14+7=1

New math? No, Gabe Kapler using the entire Giants lineup, 14 men, to score seven runs and secure one win-- a three-time come-from-behind win yesterday over the Cincinnati Reds at Oracle Park.  

In what's becoming a standard practice for this team, three Giants pinch-hitters came off the bench to make the difference in a most entertaining game. And all three stayed in on defense, moving around the diamond as needed.  

How do you pinch-hit for a guy-- Tommy LaStella-- who's 3-for-3 on the day and stands at .353 for the season? With a guy who's at .323 for the season, of course! Donovan Solano batted for LaStella with the score tied 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh, and drew a walk. Mike Yastrzemski followed with another walk, and after a fielder's choice moved Solano to third, Wilmer Flores-- who had pinch-hit for Brandon Belt an inning earlier-- drove in what became the winning run with a fly ball to deep left-0center.

In that previous inning, after red-hot Evan Longoria (1.024 OPS) had crushed a game-tying home run to left-center off the fine veteran lefthander Sean Doolittle, and after Buster Posey had singled, Austin Slater batted for LaMonte Wade. Reds manager David Bell, the former Giant, pulled Doolittle for righthander Carson Fulmer. Slater stayed in and drilled a triple to the deepest part of the ballpark, Posey scoring standing up.  Watch the highlight and note how Slater stayed inside and muscled a good pitch the other way.

By contrast, Kapler needed "only" four pitchers to get a most difficult job done. Kevin Gausman, roughed up for five runs in an inning and two-thirds, retired the last 13 batters he faced and completed six. Wandy Peralta took over in the seventh and immediately coughed up the lead thanks to a balk and a wild pitch. But he got a double play to end it, and was rewarded with a win along with his blown save when Solano, Yaz, and Flores did their thing. Tyler Rogers struck out the side in the eighth, and Jake McGee made it 5-for-5 in saves, getting a called third strike to end it and leaving Tyler Stephenson scowling at the plate.

How about each team opening the game with two two-run homers, an Oracle Park first? Joey Votto's fade to deep left was followed by Mike Moustakas' cannon shot into the waters of McCovey Cove. That made Yaz's second homer of the year and Brandon Crawford's third all the more satisfying. Despite losing the lead in the second, Gausman, who had stormed around the mound in the first, appeared much more composed the rest of the way after seeing his guys pick him up. It showed as he "gutted out" this one after two terrific starts. 

We're truly sorry to see Reyes Moronta back on the IL so quickly, with pain in his surgically-repaired right shoulder.  This guy looked like he could be the next great Giants reliever when he showed his stuff in 2018 and 2019. Like Jeremy Affeldt, he's one of those few who can come in cold with men on base, and dominate. It's the ten-day IL and let's hope that's all it is. 

Fear Hits a Grand Slam

So much for our recent praise of Commissioner Manfred. The incredibly stupid and cowardly decision to pull the All-Star Game out of Atlanta has already blown back all over MLB. No one with any sense at all can defend this. Aside from the dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks "reasoning"-- Colorado, where the game will now be played, has tougher voter registration laws than has Georgia under the new law-- there was no legitimate popular outcry from anyone who mattered-- say, the predominantly black voters in Atlanta, or, indeed, fans, voters, or communities anywhere. The only objectors to the new law are radical Democrat politicians, the bigoted mainstream media, and, of course, the stupidest man ever to occupy the White House. Evidently his outright lies, and lies they were, were enough to intimidate Manfred and, presumably, some of the team owners, into craven capitulation-- to a tiny constituency of politicians and their sycophants who use bullying to get their way. It was a bad show all around. 

Yesterday, the smart and sensible Candace Owens posted a commentary about giving up on watching sports. No, we haven't given up yet, and we've no plans to do so, but every "woketivist" jolt in the sports landscape moves us one step farther away.  As far as the 2021 All-Star Game is concerned, it can go hang. We won't discuss it here again, and it might as well not exist for all the attention we'll give it. 

"The horror! The horror!"

Is there anything worse than a bases-loaded walk when it's your guy on the mound? Well, sure there is: a bases-loaded walk with your guy on the mound when it's the bottom of the tenth and the dude prancing his unmolested way toward home plate is the winning run.

