Giants Talk: Bryce Eldridge, Jung Hoo Lee carry Giants to series split
Giants Talk: Bryce Eldridge, Jung Hoo Lee carry Giants to series split originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Hey, what's up Giants fans?
Welcome to another episode of Giants Talk.
I'm Cole Kuiper here with Giants insider Alex Pavlovic.
We're coming to you after the Giants split a fascinating and somewhat frustrating series in Milwaukee.
who is this team?
We just can't really get a grasp on it.
We'll talk about that, some recent moves, mailbag questions, and more.
But before we get started, Giants Talk is presented by Mancini's Sleepworld.
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Alex, you just got back from vacation.
How nice is it to get back into your Mancini's mattress?
Well, as we podcast, I have not yet, but I am- You have not.
All right.
It's just- So is that just looking forward to it then?
It's just looking forward to as soon as we are done here, I'm out.
If you wanna record this laying down in bed, I'm fine with that.
We've talked about that as, as a podcast.
Maybe go to a Mancini's store and just do a podcast- Yeah just you and I sitting on a bed.
Um- Just facing the ceiling.
No, this worked out well, like coming back from a little break and, no NBA finals game tonight.
Giants played early.
Mm-hmm.
So we podcast.
I'm out.
I'm- Tactical in my Mancini's.
Look at you.
We'll get vacation updates later on, but let's talk Giants at Brewers.
This was another series of just absolutely extremes.
We had some really high highs and some really low lows.
I mean, after Monday and Tuesday's games, which were two just absolute brutal games in two very different fashions.
One just a beat down score wise and one just a beat down emotionally and narratively.
it felt like, like almost a guaranteed sweep was loading.
One of the weirder splits I can remember, like- Absolutely like truly a, a, just like a, a total ass kicking the first game.
Mm-hmm.
Like to the point that I, I honestly was I, I felt bad for the position player.
I'm like, "Somebody please help."
Buddy Kennedy can't throw a strike.
He's coming- And at one point they showed, they showed Tony go back to the back of the dugout and I'm like, "He's gonna get on the phone and be like, s- 'Okay, somebody has to get up and-" Yes. "
somebody who can throw a strike here."
And he did it.
I think he went to get a sip of water or something and came back and they're just- Dave and Hunter are like, "Yeah, this is Buddy Ken..." Like I, I was sitting there going, "Are they gonna let him throw 60 pitches in this inning?"
Like it was brutal.
And coming off that core series, coming off the bad home stand, and then, you know, Tuesday is the Kyle Harrison show and that was predictable.
that one is, is painful for a lot of reasons.
And then Wednesday, Logan's forwarding with a perfect game for- Oh for two hours.
And then Thursday they're, you know, good offensive day, but then also very nearly- Gets spicy at the end.
Yeah.
Coughed it up again.
Got very spicy at the end.
Yes.
So just a very strange like, there wasn't a single game in that series that's just like, eh, four to one.
Yeah.
There was no normalcy- Yeah at all this series and it's, it's been so hard to get a grasp of who this team is, 'cause we see flashes of what they're capable of on offense.
We see flashes of what they're capable of starting pitching wise with Logan Webb.
we have nights where the bullpen shuts them down.
We have nights where the bullpen blows it and, and it all happened in this four-game series across the board.
But the, compared to last episode when it was, it was way more somber and sour and many episodes before that, I feel like I liked a lot of what we saw go on in Milwaukee during that series.
And there were shades of things that give me hope for June.
It was more watchable than most of the first two months has been.
Yes.
So.
Yeah.
so that's helpful.
I have a, I have a fun stat for you.
Hit me.
The Pittsburgh Pirates ruined this since I put this in a rundown, but who do you think is second in the big leagues right now in total hits?
It's obvious 'cause this is Giants talk, but.
Oh, yeah, a player or a team?
A team.
Oh, a team.
Is it the Giants?
They were first after today's game.
Wow.
With hits as a team, and then Pittsburgh now is two ahead of them, but they are first or they are second.
number three is the Dodgers, number four is the Braves.
So you sit there and go, "Oh, this is cool."
And then you realize they're like dead last in walks.
And actually like, you know, the offense in May was pretty good and it's been good to start June.
but still have their issues, I think, still have their frustrating nights.
Yeah.
So in a weird way, like they are W- when you say who is this team?
In a weird way, I think they are rounding into part of what Buster envisioned, which is he wanted contact.
They went out and signed Arraez.
Um- Mm-hmm we've seen the way they trade and they draft.
You and I have talked about that a lot.
They bring Hunter Mens in from, from, Toronto and so they are starting to make contact, like really consistently.
the base hits are there.
There's a ton of doubles.
I think they're like, they're right near, they're at the top of the league in doubles.
they're dead last in walks though.
And- Where are they in grand slams?
I think they're tied for first with the Angels.
So.
Tied for first.
Yeah.
But you're seeing this like concept of, I think you can see what Buster thought he was putting together.
Mm-hmm.
Like this, this team that's gonna put the ball in play, this team's g- that's gonna have these long rallies and they've had a couple of these now in the last week where it's just like there's a ton of hits here.
Like how many different guys are gonna have three or four hits?
Yeah.
but we have also seen that there's flaws to their approach.
And the other thing I think, which is, you know, stood out in this series and even-Thursday stood out late in that game as they have, they have been, I think, worse than the Giants ex- than the front office thought they would be pitching wise.
I mean, obviously worse than they thought they'd be pitching wise.
But they just haven't had it on the mound and, and they haven't been able to put both, both, facets together.
Yeah.
It's starting to just on offense look like things are clicking.
You start to look at the teams, just the lineup's general stats, and there aren't those glaring 100s numbers- Yeah that they had lurking around for a while.
In fact, if Devers just continues on this trend and, and starts to head towards his career average output and, and Adames ticks it up a little, then they're in really good shape.
Jung-hoo Lee is playing phenomenally.
Casey Schmidt can't get enough of him, and then you already mentioned Arraez.
So now it's all about the pitching.
Yeah, and I, you know, I think we've seen some steps back for guys in the rotation who were doing well early on.
And, the bullpen continues to just be Even when they win, like it's just, you know, it's hairy every single time.
Like even today you're, you're trying to figure out who can get those final outs.
