Cueto and Giants get it done

 SF 4  AZ 1

Johnny Cueto had some command issues early in the game but settled down to retire, at one point, 13 in a row. The Giants had a 1-0 lead thanks to an Alex Dickerson homer in the 1st but did not get another hit until the 8th inning. Meanwhile the Diamondbacks tied it up in the bottom of the 6th with a solo shot of their own. Cueto delivered a splendid 6-2/3 yielding three hits and three walks on 106 pitches. Fine bullpen work from Tony Watson, Tyler Rogers, and Sam Coonrod (who closed it) gave the Giants a chance. They responded with four hits in the top of the 8th to plate three runs and come away with a tidy win. The Giants improve to 8-11 on the road and 17-19 overall.

So far no news from Giants HQ regarding the trade deadline which is 4 p.m. ET tomorrow.

Monday is an off-day and then the Giants go to Colorado for two, with Tuesday at 5:40 and Wednesday 12:10 (p.m. PDT).

--M.C.

Giants Snap Skid

 SF 5  AZ 2

The Giants put a quick hurt on the Diamondbacks, taking a 4-0 lead after three innings, but had a setback when starter Trevor Cahill had to leave in the 4th with a hip injury. He had a physical issue in the 3rd but Kap and the trainers felt he was OK for another go-round but after yielding a two-run homer discretion got the better part of valor. The 4-2 lead was agonizing for Giants fans as the lineup had repeated chances to break the game open but could not deliver the big hit. Good thing the bullpen was up to the task and kept the lid on the Arizona hitters the rest of the way. Wilmer Flores added a solo shot in the 9th to make it easier for Tyler Rogers to close it out. Jarlin Garcia got five outs in relief of Cahill, Sam Coonrod popped 100 mph on the gun in the 6th, Trevor Gott handled the 7th, and Tony Watson got the 8th in front of Rogers.

I missed Friday night's loss as I was in a kayak on a nearby mountain lake as part of a (socially-distanced) surprise birthday celebration for a friend. Nutty, I know, but it sure broke up the routine and provided a nice diversion from everything. A good time was had by all.

The Giants snap their three-game losing streak! It was a surprisingly hard-fought victory as it really felt like they should have put up seven or eight runs. But the team got the job done and that's what matters. I'd really like to see them kick some butt tomorrow (1:10 Pacific) and take the series. Johnny Cueto gets the start against righty Taylor Clarke.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

p.s. You might be interested in "Giants More Likely to Buy Than Sell" by TC Zencka at MLBTR. There's also this tweet by notorious rumor-monger Jon Heyman that the Giants are interested in Jackie Bradley, Jr. I don't put too much stock in these things, these guys have to talk about something now that we are so close to the trade deadline. I have to say I'm much more interested in talking about what the Giants actually do as opposed to what they could or should do!

Eight

I'm assuming the Giants will have an 8-man bullpen. Obviously at least one of those guys will be long relief/spot starter. And we may see the "opener" strategy used as well so that may impact who gets picked. As always, take a look at the contract status and number of options remaining. Sometimes that's the only difference between a guy who makes the cut and one who does not.

Tony Watson is a lock. He's signed for the season at $3M. Fellow southpaw Wandy Peralta is also signed ($0.8M) for 2020 and will certainly open the season with the big club. He was claimed off waivers last September. Lefty Jarlin Garcia is another waiver claim that will likely make the team. Both guys have flashed strikeout stuff in Spring Training.

Righties Trevor Gott and Tyler Rogers (the submariner) will probably be there, too, as manager Gabe Kapler mentioned they were both important bullpen pieces. Jandel Gustave was sent down and he seemed to be in the running for one of the remaining three spots.

Roster Resource likes Shaun Anderson, Sam Coonrod, and Dany Jimenez. Anderson might be anything from an opener to a closer but is still only 25 years old. Coonrod has been hit hard so far and that might open a path for someone like Enderson Franco or Carlos Navas. Dany Jimenez is a Rule V pick from December so if he makes the roster he has to stay on it. He can't be optioned (even though he has three options) and must be waived to clear the spot. He is 26 and has 200 IP of pro ball (no ML time) experience. He is a strikeout artist (11.7 K/9) and has been used as a closer.

--M.C.

