Blogger's Note

Thanks to everybody for all the kind words that poured in yesterday and a few more today.  I am grateful for all the folks who find the blog worth reading and even more worth commenting on.  I may take a few days to rest up and regroup but don't worry, you all know I can't not write about the Giants for long.  

We'll have our usual offseason topics:  Positional depth charts are always well received as well as news from the Hot Stove League when it gets started.  Then there is the Top 50 prospect countdown after the winter meetings.  I'm thinking about starting out with some minor league season reviews.  Still trying to figure out a format in my head but the Giants minor league system, while disappointing this season in some ways, is not the wasteland some have made it out to be and we'll somehow show that.  

Game Wrap 10/5/2022: Giants 8 Padres 1

 David Villar DH hit 2 HR's to lead the Giants offense in a battle of bullpen games to send his stock into the stratosphere going into the offseason.  

Villar finished the season with a very respectable .231/.331/.455 slash line with 9 HR's, but it was really the tale of two callups.  In his first MLB experience which lasted from July 4- Aug 4, he batted just .175 with 1 HR.  He was sent back to AAA with some things to work on.  He must have taken that to heart because his second callup starting from Sept 2 went spectacularly better:  By my calculations his Sept/Oct slash line is .269/.327/.656 with 8 HR.  He combined for a total of 37 HR's between AAA and MLB.  Casual reminder that he slashed .275/.404/.617 with 20 HR's last season at AA Richmond.  Villar has to be penciled in for everyday PA's at some position or combination of positions for next season. 

Here are a few other selected lines from today's season finale:

Lamonte Wade Jr LF- 3 for 5, SB(1).  BA= .207.  Wonder what Wade Jr would have done had he not missed close to half a season with a bad knee and probably was never 100%.  Can the knee get to 100% with an offseason of healing?  

Mike Yastrzemski RF- 2 for 3, 2B, BB, SF.  BA= .214.  After a decent April and a terrific May, YtY's season absolutely tanked for the next 3 months with a BA well below the Mendoza Line.  Sept/Oct have been much better with respective slashes of .261/.320/.511 and .222/.286/.444 with 5 HR's. Way too little, too late for this season but will it buy him a ticket to next year's roster?

Austin Slater CF/LF- 2 for 5, HR(7), SB(12).  BA= .264.  Slater's ability to play CF and bat from the R side would seem to put him in a strong position to stay for next season.

Yunior Marte RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 5.44.  Marte has top of the line raw talent.  It's been a roller-coaster ride but put up a 2.16 ERA over his last 7 appearances.  I really want to see if he can take it to the next level.  

Alex Young LHP- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 2.36.  Young and Scott Alexander LHP stabilized the left side of the Giants bullpen after an on-the-fly late-season rebuild.  Alexander is a free agent but Young should definitely be back.

Andrew Vasquez LHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 6.23.  This was Vasquez' only appearance of the season with the Giants.  He put up an 8.10 ERA in 6.2 IP for the Blue Jays earlier in the season.

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No game tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. The Giants 2022 season is in the books.  They finish at exactly .500 for the first time in franchise history going all the way back to New York era.  I just want to thank everybody for coming here, reading and commenting for the 13'th season of Game Wraps since When The Giants Come To Town started before the historic 2010 season.

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Great news out of the Arizona Fall League where Luis Matos homered for the second straight game and is batting .357 with a 2B, 3B, 2 HR's over his the first 3 games.

Game Wrap 10/4/2022: Padres 6 Giants 2

Alex Cobb RHP allowed just one run in 5 IP with great peripherals.....and took the loss.  So, what else is new under the sun?  I don't have the strength or interest to spend more time recapping this wretched game except to say that Cobb was moved up a day in the rotation because guess what?  Carlos Rodon LHP, who was the scheduled SP conveniently fell ill and was placed on the IL a day after his agent, Scott Boras proclaimed he had passed his innings limit.  That's right, his agent.

OK, I am officially over Carlos Rodon.  It's one thing to call off sick when you really aren't and quite another when that puts your teammate's health in jeopardy who also has a career to worry about.  There are other way to allocate his salary next season. 

Game Wrap 10/3/2022: Padres 7 Giants 4

 Another bullpen failure in the 8'th inning spoiled a sensational pitching performance by Sean Hjelle and a 9'th inning rally fell about 5 feet short on a bases loaded deep fly to RF by J.D. Davis 1B.  