So you, you can kind of see a little bit of what they were thinking, but it's just there's too many holes on this roster I think to for them to have been consistent at all.
Um- Yeah it, you know, even with the last, last few weeks, like actually a lot of these guys, as you're saying, like have put it together offensively and, and Bryce has jumped into the mix and Jung-hoo Lee's been incredible and, but it, it hasn't led to what you would expect, which is like the kind of offense they've had the last few weeks, you'd be like, "Okay, here you go."
As Buster said last year, like, "It's go time."
But they're also quite often out there with the starting pitcher giving up, you know, five or six runs.
Mm-hmm.
All right.
Let's, let's take these four games in this series one at a time, at least briefly, because they were each so uniquely interesting.
Starting with Monday, we'll get the bad loss out of the way, but this was extra funny just being on the tails of that insane game they had in Coors Field- the day before.
You know, they stacked up a 19 to six victory, almost scoring 20 runs, and then immediately lose that, that run differential bonus that they had put together.
Yeah.
They're, I mean, negative 63 for the year and you're like, "How's that after some of the games we've seen?"
And it's like, well, they're giving it right back.
Yeah.
one thing that struck me during that game is I, I do think they I, I think they need to figure out this long reliever thing a little bit better.
Like I- Mm-hmm I think they You know, Brubaker's actually been pretty good, and they've used him in some different spots.
Like th- there's a lot of games, and games like that, where I'm kind of like, you know, you, you need someone who can go out there and just throw the final four innings and just, like not, and maybe not give up like seven runs, so.
Yeah.
It's, they haven't I, I think that's one of many flaws with this bullpen.
But, yeah, I don't know.
It's, it's one of those spots where you're just like, "It'd be nice to have like Spencer Bivens here right now and just know he can throw 75 pitches for you."
Yeah.
And, or, you know, or go the way teams used to do it, which is like have a young guy at the back of your staff who, who, can go out there and, and throw three, four innings and, and then he gets optioned.
Like, I think they're in a weird Feels like they're in a weird place sometimes in some of these games where they're, they don't, there- there's like too many guys pitching in some of these games.
Absolutely.
We've got They'll squeeze like four or five relievers in the last few innings doing, you know, the last one out of this, the next out of the next inning, then we're gonna go four outs spread across two innings.
And then no one gets into a good flow and no one is pitching lengthy amount of time.
You, you were gonna You know, you mentioned an example I wish they had blah blah blah.
I thought you were gonna say something unfeasible.
You just mentioned Spencer Bivens.
Yeah.
Call him up.
We know him.
We know him.
You know, landed route four innings, eight earned.
Like, game's over at that point.
Yes.
So, they end up using, you know, you end up using Ramos who had just come up, and then Gage who ends up, I guess, is hurt as well.
But Gage has like been one of their guys.
Gage should not be pitching in a game like that.
Um- Yes.
You do what you do and then the pitching player, like- Yeah you know, it, I think we've, we've kind of gone on the other side of that where it's just like th- they're doing it too often, so.
Yeah.
Remember when it was cute?
Yeah.
It's not, not as cute anymore.
So anyway, that was just the one thought I had.
I mean, that game was horrible, and that was just the one thought I had was like, feels like there's been a few of these games where you're like, you don't really have that guy in your bullpen.
There's, you know, Ty Blach's out there somewhere.
Yeah.
You know he can pitch every day, so.
Get him in the mix.
Back to the- They, they basically need another starter who can be the mop-up guy.
Yeah, I mean, well, in theory, like Brubaker's supposed to be that guy.
but he hasn't.
Like, you look at h- even his game log recently is like one and two-thirds, one, three, three, one and two-thirds.
it's just a little, it's a little weird.
Like it's, you know Yeah.
Yeah.
A, a very small complaint, but I, I watch some of these games and just go, "This is weird the way you're finishing this out."
Yeah.
All right.
Then Tuesday comes along, and I think if anyone had you making a, a guess or an assumption going into Tuesday's game, they would've hit it dead on the money.
Kyle Harrison shows up big for his revenge game, goes just shy of six innings in it.
He's, I think he struck out everyone on the team except Adames, who got- Think so did, did damage to him finally.
and struck Devers out three times, which must have felt extra good.
I know he was quite, quite cordial, quite respectful- Yeah in his post-game interview, no matter how much people were trying to drag that grudge match quote out of him.
but you could tell there was a little something extra.
Yeah.
You know, I talked to Kyle this spring and I, I He is just like a really nice kid.
Mm-hmm.
And I, I don't know that there's, he's ever gonna beLike feel it.
But I, you saw it.
Like you, you- Yes saw.
I mean, you saw it on the mound.
Like, it was the second best fastball velocity of his career in a start.
he gets Devers three times.
He ties his career high with 12 strikeouts.
So he didn't really have to say anything 'cause you just saw it.
Um- Yeah and it was extremely predictable.
And, you know, this Giants team that for all of April seemed like everyone was waving at fastballs down the middle, it's like, "Here's the guy who's just gonna throw a four-seamer over and over and over again and challenge you.
good luck."
So he got his revenge game.
I think the good news for Giants fans is Devers has picked up a little bit, so it doesn't hurt quite as much.
Yep.
but I think you and I have said this since the time of the trade, like we both liked him.
We're happy for him.
I, he ends up in a tremendous spot.
he's probably gonna be an All-Star.
So this couldn't have worked out better for Kyle.
Yes.
It-- Did you get a ton of mailback questions or even just mentions this week about like, "Wow, wish we could undo the trade," or, "How does this help the trade age?"
'Cause I, I was getting a ton of them, and we've made it pretty clear here on, here on Giants Talk that you gotta make that move.
I, I didn't see a whole lot.
I see You know, I think it's an easy thing to do on, I don't wanna call any particular person out, but it's an easy way to get engagement, you know, to, to point out what he's doing in a Like it's, I, I think everybody going back to, we've said this over and over again, it's, it's been almost a full year.
Yeah.
going back to that day, everyone's like, "All right, gotta make that deal."
And that wasn't the same Kyle Harrison who got traded.
No.
And I, I mean, I, I've always kind of thought that this was in him just because you've seen like flashes of this.
