The Giants lost their fifth game in a row yesterday to the Kansas City Royals by a score of 5-4. Once again the bullpen was not able to hold the lead. Once again a Giant starting pitcher ran out of gas in a critical moment. Once again the Giants lost a one-run game and are now 1-5 after the All Star Break. All three losses to the Royals were decided by one run. Combined with a one-run loss to the Mariners on Sunday that makes four of five one-run losses. The Sweep in Kansas City is most disappointing when you consider the Royals had a record even worse than San Francisco going into the game on Monday.
The loss means the Giants now have a record of 42-60 compared to the Royals mark of 43-60. Maybe the strategy for our beloved San Francisco ball club is to tank? After 102 games the Giants will need to go 21-39 or better to avoid 100 losses for the first time in franchise history.
Some of the Giants stats may suggest this team is not as bad as their record.
Let’s take a look at this excerpt from Grant Brisbee’s wrap of yesterday’s game:
Base Runs is a statistic that takes all of the baseball events of a team’s season and estimates how many runs they “should have” scored and allowed. According to this, the Giants aren’t just the unluckiest team in baseball, but they’re the unluckiest by a decent margin. They should be 51-51 and right in the thick of the National League wild-card race, at least according to the baseball-events smoothie spit out by this one stat.
Here is my reply: Luck has nothing to do with it. The Giants are a generationally-bad, underachieving team for a long list of reasons:
- A Manager who consistently makes bad bullpen, pinch-running, and position replacement decisions
- A very poor defensive team
- A team with no fire, no hustle
- A team that consistently makes critical mental errors (forgetting the outs, not covering bases on force plays)
- A team that has no athleticism on the bases
- A generationally-bad bullpen
- Black holes in starters thee and four
- A first half slump from the sluggers that crippled the season
We have arrived at a point in the season where there is nothing left to lose. Even if the Giants go on a 15-game winning streak like the Red Sox just did it will not save their season. So in a way, we are at a liberating moment. If I am Buster Posey, I am doing one thing when I wake up this morning: planning for next year and beyond. I am not even thinking of this season. This means I am wheeling and dealing to find assets for the pitching staff. I am replacing my Manager and acknowledging my mistake in hiring a College guy who never sniffed the Big Leagues and who has zero credibility with the players. I am playing as much young talent as I can to see what my asets are in trades and for the future. I am preparing for next year’s draft; and lastly, I am doing an autopsy on this year’s team to identify the disease that is causing the mental errors the lack of hustle, the complacency and the epidemic of losing baseball that has spread among nearly all the players. Make no mistake, Giants fans, Losing, like winning, is contagious. The contagion of losing is like a cloud all over this team. That contagion includes players who show up the Manager when replaced by a pinch-runner, players who think it too stressful to run out fly balls and grounders, players who simply do not have the focus and the fire necessary to be parts of a winning culture. Players who cannot make routine plays likek fielding a bunt cleanly when the game is on the line. The losing culture of this team begins at the top and Buster Posey must take responsibility.
Those who say things like “well, it’s difficult moving a contract like Devers’s or Chapman’s” My reply is simple: Do what it takes to change the culture of this team. I am not laying all the blame at the feet of Chapman or Devers, by no means. What I am saying is the Giants are going to lose 90-95 games with these players and Adames. They can lose 95 games without them. The one player of the big contracts who seems irreplaceable right now is Willy as the Giants have nobody to play shortstop at this level at the moment. With regards to the black holes in the bullpen and the starting rotation, those needs must addressed immediately, at least in planning to meet them the Giants need to create a blueprint to improve for next season. To be more specific it means exploring next year’s free agents, it means promoting young arms, exploring trades and so forth.
The first step in ending failure and building towards success is identifying the source or sources of failure and fixing them or erasing them. The second step is making the right changes going forward. The sooner a team or an individual does these things the faster the arrival at success. The Giants can look at this lost season as part of Buster’s learning or growth period. If I am ownership I gently tell Buster it’s time to plan for 2027. We can look at things this way: The Giants now have the luxury of time, of conceding this year and planning for 2027. I would also begin changes in the clubhouse culture. I would not wait one day to fire Tony Vitello and bring in a Major League caliber Manager. I would send a message to the fans and to the organization that this record and this overall failure is not acceptable, will not be tolerated and will be addressed right away. That message needs to come from Posey if he and the Giants want to restore faith and optimism among the fan base and players.
The People Have Spoken!
