That's a wrap!

Now that 2022 is coming to a close let's take a look at the state of the team for next season. Here's a link to the official 40-man roster. I also rely on FanGraph's Roster Resource Depth Chart. And of course you have to keep track of the payroll and that's where you need Cot's Contracts. (All these links are on the sidebar.)

The outfield is getting close to a finished product. The corners will be manned by FNGs Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto. Centerfield will be a Mike Yastrzemski/Austin Slater platoon and we'll see both backing up in LF and RF. Ideally Joc Pederson will only see time at DH and 1B but I suppose there will be an occasion or two where he lumbers out to left. J.D. Davis has also played LF and LaMonte Wade, Jr. has most of his experience in RF. Luís González has also mostly played RF. He's younger than Wade and has an option remaining. It doesn't seem like they are chasing another OF.

Starting pitching looks well-stocked. Obviously Logan Webb will be the number one with Alex Cobb and probably the FNG lefty Sean Manaea in the next two spots. FNG righty Ross Stripling will likely be the fourth man. Both Anthony DeSclafani and southpaw Alex Wood are in the mix as fifth starter. Jakob Junis would ideally be a swingman. I expect to see ultra-prospect Kyle Harrison get a promotion during the season.

The bullpen was improved with the addition of Taylor Rogers, Tyler's brother. He should be an excellent lefty complement to closer Camilo Doval. Righties Tyler Rogers and John Brebbia will have their lefty counterparts in Sam Long and Scott Alexander. This is an unfinished group. Another late-inning/high-leverage arm or two (or three) would be great.

The infield is a concern. Right now J.D. Davis is the third baseman, backed up by Wilmer Flores and David Villar. Wilmer of course will back up at both 2B and 1B. Wade, Jr. is a lefty-hitting 1B option (Davis and Villar have also played 1B). Thairo Estrada is the second baseman and Brandon Crawford is the shortstop. Estrada right now is the only real option to back up at SS. Isan Díaz provides emergency depth at both spots. Seems a bit thin here.

Speaking of thin, I think catching is the great unknown. Obviously they are committed to Joey Bart as the starter. He will need a quality backup or two. Austin Wynns is still on the roster and FNG Blake Sabol is listed as a catcher as well as an OF. Here's a spot that could use some roster-churning magic from FZ and Co.

Speaking of FZ he talks about L'Affaire Correa both here and here. He says all the right things. I like when he says that when you are "trending on Twitter" it is "never a good thing!" He takes his job seriously but seems to keep his sense of humor. I suspect there will be lots of roster moves between now and next spring.

Happy New Year!

Go Giants!

--M.C.

OF, bullpen

The Giants have been looking for outfield and bullpen help and they signed two players in an attempt to address those needs. Michael Conforto is a former 1st round pick (#10 in 2014) who did not play at all in 2022 due to shoulder surgery. He's a career .255/.356/.468 hitter who turns 30 in March. He's on a two-year deal ($36M) with an opt-out. The pitcher is lefty Taylor Rogers, Tyler's brother, and he signed a 3-year deal worth $33M. Rogers has always been a reliever and has 81 saves and 445 strikeouts in 379 IP. He's 32.

These are the kinds of moves I was expecting. The pivot to Correa (I never expected Judge to leave the Yankees) was a shocker--I did not think the Giants would make that kind of deal. When the whole mess fell through it didn't hit me very hard because I was still processing the original story!

The SF press and fan base want to crucify FZ and Co. for reneging on the Correa deal (and it seems the Giants were the ones who balked) but I don't have a problem with it. Thirteen years is a long time and $350M is a lot of money. It's okay to be risk-averse in that situation. The smart move isn't always the popular one.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Billionaires and millionaires: what's a poor boy to do?

MLB is a big sandbox for billionaires to play in. There's lots of multi-millionaires, some ordinary millionaires, and a host of other folks, too, but in the end it's just a big plaything for some ultra-rich guys.

Then there's us. The fans. We just watch. There's nothing we can do except, well, NOT watch. That's it. These guys are going to do their dances and we are the lucky or unlucky recipients of the fallout.

