JT Brubaker Should Have Giants Seeking Final Free-Agent Signing Before Opening Day

The San Francisco Giants are leaking relievers due to injuries in spring training. But other relievers are having difficulty making their case for the roster.

JT Brubaker arrived with the Giants at last year’s trade deadline for Camilo Doval. The 32-year-old missed part of his career due to Tommy John surgery and didn’t pitch in the Majors in 2023 or 2024. When he arrived in the Bay Area, he stayed at Triple-A Sacramento until he was called up in September. For the season he had a 3.77 ERA in 17 games with the Yankees and Giants, including 22 strikeouts and 12 walks in 28.2 innings.

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He’s one of many candidates for the bullpen. His performance in spring training so far might have the Giants wondering if they need to bring in one more veteran to help provide more competition for Brubaker and others.

JT Brubaker’s Slow Spring

San Francisco Giants pitcher JT Brubaker throws a baseball. — San Francisco Giants pitcher JT Brubaker. | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

The right-hander has started one game and come up in relief in another so far in spring training. The performances haven’t been encouraging. He has a 6.00 ERA in three innings, as he’s allowed four hits, two earned runs and two walks against only three strikeouts. He’s throws 54 pitches and batters are hitting .333 against him.

He did help his stock on Saturday in a split-squad game. He went three innings, giving up one hit, one run, two walks and a strikeout. That's an encouraging line.

In spring training last year with the Yankees, he only pitched one inning and gave up two hits with no runs. He hasn’t a volume of work in spring training since 2023 with the Pittsburgh Pirates when he was considered a starter. That season he was 0-2 with a 5.19 ERA in five starts, with 16 hits and 10 earned runs allowed in 17.1 innings. He struck out 26 and walked three.

It’s hard to project what the Giants are getting in Brubaker, which is why searching for other options may be necessary. Three left-handed relievers are out due to injury. Another, Joel Peguero, has a Grade 2 hamstring strain. There are plenty of options out there, even this late in spring training.

One player who remains on the free-agent market is left-handed reliever Danny Coulombe. He would be a cheap option who tends to be able to work well against for left-handers and right-handers. Last season he was with Minnesota and Texas and with the Twins he was one baseball’s best set-up men. He was 1-0 with a 1.16 ERA in 40 games, with 31 strikeouts and nine walks in 31 innings. His numbers went up in Texas, but he still finished the year with a 2.30 ERA.

Coulombe has had a sub-3.00 ERA since the start of the 2022 season with the Twins, the Baltimore Orioles and the Rangers.

He isn’t the only example of veterans with quality arms still on the market. With Brubaker struggling early in camp, this might be the right time for San Francisco to reach out and sign Coulombe, or a reliever with a similar profile, with just a few weeks left before opening day.