Bob Melvin shook up the Giants lineup which did not bring it out of it's funk in a 2-1 loss and waste of Justin Verlander's Quality Start. Key Lines:
Heliot Ramos LF- 3 for 4. BA= .290. Ramos had 3 infield hits, none of which figured into scoring. It looked like he had a chance to at least tie the game in the 8'th inning in an epic AB that ended with a 111 MPH line drive over the head of the LF who somehow managed to reach back and snare it about a foot before it caromed off the wall. That was pretty much a microcosm of the game right there.
Willy Adames SS- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .218. Adames dropped down to the 6 hole in the batting order. Kruk and Kuip said Adames is working on reducing his leg kick and getting his front foot down quicker. Not sure if that made a difference. He led off the 5'th inning with a double and scored the Giants only run on a 2-out single by Christian Koss 2B.
Jung Hoo Lee CF- 1 for 4. BA= .285. The lineup shuffled Lee to the cleanup spot which made his bunt attempt with 2 outs in the first inning all the more head scratching.
Justin Verlander RHP- 6 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.31. This was Verlander's 4'th Quality Start in his last 5 starts. He still does not have credit for a win in a Giants uniform. Giants are 3-6 in the 9 games he started.
LMWJ sat while Wilmer Flores played 1B and Luis Matos DH'd against a RHP. Is this a sign LMWJ is about done as a Giant or is it a day to work on some things? For better or worse, I would like to see Matos play every day until Jerar comes off the IL to see if he can get it going. Definitely some signals Melvin and Buster see the need to shake things up a little.
Robbie Ray LHP tries to get the Giants back on the win train tomorrow evening facing Brandon Pfaadt RHP.
Its frustrating that the Giants keep finding ways to either lose games that Verlander pitches well in or blow wins that Verlander should have in his win column. Its getting to be a joke which is why I didn't feel good about the Giants chances of winning tonight. If they have the lead in the 9th inning tomorrow night, please don't bring in Ryan Walker again!
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw Walker warming up I texted my friend saying I just wasn't quite ready to see Walker pitch in a game again, especially in a high-leverage/closer role.
DeleteIsn't it about time for Fitz to come off the 10-day IL? Schmitt is about ready to start his rehab, too. I'd like to see Schmitt get some more time at 1B. And after Fitz gets back, maybe Koss could get some more time at SS. (Watching Adames almost blow another routine ground out Tuesday by holding onto the ball too long was painful to watch.)
ReplyDeleteFitzgerald could begin a rehab assignment as soon as Tuesday, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports (yesterday).
DeleteAs long as Koss is playing well with good defense and baseball smarts, Fitz can take the time he needs.
DeleteI think pinch hitting for Bailey may need to start happening in late inning situations and have Bailey play more small ball. I view LMWJ as a bench guy at this point and Villar needs to be getting reps at first until Jerar returns. Yandy Diaz is a guy the Giants should consider as a rental option at first and if Tom Murphy is still nowhere near a return, getting a veteran catcher with a little pop may not hurt either.
ReplyDeleteSame-same, let Matos play as much as possible. Am not able to watch or listen to games for a few days, but hope bats come alive today.
ReplyDeleteMelvin was in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation with the lineup.
ReplyDeleteThe "bad" batters got clumped at the bottom of the order, and, wouldn't you know it, Adames (.218 BA) @ #6 scored when Koss (.200 BA) @ #9 singled with 2 outs. (Those batting averages were actually lower before the hits.)
Lee was "in" the right spot but left 3 runners including the notorious 1st inning bunt.
Matos had multiple opportunities but came up empty, leaving 3 runners also.
All 4 games lost by a total of 5 runs have a singular similarity: the opposition did a little bit better when they needed to and many excellent pitching performances were wasted.
Pfaadt was knocked around in his only start against the Giants last year, 6 hits and 5 runs (4 earned) in just 2⅔ innings, but has mostly pitched very well this year including shutting out the Hated Ones in his last start (0 runs in 6⅓ IP).
Giants are 8-0 in Ray's starts: he gave up but a single run in his last 2 starts, pitching 13 innings.
At the end of the year are we going to be a 500 team again after all the changes and all the excitement? If so then this year will have been a massive disappointment. I feel like it is almost impossible to get out of baseball purgatory of being a perennial 500 team without rebuilding. This ownership group refuses to do that and it has prolonged their chances to turn it around. It has also kept them from being able to develop position players while giving playing time to veterans like Wade, Flores, and Yaz instead of investing PT in Matos, Schmidt, and Luciano. Our young arms are also not getting the development they need with Verlander, Hicks, and Ray in the rotation instead of Harrison, Birdsong, and Whisenhunt. I don’t think Buster is capable but if they are around 500 before the deadline then I would like to see him trade our veteran pitchers for prospects. Have a mini rebuild next year while our young pitchers settle in and be ready to compete in 2027.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants have had fairly high draft picks. Too many haven't panned out. I don't necessarily see Verlander, Hicks and Ray as hindering development. Birdsong and Harrison are getting their chances to pitch and I don't see Whisenhunt as being quite ready for MLB just yet. IF the Giants drop out of the race by the deadline or even if they aren't hopelessly out of it but in a longshot situation as we have seen several times, I hope Buster is a more aggressive seller than FZ was. I could see Verlander, Hicks and Ray bringing back significant young talent and I hope that's what happens. Conversely, if they are still seriously contending as the deadline approaches I hope to see Buster use his pitching surplus to go after a serious hitter or two to bolster the lineup.