The Giants played billionaire-millionaire tug-of-war and got beat. I'm not sure who is at fault or who is to blame so I won't worry about it. The fans are probably calling for Zaidi's head because that's what fans do. I'm not sure we'll ever really know how the Correa mess went down but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It seems like the "agreement" that Correa and the Boras Co. signed with the Giants was just part of the dance and contained enough wiggle room so they could change partners at any time. Fine. If that's how things get done in the billionaire's sandbox then they can have it.

I was excited about the possibility of Carlos Correa playing for the Giants but in general I'm not a fan of decade-length nine-figure contracts. So I'm bummed they couldn't improve the team but happy they dodged what I think is a pretty big bullet.

I don't have a problem with owners spending money or players making money. Hell the players are underpaid relative to the amount of wealth in the game! But I'm not going to take it too seriously. If Steve Cohen wants to throw more sand than the other guys in the box then more power to him. It might work. It might not. They still have to play the games.

I like baseball. I like the Giants. There's not much more to it for me than that so I'm not going to lose sleep over any of this stuff. It's time to get back to roster-building and getting excited about Spring Training. By the way I think the Haniger, Manaea, and Stripling signings were all solid moves that will help the club.

Christmas is nigh and I want to wish everyone the best for the holiday season. Thanks again to all the regular readers and contributors!

--M.C.

Never mind

I guess 13 isn't so lucky for me after all. Carlos Correa, in a stunning reversal, will not sign with the Giants. In fact he will go to the Mets on a 12-year deal for $315M.

The Giants apparently found something in his physical exam that put the mega-deal on hold. Agent Scott Boras then negotiated a new deal with the Mets.

I suppose we will just have to wait and hear what it is all about.

--M.C.

Lucky 13

FNG Carlos Correa signed a 13-year deal with the Giants. Think for a second: how many people currently in the organization will still be in the organization when this deal is over? Farhan Zaidi? Gabe Kapler? Logan Webb? Joey Bart? It's hard to imagine what the team will look like in 13 years. Oh, I suppose Buster Posey will still be part of the ownership group! Anyway, I thought I'd share the ZiPS projections for Correa. ZiPS is the brainchild of Dan Szymborski (FanGraphs) and is a popular system with fans and fantasy players.

 

That's 41.7 WAR over the life of the contract. At $350M that's $8.4M per WAR and that's relatively cheap. You can see that the first five years of the deal are "the meat" that the team is paying for: 24.7 WAR. FanGraphs says Correa has been worth 31.3 WAR since his debut in 2015 at age 20.

Correa doesn't project monster 8+ WAR Judge-like seasons but he does project consistent excellence and a slow decline. When you consider that the Padres have at least three shortstops and that the Dodgers just saw theirs sign with the Phillies this was the right time to get a new number six. I'm not sure if Correa will ever be an MVP but a guy this talented could certainly have an MVP-level season or two and could even outperform the projection above. I'm sure the Giants have their own analysis of the risks of such a contract and they've obviously decided there's too much upside not to go for it. Baseball salaries have not kept pace with the game's revenue or with inflation, believe it or not. Halfway through this deal $27M/year will not seem like so much. The owners are swimming in dough right now and they aren't worried if it runs out later—it will be someone else's problem by then!

Brandon Crawford's visage will be chiseled into SFG's Mt. Rushmore. He's certainly the greatest shortstop in orange-and-black in our lifetimes as fans. And he had a 6.3 fWAR season in 2021! But I think he reads the papers, too. I don't expect an issue with him moving to third base. But I want to acknowledge his immense contributions to the club and I think the position change will actually help him have another great year.

13 has always been my lucky number as I was born on Friday the 13th. So I think things are going to work out just fine with the FNG.

--M.C.

What's next?

The Giants landed their big fish. It turned out not to be Aaron Judge but Carlos Correa. Correa will replace fan favorite Brandon Crawford at shortstop and be the "face of the franchise" for a mind-boggling 13 years. These mega-deals are actually all about short-term returns. Teams expect big performances right away and are willing to punt on the back end. No one expects Judge or Correa to be All-Stars at age 37, but there's a good chance they will still be productive. No, Judge and/or Correa are supposed to be All-Stars right now.

The Giants need some All-Stars and Correa fits the bill nicely. So, that's good. The Giants also added a slugging outfielder, Mitch Haniger, and a couple of veteran starters, Sean Manaea and Ross Stripling, to beef up the roster. Again, no complaints. Those are all good moves.

