The headline on sfgiants.com says "Giants show readiness to 'scratch and claw' for edge. I'm not sure whatthehell Shaun O'Neill was talking about or when they showed this readiness but there was definitely not "scratching and clawing" today as they lost their fourth non-competitive game in a row. This one might have been the most non-competitive of the four! Key Lines:
Logan Webb RHP- 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 11/1. ERA= 3.51. Webby pitched his 20'th Quality Start out of 29. Once again it wasn't good enough as his W-L record dropped to 9-12.
Tristan Beck RHP- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, GO/AO= 3/1. ERA= 4.04. So Beck started Friday night in San Diego and pitched mop-up duty today. I've been somewhat of a Kap apologist but this is complete chaos. Right now, there are 3, or at most 4, pitchers with identifiable roles. I get that some of the chaos is an organic result of performance failures but this has to change. It reminds me a lot of the way Felipe Alou managed pitchers only more so. The one thing Bruce Bochy, who will be in the Hall of Fame for his managing, did that turned the Giants around when he took over was establishing roles from top to bottom. Of course Brian Sabean went out and got him pitchers who performed in those roles but how many people saw Brian Wilson as the Closer when Boch put him in that role and stuck with him?
This loss will almost surely drop the Giants out of a tie for the last Wild Card playoff spot.
Tomorrow it's TBD facing Kyle Hendricks RHP whose assortment of offspeed stuff often flummoxes Giants hitters.
Free Wotus!
ReplyDeleteKapler and Farhan both are doing lousy jobs
ReplyDeleteI turned the tv off when Beck came in the game … couldn’t believe it!
ReplyDeleteAn earlier comment quoting Kipling was correct: you can't repeat mistakes and expect better results. (That's a simplistic analysis but it is what it is.)
ReplyDeleteIn truth, Zaidi did not repeat mistakes, or, at least they avoided him: little the Giants could have done to materially improve the team. Even Judge wouldn't guarantee a post season for them just as he couldn't guarantee one for NY: the rest of the team, whether it's age or health or inexperience, has broken down.
Looking forward, with or without some miracle spurt to earn the right to go to Milwaukee, judgement comes home in 2024: win consistently – or just play consistently, show improvement, give evidence of a future – or look elsewhere.
Zaidi and Kapler have had their chance to produce.
Now show it!
I'm more concerned about the offense. It shouldn't be this bad near the bottom with the veterans they have. Will changes have to be made with the hitting coaches? Should they have traded Yaz or Slater so that either Matos or Ramos could have been given longer looks? Probably not since they are not sure things to stick in the majors. Did FZ make good signings with Comforto and Haniger? Like Doc said both injury prone. I think Conforto might do better next year if he has a cleanup hitter behind him.i thought Haniger missing so much time was due more to bad luck breaking his forearm due to HBP. Bottom line the veteran hitters are sleeping and it's most disappointing . Are the owners spending enough on payroll? Saw an article where that said they're trying to break even. Does that mean they want to keep payroll at a manageable level?
ReplyDeleteI think FZ has done a great job building back the farm system.Hoped FZ could have made improvements at the trade deadline, but that doesn't guarantee anything. Wait till Luciano and others get their chance next year. FZ needs to make roster spaces for more rookies next year, Play the kids! Sorry Doc for bringing up a lot of questions.
I am still mystified as to why Wade Meckler is on the team and Luis Matos is not. Less surprised about Ramos but it sure would be nice to be able option Blake Sabol out for Ramos. Well, I guess they still need a back up catcher of some sort. FA market looks quite bleak this offseason so unless they are planning to sign Ohtani(which I personally think would be a mistake) or Bellnger, they are going to have to try to upgrade through the trade market. It sounds like the Mets might make Pete Alonso available.
DeleteA couple more moves I would do right now: 1. Release DeJong. 2. Place Crawford on the 60-day IL. 3. Re-add Johan Camargo to the 40 man roster and call him up. 4. Add Tyler Fitzgerald to the 40 man roster and call him up.
Deletekapler and zaidi is likely going to start the 2024 season on the hot seat. kapler needs to stick with a rotation and stop creating chaos with bullpen games and platoons. if some of the reshuffling of the assistants this offseason includes either wotus returning to the coaching staff or brundage coming up from sacramento to assist kapler. then you know kapler will be on a very short leash. ownership should intervene with zaidi and delegate putila to handle trades and free agency this offseason.
DeleteRob Eymann: The FZ/Kap regime may be on the hot seat with ownership next season but exactly none of anything else you describe is going to happen and it shouldn't. If ownership is concerned enough to make those interventions there should be no hot seat. They need to just make the change and move on.
Delete...and I was going to add to my comments that instead of calling up Camargo and Fitz, they could just play Casey Schmitt at SS. He's a much better defender than Crawford and as bad as his bat is it's better than either DeJong or Crawford.
Deletei think the only change of assistants coming would likely be at hitting coach, viele could end up being the scapegoat. i do think if ownership does end up tightening the reins of FZ's power with trades/free agency and let putila handle that side of player talent, i think it would be the perfect intervention by ownership. the other things i described was more for the sake of arguement.
DeleteI don't believe ownership should ever micromanage baseball operations in any way. If they feel the need to do that they need to replace the POBO.
DeleteA commentary on the sad state of affairs of the Giants
ReplyDeleteKruk and Kuip have been sounding a lot like we are on the good ship lollipop with their commentary. Described a Dejong catch like he was heading for the hall of fame. Yikes!!
Richard in Winnipeg
K&K need some new cliches...
DeleteFight the Braves, then we thought
ReplyDeleteThe Giants still could win a lot
But the Chicago Cubs are hot
And our fallen heroes are not
Oh, what has September wrought
And finally, we thought we would win one!
ReplyDelete