Let’s let the fans have the last words today:
THIS is what baseball looks like when you have a disconnected ownership group that thinks it’s a good idea to hire an ex MLB catcher with absolutely no front office experience to run an organization. An ex player Giants fans worship and trust. An ex player Bay Area baseball writers are terrified of criticizing. An ex player with absolutely no experience as a baseball executive. Let alone, the experience to actually lead the entire organization
It takes a very specialized skill set to run a successful franchise in 2026. Complex risk management, amortization expertise, advanced analytical skills, advanced scouting, medical and multi-tier leadership and organizational skills. And you can’t do it all…So, staffing is Huge. Like any other industry, you need great contacts and people you trust with similar skills philosophies. While I’d assume Posey has solid relationships on the player side of the game, aside from his agent what relationships if any exist across the industry?
This isn’t a job for a retired multi millionaire ex ball player.
Successful POBs like Andrew Friedman, Matt Arnold, Erik Neander are experts at creating winning organization from the top down. They also know everybody and know how properly staff. Player development, bio medical, analytics they surround themselves with really good people. They do everything well. And they forecast 3-4 years ahead.
Unsurprisingly, Buster Posey has been an absolute disaster. It’s only July and The San Francisco Giants are 18 games below .500 w -63 DIFF,
the financial commitments to Devers, Adames and Chapman, organizationally are massive. From a player development side, Posey and his staff a received national notoriety when the they promoted Eldridge and completely botched his introduction into the league. They somehow thought the best way to develop the organizations top prospect was to Not play him everyday? This was just embarrassingly laughable…..And people across baseball took notice.
I mean, Posey extended Bob Melvin to a multi million dollar extension last season. Then a few months late he fired him. Next, he believed his best candidate to manage the San Francisco Giants was college guy?
Casual fans will say ‘ ownership didn’t give Posey enough money’ No, ownership gave him 230 Million to spend. Matt Arnold in Milwaukee gets 100 million less from his ownership and Neander only gets 80 million.
And they Win and they will continue to win.
Casual fans will also say ‘ the bullpen is terrible that’s why we loose’
Bullpen isn’t great but that’s not why the Giants lose. The Giants loose baseball games because they do not score enough runs . They have only scored 417 runs. That’s why they lose. 27th in baseball and dead last in the National league in runs scored.
Buster Posey was a great baseball player. A local legend. A hero. And that’s great! But as a baseball executive he’s been remarkably terrible. And in MLB the accountability of this shit team rests on his shoulders. Hes the president of baseball operations. He built this roster. It’s his creation. It was Posey’s idea to hire an ex college coach with zero pro ball experience to run the team.
Smart Giants fans need to figure out how to psychologically separate Buster Posey the great baseball player from Buster Posey the failed baseball executive
Since this season effectively ended before Mother’d Day, I think a more useful exercise would be to peek into the future to see what can be done to bring the Giants back from the dead.
Unless the Giants can miraculously move. Chapman, Adames or even Devers off the team by August 3, they will remain the core of next year’s team. Ditto for Lee, Ramos and Schmidt, who, at least, are having decent seasons. That makes 6 spots already given in next year’s starting lineup; 7 when you add in Eldridge, who has shown he is potentially a difference making player. That leaves two open spots on the roster for improvement; catcher and center field. Given the financial burden of carrying the Chapman, Adames Devers contracts, my guess is that the Giants go the cheap route by having Susac and Rodriguez as the primary catchers, with Cavanaugh also in the mix. Center field; maybe a rookie like Dakota or one of their prospects. Ironically, Arraez, who has been by far the Giants best player (on BOTH sides of the ball) won’t be on next year’s team unless the Giants make a real effort to extend him before August 3.
That leaves the pitching staff. Other than Webb and Roupp, the Giants need to add at least four more reliable staters. Whisenhunt is a potential candidate. Mahle, mercifully, will be gone. Houser has to be DFA’d if the Giants can’t find a taker for him. The bullpen needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.
Winn,Killian, Miller and Foley are OK, provided that they are not be allowed to pitch in any inning after the 6th. That means the Giants need to find three more relievers who can reliably cover the 7th and 8th innings.
And, they must, absolutely, positively, move heaven and earth to get an experienced reliable closer.
Last, but not least, is the manager. I was one of those Giants fans who was willing to give the Vitello experiment a chance. I think what Vitello has demonstrated this season is that this is the MLB, and amateurs cannot be expected to run a team. Buster has to swallow his pride and admit his out of the box move hasn’t worked. The Giants need a real manager running the team whenever the next MLB season rolls around
Giants are situational bad. The team is worse than statistics suggest. The Owners and FO have created a team worse than its parts with subpar and shallow pitching depth. Frustrating.
-BSTDFA
It’s only Wednesday and I’m already workshopping titles for Saturday’s Out of Left Field.
Worst Team in Baseball
Worst Team Ever
Buster’s Losers
50 Ways to Lose a Ballgame
#NothingLikeIt
Any votes? Anything to add to the list?
-Dr. Lefty
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