Willy Adames showed he can hit two home runs in a game too which was enough run support for Logan Webb's Quality Start and set up a walk-off hit by Jung Hoo Lee in the 9'th. Key Lines:
Willy Adames SS- 2 for 4, 2 HR(24), 2 R, 3 RBI. BA= .224. We have a little over a month to go. Can Willy Adames reach 30 HR's on the season?
Jung Hoo Lee CF- 2 for 4, RBI. BA= .261. Lee gets his first walk-off hit with a single to RF in the 9'th followed by the ritual swarm of pulling his jersey off and showering him with Gatorade which he.....let's just say he tolerated it. The rally was started by Casey Schmitt and the winning run scored by Christian Koss who came in as a pinch runner.
Logan Webb RHP- 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 7 K's, 6/4 GO/AO. ERA= 3.16. Webb did not appear to have his best stuff and did not get as many groundball outs as usual but he battled for a 7-inning Quality Start and gave his team a chance to win.
Jose Butto' RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 3.39. Butto has an impressive fading changeup which seems to make him more effective against lefty batters. Very impressive pitch.
Joey Lucchesi LHP got 2 outs with a walk in the top of the 9'th. Ryan Walker came in to get the final out of the inning and got credit for the W.
The Orioles come to town for the weekend so expect the Adley Rutschman speculation to go wild. Robbie Ray LHP starts tomorrow evening facing Dean Kremer RHP who comes in with a 4.19 ERA.
Watching the last bunch of games, it reminds of early in the season when we knew there were serious holes on the team but they were playing smart, good ball and were getting contributions from different players on different nights. Giants still might be 4-5 players away from competing with the Dodgers and Padres next season (starting C, 2B (rather see Schmidt as a a super utility), a major RF, at least 1 SP) but getting back to playing as a team and many of the individuals overcoming their issues this season and finishing strong will be a great start for next year.. OH, give MATOS a game off, and then bring him back...Want tor try and keep him going ..maybe he can be in the top 5 mix next year..
ReplyDeleteSteveVA
Today's game kinda highlights, for me, some strategic failures within the Giants system.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, and least problematic is the Giants' farm. Drafting and development. Doc, c'mon, this must kill you. It has been, at best, subpar for at 15 years now. There is no way we can sit on Webb, and Ramos and Panik and Schierholtz, and even Belt, and say, "Hey, not bad." It has been bad. It's exacerbated by the mild successes of players like Reynolds, who were simply given away. Or Bart, who couldn't figure it out here. (To be fair, he's not exactly tearing it up in '25 in Pittsburgh. BUT it would be nice to have that bat behind Bailey) Even players like Duvall. It was clear the man could hit. He was a butcher in the IF. So, the Giants couldn't have thought to try him in the OF??? Is Luciano going to be the next Duvall?
Drafting is kind of a crapshoot in baseball. Fair enough. So where else?. The Latin market, which is kind of its own draft. They've been unlucky there too, mostly. Gustavo Cabrera. Damn. The Giants have been active, but not successful there. Okay.
Then there's the Asian market. And what the f are the Giants doing here? It's inexplicable. First off, is the Bay Area absolutely thirsting for an Asian star? I hope desperately for Lee's success. (And, awesome game today, of course!) But the the amount of adulation heaped on a player that as been basically slightly above average is just crazy. SF wants to adore an Asian star. And I get why Otahni wasn't possible. Or even why Yamamoto or Sasak were destined to go to LA. But Imanaga? HE was gettable. His contract was reasonable (with Team-friendly options).
Looking back, Ryu was gettable. Maeda was VERY VERY available. (look at the contract he signed). And even though Asian pitchers have faired much better in the MLB than Asian hitters, the Giants couldn't take a flyer on Seiya Suzuki? The Giants sit on the West Coast. Why do they continually ignore these options? They act like their farm is taking care of business. It very much is not.
I remember when SF fans tried to make a phenom out of Tsuyoshi Shinjo. Sigh.
Japanese pitchers have had, by far, the most success. And the Giants fail to move on it. Japanese hitters have had the next amount of success. Nothing. Korea is next. But lets face it...it's 2nd tier. It's where Brett Pill (who I loved) goes to get a couple of more paydays. And all the Giants can do wildly overpay Lee. (his contract was double MLBTR's estimate) Maybe it's what they have to do secure a bat. But how have the Giants stayed completely silent on the Asian pitching market? I'm not talking a star. I'm talking Imanaga. I'm talking a flyer Daisuke. There is such a huge location advantage over East Cost Teams.