But at the same time, like I, you know, he, he is a guy who dealt with an injury.
Um- Mm-hmm he's a pitcher.
He's a young pitcher.
Like we, we know that those are unpredictable.
So good for Milwaukee.
It's worked out great for him, but like I- that's a deal you make every single time.
And- Yeah I, I think that, you know, we're two weeks away from it I think or 11 days away from it.
We can maybe take a, a deeper dive into the winners and losers of all that.
But I think for the Giants the loss is not Kyle Harrison getting away as much as he would be great here.
The loss is like you went and got Raffy Devers because he is part of what you thought was gonna be a nice little window here.
Mm-hmm.
Repeat, and you can give up a pre-arb starter like Kyle and, and they're like one of the worst teams in baseball.
So you- And weren't they the best team in the NL West when that trade happened?
For like a night, like couple days later.
Yeah.
So I think that to me is like the biggest I was thinking about this watching Kyle pitch.
I'm like, that to me is the biggest loss here is that you thought you were in this window where you make a deal like that, and it turns out maybe you weren't for- Yeah whatever reason.
Who, who knows how the season ended up this way.
But- Yeah just the window isn't, isn't maybe right for a deal like that.
Yeah.
The, it's kind of how this season's going right now, it's the entirely opposite thought.
You keep the young arm and you- Yeah avoid the large contract for the older player.
But Kyle Harrison, tip of the cap.
Incredible outing.
Always gonna cheer for the guy.
Not gonna cheer as hard for him when he's facing the Giants, obviously.
It was a funny outing.
It was a like- It was so funny.
It- I just wish Bryce Eldridge was in there the entire game because that's the, the head-to-head I wanted.
We have been getting a lot of Bryce Eldridge.
He has been playing great, so our complaints have been heard.
But you know, you give me a little, I want more.
Yeah, it's a He's played almost every day.
I think the Giants, they almost need like us in the room to just be like, "Hey, there's an optics issue here."
Like, this is a hu- this is a, a big game for the fan base.
Yep.
and him not being in, in there, like it, it just Like it was similar to like if you wanna sit him for two of the four Dodger games, okay.
But to make him face Yamamoto and Ohtani, which I know he didn't mind, but there's an optics issue there that it just, it looks bad that that's the way they did it.
Um- It's like Webb's start coming back to Coors Field.
Yeah.
Which that one worked out for him.
But this in particular, I, I think my recommendation would be like, hey, maybe pick the day game like on Thursday if you wanna sit him.
And I know it's a different matchup, but I think that's actually a good matchup.
Like everyone's a good matchup for Bryce right now, but- Yeah I thought that was a, I was, I as like the impartial guy here was annoyed just like, I'm like, I wanted to see Harrison versus Eldridge.
Like- Awesome 'cause you know he's gonna be like, "Here's the four-seamer."
I would've given Devers the day off.
Just avoid that whole narrative entirely.
Take that story out of the headlines and, and give me Eldridge at first base.
He probably, yeah, he probably wanted that one.
but it, it's, it's in theory like a great matchup for Bryce who's hitting everything right now and, you know, I think it would've been fun.
Like here's 95 at the letters.
And, and the other thing, my main complaint about that too is like this is not, that was a, that was a Farhan lineup.
Like that- Yeah that lineup that was put out there was a, here is a right-handed hitter who just showed up and he's gonna, we're gonna try to maximize the matchups here.
They haven't done that the whole year.
So to just randomly do it on a Tuesday against Kyle Harrison, like here's Buddy Kennedy of the DH.
And he goes oh for three with two Ks.
Yeah.
And he's sitting against a guy who's like, you know, the only thing most of the fan base is holding onto.
I, I just, it didn't, it didn't track and it didn't make sense.
And for a team that like, you know, Jung, who's been incredible early in the year, we did have the discussion here about like whether he should sit against lefties.
And, the Giants were like, "Nope, we're not gonna do that."
Drew Gilbert, we've talked about it here a lot.
Like, he's gotten some left on left matchups that we're like, "Well, that was kinda weird."
Um- Mm-hmm probably wouldn't have done it.
So they've not really cared about any of that stuff the whole year, and then to just all of a sudden be like, "Hey, we care.
Bryce hits left-handed and Kyle throws left-handed."
Like, it, it was just, that to me just didn't track.
It just, like, was really random.
And, just, you know, and you're pissing off your fan base for no reason.
Yeah, yeah.
But they turned around.
And by the way, he's, like, their best hitter right now.
Yeah.
So, or one of their two or three best hitters.
So you want him in the lineup against everybody.
If the fan base was pissed off after Tuesday's game, the team turned around and did everything they could Wednesday, at least one guy on the team, to un-piss off a fan base.
Logan Webb took a perfect game into the sixth, no-hitter into the seventh.
Alex, you were on vacation with your family.
Were you sweating bullets about emergency podcast duties while on assignment?
no, I wasn't at all.
'Cause I was f- we took my son to Magic Kingdom that day, and I was like, I would've been like, "Cole, I am too tired for this."
"Chase this wee world around."
I was gonna make you do it.
No, I was n- you know what I, my main thought, I was watching it.
my main thought was just like, I've covered Logan's whole career, and if he throws a perfect game, like, during one of the only starts of his career that I've missed, I'm gonna be bummed.
But- Yeah no, that was, that was my only thought really, was like, this would suck to, like, miss just from a I don't really, I've gotten past, like when Blake Snell threw the no-hitter I, I didn't really care at all that I missed it.
Yeah.
Like, I, I've covered a lot of them in my career and I've been blessed to, to, you know, I was, my first year Matt Cain had the perfect game and, so I think I've gotten past the point where I There was, early in my career, there was a couple.
I remember I was at a concert one time and Bumgarner had one going.
Mm-hmm.
Like the seventh or eighth, and I'm like, "I kinda wanna leave."
Like, I kinda wanna go to the ballpark, right?
I've- Yeah it was like on Market, and I'm like, "I think I can make it to the ballpark."
But I'm past that point, but I think just because, like, if Logan had done it, it would've sucked to not be there.
They had some really close calls over the years.
It's been a while since they've had one, but Yusmeiro Petit.
Yeah.
who else had one?
Cobb had one, and there's another one.