Cuts

These guys were optioned to AAA:

RHP Melvin Adon, IF Abiatal Avelino, RHP Jandel Gustave, LHP Conner Menez, LHP Sam Selman, IF Kean Wong, and OF/1B Chris Shaw.

These guys were re-assigned to minor-league camp:

RHP Tyler Cyr, C Ricardo Genovese,  RHP Sean Hjelle, RHP Jake Jewell, RHP Luis Madero, RHP Try McNutt, LHP Sam Moll, RHP Raffi Vizcaino, OF Jamie Westbrook, and RHP Sam Wolff.

That's 17 players gone from the original 72. Of the remaining 55 there are 21 NRIs.

--M.C.

Giants are hiring

Click here to apply for Product Manager:

The ideal candidate will possess product management experience, understanding of modern UI/UX design principles, a technical background with past software engineering experience, and the ability to communicate effectively with baseball staffers.

Baseball Operations needs more R&D people. Get those résumés polished, boys and girls. The Giants need your help!

--M.C.


h/t FanGraphs

The New Manager

Don't forget, the Giants are hiring a GM as well. That presents a chicken-and-egg problem, as FZ put it recently (from Andrew Baggarly on The Athletic):

Ordinarily, the general manager would be working hand in glove with the president of baseball operations in a managerial search. The GM is the primary quartermaster for day-to-day roster needs, so it’s imperative that they have a close and communicative relationship with the skipper.

Except the Giants are hiring a GM, too.

“You want to know how the GM is going to work with the manager, but you also want to know how the manager is going to work with the GM,” Zaidi said. "So it’s a little bit of a chicken and egg. But, you know, we will very much have that in mind that those two are going to have to have a close relationship, and we have to have confidence they’re going to be able to work together."

I suspect the lists for both jobs might have some overlap. A lot of the personal qualities are similar. Zaidi has said that managerial experience is not a prerequisite for the field job (Aaron Boone had no experience coaching at any level before the Yankees hired him), so the same might be true for the desk job.

So how do you replace Bochy? You can't. You can hire a new manager--not a replacement. Identify the things you want from a manager and find that person. Giants fans will have a hard time viewing the new guy in a new light--they'll want to subject him to a checklist of Bochy comparisons. Farhan can't do that. Obviously Boch possesses many of the personal qualities needed to succeed at the big league level, but Boch is Boch. I don't want an ersatz Boch. I want a new person with their own story.

I really think Buster Posey should be the Giants manager. I've no idea if he entertains the idea, but it seems like he has all the experience, skills, knowledge, and gravitas necessary. So the Giants should hire a guy for a few years (Bam-Bam?) until Buster quits playing and takes the reins.

But that probably won't happen. He'll go back to Georgia and run for Senator. In the real world the Giants will hire a guy no one has heard of. Don't be surprised if the guy they get is a surprise. I don't keep my nose that close to the industry buzz so I have no real insight. DrBGiantsfan, who blogs at When the Giants Come to Town, has a breakdown of names you might look at. He's always thorough and thoughtful.

Baggs made the point in another article that if you want to know what kind of guy the Giants will hire look no further than the one FZ helped hire in LA: Dave Roberts.

Managing in MLB is hard. There is a small pool of people with the skills and passion needed. Even guys with all the goods on their résumés fail at the task. FZ is known as a process-oriented person and likes to "trust the process" and go with the outcome it generates. Roberts, for example, was not considered a favorite going in, but he came out as the number-one guy.

I can live with that. I was happy when the Giants hired Farhan Zaidi and I think it will be fun and interesting to see how he goes about creating the next-gen manager and general manager for the franchise. I want to be open-minded and not have a preconceived notion of who these people "ought" or "ought-not" to be. Frankly, I don't know any of the people involved and can only get the same information all of us get who are not part of the business. So it makes no sense to form opinions based on other peoples' opinions.

A lot of other teams (Mets, Padres, Pirates, Cubs, Angels, Royals) are looking for a skipper, that could make the process take a while, and of course many people won't be available until after the post-season. The Winter Meetings are scheduled for December 8-12, so I'd like to think the Giants would have at least a GM at that point. We'll see!

--M.C.

