Fake Worry
The Giants flagshit NFBCsportsBA had a tweet yesterday about this *ominous* MRI for Ray and I thought “oh shit” he’s blown out his arm. And then you read the article and it’s just a tender hammy. LOL. Who cares? He’ll be fine next year and hopefully he is able to solidify a spot in the rotation. The tweet suggested that our playoff chances are somehow ruined to which is said “Playoffs? PLAYOFFS!!! PLAYOFFS? Are you kidding?”
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Hah! One of the greatest presser rants of all time.
Up there with “Practice. Practice. Practice???”
Were talking about practice!
Before this season, I gave the Gyros an 87 win optimistic run. I think I was dyslexic. With this brutal last month coming up, I think they’ll end up no better than 78 Ws, and maybe as low as 75. They just don’t have the firepower to hang with these playoff teams. The best thing to come from the last 5 weeks is more reps for the young players that have a shot at being part of it next season…
I thought they could do 8-9 games better than last year. 88. Nope.
Danny Jansen gets the supreme distinction of playing for 2 teams in the same game today.
He was up to bat for the BJays in a game that was suspended back in June. He was since traded to the Red Sox, and after his AB for Toronoto, will then finish the game for Boston.
Hopefully he gets a home run for both teams. That would be a trip.
I think Ray, Snell, and Chappie all go away. Without a doubt. Regardless of how the rest of the season goes, someone will throw money at Ray that we won’t bother matching. So all our ‘big spending’ will have been cut in more than half with Soler gone as well.
Pretending they are contending.
we shall see. I think Ray stays because, well, he hasn’t done shit to pay up for this year.
But we’ll still have Tom Murphy for $4 mil.
good. Love.thst guy. Get healthy
Lol Loco… Murphy doesn’t even have an injury anymore he’s like the Steve Miller song :”Take the money and Run”What a terrible signing, especially with what Bart’s 12 bombs and now the everyday catcher for Pirates.
Farhan continues to make bone head decisions! Hey let’s sign Cavan Biggio a useless player for atleast the last 4 years.He definitely didn’t end up with the old man’s Craig( HOF) pedigree..
Another off day? Shit. And 15 days off till football. And we get the Monday Night opener at home vs the Jets. Woo hoo!
Rodgers is 6-3 reg season vs SF but 0-4 in the playoffs!!!
BA and Williams sign today/tomorrow.
Why didn’t the Niners sign BA 3-4 months ago? The longer they waited, the more WRs across the league signed for ever increasing $, jacking up the market. Now, the Kaboys just signed CeeDee Lamb for a gazillion over 4 years and a big guarantee. I don’t get it, the wait seems dumb to me from a Niner org perspective…
Wish I knew. They could have avoided all this with him.
Sobering thoughts and meandering musings on August 26th.
Giants have finished soft underbelly of schedule. Only 2 of 10 series since All Star break vs above .500 teams (unless you include Mariners who are 1 game over .500 only after taking 2 of 3 from Giants this weekend).
Now brutal gauntlet to close season. 8 of last 10 series vs teams currently holding down solid playoff positions. 7 series opponents (Milwaukee home/away, Arizona home/away, San Diego home/away and Baltimore away) listed as 95% or better to make playoffs and 8th series opponent (Kansas City away) listed as 85% likely to make playoffs. That 8 series against virtual locks to make playoffs with 5 of 8 series on road. Giants 10 games under .500 away from Oracle Park.
Outside of moribund Marlins this weekend and .500 Cardinals to close season at Oracle, remaining schedule very big hill to climb. According to Tankathon, Giants have toughest last five weeks of season of all 30 MLB teams with .542 Strength of Schedule.
If Giants somehow climb hill and reach summit, congrats to them and hooray for us. But given their record vs superior teams and road record this year, who expects Giants to close 20-10 and make playoffs.
Three possible scenarios for Giants 2024 campaign to play out. (1) Go on unexpected run and snare wild card berth. Great but extremely unlikely. (2) Finish with 78-82 wins and miss playoffs by 5+/- games. Perhaps most likely outcome. (3) Have September collapse like last year and finish with mid -70’s win total and never make serious run at wild card berth. Less plausible than Scenario 2 but more likely than Scenario 1.
Here’s real question. If Giants finish in 78-82 win category but miss playoffs, will ownership make sweeping changes of front office and hire new head of baseball operations and possibly new manager? Or would it take epic collapse and win total at or below 75 to force ownership’s hand.
I’ve said it before. I thought Farhan Zaidi was astute and correct hire in 2018. Further, Zaidi should not bear sole responsibility for Giants failures past six years. But I believe the front office requires a reset and fresh approach. The current constant roster upheavel a la San Francisco/Sacramento revolving door, 1 and 2 year player opt out contracts, failure to snag marquee free agents and overall fundamentally inept baseball (baserunning and fielding miscues and most importantly ineptitude with runners in scoring position) calls for immediate change.
I can’t speak for fellow SF Giant bloggers (I wouldn’t dare to) but yours truly is very tired of malaise which has enveloped Giants past decade. Let’s be candid: Giants aren’t close to competing with elite teams. It doesn’t mean they can’t capture magic in the bottle and go on majestic playoff run (see 2014 Giants) but very unlikely.
Therefore if 20-10 finish doesn’t happen this year I would just as easy settle on 10-20 finish as 15-15 finish if it tips scales on Giant ownership making meaningful changes in front office. And I think Kim Ng, former Marlins GM, should be at front of line to succeed Zaidi.
