**UPDATE** Scott Ostler agrees with Giants Baseball Corner that this is a Put-Up-Or-Shut-Up Season for Kapler and Zaidi. GBC seeks to RAISE the bar, to HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS SEASON.
The Giants just reeled off ten wins in a row, sweeping the Cardinals and Dodgers on the road and taking three from the Padres at home. They aren’t just doing it with pitching, though it remains stellar – the bullpen has in fact improved. These Giants can hit. They make comebacks.
The Giants – after not enticing Aaron Judge away from New York and after canceling the Carlos Correa deal for a bad physical – made the decision in the offseason to lock up Joc Pederson, Wilmer Flores and J.D. Davis and to pay for five guys instead of one with a huge salary.
Two of those guys: Michael Conforto and Mitch Hanigar are joining three rookies – Blake Sabol, Casey Schmitt and Patrick Bailey – in getting hot at the plate.
LaMonte Wade Jr., has found his stroke in the lead-off spot. Thairo Estrada picking up where he left off, just stays hot. Mike Yastrzemski‘s bat has woken up. Austin Slater is back from injury and popping lefties. The Giants are active on the basepaths and hitting with runners in scoring position. It’s awesome. Two successful squeeze plays! gorgeous bunts … and some terrible ones.
They pounded the Dodgers with a 15 – 0 drubbing, amidst a weekend where our Giants scored an unprecedented 29 runs at Chavez Ravine. They beat the Cardinals 11 -3 in game two of that series, and scored 23 runs at Busch. They beat the Cubs 13 – 3 at Wrigley to start the ten-game streak. That’s 65 runs over ten games.
It is June 22nd and the Giants stand at 42-32, two and a half games out of first place in the NL West. Welcome to Giants Baseball Corner.
The Farhan Zaidi Era, which is very much on trial this season, is hitting on all cylinders. The home-grown rookies are climbing into the major league line up. The multi-headed hydra of pitchers is blooming into a formidable ‘pen that pitches situationally. The bats are waking up. Our defense is still an issue, but we are making more and better plays than last year.
We have dropped down to fourteenth in spending, with a 175 million dollar payroll. For comparison here are the top eight teams, the ones above 200 million dollars in total payroll:
New York Mets $334m
New York Yankees $269m
San Diego Padres $237m
Philadelphia Phillies $232m
Los Angeles Dodgers $218m
Toronto Blue Jays $205m
Atlanta Braves $200m
Those eight teams therefore, each spend 75% to 98% more than what we are spending. The league average is $150 million. We can say we are spending average money.
I do not want to call it Moneyball. The term, like “woke,” has been adulterated by the ignorant. I don’t know what to call it, so I will call it the New Baseball Management (NBM).
The New Baseball Management has had middling success amidst a time of radical change in baseball. NBM took over for the Giants amidst the pandemic (the Irregular Season of 2020), the fires and crazy air-quality days of that year, then came the DH in both leagues, the zombie runner and now the new pitch clock and fielding rules. It has been a lot to adapt to.
Many cities in small markets would be proud of what this management team has achieved. Indeed here at this website, I have written praise often for their success. 2021 was a BLAST! The winningest season, record-wise, in Giants history on both coasts!
But other than that, the NBM has brought .500 records and barely a sniff of the post season. When we won 107 and didn’t advance out of the Division Series – whether the calls were bullshit or not – it immediately felt like the nightmare of the movie Moneyball team writ large.
Were we now going to be like those A’s, doomed not to leave the DS, no matter how well we played? Is Moneyball, as such, doomed?
Mr. Zaidi often lays out his goals, and they include making the playoffs. But I’m not satisfied. If we agree this is the year we see if not paying for big talent can be stewarded under the new rules to success, then the goal has to be no less than the World Series. There is no rebuilding. You have all your elements, plenty of cash and room.
As I have said here before, The Tampa Bay Rays are the most successful NBM team or New Baseball Management team, in history. They are near the bottom in payroll – just $63 million dollars, that’s a lot less than half of what we are spending!
The Rays compete every year and have made it to the World Series twice, losing both times. (Well one was the Irregular Season, so it doesn’t really count). But the Rays somehow manage to be in the conversation against the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays every year. They just haven’t won it all. And they are the most successful at the new baseball management.
We need to beat the Dodgers, Padres and Snakes. We must win the division. I am done sneaking in through ever-expanding playoffs. Stay hot, get the mercenaries you need at the trade deadline in a month and let’s go win the division.
Brian Sabean/Bruce Bochy won three rings in The SF Championship Era. Every time we were underdogs. Every time we were under-estimated and dismissed. Isn’t that the very nature of the group assembled by the NBM? Rookies, minor leaguers, a bunch of guys trying to make it back to baseball or have a last hurrah, 12-year minor leaguers, returned TJ surgeries and whatnot? The discounted?
So what’s missing? We, the fans of the SF Giants know the answer, Gabe.
Champions Blood.
Ask around, Mr. Kapler, Mr. Zaidi. Ask around about Champions Blood. Because that is the only thing clearly missing. Well, and tighten up the defense.
But crisp baseball comes with Champions Blood mentality – changing your mental attitude to where you don’t make mistakes. You stay in the flow of the positive river.
Make it so.
We’re watching. we expect to fight for the pennant. Ten-game win streak in June is awesome. I love this group of guys you have assembled. Speedy Li’l Luis Matos.
But the entire project is on the line. I am paying hundreds of dollars for seats, guys. The Giants are just one part of my support for our city amidst the death spiral or whatever. Win the pennant.
love,
MTK
btw, everybody, Giants Baseball Corner is back on the air.
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