(07-22-2022, 07:04 AM)Phogge Wrote: Most anyone can lose the ball during twilight but Gonzalez is an adventure waiting to happen. Betts is an incomparable baseball player and with apologies to Trout perhaps the most valuable to his team in all of MLB. Has anyone seen him ever make a mistake?
Injuries have caused Belt to become overmatched at the plate. Hurray for the bunt single. You can’t resign him because he can’t stay healthy.
Who called the third breaking pitch to Alberto? Fastball up and out of the zone on two strikes was to me a no brainer. Rodon needs an effective third pitch.
Joey Bart had two T Ball sliders after he swung at a slider way away. Could’t do anything with them. He is still a multi year project and they still need a catcher.
And when you get down to actually advancing in the playoffs, regardless of how bad they are in the field and in the bullpen, they need a third starter. Junis, Wood and Cobb don’t cut it.
While we wait for Luciano, Pomares, Matos, Schmidt, Vaun Brown, Roby, Bishop and others what do they do?
Off the top of my head……
Starting pitching and offense are not the problem (SF is ranked #1 in MLB in starting pitching in a metric noted in a recent The Athletic article). Unfortunately, defense and bullpen were both rated in the bottom 5 in MLB.
When asked about what can be done to improve the D, Zaidi acknowledged that lack of range is a problem that can only be solved by playing guys who can get to the grounders that are currently getting through to the OF. Otherwise, it is all about making the routine plays. Reading between the lines, I think we will see some big changes on the infield next year. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Giants with a new 1B and 3B. Crawford is signed through next year so his departure will occur after 2023. I’m not sure about Estrada. He is very inconsistent.
In addition, the OF needs an injection of athleticism in LF. Peterson/Ruf are DH’s masquerading as OF’s.
Going into the season, I think the Giants felt they could get by with an older, slower team by outpitching/outhitting the opposition. They had no illusions they were a team full of Brooks Robinsons.
Unfortunately, the D has been far worse than expected.
As for the bullpen, where does one start. In a nutshell, it has been a mess. Lex did a nice job of addressing the inconsistency from year to year.
And as Sabean used to say, you build a pitching staff from the back to the front. The Core Four was a perfect example of what he was talking about.
What to do?
Begin the transition to the next generation now.
#1 Find guys who are younger and have a history of demonstrated success getting to ground balls and can catch the damn ball when it is hit in the air.
#2 Find guys who can run.
#3 Open Johnson’s wallet and sign a big bat.
SF isn’t far from returning to glory. However, it will take making some courageous moves that may not be popular.