With 3 days rest, Dodgers going with Buehlerin Gme 4

[John Walsh]

After the Giants took the first game in Los Angeles, putting the
Giants up 2-1. Roberts is missing Kershaw, so he's going with Buehler
on 3 days rest.
https://www.mlb.com/news/walker-buehler-to-start-nlds-game-4

That may play in favor of the Giants. They gotten to him twice in the
last three games.

[poldy]

Post by John Walsh
After the Giants took the first game in Los Angeles, putting the
Giants up 2-1. Roberts is missing Kershaw, so he's going with Buehler
on 3 days rest.
https://www.mlb.com/news/walker-buehler-to-start-nlds-game-4
That may play in favor of the Giants. They gotten to him twice in the
last three games.

Giants are lucky to be 2-2, with the poor hitting.

They have to hope Webb is as good in game 5 as he was in game 1, when
Dodgers were swinging at everything.

[Jon Rossen]

Post by poldy

Post by John Walsh
After the Giants took the first game in Los Angeles, putting the
Giants up 2-1. Roberts is missing Kershaw, so he's going with Buehler
on 3 days rest.
https://www.mlb.com/news/walker-buehler-to-start-nlds-game-4
That may play in favor of the Giants. They gotten to him twice in the
last three games.

Giants are lucky to be 2-2, with the poor hitting.
They have to hope Webb is as good in game 5 as he was in game 1, when
Dodgers were swinging at everything.

I'll say! They are super lucky! The hitting has been an unfortunate
extension of their end of regular season suckage at the plate.

I looked at the stat page on the MLB mobile app. THey have ways to
filter for different parts of the season. So, I looked at Division
series only for entire MLB....so 8 teams. Giants are dead last in a
bunch of offensive categories. NO surprise but the numbers are really
ugly: BA .184, last. OPS: .524, last.

-jon rossen

[poldy]

Post by poldy

Post by John Walsh
After the Giants took the first game in Los Angeles, putting the
Giants up 2-1. Roberts is missing Kershaw, so he's going with Buehler
on 3 days rest.
https://www.mlb.com/news/walker-buehler-to-start-nlds-game-4
That may play in favor of the Giants. They gotten to him twice in the
last three games.

Giants are lucky to be 2-2, with the poor hitting.
They have to hope Webb is as good in game 5 as he was in game 1, when
Dodgers were swinging at everything.

I'll say!  They are super lucky!  The hitting has been an unfortunate
extension of their end of regular season suckage at the plate.
I looked at the stat page on the MLB mobile app.  THey have ways to
filter for different parts of the season. So, I looked at Division
series only for entire MLB....so 8 teams.  Giants are dead last in a
bunch of offensive categories.  NO surprise but the numbers are really
ugly:  BA  .184, last.  OPS: .524, last.
-jon rossen

10 runs in 5 games. And if they're not hitting HRs, they're not scoring.

Honestly, Dodgers have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, at
least statistically.

However, I think even if they got past the Dodgers, they'd struggle with
Atlanta to score.

In fact they'd probably have difficulty vs. all the remaining teams in
both leagues.

They feasted on teams like Arizona and did respectably against other
playoffs teams.

But by the end of the season, they had only one starter who could
reliably pitch at least 5 innings against the top teams.

It's really a wonder that they won 107 games, though obviously they had
injuries at the end and some of their starters like Gausman got figured out.


Now they have a lot of free agents they have to make decisions on. Do
they try to bring back as much of this roster as possible? That would
mean giving big contracts to Gausman, maybe Bryant, Belt.

I would guess not, because Zaidi wasn't willing to mortgage the future
for big trade at the deadline. Scherzer and Trey Turner really boosted
the Dodgers or Giants would have run away with the division.

[John Walsh]

Post by poldy

Post by John Walsh
After the Giants took the first game in Los Angeles, putting the
Giants up 2-1. Roberts is missing Kershaw, so he's going with Buehler
on 3 days rest.
https://www.mlb.com/news/walker-buehler-to-start-nlds-game-4
That may play in favor of the Giants. They gotten to him twice in the
last three games.

Giants are lucky to be 2-2, with the poor hitting.
They have to hope Webb is as good in game 5 as he was in game 1, when
Dodgers were swinging at everything.

Hw wasn't as good as he usually was, but in the end, it was the
hitting, or lack of hitting that brought the Giants down. Sure, the
umpiire's call was lousy, but another swing by Flores probably
wouldn't have made any difference.

Then there was the bullpen.

[poldy]

Post by John Walsh

Post by poldy

Post by John Walsh
After the Giants took the first game in Los Angeles, putting the
Giants up 2-1. Roberts is missing Kershaw, so he's going with Buehler
on 3 days rest.
https://www.mlb.com/news/walker-buehler-to-start-nlds-game-4
That may play in favor of the Giants. They gotten to him twice in the
last three games.