Sean Hjelle RHP- 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 5.76.  Per Pavs on NBC Sports Bay Area, Hjelle had his best velocity of the season topping out at over 96 MPH in a dominant bulk-inning role.  Take out the disaster start on 9/17 against the Dodgers, Hjelle's ERA would be 3.60.  He's allowed just 3 ER in 15 IP in his last 3 appearances(1.80) with 13 K's, 3 BB's and a dominant groundball rate.  Is he ready to take the next step and fill a rotation slot next season?  What a boost to the organization that would be!

Shelby Miller RHP followed Hjelle and got through the 7'th inning in order, but the wheels came off in the 8'th as he gave up 2 doubles to start the inning then, after a groundout, he intentionally walked Juan Soto and then issued two more unintientional walks.  Jarlin Garcia LHP then brought his handy gas can to the mound and gave up a double and HR, a 3-run blast to Giants nemesis Wil Myers, who BTW is a free agent after the season.

This was Miller's first poor outing after 4 strong appearances since getting called up.  Will he get another appearance to shake it off in the last two games of the season?  He is also a free agent after the season.

David Villar DH- 2 for 3, HBP.  BA= .227.  Villar is now 4 for 5 over his last 2 games which raises his BA since being recalled on 9/2 to .264 with an OBP of .319 and SLG% of .517.  Put this performance with his minor league track record and Villar should be a big part of the the Giants future.  They have a logjam of non-SS infielders.  Maybe this gives the Giants courage to move on from Evan Longoria?

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Speaking of Longoria, turns out he fractured a finger in the 10'th inning of yesterday's game and went back on the IL to finish the season.  Really!  Thomas Szapucki LHP joined him on the IL with a R hip strain.  Bryce Johnson OF and Andrew Vasquez LHP were called up with Alex Wood LHP going to the 60-day IL to make room for Vasquez on the 40-man roster. Got all that?  Good!

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Carlos Rodon LHP is scheduled to start tomorrow's game against Sean Manaea LHP, but just a casual reminder that Rodon's agent is Scott Boras.  Boras public today proclaiming that Rodon has exceeded his innings limit for the season and should be shut down like Logan Webb.  Of course, Webb is under contract for next season and Rodon is not.  While it is a meaningless game, Rodon is in the conversation for a Cy Young Award as well as close to some strikeout milestones, so the start might not be meaningless for him. How will this drama impact the Giants chances of resigning Rodon?  I'll guess none since I don't think he'll be back next season and I think that decision has already been made on both sides.

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Camilo Doval RHP was named the NL Reliever of the Month for September.  He appears to have solidified the Closer role for next season making one less key position the Giants have to fill in the Hot Stove League.

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AFL Update:  Opening Day today.  Giants minor leaguers assigned to Scottsdale Scorpions.

Luis Matos CF- 1 for 4, 3B, BB.  

Logan Wyatt 1B- 1 for 3, BB.

Tyler Myrick RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. 

Game Wrap 10/2/2022: Giants 4 D' Backs 3

David Villar PH/1B's two-RBI hit gave the Giants a walk-off win in extra innings to send a Fan Appreciation Day crowd home happy.

The Giants used 8 pitchers, all relievers, in a bullpen game.  The first 3 were all LHP's against a left-leaning D'Backs lineup.  The D'Backs had 9 hits/11 baserunners through 6 innings but 3 GIDP's, all started by Brandon Crawford SS helped hold them to just 1 run.

Austin Slater PH/CF hit a leadoff PH HR in the 7'th inning to give the Giants a temporary 2-1 lead.

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As mentioned yesterday, the Giants shut down Logan Webb RHP for the season by placing him on the IL for a low back strain.  They also optioned Jakob Junis to AAA Sacramento since he pitched bulk innings yesterday and would be unavailable for the last 4 games anyway.  The Giants brought back Sean Hjelle RHP and Luis Ortiz RHP to the active roster.

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The Giants final series of the season is on the road against the Padres.  John Brebbia RHP opens another game tomorrow evening with Hjelle likely in line for bulk innings work.  Joe Musgrove RHP starts for the Padres.

Game Wrap 10/1/2022: D'Backs 8 Giants 4

 The Giants dim playoff hopes were snuffed out in a familiar witches stew of subpar fielding and bullpen failure as a five spot for the D'Backs in the 7'th inning broke a close game open and late Giants rallies were too little, too late.