But what's next? What do the Giants still need to compete in the NL West? I know they were interested in Kenley Jansen and it seems like adding another closer-type to complement Camilo Doval would be a good idea. It worked really well when the team had both Jake McGee and Doval for those last few outs. Maybe they can find another power arm for the bullpen.

The Giants picked up a player from the Reds (cash trade) named Blake Sabol who is a catcher and an outfielder. He's 24 and seems ready to be promoted to the bigs. I mention him because the team needs help at catcher. Joey Bart is expected to start, but he will need backups. What's the plan?

Will they need some more thump in the lineup? Is a LaMonte Wade, Jr. and J.D. Davis platoon at first base the answer? Will Thairo Estrada be the starting second baseman? Both Evan Longoria and Brandon Belt are out there as unsigned free agents. Do you think the team should bring either or both back?

Despite landing a premier player there seems to be lots more off-season work to be done. What's on your list?

--M.C.

Ross Stripling

The Carlos Rodón sweepstakes—at least the San Francisco version—are over. The Giants signed another veteran starter to the same deal as Sean Manaea, a two-year $25M pact with an opt-out. Ross Stripling just turned 33 and has started 104 games in his career out of a total of 204 appearances (672 IP). You may remember him from his time with the Dodgers. LA traded him to the Blue Jays in 2020 and last year he had perhaps his best season (2.7 bWAR in 134-1/3 IP, 24 starts).

The Giants now have a rotation consisting of Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, Alex Wood, Anthony DeSclafani, Sean Manaea, and Ross Stripling. There's also Jakob Junis who looks good as a swingman. Pitching depth, pitching depth, pitching depth, pitching depth. The Giants are stockpiling arms and instead of $200+M for one arm they will spread it around. (I think they should buy out Webb's arbitration years and his first few free agency years by signing him to a multi-year contract!). I can't complain about their approach. It's a long season and you need a lot of arms. There's talk that we will see 21-year old southpaw mega-prospect Kyle Harrison get promoted mid-year. A pair of homegrown aces, one lefty and one righty, would be a nice thing to build around.

--M.C.

Sean Manaea

Southpaw Sean Manaea might be familiar to Giants fans as he pitched for the Oakland A's from 2016-2021. Last year he was on the Padres. He's a former first-round pick (#34 in 2013, two picks below Aaron Judge) from Indiana State. He's not Carlos Rodón but he's a solid starter with good track record despite a poor season in 2022. It's a two-year deal (with an opt-out) worth $25M. He turns 31 in February.

--M.C.

Travel

Baseball Savant has a feature about team travel distances. We all know that West Coast teams log the most air miles and this coming season is no different:

Here's a graphical look. You can run an animation on the Baseball Savant site for each club or for the entire league.

One of the features of the 2023 season is a series in México City. The Giants will face the San Diego Padres in Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú on April 29th and 30th. And yes, the Giants do play the Seattle Mariners, they have a home series with them July 3rd through 5th. That means they will travel to Seattle in 2024. If you have not looked at the Giants 2023 itinerary, you should. They open the season at Yankee Stadium!

It's Thanksgiving and that means travel time for many. Have a safe and happy holiday!

--M.C.

Roster updates

The Giants non-tendered several players who now become free agents. Perhaps the most notable is lefty reliever Jarlín García. He's been a mainstay of the 'pen, appearing in 58 games in each of the last two seasons, but his 2022 performance was a drop-off from his excellent 2021. He will catch on with another club. Relievers Alex Young (L) and Mauricio Llovera (R) were also let go as was infielder Donovan Walton. Jason Vosler was also notably DFAd (and since non-tendered) earlier. He hit well in 111 PA and was up and down from AAA multiple times but could not stick with the club.

The Giants avoided arbitration with Mike Yastrzemski by signing him to a one-year, $6.5M deal. Southpaw Scott Alexander, who signed a minors deal in May and was promoted to the majors in August, was inked for one year at $1.2M.

