Logan Webb may well have been pitching for a shot at next year's starting rotation. He came through bigly with some help from the offense and the bullpen as the Giants salvaged the finale of the 3-game series and a split of their 6-game road trip. Key Lines:
Mauricio Dubon 2B- 1 for 5, SB(3). BA= .247. Dubon's bat has been flagging a bit, but he created an insurance run in the 7'th with a leadoff single, SB, took 3B on a dropped 3'rd strike which force the catcher to throw to 1B, then came home on Longo's single to CF.
Mike Yastrzemski RF/LF- 2 for 4, 2B, BB. BA= .275. YtY did not figure in the scoring, but had a nice road trip going 9 for 21, 3 2B, HR, 3 BB.
Evan Longoria 3B- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .255. Longo broke out of month-long September slump to drive in 2 runs.
Joey Rickard LF- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .228. Rickard also drove in 2 runs. Hopefully Zaidi's sluice box will uncover an upgrade for RH OF platoon bat for next season, although his .773 OPS split vs RHP could be worse.
Logan Webb RHP- 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 5.61. Webb commanded his pitches except for 2 walks in the 5th inning, but he righted his ship with 2 K's to end the inning. He should get one more chance to audition for next spring before the season ends.
Tyler Rogers RHP- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.23. Rogers' magic submarine was working again. I would think he is definitely penciled into next season's bullpen on the strength of his performance since being called up, and I couldn't be happier.
Will Smith LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(34). ERA= 2.84. I can't imagine Farhan Zaidi giving Smith a QO, so he's likely just padding his stat line for free agency, but he sure has been a pleasure to watch over the last 2 seasons.
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Giants get a travel day before starting their final homestand. Madison Bumgarner starts Tuesday evening against the Rockies and RHP Jeff Hoffman.
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Is 2020 too soon to hope for reinforcements from the system?
ReplyDeleteThey're pretty close to 12-13 position players from this team: YtY, Dubon, Solarte, Pillar, Dickerson, Slater, Duggar, the C-IF-4, and a backup-C make 12 leaving little space for improvement not that Shaw, Garcia (B/U C?), Rickard, Adames, Avalino, or Gerber from the current 40-man roster offer much hope.
Any FA position player that is demonstrably better than the spots that could be improved would be costly. The Giants might be better off working on the pitching starting with QO's for Bumgarner and Smith -- even if Smith accepted he not worth a LOT less than the $18M and SF won't have to commit to 3-4 years @ $14-15 million. Wouldn't be all that bad to tie down the closer spot for some overspend for 1-year.
Is Zaidi willing to give up draft choices for the top players?
Why would they pick up Solarte again? I think Zaidi will not spend that much on relief pitching - could be closer by committee until a star emerges. You'd have to think Moronta, Shaun Anderson, Adon - one of those. First step - who will be the new manager? I foresee some sort of trade shake-up for more productive hitting from SS, 1B and C -- let's see what Zaidi can do.
ReplyDeleteWhy Solarte?
DeleteAlthough with limited opportunities (221 PAs), Solarte is leading the Giants in BA, OBP, and all non-OFers in SLG & OPS. He plays 3 IF positions credibly and LF.
In just 77 games he has the 3rd highest WAR (Baseball-Reference) for position players.
In the 22 games he's led off he's slashing .381/.409/.667/1.076 -- he's not playing more because the Giants want to see how some other potential players can do, something Solarte has proven.
Not saying Solarte should be a starter but he certainly should be given the opportunity to win at least a b/u MI position in ST.
He's the type of guy Zaidi likes.
Per Alex Pavlovic: Reyes Moronta's 2020 season is very much in doubt.
Anon means Solarte’s twin, Solano.
DeleteThanks for picking that up.
DeleteDefinitely not Solarte and that's what mm was rightfully disagreeing with!
Oops.
I think you mean Solano, not Solarte. The latter isn't on the team anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhen trying to figure out what will Farhan do, it might help to start with what Farhan will (probably) not do.
ReplyDelete1. Is he likely to put a $15M (+/-) per year asset on the bench for multiple years? He was all in on Harper with deep pockets but he was addressing a position that there was no incumbent player, nor where there was a replacement high in the system. Going after Rendon this year will be like going after Machado last year: it didn't happen. Plus, of the Giants legacy players, the best two vis-a-vis the money owed them, Longoria and Crawford, are unlikely to be put on the bench, even for Rendon.
2. There is present value at 2B, the only IF position that doesn't have an overspend situation. Plus, Crawford, Dubon, and Solarte give the Giants middle infield strength.
3. Posey isn't going anywhere and the future has a "sure" candidate (Bart). Moving Posey to 1B is ludicrous unless he rediscovers the power that is long time gone.
4. If Farhan hunkers for a 1Bman, that begins with a $34.4 million dollar on-the-books cost that's not going away. That plus the cost of a quality guy, someone better than Belt, makes an acquisition very expensive.
5. The open area is, of course, the OF, as it was last year and Farhan was there with a trainload of cash. But now, he's a year closer to some of the riches in the system, but there's a lot of room out there for another bat, with no one, except perhaps YtY and maybe Dickerson that has more than a 2-3 year future. Duggar could be carried in CF much as St Louis carries Harrison Bader (another good Gator), but the Cardinals don't have all the non-productive offensive holes the Giants do plus they have some genuine toonder, 3 players likely to ave 30 or more HRs this year.
6. And then there's the SP hole after Cueto and Samardzija and maybe Webb and double maybe Beede, and maybe somebody else. Bumgarner doesn't carry the loss of a draft pick so SF has an edge if he wants to stay with the catcher (who isn't going anywhere) he's had since he broke into the minor leagues. Comfort and a personal catcher. Maybe it depends on who the new manager is.
7. RP. There are a lot of names tossed around but the best are gone, traded and Moronta may be gone for 2020 with his injury, and there is no obvious closer, which is why SF might QO Smith since that would only be a 1-year overpay if he accepts it and it attaches a draft pick cost to everyone else. The Giants can bid for him also and set their offer at the threshold for a good draft pick.
Given the Bumgarner and Smith potential, this might incline Farhan toward a pitcher friendly manager (with analytics).
He is unlikely to do anything stupid, although the Harper gambit was close: where has his 3.6 WAR gotten the Phillies?
Although a bargain this year, he likely won't be out in years 10, 11,12, & 13...
Solano -- brain freeze
Delete