Devers After

 

Well, Rafael Devers got what he wanted. He's on the way for another 30-homer season, potentially 100 RBI season, playing where he wants, being an integral part of the team, and it's not even gonna matter even remotely in the grand scheme of this season. As his old team is putting together a potential playoff roster.

I mean, look...a year later, Devers is still justified in wanting out of Boston. The organization that made him a star was sidelining him for a 1-year rental and telling him where to play, then actively shopping him to make room only to pawn virtually everyone they got for him for parts. I wouldn't want to play for the Sox either if I was him. But while he's arguably treated better in San Francisco, this Giants team isn't going anywhere, even with people like Luis Arraez, Willy Adames, Heliot Ramos and Jung-Hoo Lee. The answers ate there, the development is there, and it's not moving. Even Devers himself took far too long to get going and only now, that the season is lost, is doing everything that he can to get back on course. He now leads the team in homers, which is easy to do when Daniel Susac, Luis Arraez and Grant McCray take up crucial roster spaces. The power game isn't there, the contact game is barely there despite TWO .300 hitters, and every great season seems to stop right when it's getting going. Ramos, Susac, Chapman, Lee and now Schmitt have all gotten hurt right when they were hitting their peak. It feels cursed.

Trevor McDonald going down the same week as Casey Schmitt feels like the real death nell. Yes, it means Carson Whisenhunt can start games, and he's been doing pretty alright for himself, but it's now down to Tyler Mahle, healthy but still a 5 ERA guy, Landon Roupp and his unabashed homophobia, Christian Koss erasing the good vibes of last season, and a very underwhelming bullpen to pick up the slack. It's great that Heliot Ramos is back and hitting, he's got 9 home runs and 34 RBIs in 70 games, but that injury took the wind out of this team's sails. Same with Jung-Hoo Lee, who's had excellent stretches but about as many mediocre ones. Even if they let Arraez or Ray go at the deadline, can this team build something so that 2027 doesn't look like this? Can Drew Gilbert finally take off? Is Devers gonna keep being this power backbone?

I think ultimately I just expected more from this team, just from how surprisingly streaky they could be, and how open the middle of the division was. But they just don't have depth right now, and Logan Webb giving more peak starts still isn't enough on its own. And so here we are, another Giants season, another purely inconsequential venture into Buster Posey's business flaws. Least he's getting a plaque next year.

Coming Tomorrow- A fun outfield bat who was just linked in trade rumors to one of my teams.

They Threw a Party, Nobody Came

 

So, to recap, the week leading up to the All-Star Game has included the best player in the league getting a minor injury and choosing to sit out the game, another guy who rightfully was nominated to start at 1st base getting hurt and needing to miss the game, the guy who'd be the only representative from the Pittsburgh Pirates leaving with a high pitch count and needing to miss the game, and a guy who should have been nominated from the start turning down a nomination after he already knew he wouldn't get to play in it anyway. Also, for some reason, every time someone from the AL withdraws from the game, 2 more Red Sox sprout in their place. 

As mad as I am about Wheeler missing the game, Logan Webb, who also missed time and still makes the game, is a solid enough choice, solely because I don't think anyone else has summed up the possibilities of 2020s pitching consistency like Webb has. There are so many contemporaries that could be consistent standouts like Webb if they were built well enough to withstand the wear and tear. Justin Steele, Corbin Burnes, Tyler Glasnow, Shane Bieber. Yet Webb is there every year, and has only had the occasional injury issue or the occasional down month. Though this will likely be the first year since 2011 where Webb doesn't make all his starts, he's still got a 3.86 ERA, a 1.156 WHIP and 80 Ks in 100 innings, a good line to put with a career of them. Webb passed the 1000 strikeout mark to begin the season, has a 3.42 career ERA, and will be making his third consecutive all-star game. I think we should just keep rewarding him for as long as he lasts, because somebody being that good and that sturdy for that long is rare nowadays. 20 years ago it'd be a Mark Buehrle type where he sort of ends up underrated, and I think that's still the case now with Webb, but Webb's more valuable now arguably. Everyone else on the Giants, either you hope he stays healthy [Ray, Mahle] or you hope he stays good [Roupp, McDonald]. 

The Giants being represented solely by Logan Webb and Luis Arraez might be a little mean. I would have put Matt Chapman in there, he's still one of the best third basemen in the bigs. Casey Schmitt could have also gotten a look, he's having a terrific year with 18 homers and a .281 average. But yeah, I see why Devers isn't there, he's still got some serious flaws as an all-round hitter, and I see why Jung Hoo Lee isn't there, he's good for singles but not as much for doubles, and I get that the Bryce Eldridge month has worn off. There's a lot of pop to this Giants team when things are going well, and Adames and Ramos, when hot, are very valuable. But it's tough getting everybody on the same page. It's also been a chore watching Drew Gilbert develop, he's simply not there yet, even three organizations in. 

It is possible the Giants will be selling in a couple weeks. I'm not sure what's really there to part with, maybe Ray or Arraez? Maybe Ryan Walker? They've got places to go but because so many guys are there for a while I'm not sure if it'll be anybody too big. Still, if they can get everybody in tune with each other, they could be closer than people think.

Coming Tomorrow- I'm not sure if it's time yet to talk about whether this guy's fully lived up to his rookie season but the longballs sure help me forget that.

Eldridge Horror

 

It's no secret that the Giants probably aren't a competitor this year. The tentpoles can't lift them, the back half of the rotation and the bullpen are weaker than they should be, Drew Gilbert still hasn't taken off and the top 3 NL West teams are just better. But they're not gonna go quietly. I still think the Giants are one of the most interesting bad teams in the league. It took them this long to figure out how to hit, and now that they're doing so, it's paying off wildly. 

For instance...Bryce Eldridge. 21 years old, first full year in the bigs. In 38 games, his .874 OPS is the highest on the team, higher than Casey Schmitt or Jung Hoo Lee. The guy has 6 homers and 16 RBIs, and he seems to be just getting started. He's a 6'7 slugging machine with some defensive ability but a huge contact ceiling. The hope is the Giants have found their answer to Aaron Judge after missing out on him a few years ago. So far this year he's been a refreshing power bat, and has aided Schmitt, Lee, Luis Arraez and Matt Chapman in keeping the lineup strong.

Then...it finally appears that Rafael Devers might be heating up. His WAR's out of the negatives, which is a start. Now he's got 12 home runs and 38 RBIs, which is much better. Three away from a team lead, that's palpable. I think he's just shaken off the rough 1st two months and is finally getting down to business, which is nice. I also want to point out some unsung guys, like Jonah Cox, playing a minor outfield role but bringing some contact help, as well as Victor Bericoto, who's hit 2 homers in the last 24 hours against the A's, one being a huge walkoff blast. Obviously there's some issues with this lineup, most notably a lack of a real power core [which is what happens when Devers slumps and Heliot Ramos gets hurt], but the runs can get scored in wild ways. Maybe Daniel Susac is the guy one day, maybe Eric Haase's the guy another day, maybe it's Jung Hoo Lee barreling a homer to the moon. There's variety, and that's a start. It's not just on one guy, that helps.

