San Francisco Giants Face Trade Deadline Decisions After Sweep of RockiesSan Francisco Giants Face Trade Deadline Decisions After Sweep of Rockies Following a four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, the San Francisco Giants find themselves in a precarious position as the Major League Baseball trade deadline approaches. The team is just 3½ games out of a National League wild card spot, but their recent performance has been inconsistent. Reasons for Optimism: * Recent surge, winning four games in a row. * Bullpen game in series finale avoided due to improving starting rotation. * Strong production from Tyler Fitzgerald at shortstop. * Promising homegrown core of Heliot Ramos, Patrick Bailey. Reasons for Caution: * Just four days as a winning team in the past 100 games. * Difficult schedule remaining, with only the 7th-easiest slate. * FanGraphs gives the Giants a 16.9% chance of reaching the postseason. * Potential trade chips (Michael Conforto, Alex Cobb) have expressed desire to remain with the team. Cobb’s Outlook: Despite his latest setback, starting pitcher Alex Cobb remains optimistic about the Giants’ chances. He believes they can “rattle off wins” and make a run at the postseason. Recent Performance: The Giants have outscored opponents 25-9 in the four-game sweep of the Rockies and have set a franchise record for strikeouts in a four-game series with 53. Offensive Highlights: The team has averaged 6.25 runs during the sweep, including double-figure runs in three of the four games. Jorge Soler and Matt Chapman have been key contributors offensively. Next Steps: With the trade deadline looming, the Giants will have a day off on Monday before facing the Oakland Athletics for a two-game series. The team’s starting pitchers for the series have not yet been announced.
Jorge Soler (2) of the San Francisco Giants scores an RBI ground rule double in the second inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, July 28, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO — Too little, too late? Or just enough, at just the right time?
These are the questions that Farhan Zaidi and the Giants management will be pondering over the next 48 hours leading up to Tuesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline after San Francisco swept the Colorado Rockies 5-4 on Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park.
On the one hand, the last four games have pulled them within 3½ games of the final National League wild card and two games of .500. The bullpen game they enter in the series finale could be their last of the season, as their starting rotation is near full strength and looks formidable. Tyler Fitzgerald has given them superstar-caliber production at shortstop, and they have the makings of a homegrown core up the middle in Heliot Ramos at center and Patrick Bailey behind the plate.
Then again, Zaidi had 100 games this week to evaluate his team, and they spent exactly four days of that stretch as a winning team. Just last week, they lost two of three games to the same opponent they’d just blown out while starting 2-5 after the All-Star break. Even after blowing out both halves of Saturday’s doubleheader, FanGraphs pegged their chances of reaching the postseason — let alone making a deep run — at 16.9%, the equivalent of rolling a six-sided die.
The calculation takes into account the Giants’ schedule the rest of the way, the seventh-easiest remaining schedule, but what it can’t account for is the feelings inside the clubhouse. Sean Hjelle said on NBC Sports Bay Area that “I think people are going to regret writing the Giants off,” and two of the team’s most likely trade chips, veteran outfielder Michael Conforto and injured starting pitcher Alex Cobb, have both expressed their desire to remain in San Francisco in recent days.
“I know it’s easy for the outside world to write us off. I just don’t think anyone in this locker room feels that way,” Cobb said before the game when discussing his latest setback. “I don’t want to disparage other teams, but even the really bad teams get going and just rattle off wins and we haven’t had that yet. If we do that, I see us being in the mix at the end of the year. I think everyone does.”
Have the Giants finally hit their stride in the last four games?
Or was it four games against the second-worst team in the National League, with two games left against the second-worst team in the AL?
Regardless, it produced one of the most inspired baseball games of the season for the Giants, outscoring their opponents 25-9 in the four-game series. The Giants led in the first two innings of each game, never trailed, and held a lead at the end of all but one of the 36 innings of the series.
On the mound, the Giants followed up the 30 strikeouts they recorded in both games of Saturday’s doubleheader with 11 more strikeouts, split among Erik Miller, Randy Rodríguez, Taylor Rogers, Jordan Hicks, Spencer Bivens and Camilo Doval, setting a franchise record for strikeouts in a four-game series with 53.
After averaging a meager 3.6 runs during their seven-game road trip following the All-Star break, the Giants averaged 6.25 runs during the four-game sweep, while hitting double figures in three of the four games, including 13 on Sunday — three from Jorge Soler and Matt Chapman.
Casey Schmitt gave the bullpen arms, who were injured by Thairo Estrada, an injured second baseman, an early lead with a 415-foot solo drive to left field in the first inning. By the end of the second inning, the Giants had built a 3-0 lead after Conforto and Derek Hill traded extra-base hits from the bottom two spots in the lineup.
Hicks was originally scheduled to make his final start before moving to the bullpen, but he ended up coming on as a reliever in the sixth inning, allowing two runs on three hits — including a solo home run by Michael Toglia in the seventh — over two innings.
Instead of Hicks, the Giants used Miller as their leadoff player for the 13th time this season; manager Bob Melvin explained before the game, “It wasn’t going to be a deep outing (by Hicks) anyway.”
Remarkable
BY Heliot Ramos was held out of the starting lineup for the second time since being recalled May 8 because of a bruised right thumb, Melvin said. Ramos had started the past 68 games, including both halves of Saturday’s scheduled doubleheader.
RHP Sean Hjelle was placed on the mourning list before the first pitch, but all Melvin could share was that he was busy with a “family matter”.
Next one
With Tuesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline looming, the Giants will enjoy a day off on Monday before regrouping for a two-game series against the A’s. While RHP Alex Cobb was originally scheduled to make his season debut during the series, but his start was postponed and the Giants have not yet announced their starting pitchers.
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