Giants are lucky to be 2-2, with the poor hitting.
They have to hope Webb is as good in game 5 as he was in game 1, when
Dodgers were swinging at everything.

Hw wasn't as good as he usually was, but in the end, it was the
hitting, or lack of hitting that brought the Giants down. Sure, the
umpiire's call was lousy, but another swing by Flores probably
wouldn't have made any difference.
Then there was the bullpen.

Lot of big decisions for Zaidi in the offseason.

TBH, even if he brought back all the free agents, I think this team
would struggle to win even 90 games next season, because they really
have Webb who's played well in the last half of the season and the
playoffs and no other reliable starter.

Maybe they can bring back Gausman, Wood and DeSciafani for 1 or 2-year
deals again, for the right price.

Still they would need upgrade to the starting rotation.


Then the hitting. I don't know about hitting that many HRs again but
they need high OBP, though they struggled with RISP in the playoffs so
they just need better hitters period.

All that and it might not be enough to contend for the division.

Though the Dodgers have their own free agents to sign or replace as well.


I thought with this season, attendance would have been great but they
only got 1.679 million, about half of their best year. Pandemic and the
bandwagon fans didn't come back until late in the season.


But hopefully they show up early next season, sell a lot of merchandise.

Stock up for spending some money, because it's hard to compete vs. a
team which spent like $270 million this year.

[John Walsh]

Post by poldy

Post by John Walsh

Post by poldy

Post by John Walsh
After the Giants took the first game in Los Angeles, putting the
Giants up 2-1. Roberts is missing Kershaw, so he's going with Buehler
on 3 days rest.
https://www.mlb.com/news/walker-buehler-to-start-nlds-game-4
That may play in favor of the Giants. They gotten to him twice in the
last three games.

Giants are lucky to be 2-2, with the poor hitting.
They have to hope Webb is as good in game 5 as he was in game 1, when
Dodgers were swinging at everything.

Hw wasn't as good as he usually was, but in the end, it was the
hitting, or lack of hitting that brought the Giants down. Sure, the
umpiire's call was lousy, but another swing by Flores probably
wouldn't have made any difference.
Then there was the bullpen.

Lot of big decisions for Zaidi in the offseason.
TBH, even if he brought back all the free agents, I think this team
would struggle to win even 90 games next season, because they really
have Webb who's played well in the last half of the season and the
playoffs and no other reliable starter.
Maybe they can bring back Gausman, Wood and DeSciafani for 1 or 2-year
deals again, for the right price.
Still they would need upgrade to the starting rotation.
Then the hitting. I don't know about hitting that many HRs again but
they need high OBP, though they struggled with RISP in the playoffs so
they just need better hitters period.
All that and it might not be enough to contend for the division.
Though the Dodgers have their own free agents to sign or replace as well.
I thought with this season, attendance would have been great but they
only got 1.679 million, about half of their best year. Pandemic and the
bandwagon fans didn't come back until late in the season.
But hopefully they show up early next season, sell a lot of merchandise.
Stock up for spending some money, because it's hard to compete vs. a
team which spent like $270 million this year.

Woods is weak, he barely makes four to five innings before they start
getting to him. Also, as good as Gausman and DeSclafani were, they
wore down two, noth right after the All-Star game.

The performance of the team and winning the West can be seen as
something very attractive to free agents. It may be hard to compete
against a team that spends big money, but that is exactly what the
Giants did.

They have to build on that with younger players that they've drafted.
Bryant was good, but not often enough. He's not worth a big contract
or a bidding war.

[poldy]

Post by John Walsh

Post by poldy
Lot of big decisions for Zaidi in the offseason.
TBH, even if he brought back all the free agents, I think this team
would struggle to win even 90 games next season, because they really
have Webb who's played well in the last half of the season and the
playoffs and no other reliable starter.
Maybe they can bring back Gausman, Wood and DeSciafani for 1 or 2-year
deals again, for the right price.
Still they would need upgrade to the starting rotation.
Then the hitting. I don't know about hitting that many HRs again but
they need high OBP, though they struggled with RISP in the playoffs so
they just need better hitters period.
All that and it might not be enough to contend for the division.
Though the Dodgers have their own free agents to sign or replace as well.
I thought with this season, attendance would have been great but they
only got 1.679 million, about half of their best year. Pandemic and the
bandwagon fans didn't come back until late in the season.
But hopefully they show up early next season, sell a lot of merchandise.
Stock up for spending some money, because it's hard to compete vs. a
team which spent like $270 million this year.

