This game was not as close as the score looks as Dodger pitchers dominated an impotent Giants lineup to ruin a fine start by Ty Blach. Key Lines:
Hunter Pence RF- 1 for 4, HR(7). BA= .241. Pence still shows flashes of power but has not gotten traction at the plate all season. Pence is another Giant having disastrous BABIP luck. Here are his BABIP's starting in 2013, his first full season with the Giants: .308, .318, .320, .348, .283.
Ty Blach LHP- 7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K's, GO/AO= 8/2. ERA= 4.38. Blach had to pitch out of trouble several times in the early innings before finishing strong. He was helped by 3 lineouts and 2 very bad bunts by Rich Hill who popped up both attempts which were caught by Blach. Blach's athleticism came into play in both bunt outs and again on a comebacker from Yasiel Puig with the bases loaded which ended the second inning with a GIDP which went from Blach to Posey to Hwang at 1B.
Blach has a 3.67 ERA in July. He has 11 QS out of 17 on the season and 4 out of his last 5 starts. He has a low K rate but succeeds by limiting BB's to 1.99/9 and keeping the ball on the ground(GO/AO= 1.21) and in the ballpark(HR/FB= 7.8, consistent with his minor league track record). His BABIP against is an average .303, so this all looks very sustainable.
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Madison Bumgarner moves up a day in the rotation to face Hyun-Jin Ryu in the series finale instead of Matt Cain.
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Good Pence: homers for Giants only run
ReplyDeleteBad Pence: hits into dp in 9th on a day that Jansen was not sharp -- 3 of the first 4 batters got on base, no runs scored.
Hunter is showing the not-so-great side of getting old, perhaps previewing what's in store.
In 2018 the Giants have $147.43 Million committed to age 30-and-over players not including arbitration for Dyson, Gearrin, and Kontos ($6.32 million in 2017), assuming buying out Cain ($7.5 M) and Cueto not opting out. Gillaspie is also eligible for arbitration (!.5 M in 2017) if he is re-signed.
Hold on to your hats, without a reappearance of good-luck BABIP, it could get worse.
Ty Blach -- Dodger killer. Too bad the rest of 'em didn't help him much...
ReplyDeleteBTW, in the land of odd facts that interest me, only Sonny Gray (the current hot thing coming up to the trade deadline) has a better QS/GS ratio than Blach for all the guys with 11 QS. Most of them with 11QS have 19-to-21 starts.
Also his 4.38 ERA is 42nd in MLB. So, he's just plugging along pretty well for a guy with limited MLB starts and I think he's going to stick.
What might have been?
ReplyDeleteHad Gearrin pitched Friday like he did last night instead of the Kontos/Oshit disaster, SF might have won the opener.
Melky Cabrera traded from White Sox to Royals.
ReplyDeleteKC is serious!
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/ex-yankee-melky-cabrera-traded-white-sox-royals-article-1.3369535
Trade deadline: 4 p.m. ET, tomorrow, 23+ hours from now
ReplyDeleteCueto scheduled against A's: 10 p.m. ET, tomorrow, 29+ hours from now
If he makes the start, he's a Giant until he decides what he's gonna do November 1
Players who pass through waivers can still be traded after July 31. The Giants will almost certainly put Cueto on waivers and it is almost certain no team will claim him. Once he clears waivers, he can be traded.
Delete...it is almost certain no team will claim him...
DeleteThat says, essentially, Cueto is not worth his remaining contract: $87.333M + $6M buy-out of 2022 + prorated remainder of 2017, nominally a third, $7 M, which rounds out to a cool $100,000,000 (+/-)!
If someone believes otherwise, they can claim him and block a trade. Or claim him and then try to make a trade.
Do you think that means the Giants, also? That he's not worth his contract?
If someone with deep pockets thinks there's gas in Johnny's tank -- then he might be claimed and the Giants could be shed of him but not necessarily get anything back. And they probably wouldn't insist, if they don't think he's worth his contract.
If he does clear waivers, then no one wants his contract (like Sandoval), so a trade may well include picking up part of the money and getting precious little, if anything, in trade.
Yes, it is possible he can be traded in August, but it's not as simply as if he is traded today before 1 P.M. our time. Trades can be blocked (with some risk).
The ESPN guys and gal last night did a job on the Giants citing their many big contracts that, in their opinions, are more than the value of the players.
They said it, not me.
They concluded that the Giants cannot dig out of their contract hell for a long, long time.
And, they really, really love the Dodgers!