Barrels Away

 

As it stands right now, the Guardians are in sole possession of the last AL Wild Card spot. They face opposition from the Blue Jays, Rangers and Orioles, but are two games ahead. If the season ended today they'd be in, and they'd have to face the White Sox, which honestly tracks. All they have to do is keep the same pace, stave off the other stragglers, and capitalize on another low-key but still strong season.

Except the Guardians, just from their last few games, seem more inclined to just make this as tense and close as possible. They're 5-5 in September already, and that includes some really rough losses to the Blue Jays, Tigers and Orioles. Yesterday against the Orioles, Foster Griffin got absolutely annihilated by the O's contact game, and the team could never fully recover. The Twins, spoilery but calming down, are next, followed by the White Sox. Already this was not going to be easy, but arguably the Guardians have made things much harder on themselves.

The Foster Griffin thing, I mean...on paper he's a nice pickup, he did well enough in Washington, but the difference between being the best pitcher on a bad team and the fifth-best pitcher on a good team is STAGGERING. In 7 Cleveland starts, he's got a 5.94 ERA, a -0.4 WAR and 30 Ks. He's technically putting in nice work, but that last start was a huge hit to his strong-enough run. It hasn't helped that Joey Cantillo has only gotten better since Griffin came over, and now has a 4 ERA. Bibee's certainly struggled, he's 5-15 with a 4.22 ERA, but his WHIP is low enough, and his numbers are impressive enough, that nobody's really sounding the alarm. And the other two are excellent, but of course they are. Parker Messick may get Cy Young votes this year with his 5.3 WAR and his 2.5 ERA, and Gavin Williams currently leads the league in strikeouts with 228, meaning he somehow managed to slide past Dylan Cease for that, and hopefully will continue to.

Still, I'll give the Guardians credit for bringing in the exact correct people to bolster the offense. Jo Adell was a big swing that's paid off, with 4 homers and 24 RBIs in 33 games. Adell has immediate fans in Cleveland, as one would expect, and the power numbers and defense have helped. Nathaniel Lowe has been a very nice, steady power corner with 5 homers and 21 RBIs. I kinda wish Manzardo were doing well enough that he'd be the guy, but Lowe's always helpful. The promotion of Angel Genao has been nice because defensively he's wonderful and he's got some contact perks. And somehow Patrick Bailey has been the answer at catcher, after so many different options since Yan Gomes. Austin Hedges is a good inoffensive backup, but Bailey is capable of being the hero, and has been as such multiple times since coming over. Bailey has 7 homers and 29 RBIs in 71 games, which isn't bad at all. In a season where Kwan and Ramirez are shakier than usual, this team needed the all hands on deck lineup mentality, and Bailey, Lowe and Adell being here cements that.

I still see this team as a playoff team, and I think they have what it takes to outweigh the opposition, but those losses have stung, as they have all year. And they need to avoid silly, exhausting moments like that weighing them down, because if not, anyone else can take advantage. The Rangers looked good today, the Orioles are looking better, it's still not a done deal. The Guardians need to remember that when they bobble a win late. 

Coming Tomorrow- His 2025 season was revelatory, a needed rise to help an aspiring competitor. His 2026 season has been less consistent but he's still helping a lot.

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. 

Caught in the Act

 

There's a lot going around about what constitutes a failed prospect, people are saying 'oh does that mean Jackson Holliday's a bust' or 'mmm, Pete Crow Armstrong isn't doing what this specific scout said he'd do years ago', and frankly it's really unfair. These guys are still young, we don't know if it's circumstantial, or if Holliday just needs to bake for a while. Look at Gunnar Henderson, he wasn't a success immediately, but he certainly got there.

But I also wonder what Joey Bart thinks about this. Because in 2020, he was given the golden opportunity, as Buster Posey sat the season out, Tyler Heineman was the starter, and the door was wide open for the longtime Giants catching prospect to take command. And he didn't. And then the following year he was out for the season. And then the year after that he hit .215 and they had to start Curt Casali some more. Every single time Joey Bart was given the opportunity to succeed, he flat out refused to. We may never find out why. It could be circumstantial, it could be the translation from the minors to the majors, it could be nothing. But someone who looked like a surefire hero for a team that was looking to replace a legend, wasn't. 

The death nell for Bart, and the reason he's currently caught behind two catchers in Pittsburgh, was that the moment Bart proved that he wasn't the man, the man arrived. Patrick Bailey. Great catcher, can hit for contact. Goodbye Bart.