Joc Pederson comes back after accepting the Qualifying Offer ($19.6M). Evan Longoria is officially a free agent after the Giants declined their option. He could still return to the team as there is (reportedly) some remaining mutual interest. He says 2023 will be his final go-round. Carlos Rodón declined his option and rejected his QO and hits the open market as perhaps the most desirable FA pitcher. Although Jacob DeGrom and Justin Verlander are also free agents Rodón seems most likely to get a multi-year deal given DeGrom's injury history and Verlander's age. Brandon Belt is a free agent (he accepted a QO last season) and there's been no word about him so far.

The Giants traded a minors OF (Tristan Peters) to the Rays for IF Brett Wisely. He's a lefty hitter who slashed .274/.371/.461 in 500 PA at Montgomery in the Southern League (AA).

Arb-eligible players remaining include Logan Webb, Jakob Junis, J.D. Davis, Austin Slater, John Brebbia, Thairo Estrada, LaMonte Wade, Jr., and Tyler Rogers. The deadline to re-sign those players is in January, otherwise they go to arbitration. Webb, Rogers, and Wade are a free agents in 2026, Davis and Slater in 2025, Brebbia and Junis in 2024. Estrada is under team control until 2027.

RHPs Tristan Beck (AAA), Jose Cruz (A+), and Keaton Winn (AA) were added to the 40-man. SS Marco Luciano and OF Luis Matos were also included. Both will start the year at AA-Richmond. Lefty-hitting middle infielder Isan Díaz was purchased from Miami earlier this year and is also on the 40-man. He has ML experience (145 G) and will likely get a shot to make the team this spring.

MLBTR reports that the Giants are interested in free agent reliever Kenley Jansen who needs no introduction. They have also been linked to NPB right-hander Kodai Senga. I should note that the Dodgers cut ties with Cody Bellinger and he is now a free agent. He's only 27. Some team will take a chance on him. And I refuse to discuss Aaron Judge as I fully expect him to remain with the Yankees.

So, is there someone out there you'd like to see sign with the Giants? (Here's the free agent list.) What moves do the Giants need to make? (I say sign Webb to a multi-year deal and make a big-time offer to Rodón). 

--M.C.

Rule changes for 2023

Baseball will be different next season. Here's an article on mlb.com that breaks it down. The three big changes will be a pitch clock, a ban on shifts, and larger bases.

The pitch clock is a fundamental change. Baseball has always been a "timeless" sport and the introduction of a timer is unfortunate. I've always felt that the best way to improve pace-of-play was to give the umpires the authority to enforce the rules. Alas, people don't pay to see the umpires. They want to see their heroes and if their hero has to step out of the box and adjust his velcro straps after every pitch than so be it. No one likes to watch a pitcher take forever to throw, but if he's your guy and he gets the job done then it's hard to complain. But with nine-inning games routinely going over three hours something had to be done. Certainly we know that TV has the biggest impact. Commercial breaks are too long and there's too much time devoted to TV stuff like those abominable in-game interviews. If I could change one thing about TV broadcasts it would be to ban all TV people from the playing field and dugouts during the game!

In the end I think the clock is a good change. Pace-of-play is important. Pitcher-batter duels should be tense and exciting and not interminable. The news from the minor leagues is generally positive. Players have adapted to the clock without much trouble. Game times have decreased by 20-30 minutes. That's not a lot, but it's a start. At least this rule will actually speed the game up unlike the stupid three-batter rule which has not made a dent in game times.

Banning the shift is a mistake in my mind. I think a player should be able to position himself anywhere he thinks the batter is going to hit the ball. In 2023 all four infielders will have to be on the infield dirt when the pitch is thrown. Also, the SS and 3B have to stay on the left side of the infield and the 1B and 2B have to stay on the right side. We won't see Brandon Crawford or Evan Longoria in short right field any more! This move is supposed to create more balls in play. I'm not so sure. Some players will benefit, but the effect will be small. I think this change is to appease the fans. Baseball fans are traditionalists and they hate the idea that their favorite lefty masher hits a screamer through the 3-4 hole, something that's been a hit for decades, and the SS or 3B sitting in RF makes a play on it and gets the batter out. There will no longer be four outfielder alignments in MLB. That doesn't mean you couldn't move an OF over to cover that spot. Maybe we'll see an occasional LF scooting over to short RF!

