Sunday, April 23, 2017

Barf

COL 8  SF 0
The Giants got their asses kicked once again, this time not just displaying ineffective pitching and abysmal hitting but including bumbling fielding as well. There are three legs to the baseball triangle: pitching, hitting, and fielding. Right now the Giants can't do any of them. I don't mean to discount things like baserunning, but you have to have baserunners to do that, and you have to be in situations (i.e. close games) where a base or two can make a difference. It's like having a $62M closer and not being able to use him because the team never has a late lead! Oh, wait  . . .

This is the nightmare start that you hope never to see. As much as I hate to say it I don't think the team leadership can do much about it, at least in the short term. The players have to execute, they have to do their jobs, the manager can't make that happen. The GM can't make that happen. The owner can't make that happen. The players have to play better, and a couple of laps around the rosary beads is about as effective as anything else that can be done. In another month, if things are still this bad, then you'll figure the changes will come. You don't have a $175M payroll and flounder in last place! But for now we'll just have to burn the incense and make the offerings and hope the pitchers pitch better, the hitters hit better, and the fielders field better.

Matt Cain opens the Dodger series tomorrow night in San Francisco. GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

11 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

6-13 ties the worst start in franchise history according to Baggs. That was 1983, the Giants finished 79-83.

obsessivegiantscompulsive said...

Not great to start like this, but the team suffered two big gut punches so far this season: first losing Posey for that week, and now Bumgarner out indefinitely until further medical examination. And Colorado is never a great place to be distracted from focus, as you get your head handed to you if you are.

Yeah, changes will start to happen when June rolls around, that seems to be when they rejigger things and see if they can improve things using internal assets. That's also when they decide whether the young prospects are ready enough for their close up and pull the plug on floundering starters.

Arroyo most likely will be called up, both because he appears to be ready to provide needed offense and Nunez can both play LF and be moved around as a utility starter, giving rest to LF, 2B, 3B, and SS, and I don't see why not RF as well, if the OF bench don't produce. He's not doing well himself, but well enough OBP for leadoff when he's stealing that many bases.

Beede only gets called up if injury or Blach ends up blowing his opportunity. Unlike many others, I still believe in Cainer and that he'll continue to do well.

And a dark horse move that might happen by July that I'll throw out now: Span getting DFAed. He hasn't done much of anything offensively or defensively, his contract is not that large, and Upton should be recovered by then. Upton appears to be an upgrade defensively in CF, plus has power, where it can play lower in the lineup, especially if Nunez is now the leadoff guy (as I've been hoping/expecting after his nice 2016 season).

And if things are still this bad at mid-season, the silver lining may be that we'll see Cueto traded off for nice bundle of prospects, if he's still pitching this well.
He's likely to opt out and maybe another team thinks they can sign him if they get him, as well as win with him this season.

Lastly, I'll bring up whether Bochy has been slipping in recent seasons. That's 3 heart procedures in recent years for a guy whose father passed away in his mid-50's with a heart attack. That will take focus away, both for him and the team. In addition, one stat I've been following is his W/L in 1-run games, and before 203, he was probably historically good, much over .500 and never two bad seasons in a row until 2014-2016 for three in a row. Before, he always had an 8+ wins over .500 season almost every other season (or consecutively), which placed him among the top managers those years. Something to think about.

Ron said...

We are crap. Dicking around thinking that people like Upton or Morse or anyone else on our current roster are going to solve anything is just plain delusional. Signing Span was one of the worst deals we have made: giving that much money to an aging CF clearly on the decline ... brilliant. We are an ultra-rich Team, w/ 900 consecutive (manufactured bullshit) stadium 'sellouts', charging incredible amounts for everything from tickets to concessions to parking, & we are poor-boying everything. We also had too much pride (they like to frame it as 'moving on', or some such nonsense) to keep or acquire any credible veteran Relief Pitchers. Yes, we paid good money for a Closer, but didn't get involved in any of the bidding for ANY of the blue chip OF's available, when we basically needed 3 OF's (as much as I love Pence, this is now 3 consecutive injury-affected years, & he is already in his 'elder statesman' years). It would be one thing, if we were poor or loaded w/ great prospects, but we are VERY RICH & a bit scanty in the immediately-ready OF prospect department. But, no, we couldn't go there - not even for one OF - it would be better, if we had tried & failed, but we didn't even try - signed Melancon, then closed up shop for the off-season, even though 2016 wasn't exactly a great Season - awesome, guys. Our current predicament is not surprising, & I am not very optimistic that we have the tools or the smarts to extricate ourselves from it. Time to 'move on' from the Team leadership, or we'll be back into the mire of consecutive 60-to-80 wins per year seasons.

M.C. O'Connor said...

It's a little too early in the season for me to write this sort of thing but I'm just an amateur. Here's a pros take:

Could tanking this season be wisest course for Giants?

