Game of the Week: May 15: SF @ COL

[mikereds]

San Francisco Giants (20-20) at Colorado Rockies (14-25)

---

SF: R Shane Baz (4-3, 2.35 ERA)

COL: R Joe McCurley (1-5, 6.00 ERA)

---

This Game of the Week features two teams off to sluggish starts in 2028.  The Giants currently hold a disappointing .500 record, while the Rockies are last in the NL West, 12 1/2 games behind the upstart Diamondbacks.  Vegas is heavily favoring the Giants in this contest due to Shane Baz's excellent pitching, but the Rockies are hoping to play spoiler and get positive momentum going.

5 Key Stats for the Giants:

• 7-14: The 2028 road win/loss record of the Giants.  The Giants will need to figure out their road woes in order to gain ground on the Dodgers and Diamondbacks in the NL West.
  
• 199: The staggering number of points awarded by the OSA to the Giants #1 ranked farm system.  Top overall prospect Alfredo Estevez has been dominating AAA and it will only be a matter of time before he's elevated to the bigs.  Despite losses in Rule V, the Giants farm keeps plugging away and turning out top-notch talent.
  
• 30: The age of the oldest player on the Giants 40-man roster (reliever Rafael A Gomez).  The Giants continue to focus on fielding a team with the majority of its players in their late 20's.  This is in contrast to the Rockies, who have shown loyalty and kept around veterans Michael Fullmer, Nolan Arenado and David Dahl since the PBA formed in 2017 and who are all now in their mid 30's.
  
• .328: Nelle Willemsen's team-leading batting average.  Has the outfielder earned more playing time with his hot bat, and if so, who will sit to make room for him?
  
• 39: Number of home runs surrendered so far by Giants in 2028, the lowest of any team in the NL.  The Rockies will likely need to manufacture runs to take a game or two in this series.
  

5 Key Stats for the Rockies:

• 3.9: The number of strikeouts per 9 innings for pitcher Joe McCurley.  This is a very low number for a power pitcher who hits 100 mph on the radar gun.  McCurley will need to refine his stuff and figure out how to miss more bats to have staying power in the PBA.
  
• .242: The 2028 team batting average for the Rockies.  The team-wide drop in batting average for the Rockies has been a head-scratcher.  Has the early schedule really been that tough?
  
• $14,375,000: The pricey arbitration contract awarded to star catcher Rogelio Mendizabal, who has struggled mightily at the plate in 2028.  The 2029 arbitration cost will be worrisome for Rockies management if Mendizabal's hitting woes continue.
  
• 44: The age of new Rockies hitting coach Brandon Jones, who is having a very rough go of it in his first year as a major league hitting coach.  Critics are starting to wonder if Jones is in over his head.  He might be the first casualty in the coaching staff if a shakeup occurs.
  
• .802 and .694: Arenado's 2027 and 2028 (so far) OPS marks, which are career lows.  Arenado continues to produce homers and RBI's, but is the OPS metric something to keep an eye on? Is the possible Hall of Fame third-baseman starting to decline?

Questions for the GM's:

For Dave Twibell, Giants GM:

• The defense seems to be struggling this year.  The Giants are 11th in errors and defensive efficiency, and 14th in zone rating in the NL.  Will any changes be made to improve the defense?
  
• Who will get the starts at shortstop with team captain Enrique Valdez injured for at least the next 5 weeks?
  
• Three Giants relievers are tied with 2 saves.  Do you think one player will emerge and assume the closer role, or does management favor the committee approach as it is?
  

For Erick Blasco, Rockies GM:

• Left fielder Luis Mata has been red-hot in AAA, batting .360 for the first place Isotopes.  Could a call up or a trade be coming?
  
• If the team stays planted to last place in the NL West, will the Rockies be sellers in the summer months to come?  Or will the veteran core continue to stick together?
  