And so the Giants' 2021 opener ended, and while we won't cynically sneer that it happened exactly according to form ("Same old Giants!" was the first text missive we received this morning), we will note that in yesterday's preview we used the word "walk" an awful lot when discussing the San Francisco bullpen. 

Form? Well, the Giants, according to form, hit a lot and scored seven runs, normally enough to win. They hit four homers, with ten hits overall. Austin Slater opened the season by drawing a walk, bless his heart, and added a home run later. Buster Posey opened his first season in two years with a cannon shot into the left-field bullpen, setting off a minor tremor along the San Andreas fault, so we're told. (And in a just world, that would have been our lede this morning.) Kevin Gausman, according to form, was, well, he was Kevin Gausman, with six and two-third one-run innings, two hits, six K's, game score of 70. And, also according to form, no win to show for his fine effort. 

In the bullpen diss-a-thon sure to follow, let's exempt Caleb Baragar, who relieved Gausman in the seventh with a run in and two down. Yes, he walked the guy he was supposed to get, but he got the next guy, and it stayed 6-1 Giants. Apres lui, le deluge. Yesterday we used the term "lots of walks" to describe Matt Wisler, who opened the eighth, and he opened it with a leadoff walk. Then two singles, one run, and in comes Jarlin Garcia, Wisler's lefty counterpart. Walk to load the bases, then walk in a run. Now it's 6-3. Here comes Tyler Rogers. No walks-- but a two-run double (6-5) and then a two-run throwing error by Brandon Belt on the double-play ball that could have ended the inning. Now it's 7-6. Rogers, to his partial credit, then got out of the 11-batter nightmare with no further damage.  

The Giants tied it on Alex Dickerson's homer in the ninth, and it was up to Jose Alvarez in the tenth. He wasn't up to it, was he? Not exactly a walks machine over his eight-year career, he was one last night, issuing three in a row, forcing in the "funny runner" who began the frame on second and ended it crossing the plate.

Bright moments: Posey's dramatic, wonderful, uplifting return. Folks, he belted that one with the sweet quick swing we all fell in love with ten years ago. You gotta see the video, with Kuip and Kruke's narration... Eight thousand real people in the seats, with a nice hand for Posey as he rounded the bases... Gabe Kapler doing it again with his pinch-hitters: Dickerson in the ninth, batting for Slater, who'd already homered, belting the game-tying shot himself... Gausman showing everyone that 2020 was no fluke... Evan Longoria, not to overlook him, opening the scoring with a solid opposite-field rip... Alone amid les miserables, Jake McGee retiring the side on eight sharp pitches in the ninth. 

And that brings a final sullen thought: While Kapler deserves kudos for his lineup management, he still has a long way to go when it comes to handling his relievers. Then again, it's the first game of the season, and he's got to find out who can pitch and who can't. Quickly, if you please.

The San Francisco Giants Open the 2021 Season!

Pitchers

Kevin Gausman, R, 30 : Gets Opening Day start after strong 2020

Johnny Cueto, R, 35 :  It’s contract year for the mercurial veteran 

Logan Webb, R, 24 : Fine spring earns him early spot in rotation

Anthony DeSclafani, R, 31 :  Hopes to revive injury-marred career

Aaron Sanchez, R, 28 : Can he regain 2016 form, salvage his career?

Reyes Moronta, R, 28 : All eyes on him as he comes back from TJS

Tyler Rogers, R, 33 :   Submariner one of 4 bullpen holdovers from 2020

Jarlin Garcia, L, 28 : Had 0.49 ERA but walked 7 in 18 IP last year

Caleb Baragar, L, 26 :  Showed some real stuff a year ago 

Wandy Peralta, L, 29 :    Lots of strikeouts and lots of walks 

 
Jake McGee, L, 34  :    0.84 WHIP for LA’s last year: SF’s 2021 closer? 

