The meaningless games are finally out of the way and we can get on with some real baseball. Giants open the season in LA on Thursday afternoon. It's not the Spring we'd hoped for, that's for sure, but the lineup is intact and that's something. I expect we'll see an improved attack and that should help the team win. We all know the pitching woes that face the Opening Day squad so no reason to go over them again. The rest of the crew will just have to pick up the slack. This team needs to win ballgames and it matters not how they get that done.
June 2016 was a good month: the Giants went 17-10. They had losing months the rest of the way. Then came 2017 which was nothing but losing months. The Giants need a winning month. Of course they need several winning months, but that's stuff to worry about later. Right now they need to win some ballgames. In their first 28 games (March 29th to April 29th) the Giants play the Dodgers ten times. Six of those games are at home. They also play a combined ten against the Diamondbacks (6) and the Padres (4). The pennant race is here. At the very start of the season. The Giants have been on a losing streak since July of 2016--that has to change.
At least we'll find out right away what this team is in for in 2018. I know that a slow start doesn't have to doom a ballclub but the Giants don't have a lot of wiggle room. They can't afford any more disasters. It's time for Veteran Savvy Clutchness from the veterans. It's time for youthful inspiration from the youngsters. It's time for the FNGs to show us what they've got. It's time for us to root for our boys.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
p.s. Steven Duggar and Josh Rutledge go to AAA and they keep Gregor Blanco, Kelby Tomlinson, and Gorkys Hernandez. Also Pierce Johnson and Roberto Gomez round out the pitching staff. Both have minor-league experience as starters.
6 comments:
I just do not know why any team would keep Gorky's Hernandez, and let go of Parker. I know you will explain it to me, but I just do not get it.
Fielding, presumably. The Giants had wretched OF defense last season.
It's an even year, am I right? Time to get our even-year magic restarted!
Duggar gets at bats in the minors. Lots of them. Gorkys is a placeholder.
not sure whatever better fielding Gorky's has over Parker could make up for Gorky's lack of hitting. Outfield we have Cutch (righty) Pence (righty) Jackson (right) Blanco (lefty) and Gorky's righty, Parker (lefty) would have made more sense.
No, G. Hernandez can’t hit well, but then, neither can J. Parker. Last year GH had a 77 wRC+ and a .327 OBP, walking about 9% and striking out 21%. JP was a touch better at creating runs, 84 wRC+, but got on base less often—OBP of .294–walking under 6% and K’ing over 30%.. The OBP is just about equal to Billy Hamilton’s, as a point of damning comparison. Both men achieved their offensive mediocrity with the help of unsustainably high BABIPs, and neither is of an age where he can be expected to keep getting better.
As run producers, GH and JP look pretty much like a wash, according to the stats. As a run preventer, filling in for aging starters in the OF, GH with his speed, arm, and experience at all three OF positions looks like a better bet. In a few months, he may disappear like the “placeholder” he is, with Blanco as fifth OF, Jackson as fourth, and Duggar as CF. There will then be the three RH and two LH outfielders that nomisnala prefers.
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