Robbie Ray had a rough second start to his season and the Giants 2-run rally in the 9'th inning was way too little, too late. Key Lines:
Patrick Bailey C- 2 for 4. BA= .271. Bailey had the Giants only multi-hit game. Maybe the silver lining to this game is all 5 of the Giants hits came from their young core of Bailey, Ramos, Luciano and Villar. Luciano and Villar hit doubles.
Robbie Ray LHP- 4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K's. FZ said Ray's first start is what gave him confidence to trade Soler and Cobb and rely on the rotation to go on a run into the postseason. I have no idea if he really believes that or if he's putting a spin on salary dumps but for a guy who is supposed to be so analytics based, he sure seems to put an inordinate amount of stock in small sample sizes. Not that Ray won't bounce back next start but trading Cobb strips the rotation of any semblance of depth. On the other hand, 5 healthy starters is better than 2.
Spencer Bivens RHP- 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 2.08. What a great story is Spencer Bivens!
The Loss drops the Giants to a 5 game deficit in the Wild Card playoff race.
Speaking of depth, Logan Webb RHP tries to right his ship and split the 2-game series against Not-forever Giant Ross Stripling RHP tomorrow evening.
Churn Watch:
Is it just me or was this the weirdest Giants trade deadline in memory? First there was yesterday's surprising salary dump of Jorge Soler. That was followed today by a series of baffling trades:
The Giants acquire Mark Canha OF from the Tigers for Eric Silva RHP. So they trade Soler to make room for Luciano but then acquire a defensively challenged lesser right-handed bat in Canha? Oh yeah, Canha played for the A's when FZ was their assistant GM, another all-too-familiar pattern. And I am starting to think Soler was less of a salary dump than he was in FZ doghouse and FZ just wanted him out of his sight.
FZ then shipped Alex Cobb RHP to the Guardians for Jacob Bresnahan LHP. Bresnahan seems like a serious pitching prospect who could be a fast mover next season so I'm not totally against the trade. It also creates room for Hayden Birdsong RHP to stay in the rotation, but it leaves the rotation 5 deep with no safety net while Kyle Harrison LHP and Birdsong should probably both be on innings watches.
Baffled. Farhanned. He couldn't get some good prospects out of the Yankees for Snell? But replace Soler with Canha? Soler just woke up! So now you have to let Luciano DH, or Steve VAs prodigy, or Matos, and what is Canha going to do for us other than take up roster space and block prospects.
ReplyDeleteI would have guaranteed the Giants were gonna face plant after all their renewed confidence and talk after their unheard of sweep of the Rockies juggernaut and facing a guy with 5.00 ERA.
ReplyDeleteDoc summed up the trades pretty nicely. Plain and simple to me is that the Giants are a worse team today then the one that seemed to congeal with SOLER batting first and FITZ batting second (but, hey, lets move him to leadoff!)...I was wondering if maybe SOler was a lockeroom problem but Doc is probably correct that it was FZ just moving another one of his mistakes far away. The Giants didn't sell much and really only grabbed one good prospect..and only brought in the AJ POLLACK of 2024.. I just don't get any of it....With really only 1 spot up for grabs after the deadline (predictably) it would have behooved FZ to sell as much as he could..including Snell (who will be gone anyway) and just take the lumps..Did ownership have any role?
But, while they didn't sell, they also didn't buy either, they just stayed in the morass of mediocrity. With Soler gone, the team is now down two bats instead of one. So pray for Lucianno not to get the quick hook and for Melvin not to favor hos old buddy Pollack.
And all this talk about the great rotation maybe carrying the Giants to the POs is a pipe dream.. I do like the rotation but there are risks everywhere outside of Snell...Don't know what has been going on with Webb (fatigue???)...Ray is still battling back from TJ and will likely have uneven results...Birdsong has looked great but the League MAAY soon figure him out...and Harrison is still a young kid who may go into uncharted territory....Way too much pressure on all of them. And if any of them fails or is injured, they only have ROUP and McDonald now that Cobb is gone nd hicks is a reliever.. A great future rotation but not one that POs are made of nor that should have prevented FZ from selling for the future. Ditto for a bullpen with a struggling Doval and still only 2 lefties. To put it nicely, I don't get what FZ did...
SteveVA
So, I think you know I have been mostly middle of the road on FZ from day one of his tenure as POBO. I've criticized him when I think it's warranted and have defended him when people gratuitously criticize. I am coming around to thinking it's time for the Giants to move on from him. It appears his comfort zone is poking around the edges of the roster finding gold nuggets in his churning sluicebox. I will also grant that the farm system is stronger today than when he took over, especially from the last 2 or 3 international classes. The problem is he just does not seem comfortable with the making major trades either to acquire veteran talent or higher level prospects to bolster the farm system. He also seems to guess wrong on free agents way too often. As I have said several times, for a guy who claims to be analytically oriented he sure seems to react to small sample sizes like a fanboy and seems to pay an inordinate amount of attention to what people like you and me are saying on various forms of social media. I am ready for a POBO with a more traditional approach in the form of a bold hire of Kim Ng who I have admired for a long time and who I think did a nice job GM'ing the Marlins.