Getting Logan Webb back has helped the rotation, as he and Robbie Ray have been pretty sharp, and Tyler Mahle appears to be getting back to his old tricks. For some reason Landon Roupp hasn't been doing too well since pride night. He's lost his last few starts anyway, but his ERA's now over 4 somehow. Maybe that guy he was writing about on his cap had some funny way of teaching him a lesson about caring for others. But what do I know? Maybe Jeffrey Springs and his 5 ERA can give him a call and tell him to show some remorse. 

The Giants are onto a Braves series next. On paper that should be difficult because...I mean, they're the Braves, but they are in a bit of a cold spell, so it could be up to the Giants to see how things shake out. Maybe Bericoto can keep hitting home runs. It'd be weird if he went on a power tear and Baldwin didn't..

Coming Tomorrow- At the time, the fans didn't understand this trade, especially who the team was giving up. Judging that the guy they received is continuing his contact excellence from LA, I think they understand it now.

Hoo Lee Cow

 

Eighteen runs....against the CUBS???

Like, the Cubs aren't even that bad of a team, they've had ebbs and flows like everybody else. PCA will have a terrible snafu in centerfield and then he'll rock a triple or something. Jameson Taillon will bat the lineup around in an inning then have three straight 1-2-3 innings. They're inconsistent, but more on the side of good than bad. And they gave up 18 runs...to the Giants. Who also aren't bad, but really only emerge as a hitting giant occasionally.

So to recap how it all went down; Willy Adames hit 2 homers. Casey Schmitt hit 2 homers. Matt Chapman hit 2 homers. Jung Hoo Lee kept his hitting streak alive with an RBI double. Jonah Cox, who just came up last week, hit his first career home run as a pinch-hitter. The only starter without a hit was catcher Daniel Susac, who's generally been one of their best hitters outside of this game. Even Rafael Devers had 2 hits and an RBI, meaning even HE's getting hot, slowly. The whole lineup came together to rain down on the Cubs IN WRIGLEY. And now they've got two more games there...to see if they can do anything remotely similar.

My skepticism comes from the fact that, despite the team's .260 average, there's so many lapses in this team's formula that has kept them from really emerging. Rafael Devers is the biggest one. Even if he's currently leading the league in doubles with 20, he's still struck out 80 times and only has 7 home runs. The maddening tendencies, like the strikeouts and the poor defense and the attitude, are piling up, and it's become a similar struggle to his Boston days. I also look at Drew Gilbert and Bryce Eldridge, and they still haven't completely broken out a year later. You're seeing signs; Eldridge is hitting .286, but like Devers he has limited uses in the field. Gilbert's hitting .236 without much offensive production to speak of.

Which is why it's very nice that the core of the lineup has woken up in recent weeks, and Willy Adames, Jung Hoo Lee, Matt Chapman, Luis Arraez and Casey Schmitt have solidified some really nice seasons. Lee is hitting .322 with some insane contact perks this month. Schmitt has 13 homers and 35 RBIs and is still surging. Arraez, while not quite at batting title levels yet, is still hitting .325 with 76 hits. There's a lot about this lineup that's finally beginning to click, and just in time for Logan Webb's return as well.

I'm not sure if there's enough here for this team to really get going to extent they did yesterday, but there's more life in there than there was a month ago, and while they're far from reaching the Padres at the moment they're certainly hitting better than the Padres are.

Coming Tonight: They brought him up as a potential longterm catcher, then forgot they already had one. So now they have TWO young catchers hitting like crazy, which isn't the worst thing in the world.

An Apple with a Chunk Taken Out of It

 

The Giants without Logan Webb. That's friggin weird, man. Even if he's back next week, you just don't see that often. It's a reminder of how consistent and reliable Webb could be; once he's taken away the team doesn't really have an identity. And even with Webb they kinda don't, honestly. They've been searching for an identity since Posey retired, and Posey climbing into the front office somehow hasn't helped. Right now, Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman, Willy Adames and Harrison Bader have less home runs than utility man Casey Schmitt, who's got 9 home runs and a .293 average while starting at DH virtually everyday. If you're gonna bring Devers, Adames and Bader here, it should not be up to Casey Schmitt to hit all the home runs.

And with an even more depleted lineup, it's even more telling when Logan Webb's gone. Cause that's one start in a week's time where through 6 or 7 innings you're good. Without him, you're pressing your luck with guys like Robbie Ray and Landon Roupp, who are good but imperfect, high ERA innings eaters like Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle, or the occasional bright future spot like Trevor McDonald whose ceiling still seems unknown. It's shakier ground than usual, and the fact that nobody's really hitting doesn't make the fact that two different pitchers have 6 losses particularly surprising. What is surprising is the strength of the bullpen right now. Matt Gage, Keaton Winn, Caleb Kilian, Joel Peguero, Sam Hentges and Ryan Borucki have all been pretty great. It's just a matter of scoring runs before they get there, and we're not really there yet.

This team has multiple guys brought in here specifically to make a difference that just aren't. Jung Hoo Lee is still maddeningly average, hitting .268 with 17 RBIs. Drew Gilbert is still not MLB ready, and neither is Bryce Eldridge or Jesus Rodriguez. Adames and Chapman are more fine than anything but we've seen them both do way better, especially by May. Devers has 6 homers and 20 RBIs, but is hitting .246 and has 61 strikeouts. The reliable accuracy of his Boston peak seems to have dissipated. Plus, without Heliot Ramos, they've taken to throwing Eric Haase in the outfield, which...isn't terrific. This team does still have Schmitt, Luis Arraez and Daniel Susac, so SOME people are hitting, but enough of the team is more okay than anything, and not in the way this team is usually okay.

And it stands out even more when the Dodgers, Padres and even the Diamondbacks are actually good this year. This is a year where the Giants looked close, and made steps to move in on the competition, but they're still here. And it's a wonder they're still in fourth given how many more Rockies are hitting right now. I know there's always time to rebound, but I'm seeing the same old stumbles even with a new regime. And a surprise breakout from Schmitt might not be enough.

Coming Tomorrow- He spent years as a depth starter turned swingman turned depth starter again. So when the Rays actually sign him with intent to start him consistently, imagine their surprise when he...became their best starter.

The Plan Backfires Hilariously [Again]

 

So. Let's go back to 2021. The Giants, for years, have been bogged down by older players and a youth movement that's refusing to happen. This is their last real chance to compete, as Buster Posey's lit a fire under them. Belt, Crawford, Posey, Longoria, Yaz, they develop a strong lineup where nearly no one's under 30. A whole core of veterans, flanked by a 27-year-old centerfielder who'd never have another healthy season, with a bench of 30somethings, a rotation of thirtysomethings, and one rogue young kid named Logan Webb burning it down as well. They win over 100 games and are a monolith heading into the playoffs.

Now...this, and this may shock you, but this was not sustainable.

So, alright. Managers come and go, approaches change, Posey takes over, they develop a new young team, bring up people like Drew Gilbert and Hayden Birdsong and Grant McCray and Carson Whisenhunt. People who can take over. And they also get a ton of great contracted players, they trade for Rafael Devers, they actually build something. And after all of that...we have a last place Giants team where the 30somethings are doing all the work. AFTER ALL OF THAT, nothing's changed.