Yeah, Cobb had a close one.
Um- Someone took one to the end against the Dodgers, and it's killing me that Oh, m- Matty, um- Matty Moore.
Yes.
I was there for that one.
Yeah.
That was very memorable.
And so yeah, no, you have enough of those nights.
You, maybe I'm just old and jaded at this point, I'm like, all right.
But that was cool.
It being Logan got me fired up.
Like, I was- Yeah I, I woke up my neighbors when that hit happened, that little bloop to short.
No, I w- I was like locked into that.
and he ki- it kinda had the feel a little like the, I think it was Turang who hit the ball down the, the third base line.
Mm-hmm.
And Chatman made like a sneaky good play on it.
Yeah.
And it, it kinda had the feel, and even like Barracodo hitting the homer, I'm like, you al- you need the weird offensive thing in games like this sometimes, so.
You could see the, the highlight reel, the YouTube video- Yeah coming together in the moment.
It definitely had like the smell of one of those.
So.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, but I kind of also just, like, once Turang came up again, I'm like, "Ah, this feels like the guy who's gonna do it."
Yeah.
So.
Yeah.
Alex, I'm gonna pepper in a mailbag question that's supposed to be later on, but we're on the subject.
Juan says, "The Astros just threw their seventh no-hitter since 2019.
The last Giant was Snell in '24.
Who do you guys think the next Giant to throw one will be?"
Well, we've, we had this last week, I think, and I wrote down two names here, and I was completely wrong on one of them.
first jokingly I wrote down Jackson Flora, 'cause like, you need someone with stuff.
And- There you go you and I are like, "Hey, UCSB guy, fourth pick.
Take him."
This.
I- Yeah I was hoping that that was gonna be the, Yes.
Well done.
Actual answer.
Yeah.
my actual answer to this, you know, when Landon is right he's, like, really hard to hit.
and earlier this year he had, I think, four starts of one or two hits, like four in five starts or something like that.
So, Landon has those days.
I, I don't know pitch count wise, you know.
That, that's part of it too, and even Logan's count was getting up there a little bit.
so that would be tough for him.
But I, I could see him.
I think he'll have a day when, when he gets back to, to form where you're like, we're sitting there in like the sixth inning and y- you're on high alert.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, I Logan was my answer just because he just showed us he still has the juice.
He hasn't done it before, and he is the guy that I feel like you can count on to go nine innings just any day of the week.
Yeah.
Obviously, he's coming back from an injury right now.
Would've been really interesting to see how that played out in a one-run game.
especially if he continued to walk guys, stealing bases, guys are advancing.
But Webb's, Webb will be the next one.
Book it.
He does have the pitch count thing going for him, which is like, you, one, you know he has that in him, and two, like, he kinda has the cache to just go, "No, I'm going to 120."
Like- Exactly one timeout, which is a lot of times what it takes now.
Well, how many did Lincecum throw in that second one?
148 or something like that.
So yeah.
We're not going there at one, but.
Alex, before we move on from Wednesday's game, how do we feel about the TV broadcast or social media accounts or national networks alerting viewers to a no-hitter?
I've always been adamantly, like, pro-alert.
I do it myself.
I have proof of like, you know, when people yell at me I'll send them back screen grabs from, like, Matt Cain's perfect game in the fifth inning.
It's like Matt Cain's perfect through five.
Matt Cain's perfect through six.Uh, Tim Linsecum's.
I remember Chris Heston's.
Like, early on it was I was tweeting about it, like, jokingly, and then actually he's getting there.
and you know what?
I actually thought about this watching Logan's because it was very quiet on my timeline.
I don't know- Like, I know you're not scrolling Twitter as much anymore, but, I think it was very quiet from what I was seeing of And part of that is, you know, kind of the makeup of this beat and who's tweeting a whole lot now and all that, but I think some people also don't wanna jinx things, so.
Yeah.
I was like, I, I've, I could imagine, I think that was during the NBA finals game one.
Like, you can imagine a disillusioned Giants fan, like, not wanting to watch that game after what happened the first two nights.
Sure.
I kind of am always of the opinion that those are the people you're trying to reach.
Like, "Hey, turn this on."
Like, you're- Yeah.
So I, I, I hate when people try to do the Like we have any control over any of this from the press box.
Like, it, it's so dumb.
I'm with you.
I'm very pro alerting people watching, alerting people flipping channels.
Alerting people who probably would want to tune in if they knew this was happening and just didn't know.
And m- may we remind people that the superstition is that you don't talk to the pitcher about the no-hitter, not that you don't talk to- Yeah your social media feed- Right about the no-hitter.
I watched the end of the Astros one because people were tweeting about it.
Yes.
and I watched the end of whoever the A's guy was who lost one in the ninth.
Mm-hmm.
Just similarly, people were tweeting about it.
I turned on the Phillies-Padres game the other day and watched Christopher Sanchez for a couple innings, 'cause he's up to, like, 50 scoreless in a row or something like that.
Yeah.
So yeah, we have no control, but it's nice to alert people, like, "Hey, if you wanna watch this."
So.
Yeah.
That's always been where I'm at.
Yeah.
It would've been probably made for better podcasting if we disagreed on more things, Alex, but I think you and I have the same opinions about a lot of stuff.
outside of Logan Webb, probably the big narrative coming out of Wednesday's game was the lack of offense.
Giants get one run off of 10 base runners, and it was a solo home run.
They just could not advance guys where they needed to.
And like I said, would've been really interesting to see how that would've played out if, if all Logan's still there in the ninth inning with no hits allowed.
Yeah, you know, Tony strikes me as someone who would make an unpopular decision.
Oh.
That Oof.
But that you don't wanna be in that spot, so.
I think if it was anyone but Logan.
Any Yeah, anyone but Logan.
But yeah, that would've been- All right that would've been tough.
And then moving on to Thursday's game, Giants offense goes off.
They win 12 to nine.
That nine being a very dicey, almost comeback by the Brewers at the end of the game as the Giants' bullpen kind of fell apart.
But the offensive faucet got turned on.
Casey Schmitt, first pitch home run.
Jung Hoo Lee, four hits.
Eric Haase, grand slam.
Basically everything you need to ensure a win.
Almost everything.