DeleteI want to see Buster be more decisive about the trade deadline than FZ, who always seemed to want to have it both ways, was.
Delete"Tank and draft" is not considered a viable strategy by the post-Bob Lurie ownership group and considering how some clubs seem to do it every season, it is clear that "tank and draft" doesn't always work. Also, teams that have any appearance of tanking are usually not seen as desirable destinations when it comes to signing free agents.
DeleteMe too. I’m not sure why trading significant players was so difficult for FZ but maybe it isn’t as easy as it seems since Buster hasn’t seemed to figure it out either. Top 10 picks make a difference almost every draft and I don’t mind sucking while we watch Whisenhunt mature at the big league level along with the other prospects. Ramos might have been traded if he didn’t get a chance last year and maybe Luciano, Matos and Schmidt just need that longer look. At the end of the year you would have a lot more info on who out of your prospects are worth building around and we would have a higher pick in the draft. Instead it’s likely going to be one more year around 500 with little hope for improvement. I need to see them make better decisions at the deadline and commit to a strategy that can realistically get us out of being 500 and the only 2 options in my mind are spending rediculous amounts of money in free agency or rebuilding. Anything in between and you are right back to 500
DeleteTank and Draft is a minimum of a 5 year rebuild and Attabit is correct, it doesn't always work, in fact it often doesn't.
DeleteTank and draft has not worked for teams like Pirates, White Sox, and Marlins and for teams like the Orioles and A’s, the window of contention is a lot smaller than the tank phase and the Giants ownership will not tolerate five or six down years to achieve one good year.
DeleteTanking would only affect the domestic draft, the international draft where Luciano, Matos, and Josuar came from depend more on the relationships with the buscones.
DeleteWith regard to the Zaidi trade deadlines, we may never know what transpired or what was offered. With the way contracts are set up nowadays, trades are not as simple as unloading players for prospects. The Rodon and Snell contracts were complicated by the opt-out/opt-in on their deals. I heard that other GMs were afraid of those pitchers getting injured and then having them opt-in. It turns out that this was a legitimate concern because both Rodon and Snell wound up on the IL on their first seasons after signing their big contracts.
DeleteIt takes two sides to make a trade and other GMs likely did not want to assume the injury risk of the opt-ins. Also, most GMs are holding onto their prospects tightly so even if they were able to trade Rodon or Snell, they probably would not have gotten much in return, maybe grade B prospects or depth pieces at most. I am not a fan of Farhan but, to be fair, most of the trade scenarios probably did not make any sense or would not have made any difference.
Verlander and Ray do not have the opt-out/opt-in so Buster and GMZM should be able to trade them for prospects if they wanted to. That being said, I think they will lean towards buying instead of selling because they will likely still be in it.
I agree if it's a close call, Buster is more likely to be an aggressive buyer. If he is, I just want him to get somebody good who will be the difference maker. The closest FZ came to doing that was with Kris Bryant.
DeleteConsidering Ryan Walker's dilemma and Hicks' less than spectacular conversion to a starter, perhaps Melvin could ask the latter to step into an 8th inning role and the potential Closer swapping with Birdsong becoming the 5th SP?
ReplyDeleteThis assumes Doval has put his jitters behind him: last 14 appearances he has allowed 0 runs, 1 hit, 3 walks, (1 win, 3 saves, 5 holds)
Hicks was signed to be a SP and that's how the Giants are going to use him if at all possible and if he pitches himself out of that role, I don't think he would be an option for high-leverage, late-inning situations. I think it's SP or bust for Hicks and we're going to have to like it.
DeleteERA & W-L are ugly by Hicks but generally seems to be converting to starter effectively. nearly K/inning, reasonable walk rate that's falling lately, no HRs for the past month, hitting high '90s velocities, one 4 inning start and all the others 5 or more, several games got lit up early & settled in better, has been above 100 pitches couple times
DeleteHicks was signed and paid to be a starter now at $12 million per season for 2025-27 so he will have less value if he were used in the bullpen. Also, his contract has significant $2 million in IP incentives which begin kicking in at the 100 IP level. He's probably going to be starting as long as he is physically able to, and as Dr B says, "we're going to have to like it".
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