2021 Giants - 2022 Giants

[SF11704]

Have to say I'm disappointed with 2022 so far. Not so much with the team as i am with my own expectations. After a 107 win season and a very similar team heading into 2022 i expected better than we are playing. We lost Gausman but I thought Rodon was an equal acquisition. We had the same core team. There is my disappointment with myself. In 2021 I was really hoping to be around 500. I just didnt see anything that told me different. Just never saw a team with that good of an offense and that good of a rotation and a stellar pen ....... just didn’t see it.

What I see in 2022 is really what I expected
In 2021. A decent staff but nothing to brag about. A middle ground offense that could provide some fireworks every now and then but nothing over the top.

We still have quite a few games left to play so anything can happen. The 2021 team played very consistent ball for the entire season. The 2022 team has shown flashes of that but just not consistent enough. But there is still time ....

 

[calsnowskier]

I have legit concerns about this team.

Disco - I wasn’t excited about his initial signing, but he was signed to be a #4 or so, so no prob. I did not understand his 3-year extension, though. Very early in that contract, but sheesh, that looks like it is already sunk money.

Posey - we all knew his absence was going to hurt. Well, all of us except FZ and company, apparently. They were caught completely unprepared.

Crawford - it looks like every part of his game has exploded all at once. Can’t hit. Can’t field. Is hitting the IL for essentially the first time in his career.

Belt - no need to expand on this one.

Cobb/Wood - Both are swingmen at best, but are getting serious rotation love on this team. They are once through the order max pitchers.

Bully - where has FYWW gone? It is more like FYIDWTBH (fuck you, I don’t want to be here). The one guy I DONT blame is Rogers. The defense behind him bends him over every outing.

Management - I have not liked the churn since day 1, but 107 has put me in my seat and told me to shut up. But I do NOT want to be an As fan. I have actively mocked the As for their churn strategy and wondered how the fans could do it. Now I am mocking the mirror.

 

[SF11704]

I agree with what you say about the churn. I've never been a fan of this approach. My position has always been a traditional one. Build the team via specific acquisitions. Go after what you need rather than gather everything that is available. In 2021 I think we were lucky on a number of fronts ....
Many of our pickups played way above any expectations. Almost every decision/gamble and shot in the dark that Kapler took .... worked!!!!!!. A few players contributed with career years ... the pen solidified after a rocky start and a hell of a lot of churn ... they moved from struggling to stellar. EVERYTHING ..... just seemed tp click.

Not so for 2022 ... at least as of now ... there are flashes of 2021 ... but not enough to establish any consistency.

 

[LHG]

April seemed like a continuation of what they did in 2021 but reality seemed to have hit in May. If whatever was done worked in 2021, it seemed reasonable to believe it would work in 2022. Of course, what was used didn't seem reasonable to create a 107 win team in 2021 so unreasonable doesn't seem so unreasonable.

 

[calsnowskier]

April seemed like a continuation of what they did in 2021 but reality seemed to have hit in May. If whatever was done worked in 2021, it seemed reasonable to believe it would work in 2022. Of course, what was used didn't seem reasonable to create a 107 win team in 2021 so unreasonable doesn't seem so unreasonable.

All throughout 2021, I couldn’t explain what was happening, even in retrospect. As I have stated before, that makes it hard to really get behind the strategy.

 

[LHG]

All throughout 2021, I couldn’t explain what was happening, even in retrospect. As I have stated before, that makes it hard to really get behind the strategy.

That gets me to thinking about 2016. THAT season didn't make sense either, for a whole different set of reasons.

 

[calsnowskier]

That gets me to thinking about 2016. THAT season didn't make sense either, for a whole different set of reasons.

I want to read that book! That would be a HELL of a book.

 

[SF11704]

All throughout 2021, I couldn’t explain what was happening, even in retrospect. As I have stated before, that makes it hard to really get behind the strategy.

Almost impossible to put any solid reasoning behind the 2021 season. Some will try and say it was a Cinderella effect (lucky team) but you don't win 107 games with luck. They played excellent ball for the entire season and actually followed that up with a great April this year.
No good explanation fot that season.

 

[Stokes1931]

Some things that have gone right:

Webb keeps doing ace-like things.

Rodon is doing as expected.

Signing Joc has worked out GREAT so far.

Signing Gonzalez has worked out great so far.

Signing Junis has worked out well so far, until landing on the IL.

Doval has done very well. He's a solid MLB reliever/closer.

I have also liked how the Giants have been moving people through the minors, love that Harrison is now at AA. After a disastrous first game, he has pitched very well. Threw 7 innings of two hit (alas, both solo homers) last night with no walks and 11 K's. He appears to be on the fast track, just hope he stays healthy. Brown has moved up from San Jose to Eugene, probably followed by McCray, Arteaga, and/or Williams. Even Hjelle is showing signs of adjusting to AAA hitting. His ERA is now down to 4.50, which is borderline all star in the former PCL.

