Giants' new role players must step up for team to have successful 2019 originally appeared on nbcsportsbayarea.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Before you start reading this, knock on wood a couple dozen times.

The Giants have stayed healthy this spring, and that's the first step towards being better than they were the last two years.

But that could change at any moment. After all, Madison Bumgarner got hurt in his final start last spring. Whether it's next week or next month, the Giants will need to start dipping into their depth, and while this has been a remarkably quiet offseason, they have done a decent job of upgrading the back ends of the active and 40-man rosters.

The 2018 Giants were bad, but the 2018 Sacramento River Cats were also bad, which gave the big league club little hope of finding adequate replacements when injuries popped up, or regulars became ineffective.

That's one area where this year's team should be better, and if you're looking for a way Farhan Zaidi can automatically pick up a few wins in Year 1, look no further than last year's roster. This is some of what he has had to replace:

Gorkys Hernandez: Despite the homers, he had a .656 OPS in 451 plate appearances

Hunter Pence: He is beloved, but posted a .226/.258/.332 line in 248 plate appearances

Gregor Blanco: Also a #ForeverGiant, but he hit .217/.262/.317 in 203 plate appearances

Austin Jackson: Had a .604 OPS in 59 games before he was salary-dumped

Kelby Tomlinson: Great dude, fan favorite ... slugged .264 in 152 plate appearances

Chase d'Arnaud: Great dude, great with fans ... had a .618 OPS in 100 plate appearances











The pitching staff was better, but the Giants still had a lot of appearances Zaidi believes can be more effectively replaced. Notably, Hunter Strickland, who was non-tendered, had a 3.97 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 49 appearances and Pierce Johnson had a 5.56 ERA in 37 appearances. This year's bullpen is deeper and the rotation is deep enough that Andrew Suarez won't be in it to start the year.

Of all the players listed above, Hernandez (0.5) was the only one with a positive WAR. The rest combined for negative four Wins Above Replacement.

[RELATED: How will Giants narrow bullpen options before Opening Day?]

Will Yangervis Solarte make better use of those spare infield at-bats? Will Travis Bergen or Trevor Gott be better than the relievers who were let go? Will Mac Williamson, Gerardo Parra and Cameron Maybin greatly outperform Hernandez, Pence and Blanco?

We'll see, but the standard set in 2018 was not at all a high one, and improvement from the complementary pieces on this year's roster would help the Giants inch a bit closer to meaningful September baseball.