And they still didn't quite ensure it.
They still, they still came pretty close at the end there.
So yeah, I think, you know, the important thing f- we've talked so much about Bryce the last few episodes.
We haven't talked about Jung Hoo Lee as much, but he's You know, first it looks like, all right, he came back at Coors and, and you get that going, but he continues it in Milwaukee.
he is currently fourth in the National League in batting average, and Luis Arias is third.
So.
All right.
We have these two guys who are This goes back to what I said at the top, like, the, the team is getting hits.
they have two guys legitimately competing for the batting title.
And it's the two guys you would expect.
Jung Hoo Lee has 19 hits over his last seven games.
It's tied for the most by a Giant over any seven-game span.
I think Benji Molina is one of those guys.
But this, I, I still have this weird fear in the back of my head, Alex, that this is the year Lee just becomes a monster and opts out.
You're a little You're still worried about that opt-out?
I am.
'Cause he was s- You know what?
He's, he was such a rough watch for so long, and it just seems like it'd be so Giants for it to, it to click right at the worst possible time.
There's a lot of money left on that deal.
Um- Yeah.
It would be foolish.
Yeah.
And there's also, you know, just regardless of his future, like it Yeah, it's just good to see him finally kind of put it together and, um- Yes I'm curious what they You know, they've faced a lot of lefties recently, but I'm, I'm curious when they get into it more of a routine here against righties, like, what they do with this lineup.
'Cause these are the two guys you always kind of thought, like, "Hey, what if those two are just on base all the time ahead of a-" Yeah ahead of guys who are driving the ball.
And, and Devers has been, Eldridge is playing like someone who should move up.
So they have some options here.
Yeah.
And shout out Drew Gilbert.
Spectacular over-the-fence catch to rob a home run in the seventh inning.
And you know, I've seen guys pimp home runs.
I don't think I've seen a guy pimp a home run robbery quite that much.
That was great.
I, I always love the fake, the fake out there.
Like- Yeah.
where you going?
I also enjoy Jung Hoo just kind of like- Yeah "You do your thing.
I-" "Give you your space.
I don't wanna get fined."
I've been in a lot of, you know, social clips the last couple weeks- and maybe just wanna back off a little.
So.
So right now, Alex, as the Giants have some guys playing much better than they have had- Right earlier in the year, what would you predict for All-Star situation?
The, the one, like, kind of default All-Star?
Do they get a vote in?
Do they get multiple All-Stars?
What are we thinking?
Well, I thought they made it clear-You know, the Giants did.
I think Arraez is the one they're gonna push.
Mm-hmm.
I think he got the first, like, real tweet from them, like, maybe I missed something.
But I, I think he's the one they're gonna push.
I think he has a real shot.
Casey did end up being listed at DH, which is, you know, impossible.
Um- He, Casey Schmitt will be an all-star.
I'm calling it.
I think he has a good shot as well.
And look, I, I never could have pictured this even two weeks ago, but Jung Hoo Lee, if he's hitting, like, .330, .340 at the All-Star break, like, you, you know.
Plus he's, he's obviously, like I, I think he's one guy, we've talked about this before, like, he does cross over a little bit.
Um- Exactly you do see MLB loves to tweet about him when he, when he gets going, so they would love to have him in the All-Star game.
Um- Yeah.
So- So there's, their problem is gonna be they're, like, one of, like, the three or four worst teams in baseball.
And those teams often get the one guy.
Yeah.
That's fair.
That's fair.
I just, it feels like two minimum.
Arraez would be very cool, but the other two for me, I think, s- really stand out and speak to me.
Yeah.
Casey, I think, will have a good case as a utility guy as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
so we'll see.
They got some time here.
We got, what?
About a month?
Some DH or third baseman or someone's gonna choose a vacation over an All-Star trip- Yeah and Casey's gonna get the call.
He, you know, it is ama- some years it does seem like literally, like, 45 guys.
Yes.
It does.
It does.
All right.
That is the Giants series in Milwaukee.
They're heading to Chicago next.
We're gonna preview that series and more.
Before we get to all that, few Giants related moves.
The first and most important is the Giants newest prospect acquired.
Tugboat Wilkinson is heading to Northern California.
I should say before we move on, coming into today, Jung Hoo was 20th among National League outfielders in wins above replacement.
So there's, there's some ground to be made up- All right for him.
But if you have, you know- But Alex, all-star is a vibes based competition.
It is, and it's- It's not, this isn't MVP.
You have 19 hits in seven games, you're, you're, uh- Yeah gonna make up some ground.
yeah.
Some in- intriguing, some intriguing, promotions here.
Johnny Weavel moved up to High-A finally.
Okay.
So him and, and Gavin Keelan are, you know It, I, we talk so much about Arraez and the future of second base and all that.
I think it's a race between those two to- Mm-hmm see who becomes a real option first.
so that'll be fun to watch in Eugene.
We'll pay a little bit more attention to, to their box scores now.
but yeah, Tugboat we've talked about a lot.
Not a great debut.
He did move up to triple A, so he is a step closer.
walked four in one and a third through 49 pitches before he was removed.
Like, just the pitch count was insane for him.
Um- Okay so, and I did watch some of that.
It, it is Look, it's his first time out.
I am curious because there's been so much made of the fastball and, you know, his ab- like, the deception he has and all that.
He threw one pitch over 91.3.
So it is, like You, you have to be pretty special in a lot of other ways at that kind of velocity- Yes in today's game.
Which maybe he can, but, I don't know if that was the first time out or just a rough day for him.
But, we'll, you know, we'll track him a little bit 'cause we're, we're, anxious to see Tugboat.
Absolutely.
It, it feels a lot more real once they're in triple A. Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
Once, I mean, once you're Although, look, Giants are moving guys up straight from double A now.
But- Exactly.
That's a great point.
yeah.
No, s- pitchers especially, once you're in triple A.
And I think someone like that, someone who's a, you know, a little bit, has some experience, like, they're, they'll wanna take a look at him I think later in the year.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
Keeping an eye on those.
And then of course, the Giants named their new third base coach after Hector Borg was reassigned.
Gary Pettis.
Yeah, I guess Ron Wotus, like, had such a great time at NBC Sports Bay Area.
He just- not gonna give up those shifts.
yeah, no.