Some concerning things (aside from Cal's comments)

Disappointed at so many players being on the IL (currently seven)

Aside from Webb and Rodon and Junis, the starting pitching has been mediocre at best. Neither Wood nor Disco can go past four innings, it seems.

The defense has been sub-par.

The vets have been non-contributors. Belt has been hurt, and not hitting. Craw has been hurt, and not hitting nor fielding. Longo has been hurt, and it just now hitting. Ruf has been poor at the plate and poorer in the field. (In what possible universe is he other than a DH?!?)

The Joey Bart experiment was a flop. (Missing Posey's leadership)

All the churn (as Cal said). We keep signing scrap heap guys who make little or no difference. Meanwhile, there are guys like Villar who are actually killing it in AAA (20 homers to date, walk rate of 20%, K rate of 35%, plays solid D at 3rd). I know Villar is not on the 40 man, but I think he has earned his way onto the MLB roster.

Still, with all the poor play (2-4 against the league worst Reds!?!?), the Giants are 39-33, and have played the Dodgers tough. There is some hope, I think.

 

[msgkings322]

Have to say I'm disappointed with 2022 so far. Not so much with the team as i am with my own expectations. After a 107 win season and a very similar team heading into 2022 i expected better than we are playing. We lost Gausman but I thought Rodon was an equal acquisition. We had the same core team. There is my disappointment with myself. In 2021 I was really hoping to be around 500. I just didnt see anything that told me different. Just never saw a team with that good of an offense and that good of a rotation and a stellar pen ....... just didn’t see it.

What I see in 2022 is really what I expected
In 2021. A decent staff but nothing to brag about. A middle ground offense that could provide some fireworks every now and then but nothing over the top.

We still have quite a few games left to play so anything can happen. The 2021 team played very consistent ball for the entire season. The 2022 team has shown flashes of that but just not consistent enough. But there is still time ....

Buster Posey says hi

 

[msgkings322]

From Tim Kawakami's mailbag on The Athletic:


Can you please dig into the Giants? Is Charles Johnson telling Farhan Zaidi not to spend? Can the media start questioning Farhan? — Tyler J.

Giants fans have every right to wonder why the Giants have been relatively thrifty this season, though I will point out that most of the big-name free agents that went elsewhere last offseason are hardly burning up the OPS and ERA-plus categories right now. As I’ve said on Twitter, the Giants also have had the poor timing of playing some of their most uninspired ball exactly after the Warriors’ season ended and most Bay Area fans started turning their attention back to Oracle Park.

This is a slow team. This is a team without a central star. This is, to this point, a pretty non-dynamic team. To some extent, you have to note that Buster Posey is almost impossible to replace and man, have the Giants not replaced him.

However you analyze it, so far this team is not performing up to what Zaidi, Charles and Greg Johnson, Larry Baer and Gabe Kapler expected from it. And I believe it could be constructed a bit differently after the trade deadline and into next offseason. I think the Giants are prepared to spend large on a big name or two, but they’re not going to do it indiscriminately. It has to fit their model. It has to make sense analytically and actuarially. But I think there’s a big move or two looming between now and next February.

Every dollar that the Giants haven’t spent so far this year could be a dollar they’re willing to add to the pot later this year or next offseason (when Evan Longoria’s contract can come off the books with a $5 million buyout). I don’t want to throw names out wildly here, but would Giants fans be happy if they spent recklessly and burned up their available cash for the potential free agency of Aaron Judge after this season or Shohei Ohtani after the 2023 season? Or if they used assets on a decent-but-not-star player now when they could be saving up those pieces for a run at trading for Juan Soto? No, probably Giants fans would be unhappy if they did anything too rash right now that knocked them out of the chase for something bigger.

The Giants are probably as unlikely to land either Ohtani and Soto as they were to acquiring Bryce Harper in 2019 or Mookie Betts in 2020. But they need somebody at that level. Maybe Marco Luciano or another prospect will turn into a superstar. Maybe not. I still think the Giants need a veteran alpha player. The void feels more and more obvious every game. We’ll see if Zaidi can acquire one … and when that might occur.

With all that said, the Giants are 40-33 currently and only one game out of the third and final NL wild-card spot now held by the Cardinals, who are right behind the Brewers in the NL Central. Which means that the final wild-card race could come down to the Giants, St. Louis and Milwaukee vying for two slots. That’s not a terrible spot.

What’s up with Brandon Belt? He seems lost at the plate. Age? Rusty? Or am I nuts? — Greg F.

Belt is 34. Brandon Crawford is 35. Darin Ruf is 35. Longoria is 36. This doesn’t mean they all can’t perk up quickly and sustain it through the rest of the season. Some of the Giants’ older veterans probably will. But achy body parts get achier and stay achy the older you get. Reflexes slow down. To some extent, I think we’re seeing a regression to the mean from last year’s 107-win run. And just the regression of getting another year older.