Matt Wisler, R, 28 :  Even more walks and K’s than Peralta

Jose Alvarez, L, 31 :   One of five lefthanders in this overstocked bullpen

Alex Wood, L, 30 (IL) :   Can Giants' only lefty starter stay healthy?                                                                                                                               

Position Players

Buster Posey, c, 34 : Back from a year’s rest and fresh as a rookie—we hope

Mike Yastrzemski, rf, 30 : Team MVP continues to produce

Brandon Belt, 1b, 33 : Absolutely must shake off rust and hit like 2020

Evan Longoria, 3b, 35 :  Definitely at the point where durability a question

Brandon Crawford, ss, 34 : Played well in 2020, starts 10th year at short

Donovan Solano, 2b, 33 : Can “Silver Slugger” continue to “barrel” at .326?

                                                                                                                          

Alex Dickerson, of, 31 :  Coming off .947 OPS season with 10 HR in 151 AB

Mauricio Dubon, cf, 26 : Must hit now-- Ramos is waiting in the wings

Austin Slater, of, 28 : Will get plenty of ABs if he can match .914 OPS

Wilmer Flores, if, 29 : Another of Giants’ powerful right-handed hitters

Tommy LaStella, if, 32 : Candidate for ‘Joe Sewell Award’ rarely strikes out

Darin Ruf, 1b-of, 34 :   Slugged .517 in part-time duty last year 

                         

Curt Casali, c, 32 : His career-high in MLB at-bats is 31, in 2017                                                                                                                                      

Seattle?! Well, you take what you can get, and interleague baseball is a fact of life, and facts being facts, the Giants defeated the Mariners all four times they played last season.  Buck up, everyone. 

It's a pity, though, that the first game of the season starts at night. Opening "Day," hah? Another one bites the dust.

Such mild griping is blown away by the simple joyous fact that, at least in the MLB, Fear Strikes Out and yes, there will be fans in the seats! Sure, an' it's about time, eh? We've no issue with a gradual ramp-up of available seats over the next two or three months; a sane society doesn't recover from a panic, or a pandemic, all at once. But Commissioner Manfred's statement that he'd like to see full ballparks by summer shows the kind of resolute confidence that's been in all-too-short supply among so-called "leaders" this year so far. We need more of it.

On a personal note we're hoping to see the Giants in Pittsburgh in May for a four-game set at the little jewel of a ballpark they call PNC. 

Now, what to expect? The Giants will score runs; this is the most loaded lineup the team has sent out since at least the last postseason appearance in 2016, and this one probably is better than that one. Ten of the thirteen are good enough to DH in the AL parks. Six are flexible enough to play multiple positions, and that doesn't count Buster Posey, still a great defensive catcher until proven otherwise. There's a good balance between lefty and righty bats, and more than half the hitters have done well without the platoon advantage. At least four Giants are legitimate leadoff men. Gabe Kapler has made a conscious decision to prioritize offense over defense; we'll see how that works out over a full season.

We're officially skeptical about the entire starting rotation. Kapler is depending on two guys-- DeSclafani and Sanchez-- to rehabilitate careers that are one step from the toilet. He's got one guy, Cueto, whom we all know can pitch and who is at the crossroads of advancing age and a show-me season. He's got two stratosphere-ceiling but basement-floor guys, young Webb and veteran Gausman. And everyone knows how good Alex Wood can be-- when he's healthy enough to pitch. 

We're terrified of the bullpen, but that's usually the case at the start of a season when every single candidate-- and there are eight of them-- is essentially an unknown quantity. Well, not quite. Several guys we know throw hard-- and they walk people. Caleb Baragar, we know has talent-- but will have to prove it over a full season. Reyes Moronta, we know had it goin' on-- two years ago before the surgery. And Tony Watson, we know is gone, gone, gone.

There's the possibility that everyone hits, Webb blossoms into a star, Gausman strikes out 200, the rest of the crew holds it together, and the Giants win 88 games... and finish 22 behind LA, 9 behind San Diego, and have to scramble until the last day of the season to see if they can get in as the second wild-card. You know, kinda like last year, but with legitimate numbers. And that's the good possibility. 

And you know we'll take it, every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Fear Strikes Out! Go Giants!

 

Deal or No Deal

Well, the big news in this pre-Super Bowl week is that the Colorado Rockies just traded Nolan Arenado to the St Louis Cardinals, receiving we're-not-sure-what in return, and Colorado agreed to pay $50 million of Arenado's contract to cinch the deal. Shades of Josh Hamilton-- or not?