I think the reason why Bailey has worked so well for these Giants teams is because he fits with this team's strategy. This is not only a team that gets big hitters with big contracts, but lots of nuts'n bolts guys that came from nowhere and work efficiently, and Bailey's in the latter category. But that's what happens, you can have Jorge Soler and Matt Chapman getting up there, and right behind them you have a fifth string middle infielder from the Yankees organization, a former Mets utility man who can hit for power now, a guy I saw playing for Norfolk who's suddenly figured it all out, a former Twins also-ran who now only gets hits when it's dark, and the former top prospect who took years to develop but now can't stop hitting. And Bailey's right at the center of that, he's hitting .292 with 24 RBIs in 52 games. He can hit, he's a durable catcher, and the fans love him. And he doesn't feel like a consolation for not getting Bart, because Bart wasn't even that multifaceted even when the hype was upon him.

The Giants are down a bit right now, perhaps because they're without so many big pieces like Jung-Hoo Lee, LaMonte Wade, Yaz, the back half of the rotation, etc. They do have a lot that works, but there's three rotation spots that have numerous question marks on them, and it's essentially whoever's around. Spencer Howard's starting games for this team. Is it worth calling up Hayden Birdsong [UPDATE 12 HRS LATER: !!!] or Carson Whisenhunt? Do they go with Mason Black again? Do we know when Snell, Cobb or Ray will be back. This especially is killing this team, because you can see they're trying, and Logan Webb's terrific as usual. But man have injuries dulled the point.

I really hope these guys can get some people back in July. Because they honestly could compete, and they could go for a wild card spot. They just need more people who know what they're doing.

Coming Tonight: It's so weird that this guy's been seriously considered by buyers this deadline season. 

The Catcher That Saved The Giants [No, Not That One]

 

Joey Bart must feel like hell about now.

Since being drafted second overall in the 2018 draft by the Giants, Joey Bart has been primed to be the heir apparent behind the plate of Buster Posey. His minors numbers were awesome, his bat was nailing the developmental opposition, and as Posey continued injury-prone campaigns, the countdown to Bart taking over seemed to tick closer and closer. In 2020, during a pandemic-shortened season that Posey refused to take part in for the sake of his own safety, Bart got called up. Because there were no minor leagues for him to ramp up in, Bart hit .233 in 33 games. 

Then, in 2021, Posey comes back, the Giants go with Curt Casali as backup, and Bart gets 2 spectacular games in the majors while hitting .294 in the minors. Interestingly, the season Bart's not a factor in the Giants' plans, the Giants make the playoffs and win the NL West with a tremendous year. Then Posey retires. Bart is primed for a starting position, with Casali still looking to back up, and in 2022, in 97 games in the majors, Bart hits .215 with double the amount of strikeouts to his hits total. The one chance he had when all the eyes were on him was blown.

This season, the Giants began the year with Roberto Perez behind the plate, and while he did well, he was injured very soon into the season, meaning Bart would be the next logical choice. Barr has hit .231 with 21 strikeouts and 18 hits. And he is now currently down in the minors, while the Giants currently only have ONE CATCHER on the 26-man roster. ONE CATCHER...and it's NOT Joey Bart. That's gotta kill him.

Said catcher is a newcomer to the fold, a man named Patrick Bailey, who no one was expecting to really factor too much into the Giants' 2023 plans. Ultimately, though, the Giants have been fantastic since Bailey's call-up; they're 33-24 since the rookie catcher came up, though admittedly this 6 game losing streak they've been on hasn't helped that figure [they're in Oakland this week, it'll be alright]. Bailey, for the record, is hitting .265 with 29 RBIs and 45 hits. Bailey's an excellent defensive catcher who can hold his own at the plate, and is showing more versatility and presence than Bart has since coming up. It's gotta be heartbreaking for the former 1st rounder, he must feel like Pete Best.

The Giants, as evidenced by their losing streak, are imperfect, but still capable of sparks of greatness. The unsung guys [Cobb, Estrada, Wade, Flores] are leading this team more than the true heroes [Yaz, Peterson, Conforto] are, but I think that's part of their charm. This team does have a guy who's leading the league in saves, as Camilo Doval has taken to the ninth as smoothly as I'd hoped he would, as well as two excellent seasons from the Rogers brothers. They don't have as many offensive standouts as I'd like, but they're still a promising team from the middle of the pack, and they're right there in the thick of the wild card race as well.

Maybe they'll deal for somebody cool. Maybe Joey Bart will be the return.

Coming Tomorrow- One of the few lifelines my slowly-sinking team has left.