• Multiple anonymous sources are reporting that a majority of the active players are very unhappy with the team due to "Disruptive Influences".  Is there a cancer in the locker room?  Could this be a factor in the Rockies' 2028 hitting and pitching woes?  Will a few moves be made to restore the order and revive team morale?

TRIVIA:

What was the last year both the Rockies and Giants made the playoffs?

[sfdave]

The defense seems to be struggling this year. The Giants are 11th in errors and defensive efficiency, and 14th in zone rating in the NL. Will any changes be made to improve the defense? I don't think so right now. It's basically the same squad as last year, with a little better defense in the OF. I'm hoping we're just going through a rough patch and will get back on track. We've struggled in a lot of areas so far this season, so maybe we're due for a little mean reversion as the year progresses.

Who will get the starts at shortstop with team captain Enrique Valdez injured for at least the next 5 weeks? Mike Bishop, welcome to the show! He was going to come up at 2B, but I can just shift him over to SS for now. He's a hair below Valdez defensively, but not by much and he has a better bat, so hopefully we won't lose much overall production.

Three Giants relievers are tied with 2 saves. Do you think one player will emerge and assume the closer role, or does management favor the committee approach as it is? We're going to stick with the bp-by-committee approach. In part, it's just a reflection of our personnel. And honestly, I'm just not a fan of using closers/set-up guys. I am moving Gomez to the stopper role to get him more innings (thanks AI), and Lopez is coming back from a rehab stint in AAA, so maybe that will help. Our bp has been another area where we're just not performing, so we'll need to make some bigger changes if we keep struggling.

[Commissioner Erick]

Great write up and great questions!


Left fielder Luis Mata has been red-hot in AAA, batting .360 for the first place Isotopes. Could a call up or a trade be coming?

Not yet unfortunately. Brandon Boissiere declined a demotion a few weeks ago, and Ralph Porter, for all his inconsistencies, has an OBP near .400. Grant Burton has come around since a slow start, and T.J. Lunsford is a right-handed bat. If our team continues to struggle, we'll shop Boissiere and Porter, but I don't know how much interest the league would have.


If the team stays planted to last place in the NL West, will the Rockies be sellers in the summer months to come? Or will the veteran core continue to stick together?

The 30+ core will likely stick together. We'd like to see Dahl and Arenado retire as Rockies, and Fulmer doesn't have any value at this point. Those players are also pricy, making them tough to move, plus as you mentioned in your writeup, Arenado hasn't been hitting. Other players we'd be much more willing to move though, especially the veterans who will be approaching free agency relatively soon, and even some of our young start who would likely net big returns.


Multiple anonymous sources are reporting that a majority of the active players are very unhappy with the team due to "Disruptive Influences". Is there a cancer in the locker room? Could this be a factor in the Rockies' 2028 hitting and pitching woes? Will a few moves be made to restore the order and revive team morale?

This is a good catch. We've known that players in the locker room have always hated Jairo Labourt. He shittalks teammates when they struggle and doesn't accept responsibility for his own woes. He had the performance to back it up last year and we didn't have many left-handers in our pen to replace him. We just claimed Nick Anderson on waivers making Labourt expendable, so we demoted him and don't expect to see him back in the majors.

[mikereds]

Rockies 4, Giants 3

WP: Nick Anderson (1-0)

LP: Ryan DiSibio (1-3)

---

The San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies provided some drama for the home crowd.

The Colorado Rockies downed the San Francisco Giants, 4-3, at Coors Field. Michael Perez led the way, going 2-for-4 for Colorado. Nick Anderson, now 1-0, was credited with the win. He allowed no runs on 2 hits, while striking out 2 and walking 1. The save was credited to Riley Pint, his 5th.

Perez contributed in the bottom of the fourth. With runners on 1st and 2nd, he hit a run-scoring single. It was one at-bat among others that helped Colorado get the win.

"We made a couple of mistakes," said San Francisco skipper Dave Twibell, "and it cost us."

The Rockies raised their record to 15-25.