I'm just mystified by the Rafael Devers factor. Because you get this guy who can hit for power like nobody else, and was even doing so in Boston while feuding with the team, and for whatever reason he can't get it together. He's hitting .211 with 2 homers and 12 RBIs after a month. He had a cold start last year, but by the end of April he was hitting em out with no issue. What's going on here? The only person who's struck out more than Devers is Willy Adames, who's actually playing close to well, at least defensively. But all these young, foundational guys, like Heliot Ramos, Patrick Bailey, Jung Hoo Lee, Drew Gilbert, Landon Roupp...they're doing either very okay or almost good. Roupp is 5-2 with a 3.18 ERA, he gives up a few more runs than necessary, but he's basically good. Ramos is okay, Gilbert still hasn't clicked in the majors, Lee is fine but unspectacular, Bailey still can't hit. Even Logan Webb is struggling this season, which I attribute to the fatigue of carrying the team the last five years. 

And so the team's coming down to guys like Matt Chapman, Luis Arraez, Robbie Ray, guys who are 29 to 30, or more, and verging on leaving their peak. Chapman's doing his thing, he only has to hit so well but he's so good at third that you forget. Quietly he might be one of the best third basemen of his era, but nobody really wants to admit it. Arraez not only is hitting .300 again but he's actually a lot better defensively this year, mostly because he's frequenting 2nd rather than 1st. Ray, despite having 4 losses, has a 2.60 ERA and looks like his old self. It's just frustrating that the younger guys are sort of following in line behind them rather than inheriting the team.

Until that happens, you're gonna get irrelevant, last-place Giants teams like this. There's honestly some good stuff to speak of here, which is more than I can say from some other last place teams, but despite all the forethought we've ended up back where we started, which has to be frustrated. And there's a way out, but it's not gonna happen all at once.

Coming Tonight: The last 2020 Rays member still standing in Tampa. Unsurprisingly he's playing really well right now.

Fill a Buster

 

You'd think that adding Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, Harrison Bader and Luis Arraez to a Giants team like this would amount to a beefed-up lineup, right? That's kind of the idea when you get those guys. Instead, we have a team that's only scored 6 or more runs in 4 of their first 14 games. A lot of games of milling around, scoring maybe a run, or just getting blanked. Devers is hitting .212, Bader's hitting 115, Heliot Ramos is hitting .226, and only Willy Adames has hit more than 2 home runs. 

Kind of an odd way of going about it, but Buster seems to know what he's doing.

And that's just been the refrain ever since Buster Posey took over the head office. 'Well, he knows what he's doing'. His leadership brought 3 rings to the city, and his final season surge brought a surprise NL West winning year in 2021. Yet so far, the Giants have been...kinda similar to how they were when Buster took the job. Lots of promise, not a lot of payoff. Now they don't even have the luxury of Logan Webb, as he's struggled in his first few starts. The rough go has landed the Giants at the bottom of the division, below even the Rockies, who are at the very least 'okay' this year. 

There is SOME positive movement in this lineup, but it's not where everyone thought it would be. Willy Adames, after a rough year 1 in San Fran, is definitely his old self, hitting .273 with 6 RBIs, 9 doubles and and 3 homers. Matt Chapman and Luis Arraez are both off to strong contact starts. The big surprise has been Daniel Susac, a rookie catcher who's surged in a backup spot, already 7 for 12 with 3 RBIs. Beyond them, though, it's been disappointing. The whole outfield is struggling, Bailey's still not hitting, and Devers...might just be this kind of high-K hitter now.

At the very least the pitching's better. Webb's gonna come around eventually [hopefully], but until then there's still Robbie Ray, former Cy Young winner and ace. Ray's gotta feel bad that he left Toronto AND Seattle before both teams took off, and now he's in SF without much hope for contention. He's still a very strong option though, with a 2.42 ERA and 24 Ks in his first 4 starts. Ray is 34, a few surgeries removed, and still a strong strikeout artist. Landen Roupp and Tyler Mahle haven't been too bad either. All else fails and they might give Carson Whisenhunt another go, and maybe that'll work this time.

There's enough to distract you from the general disfunction, but the Giants still aren't a true competitor, after years of trying desperately to match up to the Dodgers or Padres. Now they can't even match up to the Rockies. The season is still very young, and a surge is always possible, but not without a lot of much needed waking up. If Devers can go on an April/May run like the one that got him to SF, maybe they'll be alright.

Coming Tomorrow- Speaking of where Devers was last year, uh...they're not doing too great either. This outfielder in particular is, but...otherwise it's pretty rough.

As the Curtain Arraezes...

 

It's the autism in me that makes this as obvious as it is, but to all of the people with the belief of 'the real Opening Day isn't until tomorrow', the first game of the season is being played tonight. Thereby...it opens the season. So today is Opening Day. I'm sorry I've avoided the nuance, but that's just how I see it.

Starting the season with Yankees-Giants is odd but somewhat understandable. These two teams did, in fact, used to play just down the road from each other. I've said that I come from a long line of Yankee fans, but the truth is my grandfather came from a long line of New York Giants fans. The last time the Yankees began the season playing the Giants was, if you'll recall, 2023, and the rumor going into the offseason was that this was planned with the knowledge that San Francisco was where then-free-agent Aaron Judge was favoring [given it's near home and all]. Henceforth, the Giants-Yanks series on a yearly basis has been dubbed, by me at least, the Arson Judge Classic. Because the Giants thought they'd be starting the season with Judge, and they started the season, instead, with Blake Sabol.

Now, 3 years later...not a ton has changed. The Giants have a new manager, Tony Vitello, trying to establish more of a college-coach-to-MLB-coach pipeline, and he's hoping to be more of a Jim Harbaugh and less of a Chip Kelly. But aside from that, it's two teams with similar strategies and different luck. Both teams are using money and roster building to stick themselves into an already crowded divisional setup- the Yankees have had more success, and look to be a major contender this year, while the Giants still haven't made the playoffs since Posey retired. If he gets in the Hall of Fame next year it'll be even more damning. 

It's not like the Giants don't try, they've brought genuine talent to the bay, and have Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, Jung Ho Lee and now Willy Adames in prime position. It's the development that's been really an issue. Joey Bart was a slam dunk, now he's a DH in Pittsburgh. Marco Luciano was supposed to be the next OF star, he's now swimming around the Yankees minor league system. Hayden Birdsong and Kyle Harrison were primed for starring roles, now Birdsong is out til next May and Harrison is hoping to get playing time in Milwaukee. When Drew Gilbert, another big time prospect, struggled upon a 2025 call-up, I saw the trend very plainly. I get that the new Posey regime is trying to jumpstart things, but none of these prospects have taken to the bigs as they should have. Even Heliot Ramos took like 3 extra years to craft major league success, and even still he's faded into the background more than one would hope for. 

And so here we are, starting 2026 with no real prospect guys having any part in the 26-man roster. Drew Gilbert did not make it. Bryce Eldridge did not make it. Carson Whisenhunt, despite being 3rd in the depth chart, did not make it. The only person making a debut this series is Daniel Susac, and he's their Rule 5 guy. I get the idea that so many more trustworthy MLB options are in front of them for positions, but need I remind you that this team is hoping to contend for 2nd or 3rd. We're already at 'IF this works' territory, and this is a team with Rafael Devers, Luis Arraez and Matt Chapman on it. 

So I'm really intrigued by how the Giants are gonna look against this Yankee team, who also have something to prove, but far less. All the Yankees are trying to do is prove their bullpen's better, the four-man rotation is a working concept and keeping Dominguez and Jones down is a good idea. Both teams are gonna learn right away just how much work they're gonna need to do from now til September. And hopefully the Giants can get closer than they've been in a while to actual legitimacy. 