These sorts of articles always come out when a talented team fails to deliver, but there are too many games left for me to jump on. Nonetheless, here it is.


M.C. O'Connor said...

Dave Cameron at FanGraphs takes a look at Bagg's piece and reaches the opposite conclusion.

Good thing it's April!

Ron said...

Given that I don't live in the Bay Area, I realize that I may have missed something. But, I keep looking for some reference to a Madison Bumgarner apology. I can't find anything. Just the Team & his Teammates saying nice things about him, & a few references to how short-sighted it would be of the Giants to withhold days of salary, because of his breach of contract. I'd have a lot more sympathy, if I heard him apologize to everyone. Or, is this just the new theme in this Country, which starts at the top: if you make a mistake (or tell a lie), the last thing that you ever do is apologize for it. I'm unimpressed. Aside from the impact on his own career & on his Team, a crappy year for the Giants may also result in the loss of Cueto.

Anonymous said...

I think unimpressed is a reasonable response to the MadBum stupidity. It is hard to get super mad since they do have a right to their own life. However, some awareness that it was a dumb thing to do to your team would be appreciated. I'm not sure that awareness exists though...

I may be kidding myself but I think this series against the doggers is the wake up call we need. If we can get two or even three wins, that could be all we need to start the road back. If Matt can do well and even maybe win that will be a nice BIG positive. Then Kershaw (against Blach?) so that isn't good, but Cueto and Moore (LA has trouble with lefties) can do well and we can take the series.

It is all about the pitching right now. Our offense will be lucky to get three runs a game at home. It is also all about some NEW GUYS stepping forward. Stratton looked good and maybe Ty will get hot. But where is Gorkys? Marrero? any unknown quantity ready to make an impact?? We need something.

Is BCraw gone for some games this week due to the death in the family? He sure looks like it may be distracting him. In fact, the whole team seems distracted. Concussions, heart problems and stupid aces are rather distracting.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Oh, I'm sure we'll get an of official "statement" from Bum at some point. He'll be properly regretful and etc., I'm sure. I don't care at this point. He fucked up, but everybody fucks up. And few players have done more for their ballclub than Bum has for the Giants, so he'll get cut some slack.

Cueto may have been gone either way--he could get $30M/yr on the FA market if he has another year like last year.


Ron said...

It's a helluva world that we live in when someone with whom I work can do something stupid outside of work, get hurt, &, if they have no paid time off left, they have to take time off without pay. Normally, having let down their work team & their family, they would be expected to apologize, too.

As opposed to a guy making millions who does something stupid, depriving his Team of his services, letting down his teammates, & affecting his fans, who have already sunk hundreds of dollars of hard-earned money into tickets so that their families can watch him play. That guy apparently not only doesn't need to apologize, but everyone has to treat him with kid gloves, so that he won't get 'resentful' before it's time to negotiate his really big pay day, when he will make more in one day than most people get paid in a year.

On the other hand, we do get to also live in a world where the President is a 'caught on tape' repeat sexual predator (among dozens of other sins), actions for which he would be fired 5 times a day where I work, & received no consequences. Likewise, the main celebrity for one of the biggest (ultra-conservative) TV networks was a repeat sexual predator &, although he lost his job, he did so without an apology (or even an on-air mention on that network), & he received a $25M severance payout. And, I'm sure he'll also get a high-paying White House job soon enough.

Why would we expect Kids to accept consequences for their actions, when prominent, rich people not only receive no consequences, but benefit from their abhorrent behavior? It's bullshit, & I am sick of it. I am in the apparently puny minority that says that the Giants should dock Bumgarner pay for violating his Contract - he's already making much more in one year than I will make in my whole career - I'm sorry, but I have no sympathy. If he's not man enough to apologize & take the consequences, I am sad for him. If he's so petty that that would cause him to pout about it for the next 2 years, then sign somewhere else out of spite, then I guess that that's a chance worth taking. I'm sure that some Lawyer / Agent is advising him to say & do nothing.

Yes, he's done a lot for the Giants, & I have been a big fan of his since the beginning.
Even a true apology without a monetary penalty would be refreshing & probably cause me to tone down my reaction.

nomisnala said...

don't want to dock Bummy, because he will be a big part of this team for a while. Although the team has gotten off to a horrible start, and they seem to be amassing injury after injury, it seems a bit too early to completely panic. A nice 8-2 run and we could be right back in it. Bochy always seems to put the one guy in who is the wrong guy at the time. This has been something new since after last year's all star break. After many years of everything going right for Bochy, things started going the other way and they have not stopped. Meanwhile the giants really need to start hitting.

M.C. O'Connor said...

I've worked with plenty of people who have fucked up. You know what I learned? Everyone fucks up. Pick up the pieces and move on. I don't expect anything from anyone, be they poor nobodies or rich celebrities, except to go forward and try to do better next time. And I'm forgiving by nature, I suppose, maybe it's all those years of Catholic school!