---

Follow-up questions for GM's

For Dave Twibell, Giants GM:

• Shane Baz gave up an uncharacteristic 10 hits through 5 innings.  Was it simply the Coors field effect?
  
• RF Juan Campos had a great game, throwing out a runner at home and going 2 for 5 with an RBI.  He seems to be leading the team with 33 RBI (after this game).  Will he be a cornerstone of the Giants for years to come?
  
• The road woes continue for the Giants.  Any ideas to shake things up?
  

For Erick Blasco, Rockies GM:

• Congrats on the big win! McCurley lived dangerously in this one, striking out only one batter over 6 innings.  How long of a leash does he have this year?  Could a trip back down to the minors be in store?
  
• David Dahl came through with a huge pinch hit home run on his day off.  What an amazing run its been for him.  Will he have his jersey retired someday in Colorado?
  
• The Rockies managed only 4 runs off 13 hits, stranding 8 runners.  Any changes to the batting order coming to try to juice up the effectiveness of the offense?
  

[sfdave]

Shane Baz gave up an uncharacteristic 10 hits through 5 innings. Was it simply the Coors field effect? I think so. It's an evil park and should be demolished.

RF Juan Campos had a great game, throwing out a runner at home and going 2 for 5 with an RBI. He seems to be leading the team with 33 RBI (after this game). Will he be a cornerstone of the Giants for years to come? I hope so. He's got a great bat and should be a solid hitter for us. His glove's a liability, but in LF it won't cause too much trouble. He's a hard worker and still has a little room to develop and improve, so who knows how good he can be if he keeps applying himself.

The road woes continue for the Giants. Any ideas to shake things up? Our next roadtrip is to Pittsburgh and then Milwaukee.  Since there's nothing to do in either city, maybe our guys will get to bed at a decent time and play better.  I hope it's just a fluke and we'll see some mean reversion the rest of the way, but 9-16 on the road isn't going to cut it. Fortunately, we're 16-6 at home, so it's offset some of the road losses, but we need to play better away from our park.

[Commissioner Erick]

For Erick Blasco, Rockies GM:
Congrats on the big win! McCurley lived dangerously in this one, striking out only one batter over 6 innings. How long of a leash does he have this year? Could a trip back down to the minors be in store?

More good questions. I doubt it. We simply don't have any good replacements and he's been competent at keeping the ball in play. I think that's a real skill. We don't have a good development staff in the upper minors though, so we may consider demoting him if it helps his development. We may just have him stick it out and then clean house with our staff next season.

David Dahl came through with a huge pinch hit home run on his day off. What an amazing run its been for him. Will he have his jersey retired someday in Colorado?

Outside of one season, he's been a pinnacle of success and it's been a joy following him. So many huge hits. So many hits period, and a better defender than given credit for. I've been terrified he could get hurt at any moment, but he's been very durable as well. We love him, the fans love him, and I doubt we'll see any other Rockies wearing the number 26. Amazing to think he's 26 hits away from 2000.

The Rockies managed only 4 runs off 13 hits, stranding 8 runners. Any changes to the batting order coming to try to juice up the effectiveness of the offense?

For THIs game, I'm not surprised. Half our starting lineup were backups with so many exhausted players. Michael Perez has shaken off the rust so we'll see how this lineup operates for a bit. I have notiched thelower heart of our order has a lot of guys who crank extra base hits and walk, but also guys who strikeout. There have been a few doubles, followed by walks, followed by guys whiffing to strand two. I might want to get a high average guy to separate them.

[Commissioner Erick]

Jun 14, 2022 19:14:30 GMT -5 sfdave said:

Shane Baz gave up an uncharacteristic 10 hits through 5 innings. Was it simply the Coors field effect? I think so. It's an evil park and should be demolished.

[mikereds]

Here is a post-game trivia question:

San Francisco is currently missing defensive wizard SS Enrique Valdez who is currently injured. Whose farm system did Valdez originate from?

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 1: I correctly guessed 2018.

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 2: Daniel correctly guessed Houston