That said, may it be a fun Opening series, and may everybody stay healthy and play their best.

Uncustomed Heroes of 2025: Giants

 

The Giants, like usual, had some strong swells, some embarrassing swells, some great performances, some disappointing performances, and some ultimate harsh realities. Bob Melvin in San Francisco did not work, much like Gabe Kapler did not work. The idea seems to be that getting a new breed of MLB manager in Tony Vitello, being the first to make the common-for-football jump from college coach to professional skipper. Now, the NFL has proved that this sort of thing can work sometimes [Pete Carroll, Jim Harbaugh] and fail loads of other times [Urban Meyer, Chip Kelly, Lane Kiffin, Matt Rhule, Nick Saban, how long ya got??]. But the Giants are confident. They were confident with Melvin but somehow they're more confident now. The right team doesn't seem to be terribly far away, it just needs the right circumstances.

Like, for instance, Patrick Bailey came up being so good in multiple facets that the Giants felt they could trade Joey Bart. And then Bailey mellowed out and now Bart hits better in Pittsburgh. In 2025, Bailey won his second straight gold glove behind the plate. He also hit .222, his lowest average yet, despite 55 RBIs, his highest total yet. Clearly the offense isn't gonna be the takeaway, unless he undergoes a Salvy Perez-esque transformation, but he's still a great defensive weapon and he's good for the occasional power moment.

2026 Prediction: All-star nod. He will not be the initial choice but somebody'll get injured and there'll be an opening.

Speaking of the all-star game, Randy Rodriguez, a 25-year-old second year reliever, did the unthinkable by making an ASG team despite nobody really having heard of him. Dave Roberts, in putting the roster together, knew he needed a great relief weapon, and given the amount of times he had to manage around Rodriguez he thought the kid invaluable. In 50 games, Rodriguez had a 1.78 ERA with 67 strikeouts, a .888 WHIP and a 1.9 WAR. He got hurt a little after the break and may be out for a while, but if the Giants can sustain his success they might be alright.

2026 Prediction: Does not appear.

2027 Prediction: Yeah, more of this kind of low-ERA dominance. 

The Giants usual relief specialist extraordinaire, Ryan Walker, was thrust into the RP1 role when Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers got traded. Walker was terrific in 2024, and was slightly shakier this year, with a 4.11 ERA, a 5-7 record, 60 Ks and, importantly, 17 saves. He can, and will, be relied upon to close games, and hopefully that'll straighten things out. Also, I learned recently that Ryan Walker and I share the same birthday, to the year. He turned the big 3-0 on the 26th of November. Don't, uh, don't look at me like that. 

2026 Prediction: 30+ saves, and more eyes on him. 

Though the Giants had their rotation figured out from the jump for the most part, between Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Justin Verlander and Jordan Hicks, they called upon Landen Roupp, over Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong, and quickly the Giants fans understood why. Roupp was pretty impressive in a relatively full season of work, with a 3.80 ERA and 102 Ks in 22 starts. Not Webb levels, but a sturdy, reliable low starter. In August he took a liner to the leg, got a bone bruise and was out the rest of the year.

2026 Prediction: Is back in full force, takes a bit more of a load and has his best season to date.

Dominic Smith was in camp with the Yankees, and was honestly hitting like crazy, making the Yankees' eventual decision to cut him over Ben Rice puzzling until...until we saw what Rice was cooking. So Smith eventually signed a minor league deal with the Giants, then made the team when LaMonte Wade trailed off. It was slightly risky stacking this team with three corner infielders who aren't good on defense, but Smith made up for it with some strong hitting, hitting .284 in 63 games, with 5 homers, 33 RBIs, and a .750 OPS. 

2026 Prediction: Similar bench/replacement role with a smaller market team.

And then as it became clear that Tyler Fitzgerald wasn't gonna be homer-crazy like he was last year, and therefore wasn't useful, the Giants turned to Christian Koss as the everyday second baseman.  Koss was not only a defensive upgrade from Fitzgerald, but he hit .264. Like Bailey the defense is the difference-maker with Koss, but he's got the occasional contact perk to help out.

2026 Prediction: He'll be more of a utility guy I gather, as I'm thinking the Giants will try and get an upgrade at 2B, but he'll still be extremely useful, especially as this team attempts a playoff berth.

Coming Tomorrow- The Guardians made the playoffs without their closer, and with the division leaders being two weeks ahead of them in August. There's still some magic in this team after all. 

Twenty Years Later

 

Here are some fun facts about the 2005 Tigers, the team Justin Verlander debuted playing for in July of 2005: they were starting Chris Shelton at 1st base in the midst of his mid-2005 swoon; Magglio Ordonez was only hitting .082, having missed most of the spring with an injury; the team's best statistical player was Placido Polanco, with a 4.3 WAR; the team's manager was Alan Trammell, whose sacking would pave the way for Jim Leyland literally a year later; no starting pitcher had an ERA lower than 4.50, yet despite that four starters had over 175 innings; and they were platooning Nook Logan in center with a young hitter named Curtis Granderson. It was an interesting team to come up with, that's for sure.

And now Justin Verlander is an integral part of this 2025 Giants team, a team managed by Bob Melvin, who in 2005 was in his first year with the Diamondbacks, presided over by Buster Posey, who was still in high school in 2005, and alongside Hayden Birdsong, who is 19 years his junior. It's gotta be odd for him.

In all actuality, JV doesn't have much left to prove. He's already a Hall of Famer, he's already married to Kate Upton, already has 3 Cy Youngs and 2 World Series rings. He's done well for himself. But this Giants season seems to be JV trying to wrap things up on his own terms rather than fizzling out after an injury-shortened year last year. This is a dignified exit, says he. And you've seen moments of greatness in the midst of some lesser numbers from Verlander in San Francisco. His last two starts he's allowed 0 runs and only 3 hits. Against the Rays in August he went 7 strong with only 2 hits allowed and 8 Ks. Now, tellingly, some of Verlander's stronger starts are against middle of the road teams, but he's still got the ability to do this. His ERA was way higher before the ASG break, and he's gotten it down to 4.09, with 120 Ks to boot, but by and large the guy feels like a 42 year old. Which is fine, at the very least he's 42-year-old Justin Verlander and not 42-year-old Mike Maroth, but you can tell everyone involved wishes things were a little different.

Verlander is one of the last lines of defense for a Giants team that's spontaneously gotten very hot lately, on the strength of Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman and Dominic Smith. There are gaping flaws in this team that make me feel sort of confident that they won't make the leap to full-on Wild Card threats, but there's this narrow margin of possibility that they're hanging onto. They're gonna have to play the Dodgers later this week, and that'll cement whether or not anything's happening, but the fact that it's still possible after a midyear drop-off that could kill any other team does, at the very least, make me more confident than I'd thought. 

You never know. If you're in a 'losing games' contest with the Mets and the Reds, you've still got the odds on your side automatically.

Coming Tonight: From the moment he bailed on the Yankees to stay in Florida during a playoff race, I knew something like this would be coming from him. The villain arc. Sure enough it's here, in epic fashion.

Only When I Raf

 

I wonder how Miguel Cabrera thinks about the fact that the Tigers got extremely good the year after he retired. I wonder how Nomar Garciaparra thinks about the fact that the Red Sox won their first championship in years after trading him to the Cubs. I wonder how Jason Giambi feels about the fact that his Yankees tenure bookends World Series wins but doesn't include any. I bet they'd know how Rafael Devers feels. He asked to be traded because he was going nowhere in Boston and wanted to play for a competitor, so he gets dealt to San Francisco, who has the worst record in baseball since he joined. And the Sox are competing without him. 

