Tyler Mahle RHP was bludgeoned for two 3-run home runs in the first two innings.....by the same batter! By then the game was all but over, although there were a few bright spots for the Giants. Key Lines:
Rafael Devers 1B- 2 for 4, R. BA= .229. If Devers is going to turn this around he probably needs to start with just tying to make solid contact and get base hits. He is batting .286 over his last 7 games.
Jung Hoo Lee RF/CF- 1 for 3, 2B, BB, R. BA= .213. Lee is another guy who needs to just get hits. He's batting .292 over his last 7 games.
Daniel Susac C- 2 for 4, 2B, 2 RBI. BA= .563. Susac is obviously not going to bat over .500 forever, Bailey has basically played himself out of the starting catcher's job and Susac has the hot hand and has earned a shot to win the the job longterm.
Will Brennan LF and Drew Gilbert CF started the game and went a combined 0 for 4. Heliot Ramos PH/LF and Jerar Encarnacion PH/RF replaced them and went a combined 2 for 4. As Vin Scully would say, "go figure!"
Blade Tidwell RHP and Ryan Borucki LHP pitched a scoreless inning each. J. T. Brubaker RHP pitched 2 scoreless innings in mop-up time which he has been doing a lot of lately. There is no need to post Tyler Mahle's line. Two of his last 3 starts have been disasters but he pitched 5.2 scoreless frames in between. He's giving up way too many walks which is uncharacteristic of his career norm.
And whothehell is Sal Stewart? He was the Reds 2022 Round 1C draft pick out of high school who moved up quickly through their farm system. Now he has 7 HR's this season which is only 2 less than the entire Giants team. The Reds have a recent history of rookies coming in hot then cooling way off but right now dude is white hot.
With the loss, the Giants keep pace with the Rockies for last place in the NL West and with the White Sox for worst record in all of MLB.
Tomorrow is an early getaway day game with a 9:40 AM Pacific time start. Landen Roupp RHP faces Chase Burns RHP who is he Reds 2024 #2 overall draft pick and who made his MLB debut last season. He comes in with a record of 1-1 and an ERA of 3.31.
Tyler Mahle is better than this. I wonder if he's healthy. This team is better then this. Last years team had long winning streaks and losing streaks, it drove me crazy, lol. Its a long season want to see where they are at 40 games into the season before evaluating. I have a feeling Bryce Eldridge will be up by mid May.
ReplyDeleteLet's go Roupp! We need someone to stop the bleeding. I would have rather see Victor Bericoto get a chance over Drew Gilbert. Could be that Bericoto is striking out at twice the rate of Gilbert, but Bericoto has more power and had that amazing spring. Giants announcers kept talking about Gilbert bringing energy to the team. He has to get on base first. Add- If Eldridge keeps hitting like he is, we will see him up around May 1st.
ReplyDeleteSoooo, how’s the 2027 draft class looking? Ok, not giving up on the season yet, and who knows, the ping pong balls might not bounce the Giants way next year and they could drop from #1 to #15. But looking forward to this year’s draft anyway- looks like they are pretty much guaranteed to have the chance for a stud prospect- maybe one of Flora, Lackey or Emerson.
ReplyDeleteI think the Giants are not eligible for the mlb lottery next season. There’s a rule that prevents revenue sharing teams from being in the lottery in consecutive years.
DeleteI see 10-20 by the end of April, and if trends continue I'd be open for trading anyone on this roster to do a proper rebuild
ReplyDeleteWho is tradeable? And for what? Webb? Ray? Arraez? None of the B-I-G contracts are moveable.
DeleteIf you've heard this, you're old, but growing up some will remember "First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League" which applied to the old Washington Senators.
ReplyDeleteNow, it's "First in their divisions, first in their minor leagues, and last in Major League baseball."
I really, really wish they had coached Eldridge to play LF.
ReplyDeleteHe did play some OF in his first year
DeleteEveryone is tradeable its just a matter of timing and what you are willing to take in return. Marcus Semien has a horrible contract and somehow he got traded after back to back bad years. It’s unrealistic to say trade everyone and that isn’t really whats needed but getting rid of one or two of the big contracts wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
ReplyDeleteRay is probably the most obvious to start with since he is in his last year and is pitching well. Probably have to wait a month or so before interest peeks but the return could be decent. The result will be devastating to the rotation but would give us a look at a few arms of the future the rest of the year.
