The Giants' rotation back in April...was bad. Like, really, really bad. Bumgarner, Cueto and Shark all got hurt, and all they had to work with was Ty Blach, Chris Stratton, Derek Holland and and Andrew Suarez. And for a team that's prided themselves on mega-rotations...that's pretty pathetic.
Thankfully things have improved...I mean, not completely, since Cueto is out for the season and Shark is still out, but the core of Madison Bumgarner, Dereck Rodriguez and Derek Holland has been an improvement over the 'what do we DOOO???" status that most of April and May brought.
It also helps that Rodriguez, a rookie this year, has been coached by a Hall of Famer all his life, being the son of Ivan Rodriguez. And so far, his stuff has been NASTY this year, with some great strikeout work, a nice ERA, and some stellar mound presence. The Giants have needed just a big, scary guy with long hair ever since Lincecum's arm went dead, and Rodriguez is certainly up to the task.
Now the rest of the team...is alright. I equate them to something like the 2017 Marlins where there's definitely a playoff run that could happen with this lineup, but they've just been unlucky, with Buster Posey, Joe Panik, Brandon Belt, Evan Longoria and Pablo Sandoval all missing big stretches of the season. If enough of this team's core sticks around, and if they have better luck, they could be right back at it again next year. But it's just a matter of whether or not they WANT to keep everyone around next year.
Coming Tomorrow- One of my team's finer deadline pickups.
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