Are We Ready for a Low-Budget Contending Giants Team?

 The Giants were an afterthought until September began.

Yes, the Giants were quietly climbing the standings in August, taking a ton of wins during the mid-month era, but nobody really talked about them until September 1st. September 1st, in case you've already forgot, was the day that Mike Yastrzemski and the Giants came riding down on Jon Gray and the Rockies with a 23-5 victory in Colorado. It was a drubbing that not even a social media intern for Colorado could embellish.

So. Alex Dickerson hits 3 home runs, which is arguably the biggest takeaway. Brandon Crawford also hits a home run, as he's been heating up in the past month. Donovan Solano, former Miami infielder who's having the breakout season to end all breakout seasons this year, had 6 RBIs, along with Dickerson and Crawford. Mauricio Dubon, Yaz, Evan Longoria and Joey Bart also had RBI numbers, meaning that Brandon Belt and Wilmer Flores were the only starters for SF without an RBI...and both are otherwise doing well this year.

All while this is happening, Kevin Gausman has a 5-K start with only 2 earned runs, Wandy Peralta and Andrew Suarez essentially do mop work for 4 innings, and Gape Kapler must have done more double-takes than he's had the propensity to do in 3 years.

This Giants team is not the best, and it's nowhere near the onslaught that San Diego and LA have brought out...but when the majority of the team is on, they're all capable of great things.

Like...this rotation is genuinely pretty solid. Nobody's got an ERA higher than 4.75, Kevin Gausman has 53 strikeouts, Johnny Cueto and Logan Webb are sharp, Tyler Anderson was doing well til a few starts ago, and even Trevor Cahill is having an under-the-radar comeback year with his first few starts. All this being done without Jeff Samardzija or Drew Smyly. Pretty impressive. The ninth has been problematic lately, but Tyler Rogers seems to be the answer.

I don't see them topping the leading 2 teams, but they may have a chance to sneak into the playoffs if the Rockies continue their slide. There's a lot of talent on this team, and a lot of it is coming together right now.

Coming Tomorrow- Former Dodger, current sufferer. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Nomar Chronicles

Topps SHB #12: 2008 Nomar Garciaparra, Los Angeles Dodgers

 Topps' contractual meddling will never cease to annoy me.

Takes them an extra 4 years to rope Alex Rodriguez in. Takes an extra 2 years to rope Hideki Matsui in. Then in 2006, we lose Nomar Garciaparra, they don't re-up with him til after he's retired. In 2009, Matt Wieters signs with Upper Deck and Panini, but not Topps, and they eventually get him in 2016. So now they have everybody, right? Well in 2018 they lose Madison Bumgarner, and now only Panini makes cards of him. However Topps keeps screwing this up, they're clearly good at it.

Because of this meddling, former Boston great Nomar Garciaparra's Topps legacy ends in 2006, with his Update card with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His career goes on for three more years, even if Topps doesn't seem to care.

My photo source only goes back as far as 2007, so for the purpose of this project, we start in 2008. Nomar Garciaparra is a charter member of the division-leading, NLCS contending 2008 Dodgers. Nowadays, that sort of thing would be depicted on a card, but Topps was led by Michael Eisner at the time, which should explain everything.

Nomar's 2008 season was marred by injuries from the start, but eventually he became a starting shortstop due to an injury to Rafael Furcal, and started heating up along with the team in August. He hit .264 in only 55 games in 2008, but was still a crucial member of the team, and a notable bench player in the postseason, hitting .429 in 7 at-bats.

Topps SHB #13: 2009 Nomar Garciaparra, Oakland Athletics

Nomar's 2009 season with the A's was an improvement on several levels, as he hit .284 in 65 games, and returned to his contact sensibilities with a very low-budget team. Again, he was used as a bench player, and slowly phased out in favor of players like Daric Barton and Jack Cust, but he was still a trusted veteran presence on a team that was very youth-based. It may not have been an ideal final season for Nomar, but he ended with dignity and respect, which is all that a Red Sox alum should ever want.

After that, Nomar hung up his cleats and switched to broadcasting, and has appeared in numerous Topps sets as a Red Sock. I doubt Topps will ever acknowledge Nomar's stints in LA or Oakland, or even Chicago, but I guess that's why I do this- to cover for Topps when they have these blind spots like this.

This reminds me...I have a ton of Matt Wieters cards to make for this project, don't I?

