Excuse the bad pun, but...I have to talk about the huge demotion that Buster Posey just went through. The guy went from being in line to start the All-Star Game...to being a reserve member...to not being on the team due to a hip issue. In the span of like 3 days. Poor Buster Posey. I mean that loosely, seeing as he's still one of the best catchers in baseball.
They tapped Yadier Molina to replace him on the roster, but seeing as Molina's missed a few games due to a shoulder injury, they may have to go to Francisco Cervelli. But...regardless of this, let's talk about the Giants before I get carried away with the umpteenth ASG rant I've had on the blog.
The 2018 San Francisco Giants. They're over .500, they're in third place.....and they just traded Austin Jackson and Cody Gearrin to the fifth-place Texas Rangers. I don't think anyone knows what they're doing, especially the Giants.
This is a very middle-of-the-road kind of team, and I think there's a lot of imbalance and overflow going on. The starting rotation currently has seven viable starters, most of which being brought in during injuries to the big three (Bumgarner, Cueto and Shark). Ty Blach has been working relief, and I imagine Dereck Rodriguez will also be heading to the bullpen, while Andrew Suarez and Derek Holland are probably going to stay in the rotation (or the Giants could save Rodriguez and ditch Holland. I have no idea). Either way, MadBum and Cueto are back to their old tricks, and are bringing some much needed defensive power to this mostly offensive-friendly team.
Arguably the most surprising part of this Giants team is the amount of power coming from the bench. Alen Hanson, former Pirates farmhand, has been going through a breakthrough year as a backup for Joe Panik, and Pablo Sandoval seems to be improving as a backup for Evan Longoria. Additionally, Austin Slater and Steven Duggar have been fine backup outfielders, and Nick Hundley is still one of the better backup catchers in the game. And yes, the central power core of Belt, Crawford, Posey and Cutch (!) still works pretty damn well.
At this point, it's the matter of catching up to the Dodgers and D-Backs in a division where momentum is anything but constant. The Giants have a surprising amount going for them, and could make a run at second. But they might need a smidge more roster shuffling.
Coming Tomorrow- The poor guy missed out on the victory parade in Houston, and he's one of the few highlights of a dismal team out of Canada.
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