Ray does nothing to solve the long term bad contracts so the key would be to try and trade one of the 5 that are Webb, Adames, Chapman, Devers, and Lee. We may be stuck with Lee and trading Webb would be drastic but getting rid of one of the other three players could bring some return in prospects but also some salary relief. I prefer it be Devers if he ever gets hot enough but it may have to be Chappy or Adames
Next year would either be the first obvious rebuild in recent history or they could try to spend on starting pitching with several options in the free agent market. There aren’t many bats and at this point I doubt anyone would want to sign here so they may need to change their philosophy and spend on pitching while drafting and developing offense that fits this park. Seems like we are already on that path from recent trades, drafts, and signings so the 4th pick this year should be an offensive player if they are going that route.
With the prospects they get from trading Ray and lets say Chapman, the 4th overall pick this year and a high pick after this season, and signing at least one elite starter this offseason, they could set themselves up just fine next year and beyond.
On the Chapman extension, it was surprising that the owners were pushing FZ to get that deal done, they got impatient with FZ, then Buster stepped in to get the deal done. Never understood that since it sounded like the owners wanted to extend Chapman more the FZ did.
DeleteLots of ironies here as the guy who was Chapman's biggest backer, Bob Melvin, was himself let go to make room for a rookie manager with no experience at any level of professional baseball.
DeleteIf things weren't bad enough for the worst OF in MLB, they call up the novelty act Drew Gilbert? This is a really, really bad and poorly constructed team and, I love Buster, but that's where the fault rests. A 2026 Ryan Vogelsong isn't happening with Mahle and Hauser...ditto with a 2026 Andres Torres or even Gregor Blance with the motley OF....and the Core 3?? (or was it 4?)...Buster shouldn't have looked back, should have looked ahead. And you have the inconsistent highly priced unmovable vets. Unfortunately, the one area where Buster deviated was by going with a neophyte overmatched Manger who is wrong place wrong time. And the log jam with the only "close" prospect and Devers /Chapman was bound to happen and is a mess...
ReplyDeleteGood stuff in minors AA and below, and that is a godsend, but you never know how long it will take or the attrition rate..
Can the bats break out today? I mean the Giants, not the Reds!
SteveVA
Steve, it sounds like you need a different team...
DeleteI do fear that Buster's aggressivness with long term contracts backed himself and the organization into a corner, but the fault for the current state of the team is shared by his predecessors who made a long string of poor baseball decisions. Bobby Evans tried to hang onto the core from the early 2010s' too long. Both Evans and FZ had a long string of failed first round draft picks and a feckless approach to free agency and trades. I think the current team is better than they have played over the first 19 games and I think the bullpen in particular is coming into clearer focus, but they now have to play way over their heads the rest of the way to overcome a dreadful start and I have my doubts they are capable of doing that.
DeleteAgree with your reply Doc. The draft failures have especially hurt. Thought about Busters aggressiveness with long term contracts. I thought Matt Chapman's extension was ownership driven. Lee was signed during FZs tenure. They paid Blake Snell $17 mil this year as part of signing with the Giants last year, now pitching for Dodgers, ouch! Adames was signed since they had no SS coming up in their system. Devers trade. Is a big commitment, but he is a star hitter Giants had trouble signing previously, he had to take the deal. I'm ok with the Adames signing and Devers trade.. They are 12th in a league in team payroll, but they are a big market team. Maybe Busters aggressiveness with long term contracts is a little overblown. Also think farm system has to produce more MLB ready talent so team doesn't to rely so much on free agent signings.
DeleteThe Giants have gone thru 3 managers and 3 president of baseball ops within the past decade, the 1 constant is ownership, are they putting too much restrictions on the Baseball operations dept expecting them to make the playoffs every year? Maybe its too complex of a question. I know what will help is their farm system producing a pipeline of players to the major leagues.
DeleteI remain of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with the Giants that can't be fixed with better baseball decisions by the front office.
DeleteRe. Chapman extension: Yes, it was ownership driven but based on everything I've read Buster was the ringleader of the owners who were frustrated with FZ's fecklessness in getting a deal done.
DeleteAgree Doc on your earlier post about bad baseball decisions made over the years, which is tough to overcome right away..The restriction I thought about is the no rebuild from the owners which affects the baseball decisions made too. I'll say FZ did some good things, but his last year felt like he was making trades and signings to save his job which led to a few bad baseball decisions. Yes Buster was aggressive signing Adames and trading foe Devers, but they are a big market team and didn't go over the luxury tax. Where the contracts will hurt them is later when the players start to age. FZs moves in his last year caused the team to go over the luxury tax, that Buster had to inherit.. The Giants are paying $17 mil this year as part of last year's Giants deal to pitch for the Dodgers, yuk! Solar signing was another mistake. Enough said
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