The final change has to do with the bases. They will be a little larger. And second base has been slightly re-positioned to better align with the other bases. That re-alignment is overdo of course. The perpendicular lines (to the foul lines) drawn from outfield edges of first base and third base meet, right now, in the middle of second base. The base will be moved in, toward the plate, so that those perpendiculars meet at the outfield side of the base (the apex of the infield diamond), which makes more sense. (Here's an article with a diagram.)

MLB wants more stolen bases. The quants have shown that the risk/reward for steals is too low for most situations and teams have run less as a result. Fans miss speedsters and their daring base-swiping exploits. Maybe Billy Hamilton will get a job again! Also, throws to first base will be limited. That's a weird one. If base stealers know that the pitcher has used up his two pickoff attempts he will be more likely to run. I never had a problem with pickoff throws. I don't think limiting them will help the game. But I do like the larger bases, and I'm OK with encouraging the running game. We all know that pitchers control the flow--catchers don't throw out base-stealers if pitchers can't keep them close.

Overall I think the trend is for more athleticism. Pitchers will have to shorten their deliveries to keep runners honest. And they'll have to do my favorite thing: WORK QUICKLY! Whether this will result in better outcomes for batters is hard to say. Certainly middle infielders will have to work harder. That's going to put a premium on speed and agility for SS and 2B. Maybe glove-first guys will stick around longer and we'll see more late-game defensive substitutes.

Anyway, it's something to talk about. What do you guys think?

--M.C.

Outfield help

Take a look at the list of free agent outfielders:

Left Fielders

Albert Almora (29)
Andrew Benintendi (28)
Michael Brantley (36)
Kole Calhoun (35)
Willie Calhoun (28)
Aledmys Diaz (32)
Corey Dickerson (34)
Adam Duvall (34)
Ben Gamel (31)
Robbie Grossman (33)
Trey Mancini (31)
Andrew McCutchen (36)
Joc Pederson (31)
David Peralta (35)
Tommy Pham (35)
Chad Pinder (31)
A.J. Pollock (35)
Jurickson Profar (30)

Center Fielders

Greg Allen (30)
Albert Almora (29)
Jackie Bradley Jr. (33)
Lorenzo Cain (37)
Jonathan Davis (31)
Adam Duvall (34)
Michael Hermosillo (28)
Odubel Herrera (31)
Travis Jankowski (32)
Aaron Judge (31)
Kevin Kiermaier (33) – $13MM club option with a $2.5MM buyout
Jake Marisnick (32)
Tyler Naquin (32)
Brandon Nimmo (30)
Brett Phillips (29)
Kevin Pillar (34)
A.J. Pollock (35)
Magneuris Sierra (27)

Right Fielders

Albert Almora (29)
Luis Barrera (27)
Jackie Bradley Jr. (33)
Kole Calhoun (35)
Travis Demeritte (28)
Joey Gallo (29)
Ben Gamel (31)
Robbie Grossman (33)
Mitch Haniger (32)
Aaron Judge (31)
Nomar Mazara (28)
Andrew McCutchen (36)
Wil Myers (32)
Tyler Naquin (32)
Chad Pinder (31)
Stephen Piscotty (32)

Then go to FanGraphs and sort the leaderboard for outfielders. (I set a minimum of 300 ABs.) What you get is a list of 113 players. Free agent Aaron Judge of course leads the list with his ridiculous 11.4 fWAR. After the ~6-WAR group of Yordan Alvarez, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, and Jeff McNeil you come upon another free agent, Brandon Nimmo (5.4 fWAR). That's a couple of guys that would help any ball club. Judge would require a massive commitment. FanGraphs thinks it will be about 8 years and $300M. Nimmo's projection is 5 years and $100M. (They also think it will take 5 years and $130M to get Carlos Rodón).

It's not my money. The Giants have plenty, it seems, so they should spend freely. Albatross contracts won't be a problem in four or five years because SFG Inc. will have gobs of cash flowing in from their many other subsidiary (real estate) businesses. At least that's what it seems like--who knows the real story? It's a private concern, not a public corporation, so we'll never know for sure what kind of wealth they really have.

Here's something to think about. The Giants have two players, Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Slater, that grade out at #34 (Yaz, 2.2 WAR) and #37 (Slater, 2.1 WAR). If you sort the list for "CF" instead of "OF" those two players are #13 and #15. Both players are still arb-eligible. Yaz is a FA in 2026, Slater in 2025.

