by
Greek Giant
So much for Farhan Zaidi’s “Best rotation in baseball.” Yesterday, in their 6-0 loss to the Brewers in Milwaukee, another Giant starter failed to get to the fifth inning. In this case it was Hayden Birdsong with his 3 2/3 innings of work allowing five runs on four hits and four walks while striking out six. Murmurings and mumblings about bad umpiring may be valid to a point but Birdsong’s ERA after this start is now 5.14. This was another game the Giants desperately needed to win the series and get back some momentum to keep their fleeting playoff hopes alive. Instead it was a disaster from the top of the lineup to the bottom, from pretty much every pitcher.
The hitters had a grand total of two hits on the day. Milwaukee starter Aaron Civale went seven innings and manhandled the Giants in giving up those two hits and no runs with seven strikeouts and two walks. This a Giants team that just doesn’t have it, folks. Here are the outings of the past six starters in the past six games, courtesy of giantc:
1. Birdsong — 4 innings
2. Snell – 3 innings
3. Ray — 3 innings
4. Webb — 5 innings
5. Harrison — 4 and 2/3
6. Birdsong — 3 and 2/3
That won’t cut it. So much for Farhan’s proclamations and best laid plans. If there is a theme here I would argue it is organizational. The Giants do not teach their pitchers to pitch efficiently and go deep into games. Apart from Webb, not one of the current starters can be counted on routinely to give you six solid innings or more every start. The net effect means many more added innings for relievers, who, by nature of their place in the staff, are not meant to be among the most talented or reliable hurlers. This is one of the fundamental flaws of how this Giants team was built and how Farhan Zaidi has conceived of the Giants pitching staff in his six-year reign: No real notion of durability and efficiency among the starters, an under-valuing of starting pitching in general and an over-reliance on the bullpen. Each of these issues is a sign of the current Analytics-first approach to building a baseball team. What is especially daunting for the Giants is that, apart from Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, basically offense is down across all of Major League Baseball. The quality of the pitching has increased tremendously while the quality of the batters has gone in the opposite direction with too much emphasis on strikeouts and not enough understanding of fundamential hitting and how it plays into winning a baseball game.
The Giants are weak on the mound and at the plate for many reasons, ranging from not having a true number three or a number four hitter to having too many veterans playing full time or nearly so who should only be bench players. LaMonte Wade Jr has nosedived after a fast start. Conforto’s cold streaks far outlast the hot streaks. Patrick Bailey has disappeared at the plate, like last year, in the second half. Matt Chapman has been the best hitter on the Giants from day one, despite his cold streaks. It’s just that at his best he is a number six or seven hitter. Tyler Fitzgerald and Heliot Ramos have had wonderful seasons since they have been called up and are Exhibit A and B as to how poorly Farhan Zaidi built this team. Neither player was given a legitimate chance to play out of Spring Training. Their emergence came from injury and it is a credit to them that they have remained more or less consistent.
What does that say about the Giants front office that Ramos and Fitz were not even on the radar in the Spring? What does it say that the Giants front office waived Thairo Estrada and Tyler Rogers when they were key acquisitions by this regime? It was obvious from his free agent signing three years ago that Tyler Rogers was WAY overpaid. Same for Joc Pederson two years ago.
There are so many long and short term mistakes that have been made by this regime that it would take me hours to recount them. All the opt-out short contracts, the Managerial changes and choices, the dumpster diving, the lack of a clear vision of what kind of winning formula the Giants are trying to put together, all of these are signs of a GM (That’s what Zaidi is. I reject his actual title which is a joke) who is making it up as he goes along and who lacks the vision and the ability to build a program or an organization from the ground up (drafting, scouting, free agent signings, developing, coaching Big Leaguers, etc.) Suffice it to say that after six years the Giants are a franchise going nowhere fast. It’s just so sad.
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