Wind-swept

CHC 1  SF 0
The Giants finally got the well-pitched game they needed but it was all for naught as they got shut out for the eleventh time this season. Jeff Samardzija threw seven innings and allowed only two hits but one of those was a two-out RBI and that was the ballgame. The Giants got swept right out of the Windy City and come home to play the Athletics in Oakland tomorrow and Sunday. This is their first and only Friday off-day.

FanGraphs rates Saturday's starter, Madison Bumgarner at 3.0 WAR. (There are thirty pitchers above him. Drop down twenty-five spots and there's Shark's 1.6 WAR. Max Scherzer is number one with 5.6 WAR.) Bumgarner was worth a total of 3.0 WAR for both 2017 and 2018 (240-2/3 IP, 38 starts). We can see that he is healthy and pitching better, and the numbers aren't lying either, and that's encouraging going forward. I'm assuming that holding on to him means they are going to try to sign him to a multi-year deal. If you want some comps to grasp fWAR for a pitcher, try Zack Wheeler (3.5), Clayton Kershaw (3.4), Marcus Stroman (3.1), Kyle Hendricks (3.0), Jon Gray (3.0), Aaron Nola (2.7), Masahiro Tanaka (2.6), and Tanner Roark (2.5).

The Giants need to get back on the beam and start winning some ballgames!

--M.C.

6th inning: 13-5

SF 5  PHI 1
Do you remember the third seasonal inning? Good, you shouldn't. It was a bleak time, the month of May. There was a goddamn seven-game losing streak, for example. Here's a review of the season so far:

1st inning: 8-10
2nd inning: 8-10
3rd inning: 5-13
4th inning: 10-8
5th inning: 11-7 

Here's what I said after the 5th inning:

That brings the team to 42-48, still in last place, but certainly in a better place than before.

And they are in an even better place now. How about 19-6 (.760) in July?

6th inning: 13-5

I remember thinking after that 5-13 stinker that it would be OK if they Giants could pull off a 13-5 inning. And I thought the odds of that were vanishingly small, so small they were no different than zero.

Shows you what I know. They are now 55-53, with 54 left to play.

Tonight in Philadelphia the mostly still-together Giants kicked ass. Jeff Samardzija had another strong outing (6 IP, 3 H, zero runs, 5 K) and the lineup exploded for five runs in the 6th and that was enough. Here's how it went: Yaz walk, Buster homer, pitching change, Panda homer, BCraw single, Pillar homer. That's a Giants half inning for you!

Tony Watson gave up a run in the 7th. Reyes Moronta became the new Sam Dyson and pitched a scoreless 8th. Will Smith handled the 9th despite the four-run lead.

The Giants see Jake Arrieta tomorrow at 10:05 a.m. PDT. The website says TBA for the Giants starter but they just recalled both Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez, so I'm guessing it will be D-Rod. RHP Jendel Gustave also got called up, I was mistaken about Melvin Adon, he was promoted to AA.

As far as all the trades and other moves, I feel like the Giants threaded the needle. They got some new talent without compromising the core of the team. They even got some salary relief. If this team is truly a "contender" then they are still a contender and yet they improved the roster for the future. And they managed a "rental" second baseman, Scooter Gennett, who was a 4-WAR player last year! If he is healthy he could be a really nice pickup for the stretch run.

I just want the Giants to play winning ball. If they do that, opportunities may emerge. For now, just keep grinding out the wins. And avoid the losing streaks. One series at a time.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. I note that the already-formidable Astros got Zack Greinke. That cost them four players! I wonder if the price for MadBum was that high. It doesn't matter, I'm happy the team held on to him.

The Deadline Approacheth . . .

SD 5  SF 1
Shaun Anderson struck out seven in his five-plus innings but was tagged for four runs. Trevor Gott got the other. The lineup had a tough time again, managing only one run. Hits have been scarce for the Giants in San Diego.

Tomorrow Madison Bumgarner takes the hill and a month ago I would have said this would be his last start in a Giants uniform. The team's winning ways since then have forced me to re-think that.

The narrative is Buyers & Sellers. If you think you will make the post-season, buy the guys you need to make a real run for the title. If you are out of it, sell the few assets you have and hope to hit the franchise reset button. This binary thinking is great for journalists, blowhards, bloggers and the poor, suffering fans who have to put up with all that hot air and spilled ink.