Arenado is a great player, there's no doubt about that. He's been a consistent MVP candidate for the past five seasons. He's a Gold Glove third baseman who posts a .300/30/100 triple crown line every year. He'll be 30 in April and he's carrying a huge contract. He's everything, in other words, that Josh Hamilton (who won a MVP award) was when the Angels signed him as a free agent in 2013. And we all know how that worked out.

Should Colorado have pulled the trigger? There was talk Arenado, who had been contractually locked up for eight years back in 2019, was dissatisfied with the team's weak retooling strategy since their last postseason appearance in 2018, and wanted to go to a contender. He had an opt-out provision coming up in two more years; had he exercised it the Rockies would have gotten nothing except some cash savings. Since we're not sure who is going to Colorado on the back end of this, we're left to speculate about the wisdom of paying him fifty million dollars to play for another team. Perhaps the return will be enough.

In any case, as Giants fans, we're thrilled to see him out of our division!

Looking at what we can actually see, what are the Cardinals getting? How much have Arenado's impressive stats been boosted by playing half his games in the relative stratosphere of Coors Field?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. Arenado's home/road splits since he came on the scene in 2013 consistently show a 25-30% home-field advantage. He's played about the same number of games (543) at home as he has on the road (536). Based on seasonal notation, the breakdown looks like this:

PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS TB
Home 692 625 116 201 44 6 41 138 56 95 0.322 0.376 0.609 0.985 380
Away 677 612 79 161 34 2 30 90 53 111 0.263 0.322 0.471 0.793 288

MVP numbers at home.  On the road, well, still better than Evan Longoria, but... shall we say, not MVP numbers?

Busch Stadium is, at best, a neutral park for a hitter. Since Arenado's career began it has fluctuated between sixth and twelfth in the NL in runs scored, ranking as low as 13th (and once, last), but never higher than sixth. The quality of the Cardinals' offense appears to affect the park's relative standing more than do its fixed characteristics, but it's never going to rank as a top hitter's park. Arenado's road line would, therefore, seem to be a fairly accurate summation of what he'd likely have done so far if he'd played his entire career as a Cardinal. Will it be an accurate predictor of what he'll do this year and next, as a Cardinal? The St Louis brass clearly expects not. 

With this move St Louis openly challenges the Dodgers, Padres, and Braves for NL supremacy. Assuming they didn't give up too much in return, it looks like a worthy short-term gamble. But three years from now (let alone six)?  Maybe, like the Angels with Hamilton, they'll trade him back to the Rockies, and, unlike the Angels, congratulate themselves on saving $50 million. 

Or maybe they'll trade him to the Giants. Badabing-badaboom!

One of 755

 

It was the top of the fifth inning at Candlestick Park on July 3, 1966, a warm, unusually windless day. Hank Aaron, the first batter up against Giants lefthander Ray Sadecki, ripped the first pitch he saw high and deep over left-field fence and onto the grassy lawn in front of the bleachers. A few dozen kids scrambled after the ball as the man they called the Hammer quietly touched all the bases, then joined his Atlanta teammates in the visitors' dugout. No ovations, no boos or catcalls accompanied his purposeful stride. In truth, most fans on the scene were sufficiently discouraged; Hank's homer made it 14-1, Braves, and though most of us were slow to grasp its significance, we'd already seen history made. Tony Cloninger, the Braves' starting pitcher, had already belted two grand-slam home runs that day, and that's how that game, and that date, are remembered.

But not today. As Aaron turned and jogged toward the dugout, a fifty-year-old man sitting nearby leaned in and said, "That's as great a player as I've ever seen." Eight years later we sat in a car with the radio on and listened to the overwhelming roar of an Atlanta crowd as Henry Aaron hit his 715th career home run, and changed the game of baseball forever with that one swing. Vin Scully, on the radio, let the crowd speak for all of us for some time, and then he said, “What a marvelous moment for baseball, what a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia, what a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking the record of an all-time baseball idol." And we remembered that July day from childhood, and we remembered that one home run, that one small but steady step along the path that led to 715, to history, and beyond.

