The Giants rebooted bullpen didn't get the job done as the Rockies came from behind to take Game 1 of the weekend series in Coors Field. Key Lines:
Mike Yastrzemski LF- 1 for 4, HR(10), BB. BA= .276. YtY put the Giants ahead 4-2 with a monster 2-run blast that hit the facing of the upper deck in RF. He appears to be establishing himself as not just a starting MLB OF, but possibly as an All-Star caliber player. He's also the one guy out of all of Farhan's roster churning pickups who looks like he could be a core Giants for several years.
Steven Duggar CF- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .238. Nice night for Duggar coming back from AAA where he was raking.
Austin Slater RF- 1 for 2, 3B, BB. BA= .261. With Pillar taking inventory for a day after crashing into the CF wall in Philly, Slater got the start in RF. After a single by Duggar, Slater hit one of his signature opposite field drives down the RF line that bounced straight back off the wall almost all the way back to 1B with Charlie Blackmon in hot pursuit while Dugger and Slater circled the bases for an RBI triple. Joe Panik PH for him to lead of the 9'th against the Rockies new Closer, Scott Oberg, because matchups.
Scooter Gennett 2B- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .219. Gennett was in the starting lineup while Panik sat which is a curious situation to say the least. There are rumblings that Evan Longoria may come off the IL on Sunday. Gotta think Panik may be the odd man if it happens.
Shaun Anderson RHP- 5 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 0 K. ERA= 5.08. Considering it was Coors Field, I thought Anderson pitched well. According to Gameday his FB was sitting 94 and topped out at 95. He may not have had the greatest command of his slider. He was charged with the 3'rd ER after giving up a leadoff single in the 6'th and Sam Selman gave up a 2-run HR to Ryan McMahon to score the inherited runner.
Sam Selman LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 9.00. Sorry, but you can't just trade away almost half of the best bullpen in the majors and replace them with guys with gaudy numbers in AAA and expect you won't have a drop-off in effectiveness. Selman was lights out in Sacramento, and he may grow into that in the majors, but so far he has allowed runs in both of his 1-inning appearances. That he gave up the dinger to a LH batter is a particularly rough look.
Andrew Suarez LHP- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 9.42. This was much better than his last appearance. Suarez got out of a 7'th inning jam created by Reyes Moronta with the help of an overturned Fielder's Choice call at home. He then kept it close in the 8'th. Maybe he bought himself another MLB appearance here?
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The Loss dropped the Giants 3.5 games off the Wild Card race pace which is definitely something they can ill afford.
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Madison Bumgarner tries to even the series tomorrow against RHP Jon Gray.
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The Giants surprisingly DFA'd Tyler Austin and not Joe Panik to make room for Scooter Gennett which leaves them with 3 players whose primary position is 2B including two who hit LH. THAT is not going to last! The Giants also optioned Dereck Rodriguez back to Sacramento and called up Steven Duggar who started in CF with Kevin Pillar getting a day to collect himself after hitting the wall yesterday in Philly.
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I think some readers may be conflating my assessment that Farhan Zaidi threw in the towel at the trade deadline with criticizing his trades. Scooter Gennett notwithstanding, you have to admit that Farhan was mostly a seller. Maybe he doesn't think he threw in the towel, but you don't take a sledgehammer to the best bullpen in the majors and the major reason why you are still in the pennant race and expect to remain in said race. Maybe Farhan thinks he can just plug in some guys from Sacramento and not miss a beat. If he does, then THAT is a miscalculation on his part.
Having said that, I like the trades Farhan made, particularly getting ATL to take on almost all of Melancon's contract(it's now clear the with the immediate DFA of Dan Winkler his acquisition was a purely to partially offset Melancon's salary). He's in a much better position to build next season's roster than he was at the beginning of Trade Deadline day. He is not in better position to compete for a postseason spot this year.
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Maybe Zaidi and his staff believe they can replace their departed relievers internally in the long term, but they probably expect a few rough outings in the short term reaching that goal. If they were really going for the playoffs, do they still trade Melancons? I would still say yes. I've been waiting for Zaidi to make a salary dump trade, since wasn't he known for that in LA?
ReplyDeleteFarhan had an impossible task at the deadline. What he did was accomplish several improvements for the future while still giving this team a small chance to continue their late success if they stayed hot. After watching Dyson get crushed in his first two outings with Minnesota its pretty clear that he knew Dyson wasnt going to sustain his torrid pace and he unloaded him while his stock was high.
ReplyDeleteSame with Pom and Melancon, Bochy was able to get the most out of them but they are all highly flawed pitchers. Bochy was able to work miracles to hide all the warts these guys have and somehow Farhan convinced other teams it wasn’t a mirage! The bottom line is none of these guys are Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman, or Brad Hand yet the prospects he got back could end up having just as much impact as the players that came back in those deals.
What else could Farhan have possibly done given the circumstances? If he traded Bum or Smith or Watson then I could see your point about throwing in the towel but he kept the most important bullpen pieces intact likely because he wasnt going to get enough in return which would have surely drawn criticism. If he would have traded prospects and gone for it this year he would have jeopardized the future for a tiny chance of winning now while surely sacrificing winning in years to come. If he didnt do anything at the deadline he probably receives the most criticism.
There are almost 2 months left and they are 3.5 games behind which isn’t insurmountable. I remember in 1998 when the Giants were 5 back of the Cubs in the WC with only 10 to play. It aint over til its over! The Mets just reeled off 7 wins in a row after their fans left them for dead. This race is going to go down to the finish line and the Giants have just as good a chance as any with a few breaks here or there.
The Braves quite thorough analysis of Melancon and the trade includes this outside look at SF payroll:
ReplyDelete"When he signed with the Giants, it was the largest AAV contract ever given to a reliever, and despite pretty solid performances (hmm), Giants fans largely consider the contract a disaster. Granted, every contract the Giants hand out these days is more or less a disaster (!), so it didn’t stand out, but why was there so much dissatisfaction with Melancon despite him remaining a pretty good reliever? He spent large chunks of both 2017 and 2018 on the IL with arm injuries" (added).
As for what SF got: Confirming that Winkler was to soften the cost of Melancon, it goes on
"Tristan Beck is a pretty solid pitching prospect, but he was hardly near the front of the line as far as Braves starting prospects went. That made him valuable to San Francisco and expendable to Atlanta. There’s a good chance he winds up in the majors one day, but he still projects to be worse than average when that day arrives."
They're happy, we're happy: great trade!
See: http://outfieldflyrule.com/2019/08/01/brave-moves-the-mark-melancon-trade/
Bum and Shark and Pray for Dark!
ReplyDeleteGiants need to win 70% of 22 games the two reliables start AND 60% of the other 30 games that Larry, Curley, and Moe start to get 88 wins, and a likely but not guaranteed WC.
They have to jump 3 teams who need to play at a higher level than they are now playing -- it could happen.
If the competition beat each other up, maybe 85 wins is in, and that only requires winning half the games
Bum and Shark don't start. If Cueto comes back and goes 5-0, there's a chance.
Just win, baby, WIN!
Baltimore picks up Ty Blach from Giants off waivers.
ReplyDeleteGiants pick up Yastrzemski and Joey Rickard off waivers from Orioles.
OMT: Jaylin Davis may be Zaidi's latest Max Muncy.