Through it all we have our very own PoBO, Farhan Zaidi, who always seems to be eager, curious, and positive. For a high-energy guy in a competitive business he is surprisingly serene. Most successful people view problems and dilemmas as opportunities and relish the creative and analytical challenges. I don't think FZ sees The Trade Deadline as a binary exercise. Trade player X, Yes/No? That's not how he rolls. He is on a mission to improve the club and win ballgames. Sounds like a truism, I know, you expect all GMs and PoBOs and whatnot to approach their jobs that way.

FZ isn't going to view July 31st in black-and-white terms. Sacrifice the future to win now! Sacrifice now to win in the future! That's not how his head works. He's capable of operating on several timelines simultaneously and can see winning now and rebuilding as the same, multi-faceted operation. I know I'm making him sound like fucking Yoda, but I have to say he really does come across that way, and I'm happy to let him do what he wants to do.

Giants fans are a bit spoiled, and whiny, and there are a heap of geniuses out there who know what's best for the club. They aren't going to be happy with what FZ does. Buy, Sell, Buy-and-Sell, Stand Pat--it doesn't matter. There will be plenty of bitching to go around.

It seems to me a lot less likely they will trade Bumgarner. Only two or three teams could use him and they won't spend the resources the Giants would want in return on a rental. That's cool with me. I want the Big Fella to stay. They can make him a Qualifying Offer at the end of the season and see how it plays out. Or sign him to an extension. That would be a chunk of change, but we are talking about Madison Bumgarner. Fans love MadBum. Keeping fans happy is good. He's proven he is still a good pitcher, a valuable teammate, and a great performer. Having a star player who shows up on highlight-reels is a lot of fun.

The Big Three (Dyson/Watson/Smith) might get broken up. Or, FZ might surprise us and trade a young arm (Black, Coonrod, Moronta, etc.) because teams really like cheap, controllable assets. The Giants might get some prospects in trade and then turn them around and buy a starter or a power bat to help the team immediately. I've no idea, but I'm not expecting anything too dramatic. FZ likes the incremental approach, but he could certainly surprise us.

The Giants played decent ball in June after a terrible start and have played great ball so far in July. I want that to continue. If the team plays good baseball then good things will happen. I just want to focus on the day-to-day and watch the club grind out wins and sustain the winning energy and culture that's been missing the last two seasons. The biggest thing the Giants will do this year is not going to happen this week but in October when they say goodbye to Bruce Bochy and get themselves a new manager. They will be doing that whether they finish strong or not, and after 13 seasons and three World Series wins, that will be quite a change!

So relax and enjoy the baseball. That's my advice. Don't sweat the trades. We can't make 'em, so we have to trust the guys in charge. And I feel pretty good about that.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

The Winter Meetings

The Giants Brain Trust and their twenty-nine counterparts will be meeting this coming Monday in Las Vegas for the annual MLB rite known of course as The Winter Meetings. Newly-installed President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi brought in some new people in advance of this. Long-time amateur scouting director John Barr has been replaced by Michael Holmes who worked in Oakland in a similar capacity. They also added Zack Minasian who was a special assistant in Milwaukee. He will oversee professional scouting. Former Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi is also supposedly joining the team as a special assistant. I suppose the organizational flowchart will be in flux for a while and we might not fully know who's-who and what's-what but I suspect it will come together at some point. The Giants are making changes just like they said they would. Perhaps by the end of the week we'll have some new bodies in Giants uniforms as well.

--M.C.

Thus Spoke Bossman

This was the tail end of a longer piece from LarryB on the website. You can read it here.

A sampling:

You’d think with all the ups and downs of the game I’d have learned how to accept them as simply part of the life cycle of a team. I don’t. We don’t. The expectation of the San Francisco Giants every single year is to contend for the postseason. Falling short any year is a disappointment.

I like to take a guy at his word until he proves I ought not to. Like I said before, it should be an interesting November!

--M.C.