Squinting real hard, it's impossible to see a cohesive strategy here. Or anything workable in the face a continued moribund farm system. And now they've dumped a ton of money into FA bats. Chapman, Adames, Lee. And, yeah, I'd even consider Devers a (forced) FA bat. Why do they continually ignore the Asian talent pool?
Wow! A lot to unpack here.
DeleteDraft: I did an analysis of the lean years of the draft during the 2000-teens. The problem seemed to be mostly where they drafted as it there were virtually no players drafted in after their first round pick who made an impact of any kind. FZ's failure in the first round has been hashed and rehashed here. He did find some interesting players later in the drafts.
Latin Market: This is FZ's top achievement as under his leadership the Giants Latin American pipeline finally started flowing(although that started the year before with Luciano/Matos/Pomares.
Japanese players: From what I've read, Japanese players rely heavily on Yu Darvish for advice and for whatever reason he seems to have directed several to the Cubs so I'm not so sure Imanaga or Suzuki were actually available to the Giants.
Jung Hoo Lee and Korean players: Korean players have historically needed a year to acclimate to the higher level of play in MLB. This is really Lee's first season. He's had some rough spots but seems to have made a successful adjustment and has played well since the All-Star break.
Buster said he is looking for contact hitters and that's who the Giants seemed to draft this year and who they acquired in the deadline trades. Jury is still out on that strategy. I don't think the Giants are ignoring the Asian market but they may have more success with Korean players. Hopefully Lee is happy with the fan adulation he receives and will put in a good word for the organization. They also recently signed a couple of interesting teen-age pitchers from Taiwan so keep an eye out for them(they pitched in the ACL late in the season).
Regarding Buster acquiring contact hitters, Brian Sabean on a recent KNBR interview talked about how he looked to acquire contact hitters which fit hitting at AT&T park at the time. I don't remember the exact quote by Sabes but remember thinking he and Buster must be talking which is good. Sabes said the same thing Buster has been saying. Buster can't be happy seeing all the strikeouts. It may be Busters idea to acquire contact hitters, but I'm sure he's gotten input from smart baseball people to go that route.
DeleteMLB does a lot of marketing of fashion in Asia and Ohtani is featured on a lot of magazines and advertisements. Most of the MLB branding and merchandising is Dodgers and Yankees so I can understand why the Giants would not be a compelling location for Asian players. With Lee, they are starting to get a foothold and the overpay to Lee also is PR for Korea.
DeleteIn the past, when they courted Asian players, they gave them a tour of the park, put their pictures up on the Jumbotron, then take them to Japantown for dinner. It was kind of patronizing and showed lack of understanding of the culture. They got better as they went along. Farhan and gang took one player to one of Farhan’s favorite restaurants and now the Giants bring in world class sushi chefs.
DeleteI know. I know. I'm shaking my fist at clouds and yelling for the kids to get off my lawn.
ReplyDeleteBut I really, really felt Imanaga would have been a good potential #3 Starter to take a chance on. And the the contract he signed with the Cubs I thought was incredibly reasonable. So, yeah, I'm triggered right now. And it makes sense that there is some pipeline into Wrigleyville, and Darvish makes total sense.
But still, I'd wonder why wouldn't Darvish be advising Japanese players that SF might be worth looking in to? And, of course, because we have no relationship with him. I'm not talking signing him. More just having courted him in a way that he'd feel SF might be a good place for a Japanese player to land. And it would be, wouldn't it? The Bay Area is so amazingly diverse and inclusive...
I'll try to stay calm, carry on, and hope for the future, and that Lee is happy and spreading the word. I don't follow closely enough to know about the Taiwanese signings. Hopefully we're way ahead of the curve on something amazing there...
Not sure if Darvish doesn't like certain teams or cities or if he just really likes Chicago and the Cubs but I seem to remember he has some concerns either with the Giants as an organization or the City and steers players away.
DeleteI heard that Suzuki was convinced by conversations with Darvish but Farhan did not make an offer to Imanaga. Farhan said that Imanaga graded out well on “pitch grade” but scouts did not think that his success in Japan would have translated well to MLB. I’m not sure what Farhan meant by “pitch-grade” and I’m not certain that he got scouting data from the scouting pool or their own people. Also, ownership might not have wanted to pay the posting fee on top of the salary.
DeleteI don't have inside information but I get the feeling that historically the Giants don't like posting fees.
DeleteChicago has a large Japanese population that is not as well known as the west coast’s. A lot of Japanese settled in Chicago after WW2 internment.
DeleteHas Tyler Fitzgerald "free-swung" his way out of the majors, while Casey Schmitt has found enough improvement on what was his chasing of very bad pitches?
ReplyDeleteThat is what it looks like.
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