An excellent start from Landen Roupp got things going last night in San Diego. Roupp allowed only two hits and two walks in six frames (88 pitches) and whiffed seven. Strong relief from Matt Gage and a dominant Keaton Winn (three strikeouts) kept the shutout alive until the 9th. Meanwhile FNG Harrison Bader hit a solo homer in the 3rd and two clutch, two-out RBI hits from Patrick Bailey and Casey Schmitt in the 4th gave the Giants a three-run lead. Closer Ryan Walker was wild in the 9th and gave up a two-run homer before getting the final out.
It was a squeaker but the Giants prevailed and finally notched a win for 2026. So far the best thing about the team has been relief pitching. Let's hope the bats wake up soon. I'm guessing they'll use Logan Webb for the start tonight (6:40 PDT) and debut FNG Adrian Houser for tomorrow's game.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
8 comments:
Ryan Walker still looks as if he has some unsolved mechanical issues.
Yeah. Winn looked awesome, though. Maybe he can close occasionally.
Luis Matos has been traded to the Brewers for cash. Although Oliva clearly had the better spring, I'm not sure why Matos had such a dramatic fall from grace. It seems like a pattern that repeats with the Giants, a stellar promise ends up being DFA'ed. Maybe that's true of other teams too in the modern game, I don't know. Seems like a failure of player evaluation.
It does seem to me to be a rather shortsighted move. How did Otis Nixon, or Ford's speed work out for the giants? I do not expect Oliva to turn into Andres Torres. I heard some Marlin's executives say how the giants getting rid of Bart for nothing, especially when they needed a backup catcher, and Bart was cheap, and under team control, was essentially managent malpractice, and the Matos situation, although he is an outfielder is worse.baseball reference, stats ages through age 23, matos .ost similar: George Foster. First week, so small sample size, ex giants are raking it for Atlanta!
It's hard to know. No one can really project what a 17-year old will do in seven years! But it does seem like the Giants have a hard time developing MLB regulars.
On the other hand, Webb, Ramos, Schmitt, Bailey, Roupp, Winn, and Walker, are all Giants farm products. I don't know how that compares to other teams' 26-man rosters. It seems pretty good--two starters, two relievers, and two regular position players. But I don't know it is for other clubs.
I think what we got used to was big hits in the 1st round: Cain, Lincecum, Posey, Bumgarner. That was quite a stretch of winning picks. It hasn't been that way in a while although both Ramos (2017) and Bailey (2020) were 1st-rounders.
Another way to look at it besides incompetence is that the Giants kept these players until the bitter end. That is, all the options were exhausted which suggests they gave the player a fair shot to make it. And letting the player go and getting a fresh start somewhere else is good to the player. It might not extract maximum value for the organization, but does that always have to happen? In the case of Bart, he got a new lease on his career and the Giants got to see a lot of new faces before Bailey got the job.
I'm sure Giants coaches and scouts invest a lot in their guys and want them to succeed. But at some point you have to go forward and give someone else in the pipeline his shot. It's the nature of the business.
I hope Matos does well wherever he winds up. I'm totally a "water under the bridge" kinda guy. I never carried around the Giants fans historical burden of Cepeda/Sadecki, Foster/Duffy, etc. etc. Once someone is gone, he's gone. Say "hi" to the FNG is my general outlook.
Kyle Harrison had a good outing the other day. I think the Brewers?
That’s interesting you mention guys not panning out. I’ve always thought that the Giants have had a lot of guys on the cusp of success who just can’t quite break out or reach their potential.
Like others have said, I’m not familiar enough with other teams to know how common this is.
But I suppose it’s probably a constant throughout the league. Each team has multiple teams in the minors full of prospects that will never be starters. Every MLB team has bench guys that come and go and never quite become consistent starters.
Interesting perspective; the giants sticking with guys till the bitter end. Although, that could be considered incompetence also… : )
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