Takin' one for the Team

SD 5  SF 0
That's Bobby Evans, former minor league administrative assistant and now former General Manager. It was quite a ride and it came to an end after twenty-four years. This is the Giants which means they will keep him around--assuming he wants to stay--and find another job for him. But a new GM is on the agenda for Larry Baer and Brian Sabean. Sabes wants to stay upstairs, his late night poker games are a thing of the past. BobbyE was supposed to do that part of the job but it didn't work out. Brian's a family man, and made the mistake of hiring another like himself. The Giants probably need an outsider who will clash with senior management and ownership now and again just to keep the water in the hot tub fresh. We'll see if they can pull it off. I don't expect anything splashy, like luring Kim Ng away from the Commisioner's Office, but some new blood seems likely.

In the meantime the Giants got shut out by the Padres, at home no less. On the bright side that's only the eighth time they've failed to score at least a run this season. They drop to 4-17 for September, a brisk .190 clip.

Chris Stratton tomorrow night.

--M.C.

Stopper Stratton

SF 2  COL 0
I've always hated the idea of a 'stopper' in baseball, it's such a negative thing. Instead of a guy who helps you win you have a guy that stops you from losing. Terrible. But baseball is as much about losing as it is about winning. Kind of like what one guy--I can't remember who--said about writing, that it was really about managing writer's block. I can relate to that. So tonight we got a guy who stopped the losing, and far from a negative thing it was an enormous positive event. I know "enormous" is hyperbolic, by my goodness an eleven-game losing streak is a string of events that even hyperbole can't encompass.

Chris Stratton breathed life into the gasping near-corpse that is the 2018 Giants with a scintillating shutout of the first-place Colorado Rockies. It was his first MLB complete game and the first by a Giants pitcher this season. The 27-year old from Tupelo allowed only two hits and two walks and kept the Rockies from making solid contact all night long with a dazzling array of curveballs and superb command of the fastball and cutter. Despite leading the club in pitcher-wins (10) it has been a hard slog for the former first-rounder. Only half (12 of 25) of his starts have been of the QS variety (min 6 IP, max 3 RA). Eleven times he's lasted five or fewer frames. Eight of those he's allowed four or more runs. But at the end of August he threw eight scoreless against the D-Backs at home and followed that with a solid effort against the Mets. He got rocked in Milwaukee, but responded with his best-ever effort tonight to play the stopper.

The Giants ended their eleven-game slide, the worst in the sixty-year history of the San Francisco franchise. Like I said, baseball is as much about losing as it is about winning. How you manage your losing streaks--and they will come to all ballclubs--says much about you. Just like how players manage those inevitable slumps. They will happen to every one in uniform, no exceptions. The Giants have played themselves into a gaping organizational cavern, and how they'll find their way out is anyone's guess. But at least we can get excited about a terrific performance by a player that will probably be an important piece of next year's team. For tonight, that's all right. Nice work, Strat. Keep it up!

--M.C.

Adios, Andrew

Andrew McCutchen won a lot of fans with his play and demeanor in his short time in San Francisco. Predictably he was traded before the deadline after he cleared waivers. The business part of the game still intrudes rudely despite five decades of fandom. I knew the odds he would be in another uniform by the end of the season were pretty good, and it is a move the organization has to make, but it still stinks. Cutch played with grace and class and was well-liked almost immediately. At 31 and in his tenth season, he's not the 7+ WAR player he was from 2012-2014 when he won the MVP ('13) and finished third in the voting twice ('12, '14). But that doesn't mean he isn't a good player! He leaves leading the team in hits, runs, doubles, homers, RBIs, total bases, and stolen bases. Of the Giants 135 games Cutch has started in 128 and appeared in 130 (most on the team), and also has the most plate appearances. The guy has been a rock in a season of inconsistency. So, farewell to our short-timer, and I would normally wish him well but he wound up on the Yankees, and they're no fun to root for. Maybe he'll hit a bunch of homers in the playoffs but the Bombers will still lose. That'll be OK by me.

McCutchen was the 11th pick of the 2005 draft. Here are some guys drafted ahead of him: Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun, and Troy Tulowitzki. Here are some guys drafted after him (still in the 1st round): Jacoby Ellsbury, Jay Bruce, Jed Lowrie, Clay Buchholz, Colby Rasmus. The Giants did not have a pick until the fourth round that year, and the only significant piece from that draft came with the 852nd pick (28th round): Sergio Romo. The Giants had to give up their picks in the first three rounds as free agent compensation for Armando Benitez, Mike Matheny, and Omar Vizquel.