Almost as if he was the problem. 

Look, the thing about the player as powerful as Rafael Devers is that we could say all these disparaging things about him and then he'll bounce back and make it all moot. Bryce Harper was the butt of a lot of jokes when he left the Nationals in 2019 and then the Nats won a World Series without him despite the team being built around him. The joke was on the Nats in the end, as Bryce won an MVP in Philly, got to a World Series and will likely go into Cooperstown as a Phillie. So this first year, and this downfall, for Devers and the Giants may not ultimately be indicative of anything.

However...Rafael Devers was much better in Boston this year. We're still in the period from before he started finding the ball, that April period that pissed the Sox fans off. In 60 games with the Giants, Devers has hit .226, with 36 RBIs and 10 homers. The DH that we feared Devers would be replacing, Wilmer Flores, is an upgrade. It's nice that Devers can swing to 1st or play 3rd again, but he's not hitting like he did and it's costing the team. You'd think a team with Willy Adames, Matt Chapman, Logan Webb and Rafael Devers would compete but it's not. They've run into some awful luck, like a dissipated core from last year, the flaws of Heliot Ramos, the back half of the rotation snapping off and the awful move of trading Mike Yastrzemski to a team with a similar record. If Devers was actually playing like he was in Boston, they'd maybe have 5 or so more wins and be right in the thick of it. 

There's a chance that this team somehow comes together next year and quiets all the critics, but as it stands right now this isn't pretty, and Devers himself doesn't come out too great. We'll see what the long term ramifications are.

Coming Tonight: He steals a lot of bases, and right now that seems to be enough.

What Constitutes a Run These Days

 

I've been trying to wrap my head around this for the last week, and it's still not completely making sense to me. So...the Royals bought in at the deadline, sustained enough of their team to go for a wild card spot, and they're currently 57-58, 4 games out from a spot. The Miami Marlins have become a surprise sleeper favorite, have been winning a ton of close series', and might be going for a spot themselves. They're 56-57, 6 games out from a wild card spot.

But the San Francisco Giants, who sold at the deadline, vivisected their bullpen and even gave a major piece TO THE ROYALS...are 58-57, above .500, and closer in the line of succession to a wild card spot than the Royals or the Marlins. I don't understand why Buster Posey and his committee thought that his team didn't have enough to go for it when they very clearly still have an outside chance of sneaking their way in. Was it just more cost effective to give up than to go for a run? Who knows.

The Royals have always been a 'they're right there but just don't have enough' team in the divisional race. The Tigers were always gonna be the favorite, and the Guardians had enough to chase teams even though they completely ran from what made them a success last year. The Royals had the team, but not the luck- Ragans got hurt, Bubic got hurt, Pasquantino's been *okay*, and Caglianone's been below replacement level since the call-up. This is a very okay team that happens to have some excellent performers lifting them. Bobby Witt Jr. is still elite, he's hitting .287 with 16 homers and 64 RBIs, and leads the league in doubles with 37. Carlos Estevez leads the league in saves with 28. Maikel Garcia proved he's got serious staying power. Noah Cameron's a rookie mop-up guy who can also have big-game starts. And Michael Wacha of all people has been having a strong, consistent year, with a 3.36 ERA and 98 Ks in 23 starts. The hope is that Bailey Falter comes around and provides that back-half security, but that first start was rough. 

The bones of a good team are still there with the Royals. The only issue is that, as opposed to last year where they had a strong middle and road that to the playoffs, now they have to be the 2024 Tigers and get momentum late and sneak in on that. And that is very hard to do. Heck, the former strategy only worked so well for the Royals anyway last year. Their goal was to be better than the 2024 team, and I don't know if they are.

The Giants, meanwhile, made every effort to retool and get a leg up on the competition and it didn't initially work. That Willy Adames looks as good as he does now, with 18 homers and a team-leading 61 RBIs, shouldn't distract you from his very rough first two months. He's getting hot in a Giants uniform now, which is very good, but while the team was in the thick of the race he was struggling. The inverse of that is Jung-Hoo Lee, who was excellent in the earlier part of the season but took a downturn when the team did. He's now hitting .246 with a .737 OPS. Very average. And Rafael Devers has hit for power, but not as often as the team would like, with 5 homers and 20 RBIs in 43 games.

For the Giants to make a playoff spot, they'd need to fight against the luck the organization has made for them. That means continuing to ride a strong stretch from Dominic Smith, getting better innings out of Carson Whisenhunt and Justin Verlander, keeping Heliot Ramos producing for more than a second and not letting the loss of Yaz completely upend them. It will be very tough for this team to compete now that the brass has lost faith in them, but it's still possible. 

What I'm saying is if, of these three teams, the one that makes the playoffs is the Marlins, I'll be very amused.

Coming Tomorrow- Catchers turned 1st basemen aren't that exotic anymore, but this is one that I'm still getting used to.

Fast Approaching

 

Here's the deal. This weekend, right before the All-Star Break, the Dodgers and Giants are playing a series in SF. Two division rivals, relatively evenly matched, Devers against some old teammates, yada yada. What makes this a big series is that the Giants are currently 5 games out of first, and have used series' against the Phillies, A's and D-Backs [as well as the Dodgers' skid following series' with the Astros and Brewers] to get closer to lapping their ultimate rival. If this series goes to plan for the Giants, they could be set up to come back from break with leverage in this division.

A lot of the momentum has come to this team with help from returning standout Matt Chapman, who was on the IL for about a month. Chapman has been the solidified star figure for this team, continuing to be one of the best defensive third basemen in the league, and being a solid offensive producer still. Chapman, like usual, isn't hitting for average, but he definitely is hitting, with 12 homers and 30 RBIs in 72 games. The fact that only Heliot Ramos has surpassed that mark on this team is kinda telling. Chapman is still elite, a great player with the kind of team-rallying consistency that the Giants have desperately needed. Yaz is great but he'll miss time frequently. Ramos has been phenomenal but even he's not perfect. And Devers...is struggling about as much as he did in Boston. Having Chapman back has reenergized this team, and makes me confident that they'll stand a chance against LA.

It's also clear the Giants have some spark because of some of the cool developments this team has seen recently. You probably heard about Patrick Bailey's inside-the-park walk-off home run that ended a game against my hometown team recently. You might have also heard that Dominic Smith, who would have been the Yankees' Opening Day DH had Ben Rice not found his swing in camp, has been a pretty decent bench power bat for the Giants. Or maybe you looked at both Logan Webb and Robbie Ray's ERAs and seen that they're one point off. 2.63 and 2.62. That's how wired in they both are. I think Verlander's still a bit shaky but Webb, Ray, Roupp and Birdsong have been excellent and are part of why this team has been creeping up.

What I'm saying is that the Giants have a chance to crash the Dodgers' party. They've held a pretty compact rotation all year and aren't surviving off minor league fumes. They're hitting, and their power production is great. And now they've got the momentum. So who knows what'll happen this series.

Coming Tonight: He's been in the league around ten seasons and he's still a very reliable starting arm.

