Friday, July 12, 2024

Game Wrap 7/11/2024: Blue Jays 5 Giants 3

Home runs by Heliot Ramos and Mike Yastrzemski were not enough to overcome another subpar start by Jordan Hicks.  Key Lines:

Patrick Bailey C- 2 for 4.  BA= .284.  Bailey scored in the first inning ahead of Ramos' HR to cut into the Jays 3 run lead out of the gate.  He and Ramos look like two guys the Giants can build around for the future, but it's frustrating they might be the only two....at least on the position player side.

Heliot Ramos CF- 1 for 4, HR(14).  BA= .300.  Ramos is up to 251 PA and not showing signs of regressing:  .345/.367/.690 over his last 7 games and .300/.358/.550 over his last 15.  So his BA over his last 15 is the same as his BA for all 57.  Consistency!

Mike Yastrzemski RF- 2 for 4, HR(8).  BA= .225.  Nice game here but he's hitting just .133 over his last 7 games.

Jordan Hicks RHP- 4.1 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 7/2.  ERA= 3.79.  Hicks is past his previous season high for IP by about 20.   He's gotten progressively less effective in recent starts despite this one being pushed back by a couple of games.  He'll now get the All-Star break to try to regain his strength but historically that is a short-lived boost for tired players.  He might need an IL stint followed by pitching out of the bullpen for the rest of the season.

Randy Rodriguez RHP- 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 3.92.  Rodriguez has 1.64 ERA in 11 IP over his last 7 appearances.

The Loss is the Giants 4'th in their last 5 games and leaves them 4 games below .500.  They are 3 games behind in the Wild Card race.

Kyle Harrison LHP tries to regain the momentum against the Twins tonight facing Joe Ryan RHP.

After the game, FZ went on the Tolbert and Copes show on KNBR and was not in a good mood:
  "We're 4 games under .500...... Overall it's been a real disappointment.......  We pushed a lot of chips in with this team.......  We need the players to show what the right direction is for us.......  If we keep playing like we did for the last 5 days, we're going to have to think about selling and seeing some younger players."  

Wow! I think we've see the tea leaves with the departures of Austin Slater and Nick Ahmed but I'm pretty sure this is the first time FZ has ever openly said he is considering a full-on sell at the trade deadline.  Buckle up!  The problem with selling is I am not sure they have anyone to sell that is going to bring back anything more than a back-end prospect.(In fairness, I listened to the recording of the entire statement and what's posted on the KNBR X page is heavily edited and FZ leaves open the possibility that they could add at the deadline if the team's performance improves but it's still a pretty eye-opening statement).

8 comments:

  1. If Snell shows well I’d wager he would bring some return, esp. if the Giants paid the rest of his ‘24 salary.

    At this point it wouldn’t break my heart to lose Conforto, Flores, Estrada, Yaz. Maybe Chapman. Keep Wade just for the LH bat. And of course Jackson. Possible Doval would bring something substantial.

    I am ready to see some kids.

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  2. Lee might be a 3rd player on the position side that might be build-able around.
    Although Soler hasn't shown much, a team with a hitter friendly park might be interested.
    The "stalwarts" have little value. If Wade was healthy, if Flores had shown anything, if Conforto or YtY or Estrada or Chapman were just a little consistent they might have brought something, but if "they were just a little consistent" the Giants wouldn't be 4 under .500 and facing a good Minnesota team (53-40, 12-5 recently) that just might sweep them at home.
    This could unravel very fast.
    OTOH, the schedule is soft on the other side of the A-S game.

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  3. Listened to that interesing podcast with FZ also. Agree with what he said that the teams performance will determine the direction they take at the trade deadline. I'd like to see the team have a strong direction at the trade deadline whether its buying or selling. They spent a lot of $ on this team.so gotta be aggressive. They can't repeat 2023 when they were leading the wild card at the deadline and did nothing. That sent a bad message to fans and their clubhouse. Let's go!

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  4. While I’m not saying we should: Conforto and Yaz may have some value to teams need OF depth, Estrada isn’t bad as 2b, Flores might be good for a DH and Murphy maybe isn’t needed. Not sure if we could find buyers. Is there anyway we could get down below first threshold on payroll with some trades?

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  5. $64,000 question is how much selling will be allowed by ownership. Conforto and Yaz may be his best veteran trade options. I think starting the clock on Hunter Bishop has to be on the table. Injuries will give FZ another year.

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  6. Shutting down Hicks until August is what should happen and have him pitch out of the pen for the rest of the year.

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  7. Ah..FZ may be a bit mad because he pushed the chips in and is not getting the results from the players but, really, only has himself to blame for the players he pushed the chips in for over the past few years.

    Before the season, I screamed for the Giants to sign Snell or another Vet pitcher becasue all of the to be expected perfromance/incosnsitency issues with the kids and the almost guaranteed issues we are seeing with converting Hicks. Obviously, I was only half right becasue Snell has been a zero so far......Yet...there is still a liver of hope after Snell's last outing and maybe Cobb can join the rotation soon..and maybe even Ray..and, as Doc mentioned, Hicks can go back to the bullpen?

    The Giants were going real well until these last two duds and the Twins next? Is this the unraveling? Maybe...But the Giants have come back and fought every time this season when kicked down..Hope they have it in them to do it for this weekend.

    Being in no mans lands is not good for either the vets or kids...Kids, bith position players and pitchers, have been yanked around A LOT. makes it hard to find any consistency.. RAMOS has found, thank God,,,but really not a kid any more...Hope he and the giants finisht the first half with a bang..

    SteveVA

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  8. The Giants have just 14 games until the Trading Deadline with half of them against current Play Off teams (Dodgers 4 and Twins 3). Can they reach .500 by going 9-5 (7 games are with Colorado)?
    Will the Giants be good enough or bad enough for FZ to decide if they are buyers or sellers or neither?

    Other than pitchers who is tradeable?
    A reason no position player over 26-years-old may be trade-able is that they are not showing very well, with the exception of Wade, who, after playing All-Star baseball in 52 of the Giants first 55 games, has missed 28 games and hasn't fared as well in his last 9, and Chapman who has been durable and team leader in bWAR with highlight reel defense, whose only knock would be he is team leader in Left On Base surpassing Soler (see
    https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/player-stat/left-on-base ).

    As for dealing pitching, if the Giants are truly out of it, maybe everyone is available for the right return, although they would have to get a LOT for Webb and many of the youngsters.

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