It's, we knew this was gonna be short term for Wot- Gary Pettis has done this for two decades, more than two decades.
So they went with the experience, went with someone who knows a, a lot of people on their staff.
And I don't re- you know, I, I've known of him obviously for a long time he's been in the game.
Like, he's never I think the good thing is he's been around and he's never been a guy that I've ever seen anything about, or I can remember ever seeing anything about being like, "Oh, he screwed up that one."
So.
Yeah.
It's really all we're looking for in a third base coach.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I do think, you know, there's something to watching Wotus do it the last week or plus, and then even seeing him on the home stand a little bit when he did it that weekend.
Like, there's this muscle memory for those guys- Mm-hmm who have done this over and over and over again, and I, I think that's important.
So- Yeah this seems like a, a smart decision here.
Yeah.
All right.
With that, let's take it to some mailbag questions and a preview of the series at Wrigley.
But first, Giants Talk is presented by Mancini's Sleepworld.
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Can I make a- All right dig at her about something before we get to the mailbag?
Yeah, yeah.
Jung Hoo's opt out is after next year.
So- Oh, great.
Make an all-star team, World Series MVP.
Yeah.
Do it all with 120 bucks.
Two all-star teams.
You're, you're good to go.
Exactly.
Thank you, Alex.
I'm gonna sleep way better on my Mancini's pillow tonight.
Yes.
Sleep better.First question is from z, from Jack.
Jack says, "There have been a lot of bad looks this season, but Kyle Harrison striking out Devers three times has to be towards the top of the list, right?
I'm a diehard fan who's 36, and this is the most painful season I've ever experienced.
Are there others that I've repressed in my brain?"
And I think he's referring to other moments this year, not other painful seasons, 'cause there have been a lot of painful seasons.
Yeah, this is getting up there, though.
It absolutely is.
This is- Oh, it absolutely is.
You know, in terms of bad looks, I don't think that was Kyle's really good.
He's b- he's- Yeah he was a top left-handed prospect in baseball at one point.
Like, I, and you know, it's not he got traded for Devers.
Like, that's It's, it is.
Like, I wanted to see Eldridge, but also, like, that is tough.
It, it's left on left.
So I don't, in terms of bad looks, I don't think that's anywhere near.
off the top of my head I think of the double header in Philly.
That is probably number one.
Yeah.
That d- two comeback losses in the ninth inning in one day just took my soul out.
Yeah.
losing- Opening day to the Diamondbacks for two weeks.
Opening day on the big stage.
Right.
With the, the, the game, the Netflix game, the whole day all about you, and then just Logan giving up five in the second or third.
Offense can't do anything.
Yeah.
I think the Diamondback sweeps, I honestly think Monday was a worse look than, than, than Tuesday, 'cause you go out on Sunday and do this and you go, oh, happy flight, some momentum.
Yeah.
And y- and then you come out Monday and just get, like, run off the field.
So- Yeah I don't even- And even the recent ones, the, the Rockies loss was, the walk-off was absolutely worse for me.
Because like we said earlier, I think anyone could have predicted the Kyle Harrison game.
Yeah.
And they're a really, really good baseball team.
It's these games against the kind of middling teams or bad teams that end up being really bad looks for me.
Or the next night against the Rockies when they almost got shut out at Coors Field.
So.
Yeah, or that one.
There's, there's a few of these.
Yeah.
There's, this is- Don't worry, Jack, there's a lot of bad memories to go around this year.
This is, it's only June 4th.
How is this possible?
Next question is from Travis.
"How come the Giants refuse to try and find speed guys for this team?
Triple Sally is not meant for people like Devers and Chapman.
Besides the occasional Tyler Fitzgeralds, we haven't had a full-time speed guy in years.
Can you imagine if Chandler Simpson played here or Corbin Carroll?
The Giants are desperate for a player like this.
They need to make it happen."
They got Joe McCox.
They've got Joe McCox.
Yeah.
They got the- Yeah.
You know what?
Corbin Carroll's, like, the exact type.
You're like, "That guy would just, like, win an MVP at Oracle Park."
Question.
Did they think potentially Jung-hoo Lee was going to be this guy?
not that dynamic, but, uh- I mean, it's Nicky James, grandson of the wind.
Yeah.
I think there is some disappointment with, like They, they thought there'd be more extra base hits.
Yeah.
more taking advantage of the ballpark.
You know, we talked about his lack of running.
Like, it's not The whole team doesn't run, but, like, he- he really, he really has not.
I, I do think they've been missing, and it is one thing that, like, they're building in a certain way in, you know, even their, their big lefties, Eldridge, Devers are similar types of hitters.
Like I, they are kind of missing an Angel Pagan type, a Gregor Blanco type.
100%.
and it doesn't have to be It'd be great if you could draft Corbin Carroll and, you know, they could've, but, or, or if you can find that type of player or, you know, even look around the division.
There's other, like Perdomo's a guy like that as well or- Mm-hmm it'd be great if you could have those guys.
I, I think what is missing for them recently, I think, is they don't even have the secondary pieces who maybe are better fits for their ballpark.
And that to me is something that has been frustrating watching the way they, they put this team together at times.
It's, it's like those are the guys they should be, they should be chasing a little bit and trying to- Yeah find.
And we've seen that really.
Like, Gregor Blanco doesn't have that same career somewhere else.
He, he's super valuable at Oracle because of the way he, you know, he, the way he hit the ball and, he was a good fit for that ballpark.
And then defensively he's a great fit for that ballpark.
So- Yeah they haven't been able to find those types.
and they've, you know, there's some you hope that Drew can maybe turn into one of those types of players, but they might have to wait for this next generation of guys.
Yeah.
I've pulled some stats earlier today just to defend the Giants' speed a little bit.
The Giants have the second fastest player in the league at one position.
Can you guess what position that is?
At one position.
Third base?
They have the second fastest DH in the league, baby.
Really?
Casey Schmidt.
Oh.
I guess.
Yeah.
All right.
Not your prototypical DH build.
They do have weird sp- like, they have speed at, like, Chapman's a pretty good base runner.
They have speed at some spots where you'd- Yeah.
Chapman was actually fairly high on the list- Yeah of third baseman, which at his age kind of shocked me.