The Tattered Remains of Better Teams

After the Mariners gave Austin Nola and Dan Atlavilla to the Padres for Cal Quantrill, Andres Munoz and Luis Torrens, it occurred to me how ...un-theirs this Mariners team feels. We've given them a lot of credit for the callups of Kyle Lewis and Evan White, but...you look around this team and you see the remnants of other trades, other teams, and other farm systems.

Most obviously, the free agents brought in to save this team recently, like Mallex Smith, Dee Gordon,  Kendall Graveman and Yusei Kikuchi, come from other places, but...it's more complex than that. J.P. Crawford came from the Phillies, Erik Swanson, Justus Sheffield, Brady Lail and, heh, Luis Torrens were all products of the Yankee farm system [Sheffield was an Indians prospect first], Shed Long came up with Cincinnati [as did insanely recent pickup Phil Ervin], Sam Haggerty's a Cleveland prospect, Jose Marmolejos was a Nationals signee, and even Yohan Ramirez was an Astros Rule 5 dealing.

Even the heir apparent of this team, Jarred Kelenic, is a former Mets prospect. Nothing the Mariners have is truly theirs.

At least Nick Margevicius owns his status as a former Padres prospect, and although he probably wishes he was on that team rather than this one, he's still one of the highlights of this team right now. He's got a 3.86 ERA in 4 starts with 23 strikeouts, and he, Marco Gonzales and Justin Dunn are doing the best at keeping teams down as the Ms slowly make it to THIRD place in the AL West. Yes, we'd prefer to see better things from Yusei Kikuchi, but three solid starters isn't bad. Sadly, after the deadline, the bullpen seems gutted, and the Ms are gonna have to replenish quickly. Even if they continue to use the remains of other teams, they need something.

This isn't the team the Mariners wanted to work with in 2020, but it's better than nothing, and it's still a third place team.

Coming Tonight: Considering how they've been throttling the Rockies lately, it's only natural that I post a Giants custom...appropriately enough, of an ex-Rockie.

Quit Stallings

Today I talked about the Tigers, and how their youth movement and rookies are held back by the fact that there are so many veterans and older players holding them back and keeping the team down. The Pirates are...a similar case. Only 10 wins in a month and change, clobbered by teams all over the league, and though they've won a few series' and gotten a slight bit better than they started, they're still seriously held back.

Like...their pitching staff without Chris Archer, Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon is...dire. Steven Brault, Derek Holland, JT Brubaker and Trevor Williams are striking people out, but they all have ERAs over 4. Which isn't great. Chad Kuhl is at least pitching well, but it's a slim victory. And the bullpen has a lot of guys with inflated ERAs, a lot of people nobody's heard of, and a lot of dead weight. Last season there was the promise of rookies like Dario Agrazal and Mitch Keller inheriting the rotation, but neither are in the equation right now, so...they're back-pedaling.

And the lineup is similar. Jacob Stallings is a standout at catcher, and you still have Erik Gonzalez and Colin Moran doing what they can, but...a lot of low averages and underwhelming performances, even from Pirates heroes like Gregory Polanco and Josh Bell, are keeping this lineup from actually doing anything.

The case in point is Ke'Bryan Hayes, who was just brought up the other day, has 2 RBIs and a homer in his first 5 at-bats, and is already reinvigorating the team with his prowess and abilities. However, he's just one guy, and the rest of the team is still going in the opposite direction, so Hayes can only do so much. i imagine his last quarter of the season is going to look like Kyle Lewis' 2019 numbers- huge stuff in a small market that won't qualify for a rookie card until 2021.

The Pirates are gonna continue to do their thing, and even if Hayes keeps thriving there, I'm not expecting a great deal from the next month of Pirates baseball.

Coming Tomorrow- Speaking of the Mariners, a former Padres farmhand who is really wishing he was still pitching for SD right now.

Don't Rain on Isaac Paredes

21 years old, starting 3rd baseman for the Tigers. Not bad, kid.

So we're living in the Carey Mize era, the era of Isaac Paredes and Tarik Skubal in Detroit. So far, not a hell of a lot different from the previous era. The bullpen is the same amount of snakebitten [thanks to some Joe Jimenez blown saves]. The team is still run by a lot of guys with one-dimensional abilities [JaCoby Jones, Jeimer Candelario, Niko Goodrum, 2020-era Miguel Cabrera], and both Skubal and Mize have 6.75 ERAs.