Excellent and accurate summary of Giants situation. Along with AK (I think), I’m with you about Zaidi being shit canned and Ms. Ng being hired.
One other thing about Zaidi that I find fascinating and ironic is that for a guy that is so “hands on” and seemingly detail oriented, (here comes the irony part) Zaidi has a team that is “inept” in baserunning, preventing steals, and other basic baseball skills. Go figure . . .
Blade, agree with you wholeheartedly. Zaidi came to Giants with true baseball pedigree. Evans had to go and I applauded Zaidi hire. But Giant ineptitude at baseball fundamentals in all aspects of game is glaring and frankly unacceptable at MLB level. Do you see front office shakeup as distinct possibility if season ends as expected or is my belief in needed change just pipe dream?
Frankly, I think both of us are wishing for a “pipe dream.” Pee Wee Johnson is a penny pincher in my opinion. Consequently, I think he will want to allow Zaidi’s contract to run to its length of 2026 . . . sigh.
I agree with a lot of this. I dunno if a mid-70s Win finish will make ownership strike off Farhan, but it sure won’t make the Fan base want him back…
We are the A’s now. The ownership group cares about the land around the stadium and the tax dodge that the ballteam is.
Farhan is the perfect foil. They re-upped him after 5 years of sucking and mediocrity. The farm teams are in the same boat as 6 years ago. The only reason we aren’t completely shitty is because they’ve added so many playoff spots.
Why would they change now?
Chuck, so you think Zaidi and Melvin back regardless of how last 5 weeks of season play out? What about Snarkk’s point about fan base revolt causing ownership to act? I ask cause I’m east coast guy puzzled by SF ownership mentality of focusing on bottom line revenue versus on field success. If you think front office change unlikely under any scenario, I’m more depressed about Giants short-term ability to compete.
Sure. MoTel likely gets one more year. Or not. As shown last year, the onus for shitty was squarely placed on Kapler despite the usual front office shenanigans and inactivity at the deadline.
Farhan is safe.
I think the Farhan rubber meets the road no later than right after the annual re-up letter to the season tix holders goes out from Baer or whatever other lackey now signs it. If the reaction to that letter is a lot of thumbs down and FUs, or maybe yes/maybe no, or yeah, I’ll re-up if you shake up the FO and ditch Farhan, then he is in trouble…
“We are the A’s now.” Well, Zaidi did bring Michael Holmes over from the A’s to be the Senior Director of Amateur Scouting.
The ultimate problem is ownership.
They say they want to win, they spend money like they do, but do it stupidly (then un-spend it like getting rid of the mistake Soler), and the managing partner Johnson says crap like
But we also represent a group that hopefully our goal is to somewhat break even, which is somewhat a challenge in this business
I would not recognize Greg Johnson if he knocked on my front door. Would any of you? Not much different than John Fisher of the A’s.
Greg, if you want to win, how can your farm system be as crappy now as it was 6 years ago when your new management took over?
Great points all. Sobering. Our hope is that (according to Athletic article by Brisbee or Baggs) the ownership DOES care about attendance. Below 30k a game they lose value on the park and the development. That is what pushed the spending last offseason. If true, they will be more inclined to change things if the attendance drops again, like it did in post covid years. A very likely scenario if we finish 10-20 in Sept. Hard to root for that as a fan though
I think the Johnson’s and the minor owners run the team like a business. The department heads submit their budgets to the owners who set a number to create the budget. When the President of Baseball Operations (Zaidi) wants to go past his player budget he has to submit that to the voting members and they yae or nay it. Even though he’s one of the partners, I’d imagine Larry has to go through a similar process as President & Chief Executive Officer.
I think the Johnsons care very little about day-to-day operations, they aren’t like Magowan or Bowtie, they don’t sit in the stands to watch the games. Last year they kept Zaidi but told him to change his approach. which he did, but he again assembled a .500 team. My guess is that for the extra dollars spent, but having the same results, they will eat his contract. They probably won’t fill the position and just go with GM Putila.
If Joe Lacob owned the Giants, this organization would quickly take on an entirely different vibe. Currently, I’d describe it as resigned mediocrity…
Well, Farhan didn’t change his approach. All he has been doing is getting mid-level guys and signing them to 1 year opt-outs. The trade deadlines have been very uninteresting to say the least. Even when they were in better shape than this year.
When the opt-outs go, and their dumpage of Soler (three-year deals MUST go!), our payroll is once again middling to bottom third.
We will once again have holes to fill in the rotation, the infield, and some desperate prayers from the farm.
I didn’t take much stock in Greggie’s comment last year of ‘breaking even’ as it sounded like someone who wasn’t quite sure of what he was saying, but yeah, it is a business to them. A tax write-off. They got fucking Visa to put their HQ on the Willie Mac softball field. These guys are laughing all the way to the Bohemian Grove. The hookers and blow are plentiful.
2021 was a long time ago, and that was built on the bore core for the most part. Farhan’s drafts have been fair to poor. The farm is no better than it was in 2019. If they gave Farhan an extension after the last 5 years, why would the next few be any different?
The owners could give two shits about what the fans think. Sure, the uproar will be mighty when OTS, Chappie, and Rachel Ray go, but Farhan will gladly take the softball questions from the local guys, and spew how aggressively they will go after Juan Soto.
Ahhhhhh. 5.5 out. And I’m worried about the 49ers. This is shaping up to be a painful fall.