Henry Aaron, who passed away this morning, was more than a great ballplayer, one of the greatest of all time. He was a man of personal greatness, of character, and courage, and conviction.  On the mlb.com website, Richard Justice has a fine article about Henry Aaron. You all should read it. In a year where we've lost so many of our baseball greats, this one stands out as an example of how loss can magnify gain, and of how one life can magnify the lives of many.

Godspeed to Henry Aaron. There'll never be another like him, and for that, we all are poorer today.

Post-Election Update

 No, we haven't any comments, snide or otherwise, about the pending Presidential, Senate and House election results and the grim political and legal possibilities lying ahead.  Yet.

This is about the most local of elections-- one contained solely within these virtual pages, and one that promises not to shove your quality of life more than a millimeter or so off Comfort Central. 

In other words, we've updated our "Greatest Players in San Francisco Giants History" page with 2020 data. While several of our favorites had good seasons and the team overall was both fun and frustrating to follow, little progress was made on the historic front. This can be expected from a pandemic-shortened season of only sixty games, of course. As to whether 2020 counts as a "real" season or not, of course it does; don't be silly. You play the game with what you have. And yes, that means the Los Angeles Dodgers are legitimate World Series champions, overcoming their 32-year drought, though it's not like we devoted a whole page or anything to congratulating 'em. 

Brandon Belt had a fine year-- 2 WAR in 50 games is MVP-candidate-level play-- and improved his position to 17th overall, tied with Jack Clark. Brandon Crawford, already the top SF shortstop, padded his lead with a good season, certainly an improvement from the previous year.  Those two stalwarts are the only current roster members on the all-time list.

We expanded the candidate pool much more so than we normally would, adding 16 players to the mix. Five of them are starting pitchers and six are relievers.  Meanwhile, only two players from recent years dropped off the radar-- Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez. So the total grew from 221 to 235, though we expect relatively few of the 2020 arrivals will last the requisite three years. Let's put it this way-- if more than half of them do, we'll remember 2020 as bringing a bumper crop of new Giants along with the coronavirus, the loss of four legendary Hall of Fame players, and a train wreck of an election. 

Cutting Out

 

AS the cardboard cutouts stare in mute awed fascination toward the scoreboard celebrating the virtual presence of their avatars, so do we look over this Giants' season-like-no-other. Considering how many viewed the belated start of the season with skepticism, it was a pretty good one after all for those of us pledged to the orange and black. Universally discounted by almost everyone as a last-place team not even ready yet to begin a needed rebuild, the Giants spent the year doing just that, and in the process carried the chance at a .500 record and a crack at the expanded postseason right down to the last game. Throughout the year Gabe Kapler and his coaches quite consciously never let up from their plan to "find out who can play and who can't," and at the same time  pushed this team to fight through, and in some cases overcome, their own limitations as well as their on-field opponents-- not to mention a grim national landscape marred by a real pandemic and a real overreaction. Those who wished it had never started, or just wanted it over with-- well, we hope enough of y'all stuck around to enjoy the ride. Because it was quite a ride, wasn't it, sports fans?

Who can play? Well, we know Mike Yastrzemski, Wilmer Flores, Austin Slater, Mauricio Dubon, Alex Dickerson, and Donovan Solano sure can play. We know Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford still can play-- or could in 2020, anyway. We know Joey Bart will play. And the jury is still out on a whole bunch of new pitchers-- Sam Coonrod, Jarlin Garcia, Wandy Peralta,  Caleb Baragar-- and some younger ones such as  Shaun Anderson and Logan Webb, plus the two MIAs, Tyler Beede and Reyes Moronta.  And, as is part of every build, we bid farewell to some good guys--  to Pablo Sandoval (best wishes in Atlanta, big fella), to the ineffable Hunter Pence, and to our own Rodney Dangerfield, Jeff Samardzija. 

It's unfinished business for sure-- not just the improbable season, but the team. Of the "guys who can play" mentioned above, only Flores, Bart, Slater, and Dubon are under 30. The Giants still put forth the oldest team in baseball this year-- average age 29.8. The Brandons remain signed through next year, and Evan Longoria through 2022-- average age 34. Yaz will be 30 next year, Dickerson 31, and Solano 33. By the time the Giants are fit to win 90 games again, names like Daniel Robertson, Jaylin Davis, Luis Alexander Basabe, Heliot Ramos, Hunter Bishop, Marco Luciano, and Seth Corry may be dominating the 25-man roster. 

