The first headline I saw when I searched up our recently cast-off backstop was for an AP article published by the Watertown Daily News: “Baily, Cantillo lead Guardians to four-game series sweep…”
While I harbor no real ill-will towards Patrick Bailey, I admit I wasn’t pleased about the news. Petty tribalism inherent in fandom runs deep, and stumbling upon some local coverage reporting on the exploits of ex-Giant really ticked me off. I wanted no news. I wanted bad news. The fact that Patrick Bailey hit
a solo shot in the 8th inning of a 3-1 win over Detroit, that he “led” his team to a sweep (just as the Giants were swept), that he did something so positive that rural Wisconsin was talking about him robbed me of some strange vindication/validation that my team “won” the trade that sent him to the Midwest. The transaction was no banishment. Bailey was “Baily” now, according to the headline — he had been reborn.
Upon further digging, he hasn’t. That homer earlier today was his second hit as a member of the Guardians (18 AB). He left San Francisco with a .146/.213/.183 slash line and after Thursday’s fireworks, he’s batting .140 with a slightly elevated .210 slugging percentage. He’s got three RBIs and a 50% caught stealing rate (on 4 chances). Bailey is still Bailey.
And in his stead, the Giants catcher committee has been at least more productive. You can’t argue with numbers: their 65 wRC+ is certainly better than Bailey’s -30 wRC+ in the same span, but maybe it hasn’t been the boon some hoped for. The individuals in the committee have shone brightest in moments rather than day-in and day-out consistency. Jesus Rodriguez’s only hit since May 9th was a walk-off single against Pittsburgh. Eric Haase earned an entry in the Encyclopedia of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry with a two-homer night off Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Daniel Susac, while at the center of a controversial catcher-interference call earlier in the week in Arizona, has put would-be base stealers on notice.
Two weeks isn’t enough time to accurately grade the Bailey trade — but an off-day after a series sweep, a losing road trip, a losing two months can certainly have one circling the drain. Its easy for us fans to get sucked into that dangerous whirlpool of what-could-have-beens. The recent roster woes force our rumination on the roads not taken. A heavy fog of doubt still lingers over choices made. Buster Posey has taken some mighty swings as the President of Baseball Operations. A mighty swing produces a hard-hit ball that goes really really far…or a fleeting breeze.
Rafael Devers will be a Giant for many more years to come. From the vantage point we have now it’s hard to say whether that’s terrifying or exciting. What I know for sure is that the decision to take the Devers path will be costly in more ways than one. And what I also know for sure is, situated firmly in the present, Kyle Harrison is 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 59 strikeouts over 45.2 innings pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers, and yup, he’s still just 24 years old.
Rewind to Wednesday. As Tyler Mahle malfunctioned once again when facing a lineup for the third time in a game, Harrison limited the Chicago Cubs, one of the best offenses in the league, to 2 hits over 7 shutout innings while striking out 11.
There hasn’t been any major restructuring. He hasn’t discovered a Skubal-esque change-up, or cooled down his heater’s workload. Harrison is dominating with the same two pitches and the same 60-30 mix, he had in San Francisco, just with a couple of tweaks. He throws from the first base side of the rubber now. The arm angle is still slingy but a little higher, helping the fastball to holding its plane, and a better more consistently located fastball is working wonders for his breaking ball.
Can you imagine being the Red Sox and trading that guy?
So what else happened on Wednesday amongst the recent cast-off Giants that could hollow out my stomach even more?
Ah yes, in the Blue Jays’ 2-1 win over the New York Yankees, another imposing offense, reliever Tyler Rogers turned in an 11-pitch 8th for his 8th hold of the year while lowering his ERA to 1.61 (22.1 IP). The submariner continues to throw against the grain. His fastball velocity is the lowest in the league, yet ranks in the 96th percentile. His 69% groundball rate is second only to New York reliever Tim Hill. A baseball touched by Rogers has yet to find itself in the outfield bleachers. Drew Gilbert is good for a laugh, but considering the bingo cage reliever situation the Giants are in, and the fact that this team was supposedly being constructed with pitching and defense at the forefront of their minds, a late-inning arm of his consistency and caliber sure would be nice…
And over in Miami, on the same Wednesday, Dom Smith did this on the twelfth pitch of his at-bat…
Then he did this…
Is there anyone in the league right now more loved than Dom Smith? The journeyman player is playing for his sixth team in five seasons and continues to endear himself to franchise after franchise. This year in Atlanta, it didn’t take long. 14 days after his mom passed away, Smith hit a walk-off grand slam in his first game as a Brave. He’s batting .337 with a .903 OPS (106 PA, almost exclusively against RHP) so far this season, and while he fell victim to the crush of players vying to fill the Giants’ first base/DH role, getting those kinds of platoon-split numbers off the bench would’ve been more than welcome.
And just to be abundantly clear:
Rafael Devers: 5 HR, 20 RBI, 99 OPS+ in 191 AB
Dom Smith: 6 HR, 22 RBI, 155 OPS+ in 98 AB (though Wednesday)
Alas, not every San Francisco alum is absolutely crushing it in Atlanta.
After scorching hot spring, Mike Yastrzemski has struggled in…well, actually as I write this, I just checked the boxscore and Yaz went 3-for-3 with a double, homer and 3 RBIs in today’s 9-3 series finale win against Miami. He’s 12-for-37 over his last 15 games with a .649 SLG while boasting a top-shelf top lip for Mustache May.
I know this is reactionary, I know nostalgia and calling “Mulligan!” aren’t solid principles of roster construction — but could we get a couple of do-overs ‘cuz I miss those guys right now.