Woods is weak, he barely makes four to five innings before they start
getting to him. Also, as good as Gausman and DeSclafani were, they
wore down two, noth right after the All-Star game.
The performance of the team and winning the West can be seen as
something very attractive to free agents. It may be hard to compete
against a team that spends big money, but that is exactly what the
Giants did.
They have to build on that with younger players that they've drafted.
Bryant was good, but not often enough. He's not worth a big contract
or a bidding war.

Dodgers have big decisions, with Scherzer, Seager, Taylor, Janssen and
Kershaw all free agents.

Also they owe big money to Bauer. That weighs down their payroll unless
they get relief and MLB says they don't ow Bauer money. THen there will
be a lawsuit probably.


Zaidi has found good castoffs from other teams and that helped the team
get some production.

I don't know if that strategy gets them playoffs success though. IT got
them the best record in baseball and unfortunately they had to face the
team with the biggest payroll in baseball.


However, by the time they got to the playoffs, Webb was the only good
starter. So I wouldn't be surprised if they'd have lost to the Bucks or
the Braves either.

Or maybe the Cards too.

So we will see what moves Zaidi makes. Giants are offering the $22
million option to Posey for next year, the last on his contract. He may
be teed off that he didn't get an extension like Crawford.

But I think Zaidi is really looking for a reset once the big contracts
are off the books. Belt's money is off the books too and looks like he
isn't in a hurry to re-sign Belt unless it's for a good discount.


I would hope he's not only depending on Luciano, Bart and Matos becoming
not just good major league starters but all-star level players.

[John Walsh]

Post by poldy

Post by John Walsh

Post by poldy
Lot of big decisions for Zaidi in the offseason.
TBH, even if he brought back all the free agents, I think this team
would struggle to win even 90 games next season, because they really
have Webb who's played well in the last half of the season and the
playoffs and no other reliable starter.
Maybe they can bring back Gausman, Wood and DeSciafani for 1 or 2-year
deals again, for the right price.
Still they would need upgrade to the starting rotation.
Then the hitting. I don't know about hitting that many HRs again but
they need high OBP, though they struggled with RISP in the playoffs so
they just need better hitters period.
All that and it might not be enough to contend for the division.
Though the Dodgers have their own free agents to sign or replace as well.
I thought with this season, attendance would have been great but they
only got 1.679 million, about half of their best year. Pandemic and the
bandwagon fans didn't come back until late in the season.
But hopefully they show up early next season, sell a lot of merchandise.
Stock up for spending some money, because it's hard to compete vs. a
team which spent like $270 million this year.

Woods is weak, he barely makes four to five innings before they start
getting to him. Also, as good as Gausman and DeSclafani were, they
wore down two, noth right after the All-Star game.
The performance of the team and winning the West can be seen as
something very attractive to free agents. It may be hard to compete
against a team that spends big money, but that is exactly what the
Giants did.
They have to build on that with younger players that they've drafted.
Bryant was good, but not often enough. He's not worth a big contract
or a bidding war.

Dodgers have big decisions, with Scherzer, Seager, Taylor, Janssen and
Kershaw all free agents.

Scherzer was getting touched for 4 runs a game over his last 5 starts.
He complained of a tired arm, too. I'd stay away from him. I;d go big
on Taylor though. He's extremely good. Kershaw, I wouldn't touich him
if he only cost $5.00. He's injured and at the end of his career.

Post by poldy
Also they owe big money to Bauer. That weighs down their payroll unless
they get relief and MLB says they don't ow Bauer money. THen there will
be a lawsuit probably.
Zaidi has found good castoffs from other teams and that helped the team
get some production.
I don't know if that strategy gets them playoffs success though. IT got
them the best record in baseball and unfortunately they had to face the
team with the biggest payroll in baseball.
However, by the time they got to the playoffs, Webb was the only good
starter. So I wouldn't be surprised if they'd have lost to the Bucks or
the Braves either.
Or maybe the Cards too.
So we will see what moves Zaidi makes. Giants are offering the $22
million option to Posey for next year, the last on his contract. He may
be teed off that he didn't get an extension like Crawford.

Do you really thiink Posey would be bothered by Crawford's contract?
You obviously haven't paid much attention to the kind of person he's
been for the Giants.

Post by poldy
But I think Zaidi is really looking for a reset once the big contracts
are off the books. Belt's money is off the books too and looks like he
isn't in a hurry to re-sign Belt unless it's for a good discount.
I would hope he's not only depending on Luciano, Bart and Matos becoming
not just good major league starters but all-star level players.

If Posey decide to retire, it'll be for a good reason and there won't
be any hard feelings about it. He's given more to the Giants than any
player since Mays.


It's be nice if the great AAA players actually did consistently well
when they came up to SF. It remains to be seen of players like Bart,
Luciano and others actually break that barrier.