2 DHs, 1 Bay

 

So, from what I can gather, here's what the Giants are going for with Rafael Devers, at least until Chapman gets back. Either Devers gets DH, and Smith and Schmitt take the corners, or Devers takes first, Flores takes DH and Schmitt takes third, OR Devers takes third, Smith takes 1st and Flores DHs. I think the object is both to ensure Devers feels he's being valued for his flexibility rather than doing what the teams wants, and to ensure that Wilmer Flores doesn't have to play the infield. But I see the point of keeping both Devers and Flores in the lineup. Because Rafael Devers is one of the best hitters in the game so far, and because Wilmer Flores has 51 RBIs and is theoretically on the way to his first-ever 100 RBI season. 

That's been wild, by the way. Earlier this year, Flores was leading the league, for a week or so, in RBIs. He's come back down a little, evened out, but those 51 RBIs still look very good, and are the most of anyone on the team. After years of utility work in Queens, Flores has become a pure production guy, and has been an integral part of the last few Giants teams. I don't think getting Devers means he's not good at his job, it just means when you have an opportunity to get Rafael Devers, you take it and then move things around. Devers, at last, is someone the Giants can build a team around, more than Yaz or Chapman or Adames, and now they're heading after the Dodgers with a great year from a happier Devers, a Cy Young-contending comeback season from Robbie Ray, and the return of Justin Verlander.

I mean this sincerely when I say the things that the Giants have that are a little wonky or imperfect are part of their charm. Having 42-year-old Verlander out there, still yet to get a win [as I write this], but still giving it his all. Relying on guys like Flores and Dominic Smith and Tyler Rogers. The Dodgers may have all that money but it bought them like 9 guys who are hurt. Matt Chapman gets hurt for a couple weeks but that's it. Nobody else is so injured that it's wounded the team, at least not yet. And the sort of cobbled-together, dogeared roster this team has is very fun to watch, especially as an underdog. The Dodgers are expected to win, the Padres were expected to compete, but the Giants have gotten great years out of Heliot Ramos, Logan Webb, Jung Hoo Lee and Camilo Doval, and they don't seem to be done yet.

The one issue is that without Hicks and Harrison, the Giants suddenly need to rethink their rotation strategy. They're now forced to do Webb-Ray-Birdsong-Roupp-Verlander, and...I think this will work? Roupp has had some good starts but his ERA is teetering over 4. Birdsong is becoming a great MLB pitcher but is this the best time to be trying him out? Who's even the next-nearest option? Mason Black? Is that a good idea? They have to see if this works, and it's a very dire time to be testing out a new rotation, because if it doesn't work they slip past the Padres and lose the momentum. 

Having Devers is nice, but they need everybody to be on board and keep pounding away. I think it's possible, but we're gonna see how much they're willing to produce.

Coming Tonight: It's kinda nice he's kept the starting catching job after all these years I guess.

They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore

 

Logan Webb, since he debuted in 2019, has made virtually all of his starts, averaged a 4.0 WAR per year has routinely kept his ERA below 3.50 and has shown no sign of slowing down or injury. I'm saying this because it seems all too rare nowadays that somebody can just make all their starts for 5 years. Typically someone will throw their arm out or need TJ surgery or have a quadding injury or some shit, but Webb, thus far, has been one of the most consistent and omnipresent starting pitchers of the decade so far. It's been Webb, Wheeler, Gausman, Bassitt, Nola [til now] and Framber Valdez, amongst others I'm probably forgetting. 

Fundamentally I shouldn't like Logan Webb, because buried in his ledger is the detail that at some point during the 2019 system he failed a routine drug test and was nearly suspended for 80 games. Unlike a lot of his contemporaries [Alvarado, Tatis, Profar, Cano], he was genuinely innocent and would be vindicated when it became clear that he had no knowledge of how the steroid got into his system. It's on the side of 'he's innocent', but there's this overall uncertainty, a lot like Mike Piazza or Gerrit Cole, on whether or not there was actually cheating involved. I believe him, though. And seeing as, as good as he's been since coming up, Webb hasn't hit the sensors again, I think he's clean for the long run.

Logan Webb, as it stands, is having a slightly more human year than expected, while also still being Logan Webb. Through 12 starts he's 5-5 with a 2.82 ERA and 84 Ks. The W/L ratio isn't scaring too much because the last two years he's had similar luck with that standard of Giants team, but with a better, more competitive squad he's still 5-5. Robbie Ray, for reference, is 7-0. I think Webb is still the Giants' best starter [though Jordan Hicks and Justin Verlander has made this relatively easy], but he's just come upon some tougher starts than usual. The good news is he still looks good by and large, and is on pace for another consistent, full season.

Also it is odd that JV is on this team, cause he used to be the 'go out there for 35 games every year' guy and then eventually his arm couldn't keep up. The tables have turned.

The Giants are in the middle of a close race for second place in the NL West, alongside the San Diego Padres. On their side, the Giants have an outstanding bullpen, some well spread-out power hitting, breakthroughs from the majority of the outfield, another strong season from Matt Chapman and the sudden RBI powers of Wilmer Flores. The Padres, however...still might have the better team. But the Giants at least have a Marlins series to whet their appetite before the Padres come to town. So we'll see if either one legs ahead.

Coming Tomorrow- He got off to a truly horrendous start and worried a ton of people that the Red Sox' money had gone to the right place. Suffice to say they're a lot less worried now.

Yaz I Was Saying..

 

Mike Yastrzemski, especially when you compare his numbers to his grandfather's, might have one of the most fascinating careers of the moment. Yaz didn't make his MLB debut til he was 28, after years of toiling in the minors, and since then he's averaged 3.5 WAR and .241 per season while still being one of the most respected Giants of the current regime. His best statistical season was during the pandemic-shortened 2020, and it would have given him an All-Star nod that has still evaded him. He's never played a season with more than 148 games, and he's never hit more than 57 RBIs in a season. Yet whenever he's healthy he always hits well, plays great defense and is well liked.

Yaz...feels like he would have been more at home in the time his grandpa Carl played. Back then, they called you up at like 21, you played for 20 years, you didn't have to swing at every pitch and you didn't get hurt as often. It's just upsetting that the second he really finds his sweet spot in the majors is right around the end of his peak. Not that he's not an exciting and crucial player, even at 34, but I suppose the Giants wish they got more of 20s Yaz rather than the guy who many get injured right when he really gets going.

Yaz is a perfect summation of the Giants to this point: a guy capable of great things who does very well but for an infuriatingly narrow period of time. Thankfully Yaz, like the Giants, are widening that period this year, being a very strong third place team with aspirations of dethroning the top two.

Are there disappointments this season for the Giants? Of course. Willy Adames is not playing as well as promised, LaMonte Wade simply isn't hitting, Justin Verlander has been simply passable, Ryan Walker's dominance is absent, and Patrick Bailey, the catcher so promising that the Giants traded Joey Bart to Pittsburgh to keep him as the starter, hasn't hit above .200 yet. There are definite flaws, places where the answer hasn't shown up yet, and some close recent losses. But ultimately, this is a team that can hit, and has a lineup where nearly everyone has over 10 RBIs. 

Yaz, alongside Matt Chapman, Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee and Wilmer Flores, make up a very strong, potent, powerful core. Lee is definitely for real, leading the team in hits and still managing 24 RBIs. Chapman continues to be one of the best third basemen in the game and also consistently hits home runs. Flores, for a period, led the league in RBIs, and his 33 is still a great mark. And yes, with Robbie Ray and Logan Webb in peak form, and enough young guys that will eventually get the idea, the pitching is in great shape as well.

