Tim Lincecum got knocked around again and the Royals ran wild on him and Andrew Susac to build 4-0 and 7-1 leads by the middle of the 4'th inning. Gotta give some credit to Susac and the kids at the bottom of the lineup for battling back a bit, but this was a Dog Day game if there ever was one. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, BB, SB(12). BA= .309. Pagan got on base 3 times but the middle of the order went cold and he did not figure into the scoring.
Andrew Susac- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .200. Susac had a nice game at the plate, but it's unclear how much of Timmy's problems today were related to who was catching him. Susac may be around awhile after Hector Sanchez got shaken up with a foul tip in a minor league game.
Tim Lincecum- 3.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 2 K's, 5 SB Allowed. ERA= 4.51. See discussion re. catcher above. Timmy is a veteran pitcher. If he can't control the running game or only pitch to one catcher, that's a big problem. This is now the 3'rd time in 4 starts that Timmy has failed to get to the 5'th inning. That's a problem too! It started after he was used in relief, but it also started when Sanchez got hurt.
The Giants now trail the Dodgers, who won today, by 4.5 games in the NL West and trail the Pirates by 0.5 games for the second Wild Card slot.
The Giants now get a day off to travel home, then Ryan Vogelsong faces Chris Sale on Tuesday night at AT&T Park where the Giants have not played well of late.
Around the League:
Speaking of trades….Remember Heath Hembree? Well, he appeared in last night's 19 inning game between the Red Sox and Angels. His pitching line? 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. First appearance as a Red Sox in a MLB game. Oh yeah, the 'Sox called up Edwin Escobar today.
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Sabean's choice of not making a big trade at the deadline is looking like the right one now. This team just has no life to it. Would take a few moves to do anything to with it and we'd have to give up too much. Kind of wish they would have traded Pablo now to get some pieces for the future.
ReplyDeleteI will continue to wonder what might have happened if he had been aggressive about getting Murphy or Zobrist 2-3 weeks or a month before the deadline, but I don't know for sure if either of them were available at any price.
Delete+1 DrB. While I wouldn't have wanted to completely deplete the system, I still wanted Sabes to bring in a hitter or two. This is a frustrating time, and I put a good majority of the blame on the front office. If they are not willing to invest in this squad, it may well be time to start thinking about who doesn't fit in the picture anymore. I can tell you that one or more middle infielders should be on the move this winter, and I wouldn't be all that bummed if Crawford were the guy. I think he and Sanchez could make a nice trade package for either an OF or a starting pitcher.
DeleteAll of this makes me wonder why the Giants are so darn gung-ho about re-signing Pablo. If they're really thinking about the future and payroll flexibility for this team, it makes a lot more sense to me to let Panda be, tell Posey he's moving to 3B (where he should be an NL stalwart for years to come), and let Susac play behind the dish. None of this may happen, but it really seems like the time to start looking at different options out there.
I would not be at all unhappy if the starting Keystone Combination next season is Adrianza at SS and Panik at 2B with Matt Duffy taking over Arias' super utility role.
DeleteI agree with pretty much everything here and have for a while. Sabean and the front office should have seen this one coming and maybe they did. They have put themselves in this position by signing all of their homegrown talent and WS heroes to huge contracts. It sounds like a great idea but as we have seen, homegrown talent is just like any other free agent on the market and is likely never to perform to their contracts. Not all of the signings are bad, Posey and Pence are worth the money and Bumgarner is a steal. Timmy, Cain, Pagan and Scutaro are killing us right now. If they resign Pablo which I think they will it will cripple this team even more.
DeleteI'm also a little bothered that Hembree and Escobar are up in the majors so quickly. If Sabean knew this team didn't have it and didn't want to upgrade before the deadline then why did he trade them for Peavy? This is one of the things that bothers me about Sabean. Maybe it was a financial decision or a last ditch effort but maybe Escobar should have been up starting for us instead of Peavy and maybe Panda could have gotten us a decent return. At least he didn't make a stupid trade but Murphy would have been a nice player for the future as well.
Really though I can't blame Sabean and the front office for the moves they've made. None of them have been horrific and if this is the end of the run than so be it. I'm actually hoping they go with a mini rebuilding phase like Boston is doing. Maybe next year when we are terrible they will trade Timmy, Belt, and Crawford and really anyone except Posey and Bumgarner! Unfortunately those are really the only 2 players on this team that should be untouchable. We are stuck with Pagan and Pence is worth keeping around but after that, anyone on this roster or in the minor leagues is expendable. Time for Sabes to come up with another plan and start earning his money.
