Bullpen trust rankings, May 2019 edition

It’s the end of the month, and that means it’s time to power rank relievers by how much we trust them. We are going from the least trusted reliever to the most trusted reliever. Are you ready? I sure hope so, because it’s not that hard to get ready to read a few words about the bullpen. You just...start reading. Easy.

9. Derek Holland (Last ranked: Not Ranked)

On the plus side, the only offensive thing about Holland this year is his pitching.

8. Pablo Sandoval (Last ranked: Not Ranked)

Some would argue that his career ERA of 0.00 makes him the best reliever on the team, but he’s only pitched in one game this year despite being on the roster all season. What does Bruce Bochy know that we don’t?

7. Sam Coonrod (Last ranked: Not Ranked)

Coonrod, who figures to be the most likely roster casualty when Trevor Gott (Last ranked: 3) comes back, has had two outings this year. In the first, he struck out one batter in the course of a perfect inning. In the other, he gave up a homer and a walk in a less perfect inning. Therefore, right now, his K/9, BB/9, HR/9, and ERA are all 4.50. I think that’s neat!

6. Dereck Rodriguez (Last ranked: Not Ranked)

You can’t complain about his one relief outing this year, a two inning stint where he faced six batters and retired six batters. But, other than a couple outings last year, Rodriguez has been a starter since he came into the Giants organization, and we don’t know if he’ll be effective out of the bullpen long-term, or even, with the recent struggles of Jeff Samardzija, Drew Pomeranz, and most of the guys who get plugged into the rotation (nice start yesterday, Tyler! Now do it again), if Rodriguez will even stay in the bullpen much longer.

5. Mark Melancon (Last ranked: 4)

Mark Melancon is a good pitcher. He gets lots of groundballs and can be counted on to have more good outings than bad ones.

If you wanted some hotter Mark Melancon takes, hopefully I’ll have some for you next month.

4. Tony Watson (Last ranked: 7)

Watson had a bit of a rough April, allowing batters to hit .361 against him with a 4.32 ERA, but he’s rebounded in May, getting back to the form he showed last year. With Travis Bergen on the IL and Will Smith restricted to the ninth inning, it’s been helpful for Bruce Bochy to have a reliable lefty to throw out there at any point in the game.

3. Sam Dyson (Last ranked: 5)

Busy playing with his cat while the rest of the team collapsed in on itself with such mass that it created a black hole from which positive thoughts could not escape, Dyson has been quietly spectacular this month. He’s pitched 11 innings, in which he has 13 strikeouts, only one walk, has given up just three extra base hits and two earned runs. You couldn’t ask for more than that out of Dyson or, really, anyone.

2. Reyes Moronta (Last ranked: 1)

Moronta had an unequivocally worse month than Dyson, Watson, and Melancon, and you can trace that to his extremely inflated walk numbers this month. Nine walks in 13 innings is just too many, no matter how many guys you strike out (well, unless you strike out literally everyone else, but he didn’t do that). Moronta’s still hard to hit, but when there are runners all over the bases, every one of those hits hurts a little more.

But he’s still second. Because it’s Reyes Moronta! I like him! He’s fun! He just sometimes walks way, way too many people, but he should still be good for the rest of the year. But he should also stop walking so many people.

1. Will Smith (Last ranked: 2)

The Giants will have exactly one All-Star this year, and the only reason that All-Star won’t be Will Smith is if he’s already traded by then. He set a Giants record by recording strikeouts for 12 consecutive outs, got 2 non-strikeouts like a dumb normie, and then struck out the side in his next inning. He’s been a delight, and hopefully wherever he ends up this season — because it would be lunacy not to trade him — he’ll enjoy a deep playoff run.