Even Isaac Paredes, who got off to a great start, still has mellowed out to a .258 average and 6 RBIs. Jonathan Schoop is the statistical leader of this team. A guy who was one of the lower-tier performers in Minnesota last year is now sort of in charge of running things, along with Candelario, Jones and Goodrum. You at least have Spencer Turnbull having a breakout year, and Matt Boyd at least striking a lot of people out in addition to bloating his ERA. But this is still a very pedestrian team, and while they still are at .500, they're along the same lines of okayness as previous teams.

So how long do we need to wait before Paredes, Mize and Skubal are running this team? Probably another year or so. We need to wait for the bulk of this team to dissolve, and for the more senior members and contracts to make room for the team to be centered around them. Having Casey Mize here is one thing, but he can only be so good if A.) the opposing offenses are still better, and B.) if he doesn't get run support.

I wish the Tigers' enigma was a lot less complex, but...not everyone is the Marlins.

Coming Tonight: Catcher for, still, one of the weakest teams in baseball.

In Cano Hurry

The Mets are 15-20 with a month left to go in the season, and they've decided that, with Alonso slumping, Wacha and Porcello underperforming and Edwin Diaz still letting runs by, that they're going to compete this year.

Sugar Ray Leonard returned to boxing at age 41. When he announced he was going to do that on Leno, the night's other guest, Jeff Dunham's puppet Walter, was quoted in worriedly saying "uhhh...okayyy..."

And that's where I am with the Mets this year. They just got Miguel Castro, Robinson Chirinos and Todd Frazier as mild reinforcements, NEARLY TRADED EDWIN DIAZ [and if you're knowing what you're getting with Diaz and still trading for him, you deserve his ERA], and are trying to stay in the race, and yet are working against the Phillies, who are mild but streaking, the Marlins who just got Starling Marte, and the Braves who are way out in first.

The good news is that the Mets are getting positive production from Robinson Cano, who's giving his best performance since 2017. He's hitting .375 with 17 RBIs, and even in a DH role he's still a great presence on this team.  He's still a five-tool player, he's still a great hitter, and he's the backbone of this lineup.

You also have Jacob deGrom, Michael Conforto, Dominic Smith, Seth Lugo and most surprisingly Luis Guillorme doing their usual things, keeping the lineup afloat. The bullpen, beyond Familia and Diaz infuriating people, is actually pretty solid. I do think the Mets should have tried trading for a starting pitcher, but considering they actually do have a lot of those [just a lot of them aren't performing and/or are injured], I understand.

The Mets have a chance this year. A chance. I'm not sure how likely their playoff berth is, especially with the crowded NL field, but...it could happen.

Coming Tomorrow- One of the three buzz-worthy Tigers rookies.

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2008 Nelson Cruz & J.A. Happ

Topps SHB #10: 2008 Nelson Cruz, Texas Rangers

Nelson Cruz doesn't have a Topps card from 2008.

Boggles the mind.

These early-era omissions by Topps are a lot more striking when the player actually has an excellent career. Nelson Cruz had a very okay 2007, hitting .235 in a bench role, and Topps, who'd made a card of him there, decided not to re-up in 2008. In 2008, in 31 games he hit .330 with 7 homers and 26 RBIs, setting the stage perfectly for his breakout year in 2009. But, because said 2008 numbers came later in the season, Topps didn't have time or room for him.

A shame, because it's a gap in a career that would soon become monolithic and HOF-caliber. Cruz is now 40 and hitting .311 with a league-leading 13 homers. It'll be interesting to see what the voting committee thinks of him, especially considering most of his production came after the age of 28.

Despite the lack of image choices, this custom was a simple one thanks to Spring Training photos. This next one was a lot simpler:

Topps SHB #11:2008 J.A. Happ, Philadelphia Phillies

J.A. Happ, similar to Nelson Cruz, had a 2007 card, his Update rookie card in fact, and sat out the 2008 flagship season for some reason before coming back in 2009 Topps. The reason J.A. Happ is in 2009 Topps but not 2008 Update is because the majority of Happ's 2008 numbers came after the cutoff date. Happ was an arm uitilized mostly in September and October for the Phils, which is honestly a good problem to have.

Happ had a 3.69 ERA in 8 games, 4 of them starts, so he was slowly being phased into the rotation as the Phillies got closer to the postseason. Happ made 3 innings of appearances during the NLCS against the Dodgers, did fairly well, and sat out the World Series. It's still a 2008 season that deserves some sort of commemoration from Topps, but...a bit too late, I guess.

Of course, after that 2008 season, Happ became one of the more trusted starters in the game in several points, for Houston, Toronto, and now, in good days, New York.

Cruz and Happ are still some of the best veterans in the game, which makes it odd when Topps misses a step in their careers.