Oh, we can blame Sam Coonrod or Gabe Kapler for the Giants' blown postseason chance, but keep in mind that Friday-night decision was part of finding out who can do it and who can't. Coonrod hits 100 on the gun, and when he's on he can't be touched. He's also a veteran of only 42 major-league innings and, at 28, may be on his last chance. You don't give up on a guy like that after one spectacular failure-- not if you're a rebuilding club, that is. And this team is full of Sam Coonrods-- and, as we noted back when the short season started, it's full of Gabe Kaplers, too.

They done all right, these Giants. This team is in a lot better shape than it was a year ago.

Okay. The Giants finished eighth in MLB in runs scored, averaging five per game, and broke even on runs scored/runs allowed. (Yep, Pythagoras had 'em in the playoffs, but ol' Pythagoras don't make the rules.) Among all the ballparks, Oracle Park was fourth-- fourth!-- in runs scored, behind only Coors, Fenway, and Angel Stadium. The Giants were fourth in doubles and second in triples, sixth in slugging and OPS. (This is out of all 30 major-league teams, remember.) On the negative side they were eighth in men left on base and fourth in GIDP.  Both their walk and strikeout totals were slightly below league average.

The pitching numbers are decidedly less stellar; their 4.64 ERA is below average, as are their strikeout and walk totals. Remembering how awful the defense was in the early weeks, we see that the Giants finished with 30 unearned runs allowed, not good but not the worst, anyway. They remain in the bottom third in fielding percentage, errors, and double plays. The determination to improve the offense, which certainly worked, seems to have been paid out in some measure by weakened defense, which in turn shows up, to a degree yet generally unknown, in pitching stats as well. 

The Giants' 2019 success in one-run games did not carry over to this year: they were 4-8 in such. They were 22-19 at night and 7-12 in the day, and 19-14 at home as compared to 10-17 on the road. Three of those home games were, of course, "switch games" where the Giants batted first; they were 2-1 in those. Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays were their best days of the week (6-2 on each), while Thursdays, Fridays and Mondays were land mines (a combined 6-19). They broke even on Sundays. 

Team records for the starters: Anderson 6-5, Cueto 6-6, Webb 5-6, Smyly 4-1, Cahill 4-2, and Gausman 3-7. (Shark was 0-4 and the Giants won Caleb Baragar's "opener" game.)  Quality starts: Gausman 7, Cueto 6, Cahill and Anderson 5, Smyly and Webb 3. "Tough losses" were Gausman's specialty; he had five. Webb picked up three "cheap wins;" those are hard to really quantify this year since so many starters on all the teams were pulled after two or three innings regardless of the score.  

The Giants' best start and worst start were by the same pitcher against the same team six days apart. Tyler Anderson was brilliant against Arizona on August 22 at the O: complete game, one unearned run on three hits, Game Score 82. A week later he was pounded by those 'Snakes in their ballpark to the tune of nine hits, three walks, and seven earned runs in four-plus innings; Game Score 18. Combine 'em and you've got the definition of an "average" start-- 50.

Among the MLB leaders, Mike Yastrzemski is eighth with 2.5 WAR, second in triples, ninth in adjusted OPS. Brandon Belt is 9th in OBP (.425) and Donovan Solano finished at .326, sixth in the majors.  Belt, who hit .309 in 149 AB, had a 1.015 OPS that would rank fourth-- ahead of D.J LaMahieu and Mike Trout-- had he enough PAs to qualify (he missed by 7).  Alex Dickerson and Austin Slater put up .947 and .914, Wilmer Flores .830 (44th), Donovan Solano .828 (45th) and Brandon Crawford, who, like Belt, really bounced back this year, was .792, 12th among MLB shortstops and 72nd overall. Meanwhile, Evan Longoria tied for the league lead with 10 GIDP.

