Eight games into the season, the Giants already get a nasty bite from the injury bug

From abcnews.go.com

From the Associated Press:

"Giants closer Brian Wilson is likely headed for surgery on his right elbow after an MRI revealed structural damage and an issue with the ligament, and his season could be in jeopardy."

From what I've read, it doesn't look very likely that Wilson will be back this season, which is a tough pill for Giants fans to swallow. Wilson has been one of the best closers in the league over the past three years, so he'll be more than missed, but I don't think Giants fans should be too pessimistic about the Giants' playoff chances this season now that Wilson's most likely done.

First of all, Wilson might not even be the best reliever in the Giants' bullpen. Sergio Romo has been nothing short of magnificent the last two years as the Giants' main setup man, and it's doubtful that the Giants would miss a beat in the ninth inning if he were to become the closer.

Santiago Casilla is also capable, as well as Javier Lopez, although Lopez is much better as a Left-handed One Out GuY (aka LOOGY). The Giants could even go closer-by-commitee and still be very likely to hold close leads in the ninth inning.

The closer position is a bit overrated because getting three outs in the ninth inning with a lead of 3 runs or less is not that much more difficult than getting three outs in the seventh or eighth, unless the top of the batting order was leading off the ninth inning in every save situation, and we know that's not always the case. Romo, Casilla, or whoever becomes the closer for the Giants is unlikely to suddenly become awful simply because he's pitching a different inning than he usually does. I'm sure there are some adjustments the new closer will have to make but I don't believe anyone who says going from middle relief/setup to closer is such a hard transition to make (just look how hard it was for a team like the Padres to replace their All-Star closer).

All that being said, the Giants are still losing an excellent reliever (closer or not) in Brian Wilson. The beard alone will be missed and whoever the Giants bring in to the bullpen to fill his spot (whether it's a player on the DL, a free agent, a player acquired via trade, or a minor leaguer) will have some enormous orange shoes to fill. Get well soon B-Willie.