The San Francisco Giants need to figure things out soon. For over two weeks now, things have been going downhill. It’s got to change. While the division is almost out of reach, the Giants still occupy a Wild Card spot, although it’s now the third one. But that could change sooner than we realize if the Giants don’t start playing better baseball.
The Giants Need to Figure Things Out
The Wild Card Race is Growing Intense
Following Monday’s loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Giants dropped a half-game behind the Chicago Cubs for the second NL Wild Card spot. Man, this is getting pretty serious. As if that weren’t bad enough, their lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks is only half a game. The Giants hang on the precipice of being pushed out of the playoff bracket entirely.
Maybe Wade Meckler wasn’t the answer after all. You don’t want to judge a guy who has only played in seven big league games. But what the Giants need is immediate productivity. And it’s more about his defense than his hitting. You’d need a larger sample size to infer too much from a .143 batting average.
There’s always risk in calling up a guy to the bigs early. The Giants can’t be blamed for not wanting to ignore the impressive performance that Meckler was putting up in the minors.
The Trade Deadline Did Absolutely Nothing
Guess where trade deadline acquisitions AJ Pollock and Mark Mathias are? That’s right; they’re on the IL. They’d likely contribute a little if they were on the extensive league roster. This is only brought up to highlight further the bad roster-building job the Giants have been doing.
They did add Johan Camargo on a minor league deal earlier this month and called him up after two games in Triple-A. There’s no reason to even state his statistics in the mere 19 plate appearances that he’s had. But in the combined minor league systems of three teams, including the brief stint in the Giants’ system, he put up a .805 OPS. So he can be a valuable player down the stretch.
But honestly, the Giants needed more. And it’s too late to fix that.
Kyle Harrison Will Join the Team
The Giants are finally ready to call up top pitching prospect Kyle Harrison. They wanted to be patient and wait to give him a call until he was fully prepared. And that’s a good thing, too, as long as it’s not motivated by any intention of manipulating his service time (which should be illegal anyway, if we could only have a way of knowing when teams are doing it).
But if Harrison can anchor the rotation, it will be a step in the right direction. If he can be elite along with Logan Webb and Alex Cobb, the Giants should be set up to win a Wild Card series. And it should certainly be factored in that in the postseason; teams can go with a shorter rotation than in the regular season. Of course, the Giants have to get there first.
Can the Giants Figure Things Out?
We have to see. The importance of a turnaround could not be stated any stronger. There is no more powerful way to bring meaning to the case than to look at the standings. This year must finish differently than 2022. The Giants have to get themselves into October baseball.
Main Photo Credits: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