The Giants just look very good, and have managed some excellent wins, even in spite of having two teams that are better in the same division. The upset is possible, and if this lineup keeps producing at this rate, it will become more and more of a certainty.

Coming Tonight: The Orioles are down a lot of their best pitchers right now, meaning one of their rare offseason signings is actually coming in handy right now.

Ray of Hope?

 

A few years ago, when the Giants were trying to revitalize themselves without actually getting younger players, I wondered when they'd get the picture. The answer wasn't having an average age of 32, the answer was building something. And they tried, they had Joey Bart and Steven Duggar and Jaylin Davis, but none of that worked. And they were only getting older. I'm glad 2021 happened, as sort of this last hurrah for the old way of thinking, but they needed Melvinball, and they needed to crumple and toss.

So now that the team is being led by people like Willy Adames, Logan Webb, Jung-Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos, they can use older players in more supplementary and supportive roles, instead of as the driving force. Justin Verlander and Robbie Ray are not on this team to drive the bus, they're here to contribute, because they still can.

And to be honest, this is close to vintage Robbie Ray we're seeing here. Not as dominant as Toronto Robbie, he's still got a 4 ERA, but he's 3-0 with 25 Ks, and the only Giants starter to give up less earned runs so far is Logan Webb. I knew Ray would be a great piece for them when he got healthy, and we saw a glimpse of this last year. Now he's truly back, and I'm glad the Giants are benefitting. Same with Justin Verlander, who's clearly not peak JV, but he's still doing a lot of the same things. He's struck out 23 through 5 games, and even with a 5 ERA, he's only lost 1 game. It's not like Charlie Morton going 0-5 in all his starts, he's having trouble but not in a way where the Giants are screwed, because almost every time they hit their way back. Jordan Hicks, meanwhile, has a 6 ERA and 3 losses. So JV could be a lot worse.

The veteran supplanting stretches to the lineup, where Wilmer Flores leads the league in RBIs with 27, Matt Chapman's hitting up a storm and leading the charge, and Mike Yastrzemski's having his best season in years, hitting .282 with 13 RBIs and 4 homers. At the same time, the younger players can do the heavy lifting as well, with Fitzgerald, Ramos and Lee heavily contributing, and a young core of Randy Rodriguez, Hayden Birdsong, Spencer Bivens and Erik Miller ruling the bullpen. They've finally found a really nice mix, and it's worked so well that the Giants have lapped the Dodgers in the standings.

I think they can sustain this and add to this as Bailey, Adames and Wade click, and as the rotation sheds off some April cobwebs. If the team wasn't winning at the power game, the pitching would hurt more, and it doesn't. A lot can improve, even as this team's already outdone expectations. I hope they surprise people going forward.

Coming Tonight: Kyle Tucker is someone who I was waiting to get out of Houston so I could actually enjoy his gameplay. This guy, not only did he not exactly make himself easy to love, he went to Boston. Uphill battle for him I guess.

Complicating the West

 

Two weeks into the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers are in third place. While still having a better record than four other division leaders. So for those of you thinking this would be a very inevitable, cut and dry season, fear not. The Giants and Padres are gonna make this a bit more interesting.

The Padres being competitive is less of a shocker. We all saw how good they were last year, and they had a ton of great offseason moves, like locking down Jackson Merrill, signing Nick Pivetta and bringing in Gavin Sheets and Yuli Gurriel. They only perfected a team that was already on the cusp of greatness. But...the Giants are ahead of the Dodgers as well. And it's happened because a lot of things that had been developing and gestating for some time are finally paying off.

First of all, this is Heliot Ramos's first season where he's been given the trust he deserves. It took him a while to make the bigs, he finally stuck around for good last year and became a hard-hitting all-star outfielder. Now he finally get to keep left field, which much be a relief for all the people fearing the position would continue to be a revolving door. Ramos is already having a great season, hitting .279 with 12 hits, 9 RBIs and 3 homers. He's still an above-average outfielder with some insane offensive pop, and with no disrespect to people like Mike Yastrzemski, Patrick Bailey and Wilmer Flores, they really needed a guy like that. 

Then there's Jung Hoo Lee, who's been outstanding to start the year. Last year there was only a small taste of Lee's offensive prowess before an injury ended his season. This season, however, you're getting a full picture of why everybody was so excited about him last year. He's hitting .333 with 10 hits, 6 doubles and 3 steals. This guy is fun as hell, and the Giants fans already love him, in a way not seen since Pence and Sandoval were still here. Obviously the idea was to have Chapman and Adames, as the biggest stars, lead the team, and Chapman's been phenomenal so far, but this is an effort led by the guys everyone counted out. Lee, Ramos, Yaz, Robbie Ray. 

It just feels more genuine than the Dodgers, because yes, this team has some contracts, and have used them to compete, but there's more of an idea of human error than the Dodgers' contracts. There was the chance that JV could be cooked, and so far...he kinda is. There was the risk factor signing Jordan Hicks to start, and he's on the good side at the moment. So much of this team has risk built in, but so did the 2010s teams. Posey knows that. And he knows that it can ebb and flow in a way that can ensure really strong stretches. This, after years of just missing, may be it. 

The idea is figuring out a way to keep the Dodgers on the ropes all year, which will not be easy, and continuing the trend of incredible close victories, which will also not be easy. We'll see how much of this is sustainable, but if this lasts the whole year there might be a new league superpower in the mix.

Coming Tonight: One of MANY Red Sox kicking the crap out of the ball right now.

You Probably Should Call it a Comeback

 

A brief look into the life of the bloke who writes these: I recently joined a local strat-o-matic baseball league. It's basically D&D for people who prefer light beer to IPAs. I'm not the youngest one in it but I'm close. I inherited a team that did poorly and the idea is to turn it around, maybe do a little better than the last guy did. 

Anyway, a very telling factor of the modern baseball scene is that you come to expect players having uncarded seasons out of the blue, or seasons where you know they'll be partial/barely there the next season so you sell to a competitor so they can get the good innings before they run out. My team had Matt McLain, but since he didn't play at all in 2024, I can't use him this year, but I can definitely hang onto him to ensure I get the results of his 2025 season. McLain so far is looking great in Cincinnati, and having him in the infield ensures the Reds can hopefully make a push this year. So I'll hopefully get a good card for him next year.

The 'gap year' that many players are forced to take due to injuries is basically expected now. And moves are made to account for them. Plenty of great players didn't play at all last year. I already know Joe Musgrove and Gerrit Cole are out this whole season. But the feeling of getting somebody back after they've been gone for a while is a very good feeling, and this spring alone we've seen some returns, in full condition, that have made some fans very excited for the year to come. 

Angels: Well, Mike Trout is back, and so far he's been playing as well as usual. Still has the power bat, still has the swing of a generation. Hopefully moving him out of center will keep him healthy for longer than a month. 

Blue Jays: Alek Manoah has been in camp, and has been throwing. It's not certain he'll be ready for Opening Day, and anything he's done post-2023 has been scaring people anyhow. The Jays have a rotation enough without him, but the hope is that he eventually makes an appearance and can start games again.

