There were some fairly obvious shenanigans around the timing of Madison Bumgarner's departure from a game tied at 1 after throwing just 81 pitches indicating the Giants are not exactly in it to win it right now. Key Lines:
Brandon Belt 1B- 1 for 4, HR(8), SB(2). BA= .230. Belt does have an .800 OPS, but is hitting just .200 over his last 7 games. He drove in both runs tonight with the dinger and a groundout in the ninth.
Madison Bumgarner LHP- 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 4.01. OK, here we go. The beat writers think they know why Bum was pulled after allowing a leadoff single in the 7'th inning of a 1-1 game: The Giants are protecting him for a trade that is likely to go down in the next two weeks and likely to the Phillies(more on that later). Bochy said he could tell that Bum was "gassed" from the 3'rd inning on. For his part, Bum said he didn't feel good warming up and could tell it was going to be a tough night. He denied feeling ill and refused to blame his not feeling well on the warm weather. Now, if you believe all that BS, then I have some land......
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The Giants are now 8 games back in the Wild Card race, but who's counting? They all but officially ran up the white flag today.
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Tyler Beede missed his start tonight in Sacramento so he could start tomorrow in a day game against the Marlins where he will try to salvage a game out of the series against Sandy Alcantara.
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Someone asked in the Comments a couple of days ago if I have my heart set on any prospects out there I hope the Giants get in what is now guaranteed to be a midseason selloff. First of all, the Giants are not going to be getting any other team's #1 prospect for some rental players. I will throw out OF Clint Frazier of the Yankees, RHP Deivi Garcia of the Yankees, OF Adam Haseley of the Phillies as players I think are realistic targets on teams that are potential trading partners. Putting together realistic trades is extremely difficult and takes a lot more time than I have these days. I will refer you to Bleacher Report who put together several trade scenarios for different teams that might want Madison Bumgarner for their stretch run and postseason. Those potential trades not only seem reasonable, but I would be fairly happy if the Giants got one of those hauls in real life.
Since the Beats seem to think the Phillies are the most likely trade partner, lets break that down a bit further. Bleacher Report's Phillies' package includes RHP Adonis Medina, LHP Jojo Romero and SS Cornelius Randolph. Some readers here may be turned off by a lack of performance this season from all three of these prospects, but all things considered, it's not a bad package. Both Medina and Romero have premium stuff and likely just need a bit more polishing to break out. You may recall Randolph from our draft coverage in 2015. He's never quite gotten traction on his career, but still has the tools. At age 21, he still has time to put it all together. The one guy in the Phillies system I am a bit jealous of is Adam Haseley, an Andrew Benintendi type OF, who hasn't quite lived up to his #8 overall selection in the 2017 draft, but he's still got some time too. I don't know if the Phils would part with 2 position prospects in the trade but I would try to swap out Medina for Haseley in the package.
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From MLBTR today (edited):
ReplyDelete... the 2019 campaign has been a very good one for the Phillies so far... Neither their lineup nor their pitching staff has been dominant, but the Phils’ ... run differential is ... the best in their division. They’ve been a solid team ...
But the Phillies also entered the final week of May with a long list of injuries in the bullpen, and it’s only gotten worse over the past 24 hours.
Multi players or a more studly prospect for multi pitchers? Bum and a plus reliever? Maybe Melancon, too?
This is not fun stuff. As rough as things look and feel right now, trading Bumgarner amounts to an open acknowledgement of what most fans know but don't want to think about: the bumpy path that is a rebuild is underway. A Bumgarner trade in early to mid-June means avoiding a 100 loss season is highly unlikely, and puts 105+ losses in play. That will be hard on Posey, Crawford, Belt and Longoria, to name a few. The dog days of August would lead to the doggier days of September.
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side, the Giants could land two or three intriguing players in the June draft and then pick up three or four strong prospect through trade. Then, there will be a top 5 pick in next years draft.
Fingers crossed for great scouting work by Farhan's crew to identify the right players to draft and acquire in trade.