In return the Giants get two youngsters from the Dominican Republic. One is a 23-year old utility infielder named Abiatal Avelino. He's been in the Yankees system since he was 17 and has some time in the Dominican Winter League but no ML service. The other is an almost-21-year old right handed pitcher named Juan De Paula. He was in the Seattle organization and has seen some time in the Domincan Summer League as well as low-A ball with New York. He also has no ML service. Welcome aboard, FNGs!

--M.C.

7th inning: 8-10

1st inning: 7-11
2nd inning: 12-6
3rd inning: 6-12
4th inning: 10-8
5th inning: 11-7
6th inning: 8-10
7th inning: 8-10

Tonight the Giants had the joy of facing their 2009 number one pick, Zack Wheeler, who is having a great season. Predictably, he kicked ass. He's part of a formidable three-headed rotation that also features Jacob DeGrom and Noah Syndergaard. Wheeler missed all of 2015 and 2016 and much of 2017, but is now popping 98 mph with his fastball. Not that it matters: the Giants make everyone look like an ace. Mickey Calloway probably left Wheeler in for one inning too long, and the Giants tied the game in the 7th, but he still struck out ten against only one walk. It was all for naught as the good guys prevailed in 13 innings, 2-1, the winning run the result of two Mets colliding in left field.

The Mets, like the Giants, expected much more of their season. They were NL Champs in 2015, the year after the Giants won the Series. And they made the Wild Card game the next year, losing of course to the Giants and Madison Bumgarner. Like the Giants, they stunk last season (70-92) and are stinking this season (54-69). They are also on the hook for some big salaries with aging stars: Yoenis Cespedes, David Wright, and Jay Bruce have $113.5M coming in 2019 and 2020. But this isn't about the Mets. It's about the Giants.

At the trade deadline the Giants stood pat. They were 55-54 on July 31st, and five games back, and optimists could say they still had a chance. They followed that with a 6-10 run to effectively jump off the cliff and take themselves out of the race. I know, there are 36 games remaining, but the team can't win games consistently enough to generate any enthusiasm among the fans or strike fear into their NL West opponents. At this point they'll be lucky to finish with a .500 record.

Andrew McCutchen has been placed on revocable waivers (according to Baggs). That's not surprising. They'll give him a chance to exit with some grace and style and it will save the team a few shekels the rest of the way. You have to assume this means the organization is waving the surrender flag. Will another poor season force the staid and conservative Giants into big changes? I can't answer that. They should make some big changes, but I'm not much for should. I'm only interested in what they will actually do. (Not that I don't want to hear what you guys think! The comments section awaits your words.) I'm patient--the big stuff will have to happen in the off-season.

--M.C.

101

OAK 6  SF 5 (10)
It's a truism among baseball fans that if you praise a player one minute he'll break your heart the next. And the opposite is true as well: if you dis on a cat for poor play he'll kick ass the next time just to smack you down. Naturally I had to rave about BCraw's brilliance last night--he was deserving of the plaudits--and of course the gods would see to it that he'd boot the game-winner for the A's this afternoon. It was an impossible play, one of those perfect bouncers that could not be fielded, but number 35 gets the spotlight for "failure" nonetheless. But this is not to moan about Brandon Crawford, one of the bright spots on this confounding team.

It's been 101 games and that ought to be enough to assess the club's character, and after back-to-back losses to Oakland in extras when starting their two best pitchers, I find it wanting. Not that the fellas don't try hard. When I say "character" I don't mean their virtue, manliness, courage or whatever sports-writing jibber-jabber bandied about by the professional media. I mean it in a purely descriptive sense, not a moral one. The team's character is what emerges and at this point they are a .505 outfit. The 51-50 record is a fair assessment--they are strictly middle-of-the-pack.

There were plenty of reasons to believe the Giants would be really bad this season, instead they've shown us, at times, some terrific play. They just can't seem to string wins together which is what they'll need if they expect to chase a playoff spot in their final 61 contests. Neither Johnny Cueto today nor Madison Bumgarner yesterday could pitch as well as the rookie did on Friday night. At this point in the season it's Dereck Rodriguez I want to see, along with Andrew Suarez, Ray Black, Reyes Moronta, Steven Duggar, Austin Slater and I think you catch my drift. The expensive veteran-heavy lineup is not good enough, and the expensive veteran-heavy starting rotation can't get it done, either. The youngsters are taking up more of the roster spots and they deserve to.

