Do you remember José Váldez ’s five innings?

STAT LINE 4 games, 5 IP, 12.60 ERA / 9.96 FIP, 4 K, 1 BB, 1.80 WHIP

The Giants wound up being José Váldez’s fourth organization in nine years and he came up after Johnny Cueto first landed on the disabled list in 2018. That was when there was still hope that Cueto’s and the Giants’ season wasn’t over.

He was never intended to be a frontline reliever, but the team certainly hoped that a 4-pitch pitcher with a 94-95 mph fastball would be useful in 2 inning/swing man stints. I wrote at the time of his call-up:

He’s had very limited success as a professional baseball player and so if we’re seeing much of him over the next week, it’s safe to assume it’s because everything has gone horribly wrong…