Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Susac debuts, Giants march to mediocrity continues

susac


Another loss at home, but who cares we have the best garlic fries and announcers in baseball. GREAT!!

from Giants Extra:
POSTGAME NOTES: The Giants raved about Andrew Susac on Tuesday, because the rest of the night was hard to talk about - Giants Extra:
— Why are we talking Susac and only Susac? Well, did you see that game? Right. Game story is here for the masochists. The theme is a simple one: You can complain about Gregor Blanco hitting second or Dan Uggla being in the lineup at all, but the Giants are slumping because their key guys aren’t on the same page. Some nights it’s Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval hitting, some nights it’s Posey and Michael Morse. They’re never stringing it together though, and that’s how you end up scoring six runs in six games.
'via Blog this'

The positives:
  • Belt may be coming back soon. He may be rusty, and yet he may still be better than 7 of the 8 hitters currently trolling the Giants lineup right now. Hell, he might be better than all eight if he wraps his knuckles and hits cross-handed.
The negatives:
  • Cain gets a second opinion from the Dr. Kervorkian of surgeons Dr. James Andrews
  • Angel Pagan is still sipping margaritas somewhere, no ETA on his return from his balky back injury
This team is now steam rolling towards .500 or worse and we approach the trade deadline leaving GM Brain Sabean in the position of having to decide seriously whether to abruptly down-shift from buyer to seller. Is this team worth mortgaging a(nother) piece(s) of its future to try to stop the bleeding that is this teams record. 

Would Giants fans even care or notice? Probably not. I was watching Bloomberg this AM and the talking head expert on Silicon Valley and all things social media was asked to opine on the Giants fortunes by the moderator and he tilted his head like a dog trying to understand his masters commands and said "Well, the Giants have the second best record in baseball...er, the NL. Right?" WRONG GENIUS!!! 

As of today, the Giants record is .533 at 57-50 -- SIXTH in the NL behind the  Cardinals -- who are elevating through .533 not ripping through it from above like a falling knife. 

LA Dodgers .563
Nationals .548
Brewers .546
Braves .542
Cardinals .533 (56-49)
Giants .533  (57-50)

Giants fans and management have to look square in the eye the very real possibility that this team may not even finish the season above .500 with guys leaving the lineup in droves with faux-injuries.

Sabean and management may decide their time is better spent primping the composition of the 2015-2016 roster than trying to salvage the playoff prospects of this 2014 roster.

It would not surprise me at all if Sergio Romo follows the Matt Cain injury, story line / paper trail. There is a reason why the once un-hittable slider has all of a sudden lost it's swerve and ended up as a souvenir with increasing frequency -- much like Cain's. Romo isn't going to take himself out of the lineup or go into the trainer's room for an X-ray on his own, but all you have to do is watch the action of the ball and the reaction of hitters when they hit it. Romo will either go down with a bad elbow or whiplash from watching all those hangers getting banged into the seats. So mark down a closer for the trade-deadline shopping list.

It wouldn't surprise me if Morse's production isn't linked to a back injury considering the violence he puts into his swing and the way he's been bounced around from LF to 1B due to Belt's injury. His swing has lost some of that juice he had earlier in the season and the fence-scraper he hit last night does little or nothing to change my opinion on that. Mark down a decision on LF for next year, unless you haven't seen enough out of Morse/Blanco/ Perez/Colvin.

How about CF? As much as I like Pagan when healthy, how much of the Giants eggs of fortune are you willing to toss into the basket of Pagans's balky back? How many years do we march down this trail of tears?

The once vaunted pitching staff appears to be crumbling under the weight of the offense's lack of productivity. By a show of hands, how many Giants fans thought the game was effectively over when the Giants went down 3-0 in the 2nd inning last night? Not very many.

The ship be sinking. How low can it go? Sky's the limit. 


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Giants Top Minor League Prospects

  • 1. Joey Bart 6-2, 215 C Power arm and a power bat, playing a premium defensive position. Good catch and throw skills.
  • 2. Heliot Ramos 6-2, 185 OF Potential high-ceiling player the Giants have been looking for. Great bat speed, early returns were impressive.
  • 3. Chris Shaw 6-3. 230 1B Lefty power bat, limited defensively to 1B, Matt Adams comp?
  • 4. Tyler Beede 6-4, 215 RHP from Vanderbilt projects as top of the rotation starter when he works out his command/control issues. When he misses, he misses by a bunch.
  • 5. Stephen Duggar 6-1, 170 CF Another toolsy, under-achieving OF in the Gary Brown mold, hoping for better results.
  • 6. Sandro Fabian 6-0, 180 OF Dominican signee from 2014, shows some pop in his bat. Below average arm and lack of speed should push him towards LF.
  • 7. Aramis Garcia 6-2, 220 C from Florida INTL projects as a good bat behind the dish with enough defensive skill to play there long-term
  • 8. Heath Quinn 6-2, 190 OF Strong hitter, makes contact with improving approach at the plate. Returns from hamate bone injury.
  • 9. Garrett Williams 6-1, 205 LHP Former Oklahoma standout, Giants prototype, low-ceiling, high-floor prospect.
  • 10. Shaun Anderson 6-4, 225 RHP Large frame, 3.36 K/BB rate. Can start or relieve
  • 11. Jacob Gonzalez 6-3, 190 3B Good pedigree, impressive bat for HS prospect.
  • 12. Seth Corry 6-2 195 LHP Highly regard HS pick. Was mentioned as possible chip in high profile trades.
  • 13. C.J. Hinojosa 5-10, 175 SS Scrappy IF prospect in the mold of Kelby Tomlinson, just gets it done.
  • 14. Garett Cave 6-4, 200 RHP He misses a lot of bats and at times, the plate. 13 K/9 an 5 B/9. Wild thing.

2019 MLB Draft - Top HS Draft Prospects

  • 1. Bobby Witt, Jr. 6-1,185 SS Colleyville Heritage HS (TX) Oklahoma commit. Outstanding defensive SS who can hit. 6.4 speed in 60 yd. Touched 97 on mound. Son of former major leaguer. Five tool potential.
  • 2. Riley Greene 6-2, 190 OF Haggerty HS (FL) Florida commit.Best HS hitting prospect. LH bat with good eye, plate discipline and developing power.
  • 3. C.J. Abrams 6-2, 180 SS Blessed Trinity HS (GA) High-ceiling athlete. 70 speed with plus arm. Hitting needs to develop as he matures. Alabama commit.
  • 4. Reece Hinds 6-4, 210 SS Niceville HS (FL) Power bat, committed to LSU. Plus arm, solid enough bat to move to 3B down the road. 98MPH arm.
  • 5. Daniel Espino 6-3, 200 RHP Georgia Premier Academy (GA) LSU commit. Touches 98 on FB with wipe out SL.

2019 MLB Draft - Top College Draft Prospects

  • 1. Adley Rutschman C Oregon State Plus defender with great arm. Excellent receiver plus a switch hitter with some pop in the bat.
  • 2. Shea Langliers C Baylor Excelent throw and catch skills with good pop time. Quick bat, uses all fields approach with some pop.
  • 3. Zack Thompson 6-2 LHP Kentucky Missed time with an elbow issue. FB up to 95 with plenty of secondary stuff.
  • 4. Matt Wallner 6-5 OF Southern Miss Run producing bat plus mid to upper 90's FB closer. Power bat from the left side, athletic for size.
  • 5. Nick Lodolo LHP TCU Tall LHP, 95MPH FB and solid breaking stuff.