The Giants and A's don't play too close to each other anymore, but they still feel like kindred spirits. They both went through colossal rebuilds, they both have a well-liked former player in a management position, they both have a god-tier home run hitter in their midst, and they both absolutely shat the bed this year.
It's funny, I'm writing this on a night where both teams honestly have a lot to be happy about. The A's absolutely bodied the Rangers earlier today, and got homers from Jonah Heim, Alika Williams and, twice, Henry Bolte. Bolte is not exactly known for his power, he's a pretty fun defense-heavy outfield guy, he hits for contact, does his thing. He's a very handy guy to have around, and this game proved it. Meanwhile, the Giants' offense has been going wild recently thanks to the Pirates' pitching, with a Rafael Devers homer continuing the job from the 12-run loss [!!!]. Devers now has 32, and continues to be a very reliable power hitter with some obvious faults.
It's nice that these offenses have picked up, because otherwise there really isn't much left for either team to do.
We've reached the point in the Giants' season where Logan Webb is looking pretty cooked. Fundamentally he's still an excellent pitcher, and this isn't a concerning downturn, but after such a strong return from May on, resulting in an ASG nod, his ERA's back at 4.20, he's 8-8 and has been on the losing side his last three starts. The Pirates got 9 runs out of him yesterday, which is very concerning if you just blind yourself to how many Paul Skenes has been giving up. Without his better numbers, it's really down to Landen Roupp as a proper starting option, and...for many reasons that's just not a ship that fans wanna sail down. The Giants have thankfully been using a ton of rookies in starts recently, and both Anthony Molina and Yunior Marte look like really solid options. I also think Cesar Perdomo could start at some point, he's not too shabby either. Blade Tidwell getting starts I'm not very convinced about. You leave a guy named Blade for the eighth, don't trot him out in the 1st. No wonder the division rivals have killed him recently.
Not a ton going on in the lineup either with a lot of people hurt. Devers is basically the draw right now. Bryce Eldridge had a decent month but is pedestrian again. Drew Gilbert is warming up now, he's got 8 homers and 36 RBIs this year, and even though he'll be 26 next year he's still looking like a future option. Begs the question, do the Mets *know* these downturns are coming when they trade these guys away? We thought they were fools for trading Kelenic, they weren't, and now 'OH WHY TRADE DREW GILBERT', well because he's hitting .236. Brandon Sproat's ERA was around 5 this year as well. What I'm saying is, Jett Williams, you are on notice.
There are some other amusing contributors, like surprise everyday catcher Drew Cavanaugh, wunderkind centerfield prospect Jonah Cox, depth outfielder Turner Hill who's hitting .350 pretty much, and erstwhile minor leaguer Oselvis Basabe trying to stay afloat given the roster vacancies, but there's really not much this team can do without so many viable pieces.
Similarly, the A's are without Nick Kurtz, Tyler Soderstrom, Jacob Wilson, Shea Langeliers and Brent Rooker, and we're very much as the 'there's no point' stage of hitting. Who is left in this lineup that can hit. Zack Gelof I suppose. Jonah Heim, cheesily. Lawrence Butler, when he feels like it. Henry Bolte in lieu of all else. But there's just a lot of empty space, and a lot of dull non-hitting. When you have all that positive offensive energy sitting on the IL, it's even more obvious. Denzel Clarke just came off the IL, and that's wonderful, but...again, Denzel Clarke is not exactly known for his offense. The A's basically feel like a minor league team at this point. I know they can't help it cause so many people got hurt, but it's just very depressing, especially considering how they were about to turn the corner in May and June.
I think the good news is that going forward, this team can rely on J.T. Ginn, Jacob Lopez and Gage Jump as a pitching backbone. I'm still waiting for more actual homegrown starters to lock into place, but maybe this is a step towards that happening.
Anyway, the Giants and A's are doing what they can to keep things interesting but they know it's kind of meaningless at this point, and at least a lot of guys who wouldn't otherwise be up in the majors are getting some nice reps in.
Coming Tomorrow- A guy that leapt and made the news.
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