Watching Matt Cain pitch for the last twelve seasons has convinced me that the pitcher-win is a pretty damn silly notion. You may have noticed I rarely if ever use W-L numbers in looking at pitchers' performances--those things are just too team-dependent. Teams win, not players. But baseball likes its narratives simple and free of contextual complexity. Matt Cain has 100 wins in orange-and-black and that's more than Jim Barr and less than Kirk Rueter. Woody, by the way, was a fine Giants player and deservedly beloved, but he was half the pitcher Cain is. You'd never know it from wins-and-losses, but it's the truth. (Barr is a much better comp.)
But the important thing is that the Giants won the game. That's two in a row! Perhaps our Zo-meister was on to something when he said the club had reached its nadir. We all hope so. Eduardo Nunez was a good pickup but it tells me that Matt Duffy is farther from the 25-man than I'd thought. I also thought there would be a pitching move but that has yet to transpire.
MadBum gets the nod
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
****UPDATE****
Trade alert: Giants acquire lefty reliever Will Smith from the Brewers for Andrew Susac and Phil Bickford. Certainly a bullpen southpaw was high on the list, this fits that bill. Susac has obviously been supplanted by Trevor Brown as the backup to Buster and while I'm sorry to see him go I am not surprised. He's looked like a likely trading chip for some time now. Adding Bickford seems like an overpay, but the Giants are buyers and everyone costs A LOT as the sellers know how eager the buyers are. He was last year's 1st-round pick and has impressive rookie-ball and A-league numbers. He's only 20 years old!
15 comments:
Cain had 93 Ws at the start of the '14 season. I remember at the time thinking "Oh cool, he's going to reach 100 this year." Sadly he's been struggling with a string of physical problems the last few years. Anyway I'm glad he made it.
Any way that you slice it, picking up Nunez was a good move. They have so much more versatility & ability to cover injuries &, even when they are healthy, the option of giving each infielder a few days off here & there. Plus, they have been so overloaded w/ left-handed batters, that another right-handed hitter is a good thing. I like the move, & the 2-run 2B he hit on Saturday was enormous.
I continue to point out that a pitcher win is also a team win. Given that a starting pitcher is in the game for (hopefully) at least 2/3 of the 9 innings, and that it is unlikely that the team will always score enough runs to win in the last 3 innings, you want pitcher wins. Although I agree that it is not a simple descriptor of a pitcher's value. Cain did not give up a hit, but walked 4 and threw only 48 strikes in his 93 pitch 5 innings.
Well, we sure paid a steep price for Will Smith. He's a guy who I really hoped to get, but, we've traded Susac (Trevor Brown's excellent performance made this possible) & Phil Bickford, who I was sold on as a future stud. Smith cannot be a Free Agent until 2020, so that's a good aspect of this deal - clearly, not a rental.
Of course a pitcher-win is a team win. But that's like saying a rainy day has rain. My beef is with assigning the 'win' to one particular individual. It's an artifact, and unnecessary.
On the trade front, the Dodgers have gone for broke and brought in both Josh Reddick and Rich Hill. Blockbuster kind of stuff and yet they did not part with their top prospects. They gave up a lot, but still have a lot.
Giants are content once again with standing mostly pat. That means the guys have to play to their expectations, no help is coming.
You apparently missed my last post - help is coming (at a cost)!
We cross-posted. I saw your comment after I'd updated.
And, I assume you've now seen that we've traded Duffy & Lucius Fox for Matt Moore - I'm shocked.
Even I who trust the current Giants FO's judgment ipso facto am at least clicking my teeth, one step below gnashing them, at the two trades, involving our losing Duffy, Fox, and Bickford. Of course numbers of Rays fans are grousing that their team got taken, and I suppose that there must be Milwaukee fans gloomily hunched over the heads of their beers; but whadda they know?!?! And tho I can see Nunez, then Arroyo at third base, I don't have an inkling how the Giants can accommodate a sixth starter or relegate Peavy, presumably, to the 'pen.
No, I was napping. Missed the Duffy bomb. Yikes!!
I'm crushed about Duffy. His performance last season was as big a year by any unheralded Giants ever, esp. since he was replacing Panda.
WOW.
Maybe I'm blissed out here but these trades seem very well thought out and exciting. I must admit that I was not sold on Matt Duffy yet. Now with a pretty big injury and Nuñez/Arroyo all set, this looks good. You guys know I always want more pitching, so Moore and Smith (right?) are great pickups. Losing Bickford is scary but he just doesn't throw hard enough for today's game. All together I'm jazzed. We added depth, speed and both starting and relief pitching. AND NO ONE IS A RENTAL.
I understand being upset about the Duffman. Very like able. Will he start for them? Always thought he was classic utility stuff. Very valuable. It looked like the league was figuring him out. Hope he does well.
Didn't we already have Matt Moore? Oh, wait, that was Matt Morris. Well, hope it works out better than that Matt.
First, let me state that I really like Matt Duffy - he is a good guy, was a contributor to our last title, & had a very good season last year. We will miss him.
Having said that, it seemed to me that, toward the end of 2015, he either started to run out of gas, or the league started to figure him out, or both. I was worried that his performance during the first 2/3 of the Season might be his ceiling. His early Season performance this year appeared to confirm that. As hard a pill to swallow as it might be, I think that the Giants came to the conclusion that Matt Duffy was not a long-term productive ML hitter. So, he was either destined to be a utility guy on a good Team (not such a bad thing) or a starter on an inferior Team (where he now finds himself, I guess).
Having DFA'd Pena & Green, I suppose that Adrianza (supposedly ready to return & out of options) now joins Gillaspie as our infield depth.
I think that Nunez, Smith, & Moore were good pick-ups, & all of them have futures as Giants. I think that we came out of this OK.
AS we have found out in our previous pennant runs, having a few good lefties in the bullpen is extremely valuable. On the other hand, Duffy, Susac, Bickford, and maybe fox. could have given us future players, some of whom may excel, on the cheap. These guys could have produced a lot, and not at much cost. It is always good to get talent that works for right now, and these guys are not pure rentals, but we have very few chips in the minors, and the giants hopefully will get the most out of the two pitchers they received for the four young guys they traded. Duffy was a throwback. He always gave tough at bats, even when he made outs. His fielding was a \big plus. Maybe the giants were worried about his future because of his achilles heel. Sometimes it seems we give away better minor league talent for some middle relievers than other teams. Perhaps it is my bias. Lets hope these moves work out almost as nicely as the combined year that Melky, and Marco had for us.
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