In spite of the fact that each day since my last post I have heard some allusion to him being traded, I am increasingly convinced that the Giants strongest assets lie in their relief pitching. Will Smith (21 for 21 saves) is going to be an All-Star. The record for consecutive saves is held by Rod Beck, with 24.
The Giants discovered some offense today, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks for a 4-game split by a score of 10 - 4. That was after a disappointing effort against Greinke last night, in which the Giants held the snakes scoreless behind Pomeranz for 5 and Moronta for 1 before Kevin Pillar dropped a fly ball in center field and to allow a run with Sam Dyson on the mound. Greinke made quick work of the Giants in the 7th, in spite of hitting Vogt with a pitch and in the 8th, Crawford erred his way (his 10th) into allowing a run behind Melancon (who "earned" 2 himself). The Giants scored 3 in the 9th, which would have been enough to win it if not for the poor fielding. Crawford currently has the worst fielding percentage in his career.
Today was different. The Giants looked sharp on offense, especially Kevin Pillar (a home run, 4 for 5 and 5 rbi's) and Buster Posey (3 for 3 and a BB). Buster also hit the ball well Friday (3 for 4). Longoria, Yastrzemski, Panik and Sandoval also had rbi's. Madison Bumgarner threw 7 innings and used 96 pitches to do so. He walked no one and allowed 1 run on 4 hits. He struck out 9. That ties him with Tim Lincecum for 4th place on the all time Giants' strikeout list. Take a look. Christy Mathewson, Juan Marichal, Amos Rusie, then Madbum and Tim, then Matt Cain. That should tell you all you need to know about how the Giants won 3 world series titles in a 5 year stretch.
Yet, with the win Friday night, they took 2 of the 4. That makes the Giants record 14 - 13 for June, and 9 - 10 against the western division since we started this stretch against them June 7 in LA. We play 3 in San Diego starting tomorrow and then 4 (including a double-header) in Denver on July 15 - 17. At this point last year, the Giants were 43 - 40. So, to use the whole season, as Mark has done, to project a 70 - 92 season is not the only way to figure out what the Giants are "on a pace" to accomplish. One could also say, based on recent performance, that the Giants are "on a pace" to go 77 - 85. That would be an improvement over last year's 73 win season (remember, the Giants lost A LOT at the end of the year). We're supposed to be improving this year, right? Don't trade Madbum!
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There's something else to consider, too. That is, butts in seats. As in, you might make a trip to the ball park to see Madbum. Pomeranz, in spite of his recent very good outings? Not so much. The Giants have now been using dynamic pricing for about a decade - the price of a ticket might change depending not just on who the opponent is and whether the game is on a weekend or weeknight, but who is on the mound. You take away Madbum, you get fewer butts in seats. The Giants have had (I heard this some time ago) the biggest drop in average attendance of any major league team, over 6,000 per game. And it shows, if you look at the tv. Of course, they had a long run of sellouts, so even last year was a higher base than most clubs, but they have to be concerned about that.
There have been 204 runs scored in Coors Field this month. In 13 games.
Last year they went 5-21 in September after being 68-68 at the end of August!
The Giants are already on the books for $125M next year. Posey, Cueto, Samardzija, Belt, Crawford, Melancon, and Longoria are the culprits. Cueto, if he is healthy and pitching well, would likely be the only tradeable one in the bunch.
A Qualifying Offer to Bum would keep him around for another season and cost at least $18M if he says "yes." If he says "no" then they'll get a second-round draft pick in compensation. The other option is trade him now and get some young talent. It is a tough call but I expect they will trade him. The team needs payroll flexibility as well as new blood. I'm not sure he puts enough butts in the seats to make that a consideration. A winning team puts butts in the seats, and if they can improve the team (in the long term) by trading all the current tradeable pieces away, even if it hurts them in the short term, I think they have to do it.
Not that I want to lose Bum, it just seems like an inevitability.
I agree, it does seem like an inevitability. I will, however, continue to rail against it.
Austin Slater is back, D-Rod goes down.
I feel bad about DRod, but it is clear that he has been playing himself out of the major leagues. Yesterday's performance hung more runs on him than he deserved, but all the same, he looked pretty uninterested. It was garbage time with a 10 - 1 Giants lead when he entered, but even given Pillar losing that fly in the sun, he faced 7 batters to get 2 outs. I hope he gets back on track.
Right now the Giants have 12 pitchers. In 2 weeks, on July 15, they play a double header at Coors Field and 4 games in 3 days. They will need more pitchers by then. Maybe D-Rod was sent down just to get some work.
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