Recently we covered all of the moves that the SF Giants made to try to clear up their 40-man roster mess and noted that there was still one more move to make to bring the 40-man roster down to 40 names. The Giants actually made two moves as they designated reliever Reiver Sanmartin for assignment and did not pick up the club option on reliever Rowan Wick although he will remain under team control per the team’s announcement.

In my last article I predicted that either Sanmartin or Ryan Walker would probably be the final guy who didn’t quite make the cut and Walker has somehow survived for now.

It really seemed like Walker would be a pretty obvious cut candidate given the way he struggled in 2026. He had a 7.16 ERA in 33 appearances on the season. He was given multiple opportunities to turn things around and did show promise in the minors, but when he was called back up it was more of the same and it really felt like it was time to finally pull the plug on him.

It is important to note that he could still be DFA’d this offseason especially if the Giants sign several free agent pitchers which seems likely. Walker, Rowan Wick, and Carson Seymour all seem like guys who could potentially be on the chopping block so there’s a decent chance Walker will be DFA’d before the start of next season.

Giants have given Ryan Walker a lot of chances to regain his form

Maybe the Giants do still believe that he has some potential left in him, though. There’s nothing like living in 2024, right? Walker truly was dominant that season and it’s been maddening to see him go from a guy who looked nearly unhittable that year to a guy who looks like he cannot throw a strike at times just a few seasons later.

That’s just how relievers are, though. They’re a fickle breed and we’ve seen other pitchers like Camilo Doval go from being an All-Star one season to being demoted the next so that’s just the nature of the beast.

Other teams will definitely want Walker so he should be a hot commodity on the waiver wire. Plenty of teams will believe they can fix him up and turn him back into his 2024 self and if he ends up going to the Atlanta Braves or Milwaukee Brewers, two teams who did help get ex-Giants pitchers turned around in 2026, then maybe he has a shot.

He’s safe for now, but if the Giants sign three or four pitchers to the big league team this offseason then it is hard to see how he sticks around.

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