There are eight more games before the July 31st trade deadline. Do you expect any significant moves? I don't, the only pieces they might have to move are pieces they ought to keep like the aforementioned newbies. Any big-time vet (like Brandon Belt, another bright spot) would only go if a playoff-bound team had a catastrophic injury to a first baseman and had the payroll to add a guy still owed $51+M. But I've no claim to insight or insider knowledge, I've really no fookin' clue what the Giants are thinking. I expect it is something to the effect of "hold on the rest of the way" and hope to finish over .500 and thus stay, at least mathematically, in the fight for the second Wild Card until the middle of September. That's the boring, conservative move, but good for institutional morale, in the sense that it means you are showing confidence in your guys to keep improving.

So that's it, I suppose. Be a good fan and hope to see some improved play. Have faith that the talent that's there will ultimately show itself and wins will start to come in bunches. All right, then. I'm ready! They're off tomorrow and then play two in Seattle before coming home on Thursday. It's a Suarez start, something to savor.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Trade Season

The Giants have started their trade season by unloading Austin Jackson and Cory Gearrin (along with A-level RHP Jason Bahr) to the Texas Rangers. It seems the Rangers wanted Bahr who has been dominating in the low minors (117-2/3 IP, 95 H, 34 W, 139 K) and had to take a package deal to get him. This frees up a couple of million bucks for the Giants to make--perhaps--a modest addition at the deadline and stay under the cap. Jackson's .604 OPS is the worst of his career and puts him in the bottom twenty of all MLB hitters with at least 150 PA.

The two roster spots will be filled by Steven Duggar who gets his chance to help in the big-league outfield, and Ray Black, he of the 100-mph fastball. We've all felt the team needs to get younger and with Duggar (24) joining Austin Slater (25) maybe that's starting to happen. They were forced to get younger in the starting rotation with all the oldsters getting hurt; seems like Dereck Rodriguez (26) and Andrew Suarez (25) have earned the right to stay. Black is 28 but replaces 32-year old Gearrin who was very effective last season but inconsistent this year. The rest of the 'pen has set a pretty high bar and Gearrin was at the bottom of the heap. Black, just to whet your appetite, has 240 strikeouts in 125-2/3 innings over five seasons. He's also got 87 walks!

Madison Bumgarner gets the ball today. Let's hope the Giants bats come to life and they can get a win behind their big star.

--M.C.

Number Two and .500*

The Giants selected Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart as their first pick (second overall) in the draft. Here's the MLB profile on him. His "comp" is Matt Wieters. Wieters was a first-rounder (fifth overall) in 2007. The Giants drafted Madison Bumgarner that year with the tenth pick. Baseball America lists Bart as the best catcher in the draft. The buzz on this guy besides his size and power is that unlike most amateur catchers he calls his own games. I'll leave all the analysis and prognosticating to the experts--I think the Giants know what they are doing. First-rounders have a pretty good chance of long-term ML success so I'm hoping for good things. It is interesting that they took a college catcher who might only be 3-4 years away (he's 21) from the bigs and in fact could get his shot sooner. Buster Posey is signed through 2021 and there's a team option for 2022, so you get where this is going. Bart will be groomed as the heir-apparent I expect.

One never knows how these things will turn out but I'm excited to have a new ballplayer in the system (assuming he signs). Welcome to the club, lad. Go Giants!

--M.C.


update: The Giants had the second pick of the second round (45th overall) and selected Sean Hjelle (pronounced like 'jelly'), a 6'11" right-handed pitcher from the University of Kentucky. I suppose the Giants grabbed a real giant, if he makes the bigs he'd match Jon Rauch as the tallest ballplayer all-time. Their next pick is #80 in the third round tomorrow.

*update: The Giants clobber the D-Backs 10-3 behind a four-homer, three-double barrage. Boch pinch-hit Alan Hanson for Derek Holland in the bottom of the 4th and his bases-loaded double broke a 2-2 tie and the rout was on. Reyes Moronta (1), Pierce Johnson (2), Cory Gearrin (1), and Ty Blach (1) finished up and only Gearrin allowed a run. The Giants are back to .500 and MadBum pitches tomorrow!