DeleteI kinda agree with most of that Doc. FZ has put together a much better organization from top to bottom but he does not know how to put together a winner in SF and that is the ultimate objective. This obsession in trying to outsmart everybody (which he doesn't) on hidden gems and dumpster dives is maddening becasue he relys on it too much, and while I agree he has hit on a few, it really hasn't made the MLB Giants a better team. And his incompetence, sorry but I can't think of a better word, in FA and deadline deals to make the team better in the short term and longer term is a huge minus..
DeleteI also have no clue why the media in SF doesn't call him to task ever. But that's another story and my point of view is from growing up with the New York jackal media!
SteveVA
Doc, I try to be middle of the road like you in regards to FZ and agree on FZ major weakness is making major trades to improve the team. He can hang his hat on the farm system producing players like Bailey, Harrison, Birdsong, Fitzgerald, and others. Listening to Greg Johnson on a TK show, he'll put a lot of weight on the improved minor league system. Bottom line is he wants the Giants to me the playoffs. He's been a longtime fan too. I'll let the season play out 1st as to whether I want FZ to be replaced or not. Heard interesting takes by Jake Peavy and Susan Slusser who think there is a chance that Snell could opt in next year. Apparently he likes playing in SF. If so, 2025 could be interesting.
DeleteI'd give Farhan one more year but, he will lose some hats to Pete Putila. Let Pete handle the free agent side this off-season. I'm not confident Greg Johnson will make the right move.
DeleteMaybe Greg Johnson should give FZ a mandate to hire a veteran FO person to help with trades and free agent signings. Not sure if FZ would listen to another person, since it sounded like Brian Sabean was so bored, he left the Giants since it sounded like FZ didn't use him as a resource enough. Big mistake!
DeleteWe have a GM in name only in Pete Putila, it wouldn't hurt for to let Putila handle the trades and free agency next year. I'd only fire Farhan if he's refuses to cede some power to Putila.
DeleteI've complained about FZ standing pat during past deadlines so I'm glad the Giants did something. They made 2 trades to create roster spots for Luciano and Birdsong. The Soler trade is a curious move for the Giants who have a hard time signing hitters i think the main reason being oracle Park being a tough place to hit. I think Birdsong forced the Cobb trade. We'll see if Mark Canha can help them with his versatility, with Wilmer Flores not being heathly.. he's a bay area guy who played with Chapman and Melvin as manager., so he'll be easy to root for.. I'm glad that they're trying to rebuild the core but have the pitching talent to stay competitive. I'll be patient with robbie ray expecting bumps in the road from TJ surgery.
ReplyDeleteCalled out Spencer here during Spring Training. More as a "Wow, what an amazing story if he miracles onto the big club" kind of fanciful wish. Wow, has he exceeded expectations!!!
ReplyDeleteImagine what a thrill it must be for him to be pitching like this in the major leagues. Talk about living your dream!
DeleteThe Soler trade reeks more of Greg Johnson wanting to pinch pennies. I think nuking most of the vets on the roster outside of Chapman, Snell, Ray, and the Rogers brothers is coming this offseason.
ReplyDeleteI doubt Greg Johnson told Farhan he had to dump Soler and Cobb or even that he had to get below the luxury tax cap, but I also pretty sure Farhan knows in his soul that Greg would not be happy paying a luxury tax for a team that didn't make the playoffs.
DeleteThis.
DeleteFarhan might be trying to punch pennies a little because he knows he has one of the highest payrolls in the league for one of the worst teams in the league and he doesn’t want to get fired.
DeleteI remember how excited I was when the Giants signed Farhan. He was the protypical modern GM with a great resume. He was the “smartest man in the room”. Well… it hasn’t worked out. For whatever reason he doesn’t make smart moves. Maybe ownership plays a role in his personnel decisions - we’ll probably never no. If that’s the case then maybe no GM can succeed. There are plenty of examples where savvy GMs are succeeding- Atlanta, Dodgers, Houston, Phillies, Orioles…
ReplyDeleteOver the last several years those teams simply made better decisions than the Giants and have better personnel. Free agency hasn’t worked - partly because players don’t seem to want to play for the Giants. Why is that- perception of the City with its problems, the ballpark ( for hitters), or something else? It may me time to pull the plug on Farhan and try another young prodigy from a successful organization. Proven GMs probably are not leaving their current positions so they probably need to take a chance with the younger “prospect”. I know Farhan isn’t the GM by title but it seems he is the guiding and responsible force in the organization.
If there was any measurable payroll dump, Fangraphs/RosterResource doesn't see it: it's still $253,122,638, with first luxury tax threshold for 2024 is $237M.
ReplyDeleteEstimates for 2025 are quite low: $110,815,476, but that is obviously not for a full roster.
Farhan has proven in the 6 years that he doesn’t spend the money right when he has money. He’s constantly trying to offload contracts to other teams. Remember when he took on Zack Cozart’s 10 million dollar contract (they released him not long after the trade) just for a prospect who ended up being a bust (Will Wilson, still with us and still young enough to turn it around and I root for him but at this point he’s a bust).
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