Brisbee:
Huh.
I didn't provide a response in that thread or on Twitter for some reason, but I did find this barely amusing tweet from months earlier regarding Santiago Casilla:
"Right at the tunnel, left to the dugout, then hang a breaking ball and you're there." - Santiago Casilla gives directions to the bullpen
— Bryan Murphy (@Every6thDay) August 12, 2012
Oh, but I'm only kidding, Jairo. You're not so bad. I mean, you got hurt last season and provided the Giants with only 50 innings, but they were pretty solid innings, almost exactly on par with your overall performance in a Giants uniform to this point.
| G | IP | ERA | K | BB | HR | WHIP | K/9 | |
| 2013 | 57 | 50.0 | 2.16 | 38 | 25 | 2 | 1.28 | 6.8 |
| 2012 | 73 | 63.1 | 2.84 | 55 | 22 | 8 | 1.22 | 7.8 |
| 2011 | 49 | 51.2 | 1.74 | 45 | 25 | 1 | 1.12 | 7.8 |
| 2010 | 52 | 55.1 | 1.95 | 56 | 26 | 2 | 1.19 | 9.1 |
That declining K/9 certainly makes me uncomfortable, and not in the climb the rope in gym class kind of way... talkin' about the bad way. And yet, Casilla's velocity has been steady year-to-year and in terms of win probability added he was a net positive for the Giants' bullpen. One of the few net positives in a mostly overworked and slightly dinged bunch, in fact.
So... huh indeed, Grant. But in this one case, for one season, anyway, it kinda-sorta worked. Don't know if that money would have been better spent elsewhere... okay, well, probably yeah. And yet, Casilla has been an effective reliever across multiple seasons now. That has some value. Perhaps not at the terms the Giants agreed to, but here we are.
But this post isn't a mere retrospective on the first year of Santiago Casilla's extension. Oh no. It's also a post generated to absorb your comments. It is also a post -- perhaps the first of many -- to start saying a proper goodbye to Brett Michael Pill of San Dimas.
#SFGiants have fielded lots of calls on Nick Noonan and Ehire Adrianza in past. But Brett Pill is more redundant after Morse addition.
— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) December 16, 2013
A year ago today we were scratching our heads and kinda shrugging about a Giant transaction. Today we're all wondering if it'll end in pills.