Although the Giants pitching, particularly the bullpen, failed at critical times, overall the pitching was better than the hitting. Once again the Giants proved the saying, you can never have too much pitching, as depth became a problem as the season progressed due to injuries and trades.
Team Stats and Rankings:
ERA- 3.82(10)
HR Allowed- 143(1)
BA Allowed- .248(20)
Saves- 41(15)
Save Opps- 63(18)
Blown Saves- 19(3)
K/9- 8.52(16)
BB/9- 3.18(15)
GB/FB- 1.29(3)
LD%- 19.6(11)
HR/FB%- 9.9(2)
Hard Contact%- 29.6(29)
Med Contact%- 53.9(3)
Soft Contact%- 16.5(5)
Takeaways: 1. Giants pitchers did three things really well: kept the ball on the ground, did not allow home runs, limited hard contact. 2. While it sure seemed like to a lot of fans, including me, that the season was lost due to blown saves, they were actually had the third lowest Blown Saves in MLB. The problem was they were not presented with enough Save Opportunities, mainly due to their poor hitting(This does not mean Blown Saves were not a problem nor that Ryan Walker should be the Closer next season).
Individual Stats:
Starts: 1. Webb 34. 2. Ray 32. 3. Verlander 29. 4. Landen Roupp 22.
Innings: 1. Webb 207. 2. Ray 182.1. Verlander 152. 4. Landen Roupp 106.2.
Strikeouts: 1. Webb 224. 2. Ray 186. Verlander 137. 4. Landen Roupp 102.
GIDP: 1. Webb 22. 2. Bivens 9. Ray 8.
Saves: 1. Walker 17. 2. Doval 15. 3. Rodriguez 4. 4. Spencer Bivens 3. 5. Tristan Beck 2.
Blown Saves: 1. Walker 6. 2. Doval 4. 3. Butto, Rodriguez 3.
So next year's rotation at this point looks like this to me:
ReplyDeleteLogan Webb
Robbie Ray
Landon Roup
Then a bunch of question marks-
Verlander (if they re-sign him)
and a bucket full of unproven arms:
Trevor McDonald, Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour, Kai Wai Teng, Keaton Winn
At the very least, this rotation looks like they need to sign Verlander or someone like him.
Also, I looked at MLB's Baseball Savant site and saw that in 2025 Oracle Park plays almost neutral with a park factor of 99. Perhaps the belief that Oracle is a pitcher's park trend may be changing even though it has been reported that 2025 was actually a cooler summer. On top of improving pitching, let's get a SP and another power bat in the lineup! (Ownership will have to invest more in order for this to happen).
Derald Cook
The Giants need to sign at least one #3 or better SP plus at least one #4/5/Swingman type veteran pitcher.
Delete....we'll dig deep into the Giants needs when we run through our positional depth charts before the Hot Stove League fires up.
DeleteOh! And regarding park factors, it's true that overall Oracle plays close to neutral but at 83 it remains the hardest park to hit home runs in. For some odd reason nobody seems to be able to explain, it makes up for it by being significantly easier to hit singles, doubles and triples. OK, we know the triples are from Triples Alley but singles and doubles? Maybe it's better light conditions? A better batter's eye? Buster's idea that contact hitting is the way to go in Oracle is rooted in data.
DeleteIt seems that the pitching has a problem pushing past certain pitch counts or innings pitched and toward the end of the season, a lot of pitchers were gassed or hitting career highs in IP. Every team has to play 162 and I'm not sure if lack of durability and stamina is because of how they are conditioned in the minors these days. Krukow made some comments a couple weeks ago that the bullpen was running on fumes and a lot of them hadn't really pitched all that much. Also, in August and September, he kept bringing up (insert name of young pitcher) is nearing his career high in IP for a season. That didn't seem to bother guys like Matt Cain 13 years ago.
DeletePitchers are routinely throwing at least 5 MPH faster than Matt Cain ever thought of throwing. He'd be considered a soft tosser now. Oh, and Logan Webb would like to have a word with you. And don't forget, all that mileage on his arm eventually caught up with Matt Cain. His last season with an ERA under 4 was in 2012 at age 28.
DeleteLogan Webb is kind of a unicorn these days but you touch on a good point. Maybe the game has changed.
DeleteThe blown save stat really does surprise.
ReplyDeleteWould really love to resign Rogers to solidify the eighth. Don’t pay big money for a closer; let him emerge from the crowd.