Welcome to Czar’s blog #7 of 2017
Are the pieces fitting together?
This is a difficult team to watch on a day by day basis. One day they look like the Giants of old, the next they look like a double A team.
The G-men are a half-game up on the Padres, who are bringing up the rear of the NL West. Regardless of their exalted position in the standings the Gigantes are still 11 games under .500 and the best pitcher on the team (Samardzija) has a 4.29 ERA. Not real good in anyone’s book.
I don’t know if you can count the recent road trip (3 and 4 against the Phillies and the Brewers) as a positive but at least they weren’t swept by either team.
Yes, it’s depressing. But, we have lived through worse.
There are good players on the team: Posey for sure, Belt is playing well, Nunez is hitting well and stealing bases and Crawford is still making clutch plays. Pence is back from the DL and Panik is solid. Span is a real question mark. The pitchers seem to be suffering for a case of “why the hell did Bum ride a motorcycle”? The bullpen is weak and almost every time I see Derek Law stroll into the field to “I fought the Law” by the Clash I break out in hives.
The point is that there are good players on the team but they don’t seem to be playing well together. The question for the brain trust is - - what can be done?
The pieces right now don’t seem to fit well together. They are not in sync. Maybe they are pressing, maybe they don’t have team chemistry but whatever its not working. We are seeing weird stuff, like Strickland hitting Harper and igniting a NL firestorm of bad juju. The weird stuff must stop.
The Answer – the kids?
One thing that I applaud Giants management for is recognizing that it’s time to see what they have in the farm system before becoming sellers at the trade deadline.
I think that Cueto is gone in July, Morris should be gone, Cain is on fumes and Blach is looking pretty good. That’s the starters.
However no one can question the call-up of Arroyo and Slater. Slater’s dinger was as responsible for today’s win against the Brew Crew (admittingly depleted) as anyone else. He looks good, especially in left field. Arroyo is the real deal and will be a mainstay for years I suspect.
It is now the time to look to the future, figure out what we have and hope for lightening to strike (preferably against the Dodgers) in July, August and September.
The AL Central Series
The Twins are at the top of the AL Central, three games over .500. Ervin Santana has a 2.44 ERA and is leading the team in victories and Miguel Sano (.303, 15 dingers and 46 RBI’s) is hitting the snot out of the ball. If the G-men can take two out of three in this series the picture will brighten considerably.
The Royals, the G-Men opponents in the 2014 WS, are in 4th place in the AL Central, 5 game behind the Twins. Hosmer and Moustakas are the studs there , and Vargas has a 2.18 ERA, not too shabby.
Both of these match-ups will be a test of the new philosophy of playing the young guys to see what they can do. I also advocate a trade of Law but with our luck this year he would end up a Dodger and get 20 saves.
That’s it!
Ciao, and GO GIANTS!
The Czar