Braves: Well, Ian Anderson's high on the depth chart, and he's been strong in Spring Training. So he'll be back this year. I think Anderson is the poster child for young pitchers cooking their arms too early, cause that twisting motion ensured the surgery was inevitable. Spencer Strider should be back a little later this season, which will also help.

Brewers: After a year or rehabbing, Brandon Woodruff finally seems like he's nearly back on the mound. He's thrown sim games, and I assume later down the road he'll get either a spring training or a Triple-A start to ensure he's good. The Brewers would love this guy back, as he'd bring their already strong rotation [Peralta-Cortes-Myers-Civale-Quintana is pretty damn good] to the next level. 

Dodgers: Both Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin are expected to be back this year, and at the very least May is looking good. The Dodgers thankfully have enough backup rotation options that they'll be good if they get hurt again.

Giants: Jung Hoo Lee is back, looking to make the first-year impression he was supposed to make in his rookie year last year, before the injury. I really would like Lee to become somebody big for the Giants, he seems like he could be a fun hitting machine that they kinda need right now.

Guardians: Shane Bieber made the decision to return to Cleveland, even as Boston tried to swoop him up. He clearly loves pitching for the Guards, and even if he may not be Opening Day ready, he wants to help this team compete. It'll be cool to see him back helping Bibee, Williams and Ortiz out with the starting effort. 

Marlins: Not only is Sandy Alcantara back in camp for the Marlins, and thriving, but he'll likely be the Opening Day Starter. Before the injury the Cy Young winner was one of the most consistent and dominant Marlins pitchers in years, and his Spring material has made people extremely excited, as they should be. Hopefully he'll ensure this team finishes with their dignity intact this year.

Mets: Ronny Mauricio missed all of 2024 with an injury before he could truly 'break out' with the Mets, but then the team ensured they could make an NLCS without him. By the time he rejoins the action, probably in late April or so, the Mets will be going with McNeil as the primary 2B and Baty behind him. Meaning Mauricio might need to toil in Syracuse for a bit before he gets his next shot, a feeling it's looking like Luisangel Acuna will share.

Orioles: Felix Bautista is back, healthy, and taking the ninth right back from Yennier Cano. O's fans are very excited for this. 

Pirates: Endy Rodriguez lost his shot at a relatively open catching spot in Pittsburgh by getting injured and missing all of 2024. He now enters camp, hitting well by the way, third in line for the position, behind Henry Davis [still trying to find MLB luck] and Joey Bart [who will likely get the job]. He may need to wait a bit to get another shot.

Rangers: Jacob deGrom looks extremely good this spring, and is expecting his fullest campaign yet with the Rangers. Tyler Mahle has had good starts but missed one or two, and so the injury concern returns. Evan Carter seems to have gotten over his back issue and looks to favor heavily into the team's offensive output. 

Rays: In two starts in camp, Shane McClanahan has allowed no runs. It's looking like he's back, and a rotation led by him will no doubt ensure the Rays are better this year. Now if only they had some place to play.

Reds: Brandon Williamson looks to be back this year, and will likely be a bullpen arm, mostly to ensure he doesn't blow his arm out again, and also because the rotation looks pretty full this year for the Reds. 

Red Sox: Lucas Giolito, Liam Hendriks and Trevor Story are all healthy and thriving for this team, and that, along with the many young players the Sox have in abundance, is very much scaring me.

Rockies: German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela are both back this year, and both plugged back into the rotation. At the very least that'll be up from last year if they stay healthy. Then Ryan Feltner giving up 14 runs to the Phillies won't stand out as much. Also, more Kris Bryant this year, and hopefully more Nolan Jones. Very promising.

The Stars Are Out: The Rest of 2024

 

Another year where I kept forgetting to find moments to post the Stars Are Out customs. Topps bringing back the First Pitch insert set may have contributed to this as well, since they're documenting first pitches I'm only sort of needed, cause I kinda only do the cool niche ones anyhow. No matter. There was still some left, so before I start rolling out 2025 customs, here they are.

I'm starting with Patrick Willis, not only because he's one of the few sports-related first pitches I documented in this batch, but because I've met the man. Million years ago, back when he was still playing with the 49ers, a mutual friend introduced me. Great guy, soft spoken. Treated me like an equal, despite me being young and decidedly not an All-Pro linebacker. Willis was one of the best of his era, and he deserved his HOF enshrinement. Awesome that he still gets a nice welcome in SF.

The Braves had two different OMG music stars take up the pregame this past year for first pitches. Somehow Usher, the bigger star of the two, had the comparatively humbler approach. Usher's still a really big deal, and his Super Bowl halftime show was very good. There were a ton of photos to choose from of him at Truist Field, this was a pretty good one. Then Ludacris not only did a first pitch, but did so in this insane getup, with massive arms and massive feet. That's the real feet there, trying to throw out the first pitch with massive foam hands. Subtlety isn't exactly Luda's strong suit, but hey, it's certainly an original one.

Advertising mascots. ADVERTISING MASCOTS THROWING OUT FIRST PITCHES. This is where we're at, people. This is the degree of modern capitalism here. I think Jake from State Farm did one last year as well. Wondering who's next. LiMu Emu and Doug? The Aflac duck? The Green M&M? 

Arguably as confusing as an advertising mascot throwing out the first pitch, Jared Leto throwing one out at a Mets game. I'm still not sure what Jared Leto's deal is. If his acting's meant to be like that on purpose or not. He also just shows up places randomly. Last April fool's day he was randomly hosting Wheel of Fortune, and it was never addressed. Why him? Why Wheel of Fortune? Why are we validating the guy that starred in 'Morbius'?? Who knows. I don't even know if he's a Mets fan at all. Chloe Grace Moretz did one at CitiField, and her I can buy as a Mets fan. Jared Leto...does he even know what sports are?

So the Guardians have essentially adopted Machine Gun Kelly, and gave him his own promotion last year. I like that they're giving back to a famous Clevelander who loves the team and wears his Ohio upbringing on his sleeve, but right as the sun is rising on the Guardians as a league threat, the sun is setting on Machine Gun Kelly as a credible musician. Like, what has this man done in the past two years that's in any way worthy of preservation? Hell, the Guardians seem to be alright with the fact that MGK's walkoff win during the Celebrity Softball Game was done under the influence of hallucinogenics, so I don't know if they really can be too choosy right now. He's theirs, and he likes coming to games...and the Kelces are harder to get. 

We'll end on these two, these are much cooler rock music gets. Jerry Cantrell is the driving creative force behind Alice in Chains, he's not only the reason their songs kicked so much ass in the 90s but he's the reason for their underrated 2009-2018 comeback, where he honestly held his own as lead singer. Alice in Chains is a very cool band, and Cantrell, though doing his solo thing right now, is a rock legend. He's not from Ohio, but he rolled through Cleveland and the Guards thought 'what the hell'. 

Tom DeLonge, meanwhile, is from San Diego, and wears his SoCal roots on his sleeve. DeLonge was doing his own thing for a bit, running Angels and Airwaves, searching for UFOs, but he's back with Blink-182 now and they're...at least making successful music. I can't say it's as good as their 2000s stuff, even as someone sort of ambivalent towards it. But he's happy, healthy, thriving, and probably still chasing UFOs. Good to see him throw one out in San Diego. 

It remains to be seen if I'll be doing more of these this year. I might anyway. Topps is gonna go for the big stars and probably not for the fun ones I care about. So I guess there's a niche carved out for me anyhow.