Knock on Wood

 

I think we're gonna look back at the 2021 Giants in a bit and it's gonna be clear that Buster Posey was the lynchpin holding that team together. The Giants were mediocre without him in 2020, a 1st place team in his final season, and mediocre again this year. Yes, maybe a few more people present in 2021 but not in 2022 can be held responsible [Kevin Gausman, Donovan Solano, Mauricio Dubon, Darin Ruf's better numbers], but...it may be as simple as these Giants teams are competitive under a solid leader like Buster Posey, and uncompetitive when their other leadership figures, like Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria, fail to stay healthy.

The injuries are just a universal thing. Only 3 Giants have played over 100 games- Thairo Estrada, Wilmer Flores and Mike Yastrzemski. Aside from Yaz, not quite 'heart of the order' guys. Crawford, Belt and Longoria are both injury-laden this year and are having past-their-prime seasons. Anthony DeSclafani has been hurt for most of the year, hence the surprisingly solid starting turn by Jakob Junis. And, most hysterically, Matt Boyd has been injured all year and had been such a roster nuisance that the Giants traded him to Seattle without Boyd having played a SINGLE GAME for the Giants. And they threw in Curt Casali, who'd essentially been their starting catcher without Joey Bart's better numbers.

It sucks that all this disarray has happened this year, because generally it was another awesome year for this team's rotation. Logan Webb has cemented his status as a perennial ace, he's 11-6 with a 3.08 ERA. Carlos Rodon is proving his incredible 2021 wasn't a fluke, he's got 179 strikeouts and a 2.89 ERA. Jakob Junis has outdone expectations as the fill-in fifth starter and has a 3.53 ERA. Alex Wood has been having a routinely solid season as a mid-rotation man, he has 119 Ks, though he is the only starter with an ERA higher than 4. And Alex Cobb, while not the standout the others are, still has a 3.99 ERA and is solid enough. It's a strong rotation that deserves a better team, honestly.

I want to think that next year some of the youth options can really take over this team, but we're still waiting on Joey Bart, Luis Gonzalez, Heliot Ramos and David Villar to really provide a sense of comfort in the majors. Bart, to be fair, does have 9 home runs, but he's not the all-around standout that Posey was, and that conflicts with what the scouts were saying. It's clear that this team will get better when some of the older players leave, but some of them are contracted for a little longer and won't give the youth much room. Even with the success of 2021, this Giants team is ultimately blocking its own immediate success, and they need to figure things out before they go back to being a last place team again.

Coming Tonight: I am going to a Yankees game today, but I have no idea if it'll be worth writing about. This team's been letting me down a lot lately. I could write it up. If not, expect a custom of an incredible defensive infielder from one of their rivals.