Matt Moore did not allow a run for the first time this season as a SP while Joe Panik continued his hot hitting to lead the Giants offense to complete a 2 game sweep of the Rockies. Key Lines:
Joe Panik 2B- 3 for 4, 2B, 3B. BA= .291. Panik has been en fuego since he started choking up on the bat. Is it too late for him to make a run at .300? Will this hotness carry over into next season?
Brandon Crawford SS- 1 for 3, HR(14), BB. BA= .246. Crawford leads the team in doubles and is second in HR's.
Pablo Sandoval 3B- 2 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .212. Sandoval is 7 for 11 with 2 doubles and a dinger in his last 3 games.
Matt Moore LHP- 6 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 5.20. Moore has a 2.84 ERA in September. I'd say that bodes well for next season, but he was pretty good down the stretch last year too.
Steven Okert LHP- 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 5.88. Okert came in with 2 runners on base and no outs in the 7'th inning. He struck out the RH hitting Pat Valaika and got Charlie Blackmon to ground into a force out.
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The Giants win coupled with a win by the Phillies(over the Dodgers) and a loss by the ChiSox leaves the Giants 1 game ahead of the Sox for the #1 overall draft pick(2 in the loss column) and 1.5 games ahead of the Phillies and 2.5 games ahead of the Tigers, who also lost.
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The Giants get a day off before heading south to Dodger Stadium for a weekend series against the Dodgers with Jeff Samardzija facing Rich Hill in game 1.
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Brandon Belt appears to be feeling better and was running on the field today before the game. He won't be playing again this year as he was moved to the 60 day DL to make room for waiver pickup RHP Pierce Johnson.
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Hey Doc,
ReplyDeleteDo you see the Giants trading Brandon Belt this upcoming off-season? The article with the Sabean interview speculated that Bochy wouldn't mind seeing a change at 1st base. I'd be ok with it, despite Belt being one of their top power hitters.
LG
Belt continues to be a polarizing player and somewhat of an enigma. Depends on what the Giants could get in return in a trade and who they could replace him with. Is Chris Shaw ready to step in? Is there a better, affordable free agent or trade target they could go after?
DeleteI like to think of myself as neither a Belt hater or apologist. He has his strengths, most notably his OBP, but I also find him incredibly frustrating to watch. I just wish he would either stand about 2-4 inches farther off the plate or choke up when he hits. In his current stance, when he swings, his hands are somewhere in the middle of the strike zone, where you know, the barrel of the bat should be.
Look, I like Belt. I like what he does. And I'd be sad to see him go. But there is a reality as well in that his offense just doesn't play here. You put him a neutral park and use his road #'s as a 600AB projection source and he's a 30+ HR guy even before the juiced ball of 2017.
DeleteSo, at this point, if they traded him and got a good value for him, I'd be okay with it. Sometimes a player just doesn't fit and if you can swap him for someone who does, it becomes a win-win.
Belt hit 18 dingers in 104 games played this season. Project that to 150 and you are at 27. Maybe his big problem isn't so much performance as he has never stayed healthy for a full season's worth of AB's.
DeleteI like Belt, but I'm reacting to Sabean saying they need to be active/bold on the trade front and get younger more athletic on the field. Hard to say who can replace him at 1st base. I'm ok with Belt being traded vs someone like Posey, Madbum. It sounds to me like Sabean might be open to a similar type of trade like the one he made with Matt Williams way back when he got multiple players back. Anyway it sounds like changes to the roster are coming, so should be interesting off season.
DeleteLG
Not sure what you mean by it doesn't play there. He's been an above average player every year. If you mean he can't hit HRs there, well, only a handful of players can.
DeleteI read this was the first three-game win streak since before the All-Star break. All things considered, I'm not surprised, but I'll take it and enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteMoore: Teases again.
Crawford: .292 in August. .263 in September. His BA is still paying for that horrible June/July stretch though. Also, Crawford's first half defense was kind of shaky according to the metrics. He's really torn it up in the second half and is now rated #5 of all MLB players in defense and the #1 NL Short-stop. So I kind of wonder if something was going on...
Panik: The Rockies have got to be glad to not face him again -- 34 hits against them this year -- most ever by a Rockies opponent (single season).
The "something" was Brandon Crawford's sister-in-law died suddenly and unexpectedly from an asthma attack early in the season.
DeleteYeah, I know. It's not something I like to talk about. Too much dying recently of friends and family with both parents barely hanging on right now.
DeleteThere comes a time in every ball players life that it is time to move on, sometime because of performance, sometimes just because a change is needed for both the player and the club. I think that is the case for Belt. The fact that Bochey may feel that way tells me there may be other factors at play (remember how we found out about Pagan after he left it wasn't just performance that kept the Giants from resigning him despite their desperate need in the OF).
ReplyDeleteEither way, both parties would probably benefit. Depending on who you get for him, who steps into 1B and say sign Otani and you could have a pretty quick turnaround back to being competitive.
Billy Baseball
....and sometimes the grass is not really greener on the other side of the fence for either the player or the club.
DeleteCase in point: Pablo Sandoval. Not saying I wish the Giants had signed him to a big lanterm contract, but the Giants 3B situation did not get better after he left and he certainly did not find Boston to be a friendly environment....except for the money part.
I'm not a fan of Belt, and I think he is in the doghouse a bit with Bochy and Sabean. I think you hit on it Dr.B when you said he's incredibly frustrating to watch. I feel the same way. I feel like he does just enough to make you think there's something special there and to keep him in good favor, but then he never breaks through. Year after year of this might be wearing thin on Bochy and Sabes. (Maybe even Buster, remember him getting visibly upset with Belt for not holding a runner on a couple months ago? I doubt that was just a one time frustration for Buster to get him that animated and upset.) I would like to see Shaw given the starting 1B gig next year out of the gate or at least sign a veteran to hold the spot while Shaw starts on the bench.
DeleteHere'a a list of 1B FA's this offseason(age): Yonder Alonso(34), Lucas Duda(32), Matt Hollday(38), Eric Hosmer(28), John Jaso(34), Mitch Moreland(32), Logan Morrison(30), Mark Reynolds(34), Carlos Santana(32).
DeleteWell technically the Giants third base situation did get better because the alternative would have in fact to have signed him and that would have been uglier than what we ended up with , relatively speaking but I get your point. Fact is though that the Giants are having one of their worst seasons historically, and while Belt isnt the only reason for it, something has go to be done and he's got some value and the Giants appear to have viable options for 1B, albiet unproven.
ReplyDeleteBilly Baseball
I would hate to see Belt shipped, but changes are coming & it makes sense that they might get value for the Giraffe. 1B is covered by Posey & Shaw, seems they really like Hundley in the crouch & Posey would benefit from it. I also want to try a LF of Slater-Parker since I dig development of our own
ReplyDelete