The Giants ended the official first half of the season on a downer note as Andrew Suarez had a nightmare 4'th inning and the offense continued to sputter in a game whose outcome wasn't much in doubt after the A's put up a 4-spot in that 4'th inning. Key Lines:
Chase d'Arnaud 3B- 2 for 4, HR(2). BA= .333. The Giants have had success signing formerly highly ranked prospects to minor league contracts after their careers seemed to stall out. d'Arnaud was a 4'th round draft pick by the Pirates in 2008 out of Pepperdine. He had a lot of early success in the minors and was a fast riser in the Pirates system. His career was slowed by a series of ill-timed hand injuries. He finally got sustained AB's with ATL in 2016 where he hit .245 and showed doubles power. The Giants are his 6'th organization. He put up solid numbers for the AAA Sacramento River Cats and got the callup when Joe Panik went back on the DL. So far, he's filled in nicely in the IF and shown some pop with the bat. Like other recent Giants minor league signings, let's hope for his sake this turns out to be the break he needed to have a significant MLB career.
Andrew Suarez LHP- 5 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 3.94. Not sure what happened in the 4'th inning, but Suarez allowed 5 of his 6 baserunners in that inning. There could have been some BABIP luck involved but 2 of the hits were counted as line drives. Take out that horrible inning and he had 5 K's and 1 BB in 4 IP which is actually pretty dominant. We'll see if he hits the rookie wall after the All-Star break when he starts facing teams a second time and they start to get a book on him, but for now we'll chalk this up to 1 inning of bad luck.
Ray Black RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 9.00. Don't let the ERA fool you. After his disastrous MLB debut, Black's subsequent 3 appearances have been beyond dominant. 6 K's, 0 BB's in 2.2 IP. Pray for him to stay healthy. If he does, the Giants have their midseason bullpen acquisition right there.
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The D'backs lost and the Dodgers and Rockies won so the D'Backs and Dodgers switch places with the Bad Guys leading the Snakes by 0.5 games. The Rockies are 2 games back in 3'rd place while the Giants fall 4 games behind the leaders in 4'th place. The Padres lost again and are fading fast into the west 14.5 games off the pace. We'll officially declare the Padres out of the race until/unless they get back to less than a 10 game deficit.
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The Giants are now off until Friday, July 20 when they move across the Bay to face the A's again in Oakland. Young Dereck Rodriguez is currently listed as the starter for that game but I'm guessing the Giants re-set their rotation for the second half.
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For those who care, the US Futures outscored the World Futures 10-6. Heliot Ramos went 1 for 1 for the World team and got his hit off fellow Giants prospect, Shaun Anderson, who gave up 1 run on 2 hits in 1 IP and was credited with a Blown Save and the Win.
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From this Pavlovic article it looks like Bochy has confirmed Rodriguez as the second half opening starter:
ReplyDelete"
Bochy revealed that Dereck Rodriguez will get the opener in Oakland, followed by Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Andrew Suarez. Jeff Samardzija, placed on the DL on Sunday, is a possibility for the fifth spot, although Derek Holland seems far more likely."
https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/giants/after-two-straight-losses-giants-looking-regroup-during-all-star-break
Do the Giants have anyone, or any combination of players excluding prospects, that could pry from one of the contenders (Washington, Houston, Yankees), a TOP OF prospect such as Victor Robles, Kyle Tucker, or Estevan Florial?
ReplyDeleteThis could include eating some salary.
Washington is on the cusp -- they sorely need a top flight pitcher and perhaps a catcher, Houston seems pretty loaded but faces fierce competition in the playoffs as do the Yankees who surely would like Bumgarner (wouldn't any of them)?
St Louis may be in worse position than SF but would they consider trading Tyler O'Neill for an immediate boost?
Seattle may be in the playoffs but face early elimination -- would they part with Kyle Lewis to increase their chances if that's possible with what they face?
Boston, like New York and Houston, have to get through that ominous pair they face -- would they trade Michael Chavis?
Cleveland has to worry about all the AL BIG 3 -- would they part with Nolan Jones?
If I were King of the Giants, I would play for 2020 and beyond. They might eke into the playoffs with a major turnaround, but face stiff opposition without money to spend.
Again, barring a complete collapse coming out of the All-Star Break, the Giants are not going to be sellers this year.
DeleteI'm sure you're right.
DeleteWinners have come from worse situations.
Being low in the standings will have some advantage from August 1 to pick up pieces on waivers or waiver trades like 2010.