I do think it's something they need to fig- 'cause look, their infield's kind of set.
So, they do, they do need to find some guys in the outfield who fly around a little bit.
Yeah.
More than, than what they've had.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
Next question is from Chad.
Chad says, "Watching a rise has made me wonder if the Giants should lean more into building an offense around contact hitters, doubles, and guys who just put the ball in play.
Do you think the Giants should target more hitters with that profile or is that just nostalgia for a style of baseball that doesn't really work anymore?
"Kind of very similar to that last question.
Chad, I have good news.
They have targeted that style of baseball.
Yeah.
For a year and a half now, very actively.
I mean, in, in trades, in, in the draft, basically in everything they do i- in the last year.
Now I the question is will it work?
And, you know, y- you don't expect that style to come with like a s- s- historically bad team at drawing walks.
so that's been a problem.
you also generally think of those contact guys as, like, having a little juice on the bases as well, which goes back to what we just talked about.
So- Mm-hmm no, they have built around that style.
It just hasn't really, it, you know, hasn't totally worked.
I mean, they lead the league in doubles, and they're second in hits, but- If they built their team around that style, why did all our bold predictions have to do with home runs, Alex?
Not very good at this.
Yeah.
They're supposed to be bold.
That's Great point.
Great point.
All right.
Next question's from Matthew: "I was recently wondering if Chapman's decline this year has any connection to losing Melvin and Williams after signing that long-term contract.
I like Chapman and feel bad for him, but his decline is a mystery to me."
And I'm gonna pepper in another one from Steve here, basically the same question.
"Is Chapman sulking over the firing of Melvin?"
No, I- He honestly Like, the crazy thing about Chapman's season to me is he, I thought he looked so much better than just about everybody else in spring training.
Mm-hmm.
Just watching his batting practice and watching him day in and day out, and I was like, "This guy's about to have a huge bounce-back year."
And, you know, he talked, he talked a lot.
I think he talked on here in March about, about, like, the injury last year and how he should've taken more time off and all that.
So he was poised.
He was poised to have a big year.
And, he just said all the right things about Tony.
I don't think that's been an issue.
Just, you know, hasn't been there for, for the first couple months.
I, I still kind of think his numbers will end up in a decent spot at the end of the year.
but yeah, hasn't been there so far.
That I still think his numbers are gonna end up at a decent spot is, like, what my mantra has been for the whole team all season long.
It's kind of like, you know, do you ever have a few months where you just let yourself kind of get out of shape?
Mm-hmm.
And you're like, "All I gotta do is lock it in for one month, and I'll be right back on target."
Quite often.
You're not actually gonna do it.
Yeah, quite often.
Uh- Yes.
No, I, I think I, I think the, I would not be surprised if a lot of guys on this team, you look up after 162 and you just go, "That was a decent year."
Yeah.
Like, "That was a pretty good year."
I mean, even, you think of somebody like Willie who, I- I think the discussion about him has been, like, 98% negative, and he has nine homers in 62 games.
It's not, like, a crazy amount, but, like, he's, he could end up in the high 20s.
Uh- Yeah like, he, he's gonna end up with some numbers that And we've seen it.
Like, you know, Jung Ho has had some real struggles earlier this year and some real discussion about the disappointment of that contract.
And all of a sudden, you look up, he had a good, good week, and here, here we go, so.
Now we're talking All-Star.
I do think a lot, like Devers' numbers are, his numbers are ticking up.
I think a lot of these guys are gonna end up close to where you would expect.
And that's gonna make it that much fr- more frustrating if- if this record ends up where, where it's headed.
So I would even go to the pitching side.
I mean, Logan's kind of whittled that ERA down.
And he would be the first to tell you he's, he's not happy with his year at all.
And it's still, I think he's at, like, 4.3, but he'll get that down into the threes and, and he'll end up pretty close to where, you know, where it looks reasonable.
I think at the end of the year he's gonna be really disappointed with his year.
Next question is from Ravi: "Does his performance as president of baseball operations do anything to Buster Posey's chances to get into the Hall of Fame as a player?"
No.
he's gonna be on the ballot this year and, no, it won't.
It, you know, it's made it a little tougher for him in the Bay Area, but- no, it, it won't.
I, I think it'll be a, a totally different conversation.
Yes.
He, that is a first ballot no matter what.
Um- Could be.
Yeah.
Jay says, "Theoretically, if Eldridge being so young is a consistent hitter at the Major League level, is the coaching or front office open to having him be a closer or relief pitcher in the future, or is that door shut and locked?"
Shut, locked, doors built in front of it.
Like, cement walls put up.
Hear me out.
Hear me out.
Giants need a position player to pitch.
Eldridge takes the mound.
Voom, just starts blowing it by guys.
"Whoa, we forgot he had this in him.
We need this."
Next thing you know, maybe he can come in the eighth.
Ah, and whole new window opens.
This reminds me of when Brandon Belt signed his extension and he was like, "Well, I know I'm not gonna pitch now."
So it's, it's, it's too valuable.
He is way too valuable for them to even mess around with, like, position player pitching.
Uh- Damn I, I, look, I, I He was a very good high school pitcher.
I get, I get why this question is asked.
Giants knew when they drafted him they're, like, he's gonna hit and they- It's, it's like Bumgarner was a pitcher who, like, dabbled in hitting.
I just, I don't need him to be an Ohtani.
That's it.
He's like the, DH who dabbles in the occasional pitching.
Just thr- he throws a two-thirds of an inning every once in a while.
He's gonna dabble in a 900 OPS pretty soon.
All right.
So they'll, they'll be all right with that.
That's enough.
He is I, I think what you're seeing from hi- You are seeing the guy who's gonna be at the heart of this lineup for a long time.
All right.
And, yeah.
I think Bryce probably would love to get out there at some point, but I'm sure Casey Schmitt would love to get out there.
He was a college pitcher, too, so.Jay, I hear you, man.
I hear you.
Yeah.
Alex is shutting our dreams down.
All right.
But I hear you.
Sorry.
This one - All right this goes back to, you know, there's a reason Pablo and Brandon Crawford had to wait until the end- Yeah, that's fair to, to get on the mound.
So.
Yeah.
All right.
