Despite it all, these Giants are doing just fine.
That’s because their record is within easy striking distance of .500. They’re right where they need to be after 26 games.
Yes, this team should have more to offer. Perhaps it’s coming in the weeks and months to come.
But as of now, even with so many hitters struggling (0.3 offensive WAR as a team this season), San Francisco is in the thick of things in the National League.
The old, tried-and-true saying is that you can’t win the division in April, but you can lose it. The Giants won’t be winning the division — that’s the Dodgers’ job — but they have not disqualified themselves from the National League Wild Card race after only a few weeks.
Even with some brutal losses, it has to be considered a win. If this is rock bottom, it’s a great place to start.
DOWN: The Giants’ bullpen
Perhaps this is an unfair categorization, but it’s impossible to avoid the fact that Giants relievers have a 5.92 ERA this season.
I’d argue the bullpen is in pretty good shape — they’re not answering any big questions. The top four pitchers out of the pen — Ryan Walker, the Rogers twins, and Camilo Doval, all have solid ERAs and solid roles.
So when the Giants have the lead, they’re in a position to finish the job.
But things have been poor when they’re behind, and you need younger arms to hold the line.
If the Giants can find a solid long reliever (I like Sean Hjelle for the role, despite his performance Wednesday) and a stop-the-bleeding arm from the pen (I like Erik Miller, who, after a tough start, has a 1.29 and 0.01 FIP in his last seven appearances), San Francisco’s bullpen could be in quite good shape this season.
But until those things happen, the Giants won’t win many come-from-behind games, which could be the difference in making or missing the playoffs in a competitive NL.
UP: The rotation looks solid
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Logan Webb has bounced back from a bad spring and a bad start to throw 19 consecutive scoreless innings. Jordan Hicks looks the part of a starter, and when he’s at his best, he’s outstanding. Keaton Winn is figuring out how to pitch (high with the four-seam, low with everything else), and that, paired with those sandbag sinkers and splitters, makes him not just rotational but perhaps exceptional. Kyle Harrison has been… okay. You can undoubtedly start him every night, and things should improve once he gets some night starts at Oracle Park — the marine layer should do the rest.
The Giants could ask for more with their starting rotation — namely for Blake Snell to look like a Cy Young winner, or, as of Wednesday, just be on the mound — but given all the question marks for this team heading into the season and considering the set-back Alex Cobb had in his rehab (which landed him on the 60-day injured list), things are going quite well with the rotation and should only get better in the weeks and months to come.
DOWN: Can we get some offense over here?
Before we discuss underperforming hitters, let me say that the Giants’ defense has been pretty good this season, and that’s a notable and vital improvement.
But anytime Matt Chapman, Jorge Soler, Thairo Estrada, and Wilmer Flores — four guys who should be top-and-middle-of-the-lineup bats — want to start hitting, it would be fully welcomed. These guys’ struggles are making Jung Hoo Lee’s league-average output (102 wRC+ — that’s two percent better than fine) look like 2001 Ichiro.
UP: Patrick Bailey is hitting
Arguably, the Giants’ best bat this season is a defense-first catcher. You take what you can get with this underperforming offense. Bailey has been marvelous at the plate, hitting .300 on the season with two homers and a .483 slugging percentage. Perhaps the weight he put on in the offseason — which seems to be limiting him as a blocker behind the plate — is aiding him at the plate. (Bailey’s pop time and arm accuracy are still outstanding.)
So long as he’s doing well at either hitting or defending, the Giants are getting substantial value from the 25-year-old. Imagine what would happen if he could combine the two.
DOWN: Joey Bart is hitting, too
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The Giants decided to DFA Bart after the start of the season, thinking that it would increase his chance of clearing waivers. It was a clever idea, but it was always a long shot to happen. Meanwhile, Bart, now a Pittsburgh Pirate, is hitting long shots. It’s a small sample size, but in his seven games with the Bucs, he already has three home runs and an OPS above 1.000.
Meanwhile, Tom Murphy, the veteran catcher the Giants opted to keep over Bart following his positive preseason, is hitting an inept .074/.194/.111 slash line across 31 plate appearances.
I don’t think Bart is going to turn into one of the best catchers in baseball—he’s still questionable behind the plate (he hasn’t thrown anyone out on the base paths yet)—but given that Murphy has been poor in all areas (at least measurably), this choice between right-handed backup backstops is en route to looking quite foolish.
Luckily it’s exceptionally early and the Giants can’t call for a do-over. Let’s see where we’re at in another month.
