SF Giants didn't stand tall two years in a row
PLUS: KINSLER STEPS UP THE PLATE FOR ALDS FIRST PITCH IN TEAM ISRAEL JERSEY
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Despite 10 Gold Gloves in 11 seasons, Nolan Arenado of the Cardinals was not even among the three finalists for this year’s award, to be announced Nov. 5 . . .
Did somebody say Mookie Betts was an MVP contender? In the final month of the season, while MVP favorite Ronald Acuna, Jr. was winning NL Player of the Month honors, the Dodgers’ leadoff man hit .244 with only one homer . . .
The catalysts of an offense that scored an average of 5.6 runs per game, Betts and Freddie Freeman — both former MVPs — didn’t hit. The Dodgers scored a total of six runs over their three games against the Diamondbacks, resulting in their elimination in the divisional round for the second consecutive year . . .
With four hits in each of their first two NLCS games against the Phillies, the D’backs compiled a .129 team batting average . . .
When San Francisco assistant coach Alyssa Nakken interviewed for the team’s managerial vacancy, she became the first female ever considered for such a job.
Leading Off
Small Ball Dooms Once-Towering Giants
By W. H. Johnson
In a gallery of crummy baseball seasons, the 2022 and 2023 campaigns by the San Francisco Giants are quite far from the worst of the lot.
Over those two years, following a 107-win regular season in 2021, the team is a mere four games below .500. Yet the performance was deemed so odious to fans and ownership that manager Gabe Kapler was fired three games before the end of 2023. Not 40 games below .500, mind, but four…two per season on average…after a franchise-record victory total two years earlier.
This essay is not about the rationale for, or equity in, scape-goating Kapler. His demeanor is oddly polarizing among writers and the general public, and perhaps within the clubhouse, but his focus, resolve, physical talent, and baseball savvy had produced a 12-year playing career.
No, he wasn’t an All-Star in the majors, but his 12 years of competition at the apex of the game were solid, highlighted by his 2000 season in Texas where he slashed .302/.360/.473 in 116 games. That season echoed eight years later in Milwaukee where he slashed a comparable .301/.340/.498 (OPS+ of 119) in 96 games. In short, he was and is a proven baseball man.
For an array of reasons, articulated by a cadre of wonderful writers elsewhere, his dismissal represents a first step in returning the organization to an elite, competitive level. But, as Hall-of-Famer Connie Mack put so succinctly, 4th place (in the old 8-team leagues) is the ideal finishing position for a team. From Mack’s owner-perspective, a fourth-place team was technically ‘first division’, top half of the league even if barely so, allowing ticket-buying fans to support a winner.
The 4th place team was far enough from championship level, though, that the most talented players did not have much standing from which to demand a salary boost. It isn’t quite “we could have finished last without you, too,” but it does distill the financial reality that teams purport to balance every day.
The Giants have walked that .500 line, and a quick look at most of the team statistics –- hitting and pitching –- placed them right about mid-league and mid-MLB. They are what their record says they are. Looking at the numbers reveals a team that is playing as expected. Still, there are several shortcomings that need immediate attention if the Giants ever hope to escape the gravity of planet Mediocrity.
Hiring a new manager, and making associated coaching changes, is taking care of itself. The Giants’ plan under President of Baseball Operation Farhan Zaidi appears to center on (re)stocking and then exploiting their minor-league player development pipe. Drafting, developing, and then using home-grown talent is a formula that works quite well when properly implemented.
For the Giants, the jury is still out on the team’s ability to assess (draft) and develop that talent. Each of the prominent prospects that have debuted in the big leagues this year has demonstrated obvious flaws to accompany his respective talents. Which of those valued prospects has the necessary ‘higher ceiling’ to justify the approach is still unresolved and won’t be in 2024. It demands time, but MLB fans do not show the patience that the strategy may require.
That stipulated, there are a few key areas in which San Francisco clearly under-performed, relative to the standards of major-league baseball over the last two years, and which need immediate attention.
While it may be more axiomatic than analytic to cite defense up the middle as crucial to team success, two of the Giants’ largest defensive holes are at shortstop and in center field.
Young catcher Patrick Bailey appears ready to grow into a competent-to-superior defender behind the plate, and Yankees castoff Thairo Estrada has been a nice surprise at second. But the UZR and DRS numbers at shortstop have loitered near the NL basement. Brandon Crawford is gone, but in 2023 his age exposed itself, and the team had no magic lever to pull to optimize defensive play at that critical position. Shortstop needs improvement.