Francis, last mail bag question of today's list.
Francis says, "Do you think more attention was pointed to Bailey and more pressure was put on him because Posey himself was such a stellar catcher and a good batter?
I wonder if there's gonna be any catcher who can meet Posey's expectations behind the plate as a batter and as a leader for this team."
I think probably, yeah.
I don't know if Buster would ever admit that, but like, yeah, it's the position he knows best.
And I think he has a He had a He has a, a view on the way he wants that position played.
And the thing about Bailey too is, like, Buster told him when he took over, he's like, "Your job is to lead the staff, and your job is to, you know, be a good defender and all that."
So I don't, I don't know that the hitting ever bothered them that much- Mm-hmm until they looked around and saw they had some other options.
And, you know, I don't know that We've gotten this question before about some of the pitch calling stuff right before he got traded and all of that.
Like, I, I, I don't know the Giants would ever admit this, but I think that had to play into it.
Yeah.
All of a sudden you look at this guy who he was like a 99 on one hand and a one on the other, and like some of that stuff on the defensive side was maybe not what they expected anymore.
So.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that it, it's just human nature, right?
Like, it's the position he knows best and, and I think it had to play into it.
I think, and it's We've talked about this, like, we're gonna judge that one in a different way than we would maybe other trades, 'cause he traded away a two-time Gold Glove winning catcher.
And- Yeah now Eric Hosmer is hitting grand slams and- But we've seen Suero come back to earth, and Rodriguez is back in, in Triple-A.
so it, there is gonna be, you know, this, this one's gonna have some tail to it I think.
It, it's gonna be, it's gonna be a couple years of, of us really taking a deep, deep look at this one.
'Cause- Yeah Patrick was about to go into his first year of, of arbitration.
Like, they could have had a very good defender back there for, for a while to come.
Yeah.
All right.
That's our mail bag questions for today's episode.
As always, if you have questions for myself or Alex, go ahead and send them to us wherever you can find us on social media.
I think we're on all the big ones.
so go ahead and, hunt us down, send us a DM or a, a at, and we'll add your question to our list to address on a future episode.
Giants took the bus from Milwaukee to Chicago.
Alex, what are our pitching match-ups at Wrigley Field?
Okay.
They just sent this out, so you have to filibuster for- All right.
Yeah.
So the Gi- This is obviously a short trek.
And fun fact- Short trek they passed the J- Kuiper family farm on the bus ride from Milwaukee to Chicago.
Are we gonna- He sent a nice photo of, of the plot of land.
Very fun fact.
for the Cubs it is TBA, and then Ben Brown and Jameson Taillon.
Uh- All right for the Giants it's Robbie Ray, Landon Rupp and Trevor McDonald.
Okay.
And this is, and, coming out of a weird series against a very good team.
The Cubs are another very weird team to play.
Yeah.
I'm gonna guess TBA is a lefty by the way.
Just- Okay just all this TBA, all this- That's how it works.
I, the Cubs are the weirdest team in baseball.
They have two separate 10 game winning streaks and a 10 game losing streak.
they won 15 straight home games at one point, and they walked off the ace tonight, but until that I think they'd lost like eight or nine straight at home.
Did- So.
I, did you see the, inside the park home run, Alex?
Yeah.
They have the best center fielder in baseball who somehow loses a baseball.
And then doesn't follow it up.
It happens.
It, I swear I've seen this happen to PCA like twice already this season.
Yes.
Okay.
Seems to happen to him a lot.
just a, a very weird team.
I follow their beat writers.
It seems like everything is all bad, and then you look up- Yeah and they're like 32 and 30.
So who knows.
I think this is, like, decent chance this is a sweep either way, 'cause it, they just seem like that's what they do.
Yeah, yeah.
We're either gonna get a red hot Cubs or an ice cold Cubs.
We'll know on Friday when the Giants start this.
what else?
You're not tr- you're not gonna be in the Chicago series, right?
I'm not.
I'm in studio.
I think it's day game, day game.
That's one thing this Yeah.
Day game, day A weird day game, day game, night game if you're- Oh trying to plan around your- Bizarre your, your schedule for this weekend.
Great.
That, that really makes our podcasting not ideal.
Yeah.
I, I ask if you're traveling because I think we've done the where should we eat in Chicago bit almost annually on this podcast, 'cause we go to George Contos for recs.
Yeah.
Now I just go to George's house and just bother him.
Yeah, that's Look to you.
Yeah.
Just, just, just bug him.
Bug him.
do we have any familiar faces worth shouting out on the Cubs before we wrap it up today, Alex?
There actually are a lot of guys we know.
Michael Conforto has a .900 OPS, which- Why wouldn't he?
Yeah.
Why wouldn't he?
So.
Of course.
To be fair to Michael, he also did this to the Dodgers.
So it's, he, it was at least equal opportunity.
Yeah.
Giants paid quite a bit more, but- overall I think overall.
But, and he did get revenge against the Giants, but just seems to- Yeah.
So yeah be the weird- We shouldn't be surprised.
Michael Conforto Giants fans have seen is absolutely a .900 OPS hitter.
Yeah.
So seems to have figured out.
They do have, this is diving deep, but Matt Boyd, Shelby Miller, and Tyler Austin are on their injured list.
So there's- Tyler Austin.
Yeah.
I think that's even pre Giants talk.
But maybe.
Yeah.
That, Tyler Austin I think was 2019.
I think so.
'Cause I rem- I remember making Tyler Austin Slater c- jokes when they were back to back in the lineup.
He went overseas for like half a decade and then came back and got hurt right away.
So.
Yeah.
They have some familiar, Matt Boyd, all time Giant.
very, very, very nice guy, just Giants signed him and he never pitched for them.
So they got traded.
and then Justin Dean is in the minors.
Forever Giant, Justin Dean.
All right.
All right.
Good, good batch of guys, even though only one of them will be actually playing in the series.
Yeah.
A lot of, a lot of familiar faces.
Yeah, yeah.
All right.
With that, thanks for listening to Giants Talk.
We'll be back after the Cub series to break that down, see if the Giants are hot, see if the Giants are cold.
Don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Give us a glowing review.
buy Alex's book.
Do all of the things, and we'll be back with a new episode on Monday.