Roster Moves

Mac Williamson was among today's cuts to the Opening Day roster. He had a good spring but there's a logjam for the two outfield spots. Williamson apparently still has an option and Jarrett Parker does not. Mac won't like going to AAA but he may have a chance of a promotion later. It's fish-or-cut-bait time for both of those guys, if Parker fails to impress I imagine they'll trade him to free up space. Non-roster invitee Steven Duggar is still in the mix for the 5th OF spot, he'll have to get past Gorkys Hernandez. That's assuming Gregor Blanco gets the 4th spot, and the word is that he's looked good so far. But really only three OF spots are taken: Hunter Pence and the FNGs Austin Jackson and Andrew McCutchen.

Derek Law and Tyler Beede are also headed to AAA. When the Giants picked up Tony Watson that made the bullpen squeeze a little tighter. I thought Law might stick, but I knew Beede would go down. Our 2014 1st-round pick has yet to develop after 400+ professional innings (zero in the bigs). He turns 25 in May so he's still got time. Rule V pick Julian Fernandez, Josh Osich, and FNG Derek Holland survived this round of cuts. We'll see who sticks.

--M.C.

Cactus League

Exhibition baseball is here and the Giants have started the great two-oh-one-eight roster shake-down. It's not going to feature much drama as the big spots have already been filled. The infield is set with Brandons Belt & Crawford, Joe Panik, and FNG Evan Longoria. Buster Posey and Nick Hundley will share the catching duties. The outfield trio of Hunter Pence with FNGs Austin Jackson and Andrew McCutchen is also set. That's nine guys. The rotation will have the big three of Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, and Jeff Samardzija. Now we are up to twelve. The bullpen will feature Mark Melancon, Sam Dyson, Hunter Strickland, Cory Gearrin, and FNG Tony Watson. (Will Smith will make the team but is still healing from TJS, we'll have to count his spot, too.) That bring us to seventeen, eighteen with Smith's spot. All the rest of the guys in camp will be competing for the final seven places on the 25-man roster.

There will be two more starters: Chris Stratton is the obvious pick; Ty Blach, Andrew Suarez, Derek Holland and the rest will fight for the other spot. Derek Law and Steven Okert could both make the bullpen. That's a 12-man staff already. With the nine position players listed above only four openings remain. Two will be outfielders, perhaps a non-roster invitee like Steven Duggar will surprise us, or we'll see a familiar face like Jarrett Parker, Mac Williamson, or even Austin Slater. I think Pablo Sandoval has a good shot at one backup spot--he plays both corners and could probably still catch in a pinch. He's got some pop and hits from both sides, but the biggest appeal is that he costs nothing. With the team oh-so-close to the luxury tax threshold I suspect that could be important. That means we may see a rookie bump a veteran guy like Gregor Blanco so they can save a few bucks. Kelby Tomlinson probably has the inside track for chief utility man--how many guys have a  homer off Clayton Kershaw on their résumé? But I suppose even that job is open, at least Orlando Calixte hopes so.

I'm not expecting any earth-shattering news out of camp and I'm tuning out all injury reports. I had enough of injured players last season. The key to the 2018 club is to get the talented guys on the field and keep them on the field! That's up to the gods, of course, and I've had my fill of them as well. So I'll face those issues with irrepressible American optimism and psychological defense mechanisms like denial.

It's still winter here in the State of Jefferson despite Spring's best efforts to ruin everything. My ski buddy and I traveled to Wyoming and Utah to find some powder and when we got home our local mountain (just over the Oregon border) came to life. I'm getting up early tomorrow for fresh tracks, hoping the 6-10" forecast comes true. It may be baseball weather in the desert but I want to squeeze out a few more weeks of cold and snow so I can get my fill on the slopes.

I'm excited about the upcoming season. I think the club did some good work in the off-season and worked creatively with the budget and the roster to make the needed improvements. As we found out in 2017 it can all go to shit in a hurry, but I like what I see and I expect a spirited pennant race.

Let me know your thoughts about the impending fight in the NL West and be sure to straighten me out on my personnel lists. Did I overlook anyone? The first real game isn't until the 29th of March (in LA vs. Dodgers) so there is plenty of time. Any stories coming out of Spring Training that we need to talk about?

As always, GO GIANTS!

--M.C.