It's hard to find good major-league outfielders. There aren't that many of them. And if you expect them to play centerfield you make the list even smaller. A CF platoon of Yaz and Slater is better than what a lot of teams can put out there.

What do you think the Giants should do to improve their outfield for 2023?

--M.C.

'Stros seal Series in Six

The Philadelphia Phillies saw their magical post-season run end last night in Houston. They lost three straight games in the Series after taking a 2-1 lead. Astros pitchers were too good and they held the Phils to a mere three runs in the final 27 frames. The Astros were too good overall. That's a very deep club. Their hitters wore down both of the Phils top starters--Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler--and both of their top relievers--Jose Alvarado and Seranthony Dominguez. I liked the Phillies and was hoping for an upset but I'm not surprised that the Astros won. They were just too strong and had an answer for everything.

That's four World Series appearances in six seasons for Houston with two wins. Five players on this championship squad played on the 2017 team: Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Yuli Gurriel, Justin Verlander, and Lance McCullers, Jr.

Now we can talk about the Giants!

--M.C.

On to the Series

The Houston Astros dispatched the New York Yankees in seemingly effortless fashion. That's a team without any apparent weaknesses. They go to the World Series for the second straight season. The Philadelphia Phillies continued their magical run with a bruising take down of the feisty San Diego Padres. That was a tougher fight than the 4-1 tally would indicate. I like this Phillies team. Let's hope they turn the tables on the favorites. Bookmakers like the Astros: the moneyline -170. That's an expected win probability of almost 63%!*

In other news, Bruce Bochy comes out of retirement and joins the Texas Rangers as their new manager. It's a three-year deal. Boch is 67. Some guys just can't stay retired. That's sure not me!

Game 1 is Friday (5:03 Pacific) at Minute Maid Park.

--M.C.

 

*divide 170 by 100+170 and multiply the result by 100

LCS

In the National League the upstarts won. The defending champion Braves and juggernaut Dodgers were both bounced out of the playoffs. The NLCS is a wildcard affair. The Phillies took the first game from the Padres with great pitching and timely homers. I hope it is a seven-game set. I like that both teams were underdogs and found their groove at the right time. I've no rooting interest: either club in the Series would be fine with me.

Unfortunately the American League was boring and produced the Astros-Yankees matchup everyone expected. Yuck. I will be rooting for both teams to lose. The Astros are -180 favorites.

--M.C.

Wild weekend

There was plenty of crazy baseball this weekend if you're in to that sort of thing. I follow the action on MLB Gameday and/or Gameday Audio. I enjoy hearing a little from the other radio announcers. I must say the Padres have an excellent play-by-play man. The visiting teams won three of the four series. The one I was most interested in--SD at NYM--featured an underdog away team (Padres) turning the tables on the hometown big-shots (Mets). It took all three games whilst the others were 2-0 sweeps. The Phillies upended the Cardinals with a miracle comeback and great pitching. The Mariners used the same combo to stun the Blue Jays. NL Central winners Cleveland hosted Tampa Bay and played 24 innings. The two teams scored a total of four runs. Three of them belonged to the Guardians and the Rays went home.

The Phillies head to Atlanta to face the Braves. The Padres go to LA and take on the Dodgers. The Mariners meet the Astros in Houston. The Guardians travel to Yankee Stadium. The LDS is a five-game set with a 2-2-1 format.

Odds Shark lists the four home teams as approximately -200 favorites. I think the Phils are better than their record and will match up with the Braves and that the Guardians have a legit chance to knock off the Yankees. But the other two series look like mismatches. Picking winners has never been my strong suit, however.

--M.C.

9th inning: 12-6

1st inning: 13-5

2nd inning: 9-9

3rd inning: 7-11

4th inning: 10-8

5th inning: 8-10

6th inning: 6-12

7th inning: 8-10

8th inning: 8-10

9th inning: 12-6

81-81 .500

 

--M.C.

81

SF 8  SD 1

The Giants took the finale in San Diego to finish the season at exactly .500--81 wins and 81 losses. The Giants have never had an 81-81 record or even an exactly .500 record in their entire history going back to 1883 in New York. In 1975 they only played 161 games and finished 80-81.

