The San Francisco Giants made a surprising move on Friday when the team announced that they had optioned their closer Camilo Doval to Triple-A Sacramento. Doval had spent the last three seasons as the closer, including leading the National League in saves and making an All-Star team in 2023. After a rough start to 2024, he is headed back to the minors.

Doval came up as a rookie in 2021 and pitched well enough in 29 games to earn the closers role in 2022. He then went on to save 27 games with a 2.53 ERA and made the All-Star team and saved 39 games in 2023, the most for the Giants in a season since Brian Wilson saved 48 games in 2010.

2024 has seen a turn of events for the 27-year-old reliever. He has pitched in 46 games, but regressed in many different categories. His ERA fell from 2.93 in 2023 to 4.70, his strikeouts per nine fell a tick, but maybe most importantly, his walks per nine jumped from 3.5 to 5.9.

Doval’s unreliability in the closers role, along with his loss of command, gave the Giants no choice but to remove him from the closer’s role. What’s shocking is that instead of relegating him to the seventh or eighth inning, they sent him down. Removing a struggling closer from his role is not unheard of, but sending said closer to Triple-A is a big step.

San Francisco may want him to work on his command without having to face big league hitters, but manager Bob Melvin has yet to speak on the subject in a more detailed fashion.

“Doval frustrated the Gabe Kapler regime with his lack of attention to detail, and Melvin has seemingly gotten fed up, too,” said NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic when reporting the move.

With Doval gone, the Giants don’t have a solidified closer, but Melvin briefly stated that there will be a single pitcher to take the spot, not a committee.

There are a few options the team could settle on, with the first two being Jordan Hicks or Ryan Walker.

Hicks has closing experience from his days with the St. Louis Cardinals. The right hander was mainly a reliever before the Giants converted him to a starter and has been pitching out of the bullpen since his alst start of July 23rd. The 27-year-old already surpassed his career high in innings, so most of his work will come from the bullpen from here on out.

The Giants have a possible weapon out of the bullpen in Hicks, who was throwing 104 mph as a reliever with the Cardinals. He last pitched out of the bullpen full time last season, throwing 65.2 innings with a 3.29 ERA.

Hicks may be an option to take over as the closer, but it likely won’t be right away. He hasn’t thrown in those high leverage innings since 2023 and is still converting from the rotation.

The more likely option, for now, is Ryan Walker. The 28-year-old has been the Giants’ most reliable reliever all season. He leads the league in appearances with 59 and in 60.1 innings has a 2.24 ERA and 10.6 K/9. As opposed to Doval, Walker has only allowed 1.9 walks per nine and has just a 0.878 WHIP.

Pushing Walker into the closer role is what makes sense in the short term. If Doval can’t figure out his command, he provides reliability in the ninth for Melvin and the Giants. It’s a big move for San Francisco to make, and one that comes in the middle of fighting for a Wild Card spot.

By: Andrew Nelson 5:00 am on August 10, 2024

New renderings have been revealed for a small residential infill at 1973 Greenwich Street in an affluent corner of San Francisco by Cow Hollow and the Marina District. The project will add two units to the small parcel. San Francisco-based home builder Hyline Construction, Inc is listed as the property owner.

The proposal will bring a four-story structure in the front of the lot, while the existing rear-lot home remains. The addition will bring a ground-level one-bedroom additional dwelling unit and garage capped by a three-floor four-bedroom townhouse.

1973 Greenwich Street isometric rear-lot view, illustration by Y.A. Studio

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1973 Greenwich Street, rendering by Y.A. Studio

Y.A. Studio is the project architect. The firm is taking a contemporary approach to the project, with a streamlined exterior with oversized windows and a boxy bay window. The facade will be clad with stucco and bronze-finish panels. A front setback will push back the fourth-floor bedroom out of pedestrian view. An outdoor terrace will occupy that setback, giving the future homeowner yet more open space.

The parcel is located along Greenwich Street between Buchanan Street and Laguna Street. Several restaurants and shops can be found close by along Lombard Street to the north, or Union Street to the south.

City records show the property last sold in September of 2020 for $3 million. Hyline Construction is listed as the property owner, filing through 3d Property LLC. Work is expected to last around 12 months from groundbreaking to completion.

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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The first-ever national championship for WingFoiling is being held in the San Francisco Bay. U.S. Sailing began sanctioning the event and says the sport has grown so much in popularity that they decided to hold a championship.

“This event is really unique,” said Makani Andrews, one of the competitors. “The other sailing disciplines there is usually a sail and a mast connected to a boat but we are physically holding our wings in the air and it lets you do a lot of things like freestyle and also racing.”

MORE: SailGP grand finale kicks off in San Francisco Bay this weekend

WingFoiling is a combination of wind and kite surfing along with hydrofoiling. Athletes hold a sail while balancing on a board that rises out of the water.

“The foils had improved year over year and also regular kind of free ride and freestyle kite surfing utilizes this inflated tube technology,” said Geoff Headington, the Race Director who is with the St. Francis Yacht Club. “At one point maybe about a decade ago, the idea came about to put these two technologies together.”

The event runs from Friday through Sunday. There will be several races each day, but on Sunday, the top 20 will compete for the title of national champion.

On Friday, before the first race, each competitor was busy inflating their sails and getting their foils ready for the weekend. Athletes from all came to San Francisco to compete.

“I got involved through wingclub Hawaii,” said Mani Pahuatini, another competitor. “I first got involved with windsurfing. That transitioned to formula kite for one year and now WingFoiling, so it’s great.”

As the sport grows in popularity, the athletes think this sport can one day be in the Olympics.

“This sport has been one of the fastest growing sailing disciplines ever,” Andrews said. “hopefully one day it makes it into the Olympics.”