Wilmer Flores hit a walkoff 2-run HR to give the Giants a sweep of the weekend series agains the Philllies.
Wilmer Flores 2B/3B- 2 for 5, 2B, HR(17). BA= .246. Per Ali Thanawalla of NBC Sports Bay Area Wilmer has 11 walkoff RBI's since 2014 which ties him with Josh Donaldson for most in MLB over that span. It was also his 5'th career walk-off HR. He doesn't look like much of a threat up there but he gets a lot torque in his body which gives him a unique ability to rotate on pitches on the inner half and drive them down the LF line. I will go to my grave believing that is exactly what he would have done against the Dodgers in the final game last season were it not for the bad call on his check swing. He's probably had to play more than ideal against RHP's this season due to all the injuries but he's still been one of the steadiest players and seems like a leading candidate to win the Willie Mac Award. He's a free agent after the season but at age 31 is probably worth bringing back on another 2 or 3 year deal. What a good Giant he's been!
Carlos Rodon LHP- 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K's. ERA= 2.92. That might be the fiercest 6 innings of pitching you'll ever see. High heat and a deadly slider. When he loaded the bases with 1 out and the Phillies stopped swinging at the slider, he just rared back and struck out Jean Segura and Bryson Stott with 98-99 MPH heat at the top of the zone. In the process he passed the 200 K mark and joined Tim Lincecum RHP and Jason Schmidt RHP for the most double digit K games in one season in Giants history at 9. BTW, do you know who has 8? Ray Sadecki LHP in 1968! Rodon will almost certainly opt out of his contract which would pay him $22.5 M next season. He's going to get paid this offseason. He may be too expensive for FZ's and the Giants tastes, but there will be some rather loud murmurings coming from the fanbase if it's not the Giants who make him a very rich young man.
Bryce Johnson RF/CF- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .125. It took awhile but Johnson finally got his first MLB hit and RBI. He also drew a walk in the 9'th and scored ahead of Flores walk-off HR.
Alex Young LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.51. Young has stabilized a decimated left side of the bullpen since being called up August 2. I've liked Young as a pitcher since he played college ball for TCU and I scouted him for the draft.
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Churn Watch:
This is almost too obvious to say, but anyone the Giants bring back that they don't need to will expose a prospect they could have protected from the Rule 5 Draft and they have a boat load of them.
ReplyDeleteThis is a bird in the hand or a bird in the bush, not 2, so a guy like Flores may be worth it, but how many years at 31 yo? His power is trending down and his K rate up but maybe he's facing too many tough RHPs Although his splits aren't terrible, his defense is never very good - is he going to be the DH (with Ruf gone)?
This is true. FZ has stated that he sees YtY and Pederson coming back. OK, Pederson has had a pretty good season, although his midseason slump was as responsible as anything for the Giants dropping out of the postseason race. But it YtY, Crawford and Flores are all coming back, where is FZ planning to upgrade?
DeleteI'd like to see FZ and Scott Harris get younger and more athletic Giants team by trading for middle infield or center field help where they would control the player for multiple years. I've expected more creative trading by this front office, so the time has come.They will have to give up top prospects if the deal is right, but FZ has said everything is on the table. Maybe they could take on a bad contact to lessen the cost. I've been disappointed with Tommy Lastella and Austin Slater. Trades might be the way to go since the Giants have had trouble signing free agent hitters for years partially due to playing in a beautiful pitchers ballpark.
ReplyDeleteI think everybody wants to get younger and more athletic. The problem is how do you get those players when everybody else is trying to get them too? Billy Beane discovered that youth and athleticism was overvalued and found (limited) success by targeting big slow guys with power who were patient at the plate. FZ can talk all he wants about getting younger and more athletic but historically his biggest success was finding Max Muncy. Maybe Lewis Brinson? He's certainly athletic!
DeleteTrue that every team would like to get more athletic and younger, so it'll be difficult to acquire those players which makes it surprising that Tampa traded Tommy Pham and Jake Cronenworth to the Padres in 2019 for Hunter Renfroe and Xavier Edwards. Cronenworth is a player I like who is 28 years old, plays 1st, 2nd, and 3rd base, and is good enough to play everyday . He was the least heralded player in that trade. Good for the Padres. The key is FZ also said he'll look for 2 to 5 players who they won't have to platoon in the lineup which will make this off-season very interesting
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