Friday, March 23, 2018

Bummer

I watched today's contest between the Royals and the Giants, the final game in Arizona. I got to see Madison Bumgarner take a line drive off his pitching hand. Turns out his hand is broken and he'll be undergoing surgery straight away. He probably won't pitch again until after the All-Star Break. This comes right after the news that Jeff Samardzija will miss about a month. I thought the starting rotation might be a team strength in 2018, now it looks like we won't get to find out. This is the time for someone like Derek Holland to step up and be a stud. Johnny Cueto is suddenly of supreme importance--he has to pick up the slack for the men slotted to be on either side of his starts.

There's no way to put a good spin on this one. It stinks. Just when I though the Giants would get a full season from their ace after last year's debacle the unthinkable happens. Ah, well. Now is the time to find out what the rest of the team is made of. And if the organization has a backup plan!

--M.C.

22 comments:

nomisnala said...

I first heard he broke his pinky finger, now I hear he broke his hand. Then I heard he would not need surgery, now reading your article it says he will need surgery. As the news comes in this is getting worse.

M.C. O'Connor said...

"Displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal" is the word. Somewhere between his palm and pinky. He's having pins put in. Then it's 4-6 weeks and the pins come out. Then . . . ?

It's all jibber-jabber at this point. What we know is that MadBum is not starting the season with the Giants and will be out for some time. Ryan Vogelsong missed 11 weeks with a similar injury in 2013.

That sucks. There's no silver lining on this cloud.


nomisnala said...

what is vogelsong doing these days?

JC Parsons said...

Whoa, I feel like I looked away for one second and the whole baseball universe shifted. And not in a good way. This is why everyone says Spring Training is too long. It seems like teams should hold back major assets from any exposure to danger for about THE ENTIRE MONTH OF MARCH. Sure wish we had, but I suppose MadBum needed every inning (?) Oh well, pointless second guessing.... something I do well.

Anyway, I’m back after a long and important break from the blog world. Last year was full of weird stuff (good and bad) for me and the Giants season fit right in with that. Except it was all bad...every last one of them, except maybe Buster and second half Joe. Bad right off the bat, bad all the way through. It was actually remarkable in its own disgusting way. So, I ran away. I’m not proud of that but it felt like the right thing for me to do. I learned a bit about my self ( traveling with my beautiful wife has made a huge difference) and I’m ready to get back to it. Maybe, not as crazy as before ( my Vlog days are over ) but I’ll be around.

So this is how I’m welcomed back? A line drive that puts Ty Blach on the mound for Opening Day? And some guy named Holland is like our #3 starter? My goodness, image what else may happen. Players we have never heard of will probably become crucial and the Old Heroes will be put to the ultimate test, are they washed up or not? It is about to get crazy...

M.C. O'Connor said...

Welcome back! Yeah, that was the worst possible thing that could have happened in Spring Training. It's a crippling blow to the team. It will be exciting--I hope--to see how they respond. At this point in my life I'm a professional fan. I've seen it all, at least it seems so. And I lived. So, here we go again. Another season! Life is better when the Giants are playing. Better still when they are winning, of course. But you get what you get, right?

Enough pretend-baseball, let's get on with it!


nomisnala said...

When Kershaw went down for a while last season, didn't the dodgers keep on winning? Lets see what kind of character this team has, and if Bochy can get them to win despite missing forty percent of their starting rotation. I am not happy about getting rid of potential power, like Parker.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Yeah he's the victim of the numbers game, and being out of options didn't help. Maybe they can pick up a young arm in a trade.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Cueto pitched well today. Let's hope that carries over to the season. I'm guessing he pitches Friday?

nomisnala said...

Hoping that the giants can at least play 500 or better ball during the first 33 games.

campanari said...

Parker whiffs about 30% of the time and has a wRC+ projection of over 100. Isn’t the numbers game just his stats, as with other players?

For all the sniggering about SFG standing for San Francisco Geriatrics, vets like Jackson, Longoria, and McCutchen might be expected to serve us well, with age and experience keeping them unflappable, and their newness as Giants enabling them to differentiate themselves from the been-there, seen-that, here-we-go-again listlessness that seemed to afflict the 2017 team that had already suffered through the latter part of 2016.

campanari said...

Correction: Parker has a wRC+ projection of UNDER 100, not over.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Parker DFA'd and I'm sorry to see him go. I hope he catches on with another club. And that he goes 0-for-whatever against the Giants!

I suppose the lefty (Holland) had to make the team with Bumgarner getting hurt. Let's hope he finds the groove right out of the gate.

nomisnala said...