Scott Alexander RHP- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 1.10.  Alexander performed his Opener act as drawn up retiring 4 with the only baserunner reaching on and error.

Jakob Junis RHP- 4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 4.42.  If you allow enough baserunners, bad things are going to happen, but with a little luck, Junis' line might have looked a whole lot better.  The last two runs in the D'Backs 3-run 4'th inning scored from first and second on a soft liner to left that tailed just out of the reach of a diving Jason Vosler and got past him.  It was a tough play but my thought was a more experienced LF might have gotten a better jump or a LF wearing his glove on the right hand like, say Joc Pederson RF/LF, might have had a better angle. Then, the first batter of the 7'th inning reached on an IF single and scored after Jarlin Garcia LHP proceeded to give up 3 straight hits and a walk with Sergio Alcantara, who drove in those two runs in the 4'th inning, doubling in the final two runs.

Mike Yastrzemski  CF/RF- 1 for 4, HR(17).  BA= .214.  YtY is 13 for 42(.310) with 5 HR's since Sept 18 the final game of the disastrous home sweep to the Dodgers.  Too little, too late for this year but is it enough for a tendered contract for next season?

J.D. Davis DH- 2 for 4, HR(12).  BA= .257.  Davis' line since joining the Giants is .287/.379/.549 with 8 HR.  That's better than his previous best season in 2019 with the Mets but not by that much.  He has two arbitration years left and keeping him is a no-brainer.  Is his best position DH, though?

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Churn Watch:

Jarlin Garcia was activated from the paternity list(gotta wonder if that had something to do with his rough appearance).  Sean Hjelle RHP was optioned to AAA Sacramento.  But wait!  Immediately after the game, the Giants announced they were shutting Logan Webb RHP down for the season for precautionary reasons to make sure he is healthy next season which makes today's game another bullpen game.  Will they bring Hjelle back to be the bulk innings guy?  He last pitched 4 innings on 9/28 and the Giants should want to protect his arm too.  More likely the innings will get picked up by Shelby Miller RHP who threw for 2 innings on the 28'th and Jharel Cotton RHP who the Giants probably want to get more of a read on before the end of the season.

Game Wrap 9/30/2022: Giants 10 D'Backs 4

 Alex Cobb RHP was not at his best allowing 4 ER in 5 IP, but this time he got more than enough run support and four shutout innings from the bullpen to even his W-L record at 7-7.

Joc Pederson LF- 2 for 3, 2B, 3B, 2 BB.  BA= .276.  Pederson is on a tear and seems to have found a sweet spot leading off.  His leadoff slash line split is .360/.450/.800.  It's probably no coincidence the Giants have been on a tear over the same time frame.  He's .316/.390/551 since the All-Star break.  While his numbers are not as good against LHP's, they have not been terrible with an OPS of .729.  Can the Giants resign him or will he join a growing list of players who parlayed single seasons with the Giants into bigger paydays with other teams?

Mike Yastrzemski RF- 2 for 3, 2B, HR(16), BB.  BA= .214.  YtY is another player whose numbers have perked up with a slash of .292/.357/.625 over his last 7 games, but his overall OPS of .696 remains dismal.

Evan Longoria 3B- 2 for 4, 2 HR(14).  BA= .247.  Longo is slashing .400/.429/.750 over his last 7 games.  When healthy, he's played pretty well but has appeared in just 88 games with 294 PA's due to injuries.  In the 5 seasons since the trade to the Giants he has yet to reach 130 games played.  The Giants can keep him around for $13 M or buy out the final season of his contract for $5 M which gives them a net cost of $8 M.  His performance is probably worth $8 M even for just half a season but is there opportunity to upgrade his roster spot?

Austin Wynns C- 2 for 4, HR(3).  BA= .264.  Another guy who is on a tear batting .476 over his last 7 games, .381 over his last 15 and .314 over his last 30.  He can be retained as back up C for the league minimum which seems like a no-brainer.

Alex Young LHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 2.31.  Young and Scott Alexander LHP have solidified the left side of the Giants bullpen.  Alexander is a FA but Young can be kept at the league minimum salary.

Thomas Szapucki LHP and Yunior Marte RHP also threw scoreless innings.  Their contracts can both be renewed at the league minimum.  Marte has options but Szapucki does not.

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The Giants try to keep hope alive this afternoon with Scott Alexander leading off a bullpen game(is it Jakob Junis RHP's turn for bulk innings?  They will face Drey Jameson RHP the rookie with electric stuff.