The Dawn of the Devers Era saw it's protagonist deliver 2 hits including a RBI double and a Quality Start by Robbie Ray, but the final scene did not play out as hoped for. Key Lines:
Rafael Devers DH- 2 for 5, 2B, RBI. BA= .274. Devers smoked one up Triples Alley to drive in Willy Adames from first base for the Giants second run of the game in the third inning. That was the end of their scoring on another frustrating night for the lineup. The top 4 batters reached base 10 times in 20 PA's. Overall the team reached base 16 times yet produced just 2 runs. The underperformance was a combination of unfortunate sequencing, bad BABIP luck and base running blunders.
Mike Yastrzemski RF- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .257. YtY had 4 total bases out of the 6'th spot in the lineup yet did not figure into the scoring just to add to the general frustration of the night.
Robbie Ray LHP- 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.68. Ray pitched the first two innings like he was going to pitch a perfect game but then got nicked for single runs in the 3'rd, 4'th and 6'th innings. The game-winning home run was off the bat of someone named Gabriel Arias with a career BA of .220.
Justin Verlander RHP returns to the mound tomorrow evening against L. T. Allen LHP.
Very frustrating. Twice the team had first and second with none out. The first time, Fitzgerald sacrificed. Good play. But then the next batter popped out to catcher. The second time, they pinch hit Flores and he hit into an odd DP. And that was the game.
ReplyDeleteExtremely frustrating.
Ray had the guy who wound up hitting the game winning homer at 0-2! Bad luck, maybe. Or, he should've been pulled after the fifth ... wound up with over 102 pitches on the night. Also, did anyone wonder what Melvin was doing in the sixth? He had Fitz sacrifice bunt two runners over, but Knizner was the next batter up. I wanted to yell at Melvin through the TV: You really willing to bet a guy with an .095 batting average and .374 OPS will drive anyone home? Here's hoping Bailey gets back into the lineup ASAP!
ReplyDeleteKuiper said Fitzgerald may have been attempting to bunt for a base hit.
DeleteCBS Sports' version of LOB shows all runners not moved up not just those in scoring position:
ReplyDeleteSmith 7
Schmitt 5
Devers 3
Lee 2
Adames 2
Ramos 2
Flores 2
Knizner 2
Fitzgerald 1
Johnson 1
Porter 1
YtY 0
Runners left in scoring position, 2-Out - J. Lee 2, D. Smith 2 C. Schmitt 3, D. Johnson 1.
Should Fitzgerald have hit away? In June he is .152/.231/.174 with 2 RBIs in 54 PAs. He's the only Giant with 100 or more PAs with fewer than 10 RBIs. Second base (and catcher) have become very non-productive.
Flores, certainly not ideal, has played 276 games @ 2B in his career. He would be a hitting improvement while sacrificing defense and speed.
The Giants have a better winning percentage in Flores' starts then Fitzgerald's.
Fitzgerald had a really high BABIP last season so I expected a big drop off in 2025. His BABIP for 2025 is .330 so his batting average could drop even further. I expect .220 production. I am a fan of his but I realize he was lucky.
DeleteFlo's days as a 2B are long past...Devers is great, but hated to see it mean the demotion of team's top RBI guy and spiritual leader.
DeleteFlores is probably not physically capable of playing second.
DeleteBad start to the DEVERs era..Giants have more thump now but you still have to execute to score runs also (like they were doing in many games)..Giants failed and also couldn't get the big hits..
ReplyDeleteGoals have changed,,The Giants are in it to make a run at the POs this year and they can't waste good pitching and starts by WEBB and RAY given the uncertainty of the other 3 SP..
Speaking of that, before the deadline I see the Giants going for a quality vet SP (and maybe even a LHRP) and leave the bats/position players as is.
SteveVA
Nice DoD title for last night's game. I have a sense that Devers may get fewer pitches to hit and more walks as time goes on. It will be incumbent on Ramos, Smith, Chapman/Schmitt, or Flores to drive in these runs. Schmitt's growth curve looks dependent on his ability to hit breaking balls or discern balls outside the zone, perhaps. Is it time to find a good hitting 2B, or plug in Wilmer there and hope for the best?
ReplyDeleteI am beside myself with joy at this move after several good moves that have taken place since FZ was shown the door. During the offseason since I had no clue about Buster I thought bringing in someone like Jeter to run the team would be a positive being an ex player and the cache he would bring. Obviously Buster is a much better version of that! I wanted Adames and even though he hasn’t set the world on fire yet he is a building block. Most recently I was pining for Durran since his name was in rumors and I even threw out a trade that included Harrison and Hicks and may have even thrown in Eldridge thinking we would have to overpay but to get Devers for basically the same guys minus Eldridge is a moracle! I feel like all my wishes are being granted and win or lose I basically have nothing left to complain about!!! In Buster I trust
ReplyDeleteNot sure anything has "proven" to be a good move — yet.
DeleteAdames doesn't compare (stathead) favorably head-to-head with Fitzgerald this year, let alone Fitzgerald's 2024 and Adames 2025: Fitzgerald wins everything, including OPS+ 136 to 82, even dWAR: -0.1 to -0.2.
What's really better this year is the pitching: Ray, Webb, Birdsong, Doval, Rogers, Miller, Rodriguez, and arguably Bivens. Walker is not, but he is showing signs of improvement.
Interestingly, Harrison and Hicks were better last year, maybe that made them attractive to Boston?
Harrison and Hicks might improve with Andrew Bailey coaching
DeleteMaria Guardado has a good piece on Devers @
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mlb.com/news/rafael-devers-giants-press-conference
He sounds TERRIFIC!
Adames is 29 yo, he'll be 30 September 2nd.
ReplyDeleteDevers is 28 yo, he'll be 29 October 24th.
Devers is 1 year, 1 month, 22 days younger.
Adames costs about half as much as Devers this year and next, then he is stepped up to nearly Devers' salary through 2031.
Giants contracts more than 2 years:
AAV for Devers $29,660,075 through 2033
AAV for Adames $26,000,000 through 2031
AAV for Chapman $25,166,667 through 2030
AAV for Lee $18,833,333 through 2029
AAV for Webb $18,000,000 through 2028
That's almost $118,000,000 per year for 5 players, or 49% of the threshold for luxury tax this year.
Ray gets $25,000,000 this year and next.
Still need 20 players for 40% of the payroll!
I'm less worried about the money than I am about what's going to happen when a core of 5 players all get "old" at the same time. There are only so many roster spots regardless of cost. But other teams have the same problem and that's what most of the Giants fanbase was clamoring for.
DeleteThere is a team in southeastern direction which has the problem of players aging simultaneously but add three years. At least the Giants did not sign injury prone players. How that team deals with it will be the way the Giants deal with it.
Delete