Shaun Anderson fell 1 out short of a Quality Start but the Giants offense and bullpen picked him up for a Win. Key Lines:
Buster Posey C- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .241. Buster has been scuffling and is still hitting just .200 over his last 7 games, .220 over his last 15 and .230 over his last 30.
Alex Dickerson LF- 2 for 4, HR(2). BA= .311. Dickerson is hitting .423 in 8 games with the Giants. he could always hit.
Brandon Crawford SS- 3 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .226. Crawford has a 4 game hit streak in which he is 6 for 13. He's also hit in 7 of 8 games in which he is 11 for 28. 6 of those 11 hits are doubles. A hot Crawford really extends the lineup for the Giants.
Shaun Anderson RHP- 5.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.86. Baby Thor has been Mr Consistent going at least 5 innings and no more than 6 while allowing 2-4 runs in all 8 of his starts. He'll have to find a way to increase his K/BB as he gains experience.
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Drew Pomeranz takes his 5 and Dive act to the mound today facing Zack Greinke.
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To some you are wondering why your rant comments about the the previous management regime and all of the currently under-performing long term contracts are not getting published, I just have one question: Where were you when those contracts were being signed? Because you definitely were not criticizing them on this blog when I was at least warning that they were likely to under-perform on the back end.
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I don’t blame them for Longoria or Melancon. Longoria has been a great player most of his career and we needed a solid 3B. We got Melancon 6 months too late or we likely would have won our 4th WS in 2016. All the other signings and extensions seemed fair and made sense at the time they were signed.
ReplyDeleteAll the core players they extended like Posey and Crawford and MadBum were no brainers. Letting Panda sign elsewhere for 100 mil was a sign they weren’t being irresponsible and overpaying just to keep an old star around. Samardzija and Cueto actually worked out really well for half a season in 2016 and Cueto may still have value when he returns.
The only argument anyone could possibly have IMO is Belt. Belt is the one extension that stands out to me as totally unnecessary and quite possibly the most detrimental. There have consistently been Belt haters from very early on and there have been heavy Belt supporters that defend him to the death. Belt has never reached the potential all of his supporters have hoped and his presence clearly blocks our franchise hero from moving out from behind the plate. Maybe Posey could have saved his career and chances of making the HOF if he moved to 1B a year or two or three ago.
Posey is arguably, altho a stretch, HOF as a catcher, but he's not a HOF 1Bman.
DeleteHis stellar catching prowess and good O for a C carries no weight at first base.
All 3 of the original Giants with "big" contracts in the l/u appear to have peaked @ 28 yo which is pretty average -- maybe surprising that all 3 did, as they each had good years @ 28. It's was time for their extensions, they had contributed. May have been too much but SF had the money and rolled the dice.
My criticism of their contracts has admittedly been after-the-fact: yes, it was committing lots of money, but they were the core. 2 had very good years in 2016, and Posey was solid. IF they had had 2019's 'pen, well, the team might have continued winning in even years.
I would fault the Longoria trade -- he was 32 when he put on a Giant uniform and well past his peak.
Before getting excited about the OF, other than Duggar, we have to realize that they've all seen their best years.
It was, though, great to see Buster and Brandoc C bang out 3 hits yesterday!
If you go to MCC the criticism has been directed not to the FO for the contract extensions but to the underperforming players themselves. I am not a member of the MCC community so I just read the comments but at least two posters accuse the players essentially of just mailing it in while the players have their defenders who claim Age or Injury - not lack of efforts responsible. These defenders then make ad hominem attacks on the accusers. It can get pretty ugly over there.
ReplyDeleteI do not blame management for the extensions - what is the chance that star players would start underperforming at ages 29 or 30. These are not players age 37. Maybe these enormous guaranteed contracts have made the Giants players complacent.
There is no way of knowing with certainty what led our hitters to fall off a cliff - we need more evidence that we will probably never get. Those who blame the players should not be attacked however.
OTOH Dickerson has no guaranteed multiyear Fat Contract and he is playing with heart. A. D. is an immediate fan favorite and darling of the sports talk show circuit. Mark Willard in particular gushes openly about him.
If Mac had played decent - not even stellar baseball - we probably would not have Alex Dickerson, who is wielding the most potent bat in the lineup and who has been a Legit Bat at every stage of his career - what a Pickup! To find a middle of the order power hitter on the scrap heap. Was it Z or an alert scout that said - Grab him!
ReplyDeleteNow that the OF is producing - as others have said - time for Z. to turn his attention to the infield.
Player performance and injuries just go with baseball - everything is going to come around fine. Alex Dickerson is a good sign that the Giants and Zaidi can and will eventually find players who will produce. They signed Hunter Bishop! Heliot Ramos, Joey Bart and Marco Luciano are developing fast. What looks like a great bullpen at AAA is just waiting to plug in after the upcoming bullpen trades, and whatever SF can get this trade season is going to be a major depth improvement. New blood is what gets people excited for the future - 2020 Spring Training could be a whole new feeling.
ReplyDeleteDoctor - I regularly follow your blog for your insight and wisdom. I'm as baffled as anyone by the incredible nose dive across the board starting in 2017 by position players who previously performed at or near all-star levels. It looks like MLB changed the specs for the ball around that time to boost power production. One of the changes apparently was to flatten the seams of the balls. I'm wondering if that change could have interfered with the ability of some hitters to recognize pitches by judging the spin of the ball. One would think the problem would affect different hitters in different ways. It looks like more than a few previously very good hitters have experienced inexplicable declines. It's also very possible that the Giants, even if just by chance, have more than the expected population of those kind of hitters.
ReplyDelete