Well, you can go look it up, but I said way back when that there is nothing special about your own FA's. They are just as risky as signing someone else's FA's. It's only of benefit if you get a hometown discount, which they got with Pence, but none of the others, really. Maybe Bumgarner, but his was more of a hedge against injury because he had such a long way to go before FA.
DeleteYou can also look it up and find that I fretted about the mileage that was already on Cain's arm when he signed his extension and I was not in love with Posey's contract when it as signed.
I believe they said they were reluctant to add more money to payroll.
DeleteThat's what happens when you have to pay to get 3 free agent starters (Lincecum, Hudson and Vogelsong) instead of cheap internal replacements.
We haven't graduated late inning relievers since Romo. Could have used Runzler or Hembree or Derek Law. Veterans are not cheap.
They are spending a lot of money. Still, they only have so much.
They overpaid for the 2 lefties, but do you really think they should have let one or both of them go an relied on Runzler? Romo was not overpaid as a closer, and the Giants declined to sign him to an extension for closer money. I really think the overall cost of their bullpen is reasonable. As for Hembree and Law, I believe they both had very bad outings in spring training that apparently convinced the Giants they weren't ready. Hembree then had an inconsistent season in Fresno and of course Law blew out his elbow.
DeleteI should have written 'a better developed Runzler' etc.
DeleteAll prospects learn and develop, even after graduation.
We could have used Runzler not as he is right now, but perhaps if he had developed better. That was what I meant to say. The same with Hembree - if he had developed better according to the goals management had set for him..better off speed or better control, whatever they were.
OK, not sure what your point is, but yeah, it would have been nice if both Runzler and Hembree had turned out to be high-velocity closer type studs. It would have been nice if Erick Threets had learned to control his 104 MPH heater back in the day too.
DeleteThat it's been a while we have graduated some quality arms, starting and relieving.
DeleteThey will again. It is extremely difficult to maintain an uninterrupted pipeline over an extended period of time. The Giants were both good and fortunate to hit HR's on 3 consecutive first round draft picks and have them break in just as Matt Cain was hitting his peak and Pablo came out of the international FA pool. It was really a remarkable run. We'll see if they can do it again. I really like some of the talent they are stockpiling in the lower minors.
DeleteHere's the thing Dr B, even without them our line up look good on paper even with some of the injuries. For whatever reason it just isn't clicking. Neither of those two you mentioned can pitch and realistically we need another pithcer too. Just too many holes.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Sox called up Escobar, to replace Hembree, who is now back in Pawtucket.
ReplyDeleteLots of ifs, including those asked by those of us who wanted Sandoval traded in the offseason. But nothing can help this team, I don't think, not with their hitting dysfunction and the raggedness in their rotation. I'm glad to see the group of rookies getting their chance to shine, since I imagine that the coming offseason will involve some sweeping rethinking of the team, which will involve the Giants' and other teams' having a sharp sense of the personnel in the Giants' system. It had better involve that, regardless of how the rest of this season goes, slog through the quagmire or triumphal march.
Re. Hector Sanchez: I feel like we are witnessing the demise of a once promising career caused by those darn foul tips. Giants fans already went through something similar with Mike Matheny and it is hard to watch. I believe this is a problem for MLB and they need to be looking hard into solutions.
ReplyDelete7 SBs for the Royals. Is Susac's arm that bad?
ReplyDeleteTimmy is notoriously bad at holding runners and 5 of the 7 SB's were off him. It's always hard to tell if the SB was off the pitcher or catcher.
DeleteThe most puzzling thing about this team is losing 21 out of their last 28 home games! The Peavy trade does bother me a little. I understand they needed a replacement for Cain but they gave up 2 highly rated players in their system who could have helped them in 2015 since they reached AAA. I'm wondering if they gave up on Escobar too early. It looks like they will have to go with vet SP again to fill out their rotation instead of trying to get younger.
ReplyDeleteLG
Sorry Drb I commented about Escobar here before reading the Escobar post in the minor league section
ReplyDeleteLG
No problem, LG. Yeah, it now seems like the Peavy trade was a waste. I was marginally OK with it when I thought at least 1 or 2 more trades were coming before the deadline. I said at the time of the trade that it seemed like a steep price for Peavy, but both Escobar and Hembree were having disappointing seasons.
DeleteI don't remember too many recent prospects to make it having spending too much time in AAA.
DeleteHector - not that much
Crawford - not much time
Panik - not much time
Duffy - not much time
Adrianza - not much
Belt - not much
Perez - maybe some
This is Hembree's 3rd season, I think. He may turn out to be another Joaquin or the next Nathan.
First season for Escobar. He missed the jump from AA to the big league team. It's possible he could have contributed in 2015 for us. We will see how he does for his new home team.