The frustration of this season can be summed up with simple arithmetic. The Phillies are the #6 seed and they finished with 87 wins. (The Padres are the #5 seed with 89 wins.) The Giants fell short of the post-season by six wins. Six goddamn wins. Here's where it gets worse: the Giants were 5-14 against the Dodgers and 6-13 against the Padres. That's 11-27 (.289) against those two clubs. And 70-54 (.565) against the rest (including 5-1 vs. Philadelphia). Even if you take out the 14-5 beat down of the Rockies that's still 56-49 (.533). The 2023 Giants really need to play better baseball against LA and SD.

I'm happy the team made it to .500 even if it is a disappointing result overall. They played well in September and finished on a high note. Speaking of a high note, David Villar hit two homers today.

It should be an interesting off-season for Giants fans. Especially if it isn't interesting. The fanbase wants action and they'll be cranky if they don't get it. I suspect FZ & Co. will take their usual measured approach and that alone will get the pot boiling. Certainly we have plenty to talk about. Add in the rule changes for next year and there will be no shortage of material for the off-season!

I'll put together some posts with more of my thoughts about this season and next. Right now I'm just a little melancholy with the end of things. I'll keep an eye on the post-season, but not too close. It's good to get a little break from daily baseball.

--M.C.

Walkoff win takes series

SF 4  ARI 3  (10) 

It was Fan Appreciation Day and the Diamondbacks treated everyone to a 13-hit onslaught. Fortunately the Giants pulled off three double plays and kept the ball in the yard. Arizona was 3-for-17 with RISP and stranded ten runners. It seemed like they were going to bust the game open every inning but the bullpen kept the lid on. The Giants couldn't get much going themselves and even with help (seven bases on balls!) they also stranded ten runners. In the 10th the Diamondbacks got the automatic runner (the "Manfred Man") home and that put pressure on the Giants. They responded with a bases-loaded ground ball single from David Villar that scored Wilmer Flores from second base with the winning run. He probably should have been out but the throw was rushed and catcher Carson Kelly couldn't handle it.

After the Giants big win Friday night the Diamondbacks responded with an 8-4 thumping on Saturday. It was a very close contest this afternoon but the home squad prevailed to take the weekend series. Overall Arizona won 10 of the 19 games between the two clubs. It has not been pretty against the NL West in 2022. The Giants go to San Diego for the final three games. The Padres hold an 11-5 edge in the season series and they've clinched a Wild Card spot.

Logan Webb was scheduled to start today but they opted to shut him down. Carlos Rodón is supposed to pitch on Tuesday. Tomorrow night (6:40 PT) it is another bullpen game, this time against Joe Musgrove.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Power surge

SF 10  COL 4

Many times during this season I've thought "nothing a ten-game win streak can't fix." Alas, it never happened. This recent streak of good baseball (10 wins in 11 games) would have been just the thing for right after the All-Star Break or for the middle of August. It's all about sequencing, eh? Homer-double-walk is nice but walk-double-homer is better. The Giants finish September with an 18-10 record which is their best month since their 14-7 April. They are now 8-9 against the Diamondbacks with two games left to play. At 79-78 overall they have a real chance to finish 2022 with a winning record.

Last night the Giants got hits up and down the lineup with seven of their twelve going for extra bases. Evan Longoria smacked two homers and drove in five. Both Joc Pederson and Mike Yastrzemski had two hits and three runs scored. Alex Cobb got through five innings despite yielding nine hits and all the runs. He only managed seven swinging strikes against Arizona's pesky, patient lineup. But it was enough and he was backed by solid relief from Thomas Szapucki, Alex Young, and Yunior Marte.

Wilmer Flores received the Willie Mac Award before the game. Who doesn't love Wilmer? He's certainly a most deserving winner. This afternoon's game is at 1:05 PT and Scott Alexander will be the opener. He's done that twice this month, on the 8th in a 2-1 loss to the Brewers and last Sunday in Arizona in a 3-2 win. He was unscored upon both times and has only allowed two runs in 15 IP.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

p.s. If you didn't see Joc's "little league homer" (ruled a triple + error) in the 2nd you need to watch the video.