The Giants had only one pitcher, Johnny Cueto, qualify for the ERA title with 61 IP. No Giant starter averaged six innings per start. Kevin Gausman (59.2 IP in 10) was closest; his 3.62 would have ranked 26th and his 1.11 WHIP 18th, ahead of Max Scherzer and Zack Greinke, had he gotten one more out. Caleb Baragar's team-leading 5 wins rank 19th in MLB, tied with a whole lot of guys. His WHIP was 0.99 and he struck out 19 in 22 IP while walking 5. The young man can pitch.

Farhan Zaidi today mentioned Smyly and Gausman as possible returnees, talked of adding one more good starter, and identified a need for additional left-handed power.  Sounds like a way to keep the team in the hunt one more year while waiting for the youngsters to break through in 2022. As long as there's no more talk of moving Buster Posey to first base, we're down with it. At this point Wilmer Flores, who just turned 29, is a better hitter. Buster's value is defensive, and it is considerable. 

Roll the Statistical Parade

Shane Bieber, despite being shelled in the first game of the wild-card series, is the consensus Cy Young favorite for the AL. He's a generational talent like Clayton Kershaw. Pity about the Indians, who got a huge bounce-back year from one of our favorites, Jose Ramirez, but are already eliminated... Yu Darvish of the Cubs is the only other pitcher to win 8 games; he and Trevor Bauer are the leading NL CYA candidates, but don't rule out Zach Davies of San Diego... Ramirez is a AL MVP candidate for sure; he and Mike Trout had essentially the same numbers. D.J. LeMahieu of the Yankees led the league in OPS, the only ALer over a thousand... Teammate Luke Voit slugged .610 and led everyone with 22 homers-- in only 213 at-bats. Those are McGwire numbers... Juan Soto and Atlanta's dynamic duo, Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna, are tops in the NL, all over 1000 OPS. Do the NL teams love the DH? The Braves sure do... Soto also beat out Freeman for the batting title. Last-place team or no, he's the NL MVP favorite... In this swing-happy game, you gotta love Soto and Freeman, both of whom walked more than they struck out. Yes, in 2020! Our own Mike Yastrzemski, Paul "Stealth MVP" Goldschmidt, and the Mets' Brandon Nimmo were in that same territory as well, and even rookie Fernando Tatis drew 27 walks in 224 AB, remarkable for a kid of 21... Wilmer Flores' average, slugging, HR, and RBI were almost a perfect match for Bryce Harper's. The difference? Walks. Harper scored 11 more runs and his OPS was 130 points higher... Pete Alonso's sophomore numbers fell off from his epochal 2019, but he still hit 16 homers, scored 31, and drove in 35 while batting .231... Can you believe the Cubs' trio of Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Kris Bryant hit .222, .203, and .206 respectively? Hey, they won their division anyway... In the ex-Giants department, Adam Duvall, now 31, bounced back big with 16 homers for Atlanta. He's in the playoffs along with Pablo... Andrew McCutchen, now with Philadelphia at 33, hit 10 homers with a .757 OPS. He's in left field these days... Bryan Reynolds, who looked like a star in the making a year ago, slumped to .189 and a .632 OPS, symptomatic, perhaps, of the Pirates' whole season...  Trevor Story is the best base-stealer in the game: 15 for 18. San Diego's Trent Grisham, of Friday-night infamy, was 10-for-11. The Padres as a team are outstanding: 55 steals in 68 attempts (81%)... Christian Yelich, hailed as the best player in the game not named "Mike Trout" the past two years, slumped to .205/.356/.786, though he did hit 12 homers. He was only 4-for-6 stealing bases too, which pales against his best-of-breed career numbers. Wha'appen? -- and let's hope this year was just a fluke. He's been the epitome of a great all-around ballplayer... Outliers just aren't as much fun in a 60-game season. We'll pick on only one guy this time: Kansas City's shortstop Nicky Lopez. 0-for-5 as a base stealer is what leaps out at you, and .201/.286/.552 in 56 games isn't exactly thrilling either. Is he so remarkably good on defense that you can live with all this plate-and-base negativity? Not really-- his range is a little better than average, he doesn't make too many errors, but he's not exactly Andrelton Simmons out there. And he's not 21, he's 25. No team needs two DH in the lineup, Lopez: forget about stealing and start getting on base. We're all pullin' for ya, kid.