One can project Parker any way they want, if he gets a chance to play every day, he most likely will have different projections for next year. Projections, are just that projections, kind of an alternate predictive reality. If projections worked so well the giants would have not lost almost 100 games last year.

Ron said...

I never saw anything out of Parker or Williamson that made me believe that they would ever become solid MLB starting OF's. So, while he's been a decent Giant, no big deal for me that Parker's on his way elsewhere. The organization obviously thinks that Duggar is the guy who might make it big. Of course, we heard that before about Gary Brown & others. Gary Brown has now retired (at the age of 28).

Pitching is my more critical worry. The Bumgarner thing really screws up a lot. Yovani Gallardo is available ...

M.C. O'Connor said...

Giants have an off-day after the first 4-game series in LA and then another off-day right after the next two-game series at home. I wonder if they'll skip a 5th starter in the early going. They have 11 games in a row after that and then another off-day. They might only have to use their 5th spot once in the first few weeks. Samardzija could potentially be back by the end of the month.

The only way I see the Giants pushing over the CBT is if they are in contention after the Break. If they have to make a splash to get an extra player or two for the final push I think they will. But for now I expect they will go with what they have and try not to spend past the cap. They are close enough that they just might anyway (these things aren't assessed until the season is over) but I'd be surprised if they added a major-leaguer to the roster before then. Gallardo, I think, is still owed money by Milwaukee or Seattle. I suppose it is possible they could get him "on the cheap" but I'd be surprised though, considering how they got a guy like Derek Holland on a minor-league deal. I'm guessing Holland's chances of success this year are about as good as Gallardo's even though Gallardo has a longer, better track record. The Brewers expect to contend this year and they let him go--that has to tell you something.

Then again, I really don't know what the Giants are thinking! I'm just guessing. We'll find out a lot in the first month what with playing LA ten times. If they can hold their own and be at .500 or above I'll be thrilled. They haven't have a winning month since June 2016.

Ron said...

We have 4 Starting Pitchers ready for a sport that now requires 5, so, even w/ Holland, we are short-handed. We have to do something. Gallardo is probably the best bargain going, even though, as you point out, Milwaukee thinks that he may be done. At the very least, we're looking for someone to give them 5 or 6 starts. At the best, someone who can be 2018's Yusmeiro Petit.

Gallardo also brings a lifetime post-season ERA of 2.32, a lifetime BA of .202, 12 career HR's, & more RBI's per AB than Madison Bumgarner.

I'm also all for adding players from small towns in the Mexican highlands (Penjamillo, Michoacan in this case).

M.C. O'Connor said...

I have no issue with Gallardo. He was once a really good pitcher and he could have some life left and help a team. I just think the Giants have time to find a #5. They won't need him for the first series, then they have two games between two off-days. So I figure they'll plug in someone who they saw in Spring Training for a couple of emergency starts rather than add another guy to the 40-man.

Zo said...

Because of off days, the Giants don't need a fifth starter until April 10 vs Arizona, and then again April 15 vs San Diego. They really only need 3 starts from a fifth starter before May 8. They have, according to the paper, 10 days to trade Parker, and claim they would love to have him stick in the organization (should he not be traded or claimed by another team). Parker had his chances with the club, if he had that much potential, they wouldn't have gone out and gotten McCutcheon and Jackson.

Ron said...

Wow - what a week in Giants' pitching health. Now, Julian Fernandez might need Tommy John Surgery, & Mark Melancon is 'sore'. What next? Maybe, Hunter Pence should be ready to pitch.

M.C. O'Connor said...

I anticipate we will remain internal.

That's BobbyE's line. This Melancon thing is upsetting. I thought we might finally get a healthy bullpen and we are still waiting on Smith and Melancon from last season!

I imagine they'll have to give Fernandez back. I suppose they could DL him but I can't believe they'd go to any real lengths to keep him. He's a prospect, not a sure thing.

campanari said...

But the question is, can they give back an injured player? It’s arguable that they’ve depreciated an Arizona asset—can they do so with impunity? If Fernandez needs surgery, can he be put on the 60-day DL so that he doesn’t take up a spot on the 40-man and so that his $545K salary doesn’t, therefore, count against the CBT limit? Or does it? The question is, can the Giants keep F at no cost save for the costs of his surgery and salary, I.e., with no CBT effects or roster-squeeze effects? One would think that the beat writers or The Athletic would be detailing the legal situation for us in detail; I haven’t seen their doing so.

M.C. O'Connor said...

I think they have to use the DL for Fernandez as you cannot, as you say, give back and injured player.