Center field, if possible, was worse. The Giants seemingly auditioned the whole roster at center during 2023, but no one handled the position particularly well. That, in turn, created inevitable pressure on corner outfielders to patrol wider areas, which then inherently weakened their ability to play the lines. Coupled with a low-energy offense, the Giants far too often squandered solid-to-excellent pitching with clumsy fielding.
Finally, the team is slow. Whether due to an offensive philosophy that avoided the risk of additional base-running outs, or simply a lack of speed among aging players, the team displayed a very deliberate approach on the bases. In 2023, the Giants were a distant last in stolen bases (MLB), and their total would have been poor in most seasons despite the new bases that have 40% more area than in 2022 and the restrictions on pitchers throwing to first to hold runners in place. For good (?) measure, in the larger base-running arena, the team languished in attempts to move from first-to-third and second-to-home as well.
All that stipulated, there are potential paths to improvement in 2024, and those alone might buy some of the extra time essential to develop and deploy the younger talent in the system. Or not. Check back in a year to see if the plans succeeded, or if ‘scorched earth’ becomes the personnel tactic of choice by the (likely new) PBO/GM.
IBWAA member W.H. “Bill” Johnson has contributed to SABR’s Biography Project, written extensively on baseball history, and presented papers at related conferences. Bill and his wife Chris currently reside in Georgia. He can be contacted on Twitter: @BaseballStoic.
Cleaning Up
Kudos to Ian Kinsler For Wearing ‘Team Israel’ Jersey For ALCS Game 3
By Dan Schlossberg
When Ian Kinsler returned to Texas for AL Championship Series Game 3 Wednesday, he wore a Rangers hat but a Team Israel jersey.
After hitting 257 home runs during his 14 years in the majors, the former second baseman and Hall of Fame candidate managed Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic. He holds dual citizenship in the United States, where he was born, and Israel.
During a playing career that ended in 2019, Kinsler was a four-time All-Star who produced a pair of 30/30 seasons and won two Gold Gloves and a World Series ring (with the 2018 Boston Red Sox).
He also played for the Tigers, Angels, and Padres in addition to the Rangers, where he played from 2006-13. One of only a dozen players with multiple 30/30 campaigns, he once had a six-hit game that included a single, double, triple, and home run — allowing him to hit for the cycle. He had 1,999 career hits.
Kinsler played for the Israeli national team in the 2020 Summer Olympics and managed Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
One of the most prominent Jews in postwar baseball history, he was certainly not alone.
Houston third baseman Alex Bregman, still active in the playoffs, marked his hat with a Jewish star after Israel was attacked by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, for example.
Other Jewish players active in 2023 included the following:
Pitchers: Jake Bird (Colorado Rockies), Richard Bleier (Boston Red Sox), Max Fried and Jared Shuster (Atlanta Braves), Dean Kremer (Baltimore Orioles), Eli Morgan (Cleveland Guardians), Ryan Sherriff (Boston Red Sox), Zack Weiss (Los Angeles Angels)
Catcher: Garrett Stubbs (Philadelphia Phillies)
Infielders: Max Mervis (Chicago Cubs), Rowdy Tellez (Milwaukee Brewers), Zack Gelof (Oakland Athletics)
Outfielders: Harrison Bader (Cincinnati Reds), Dalton Guthrie (Philadelphia Phillies), Kevin Pillar (Atlanta Braves)
Designated Hitters: Spencer Horwitz (Toronto Blue Jays), Joc Pederson (San Francisco Giants)
Stubbs is still playing for Philadelphia in the NLCS, while Fried, Pillar, Tellez, and Kremer appeared in the playoffs before their teams were eliminated.
Kinsler, for his part, showed the courage of his convictions. The fans at Globe Life Field gave him the standing ovation he deserved.
At age 41, the Tucson native is considered a future managerial candidate — maybe even for 2024. Baseball does not return to the Summer Olympics until 2028 so he’ll be available to any team that wants him.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, Here’s The Pitch, and many other outlets. His e.mail is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
“We’ve been playing meaningful baseball games for about the past 45 days. So we’re battle-tested from an emotional standpoint. We know that one quick turn, one quick moment, can turn the tide.”
— Arizona manager Torey Lovullo after his team reached the NLCS for the first time since 2007
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe is the team’s first 20/20 rookie and a Gold Glove finalist but needs to raise his anemic .209 batting average . . .
The Phillies, fighting for their second straight pennant, opened this season with three straight losses in Texas — their probable World Series opponent .. .
The Rangers are one of several teams that have never won a World Series . . .
Max Scherzer and David Wells are the only men who made postseason starts for five different teams.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.