The San Francisco Giants made the playoffs and won the NL wild card game last year, but that might have obscured the direction things were going. They were 30-42 after the All-Star break. Only the Twins and Phillies won fewer games in the second half. That has continued into this season, as the Giants enter Monday with a 27-51 record, the second-worst in all of baseball.
Combine those figures and the Giants are 57-93 in their last 150 regular season games. Even if we loop in the playoffs last year, it's 59-96. That's not a small sample. Sure, they've had the Madison Bumgarner injury this season, but how much of an impact was he gonna have on this group? He can only pitch once every five games.
What's going on here is pretty simple, actually. The Giants are a bad team. They aren't exactly young or teeming full of promising prospects in the upper levels of the minors and it appears there are chemistry issues now. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported as much on Monday morning -- including the laughable segment that some people believe the loss of Angel Pagan hurt the team because there was unity in everyone disliking him. Further, there seems to be some divide over Mark Melancon's routine.
I have no doubt that players and teams believe in chemistry and surely it helps to have a good mix in the clubhouse. I also think that the same group of guys will believe they have good chemistry when they are winning and poor chemistry when they are losing. The Giants now are doing a lot more of the latter.
Basically, they are paying back what they took with the three World Series titles. Flags fly forever, but sometimes the team needs to move forward instead of living off the titles. The Giants should move forward by rebuilding about Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner.
Everyone else is on the table if I'm in charge. Here's who could get something in return.
Johnny Cueto - His name has been bandied about in trade rumors for weeks, so my inclusion of him here shouldn't come as a surprise. He's having a down year, but he's still Johnny Cueto. He has four years and over $80 million left on his contract if he doesn't opt out. He'll probably opt out. The opt-out clause makes things a bit more complicated, but surely the Giants can fetch something good in return.
Jeff Samardzija - The traditional stats will make old-schoolers go running for the hills. Shark is 2-9 with a 4.74 ERA. Of course, he has 112 strikeouts and 13 walks in 98 2/3 innings. He's giving up too many home runs (16), but otherwise hasn't been helped much by the defense behind him. The Giants rank dead last in baseball in defensive efficiency and defensive runs saved. So while they aren't making too many errors, they aren't getting to balls and that's hurting their pitchers, namely Samardzija. Other teams will know this and also see the sterling K:BB ratio. Of course, the Giants might have to eat some of the $59.4 million left over the three remaining years on his contract in order to move him and get value in return.
Brandon Crawford - What version of Crawford is a team thinking they'll get? Last year, Crawford finished 12th in MVP voting. He hit .275/.342/.430 with 28 doubles, an MLB-best 11 triples, 12 homers, 84 RBI and seven steals in seven tries. He won a Gold Glove for the second straight year at a premium defensive position. Of course, this year Crawford is hitting .239/.281/.385 and his range at shortstop has dwindled. After this season, there are four years and $60.8 million left on his contract. Like Samardzija, the Giants might have to eat some money here if they are expecting a decent haul in return for the 30-year-old Crawford.
Brandon Belt - In another ballpark, Belt would have had a prolific power season in 2016. He had 41 doubles, eight triples and 17 homers (11 of which came on the road). He's going deep this year, too, with 14 homers. He's only hitting .228, but he walks enough and has the power, so his OPS+ is 109. He's a good defender at first base. Belt, like many others in this discussion, though, is far from a rental. He's owed $68.8 million in the four years after 2017. So, like a broken record: The Giants would have to eat money to get back some value.
Melancon - Another down year (hard to figure why the Giants aren't winning many games, eh?), but Melancon was one of baseball's best relievers from 2013-16. He was great for the Nationals as a rental last season, so changes of scenery shouldn't really bother him. Melancon is due $53 million over three years after this season, but can opt out of his deal after 2018. So the story remains the same on the Giants possibly needing to eat some money.
Hunter Strickland - You might have only heard of Strickland this season due to one specific incident, but he's been good at missing bats, with 28 strikeouts in 27 innings. He has a 2.33 ERA. though he has walked too many, leading to a 1.41 WHIP. Strickland is under team control through 2021 and is only making $555,000 this season. He could probably get the Giants a lower-level prospect. Just don't expect it to come from the Nationals.
Cory Gearrin and George Kontos - Veteran relievers can always bring back something modest.
Eduardo Nunez - He's on the disabled list right now, but if he's able to get back on the field at some point in July, Nunez has definitely gotta go. He's 30 and a free agent after this season. He's hitting .299 with a .323 OBP and has 17 stolen bases. He can play lots of different positions, too.
Hunter Pence and Denard Span? Pence is 34 and has become injury prone after being an ironman for the first eight years of his career. He's due $18.5 million next season. Span is due $11 million next season. He's 33 and has lost plenty of steps. He is hitting .278 with a .326 OBP, so he's not awful. Overall, it's hard to see either player fetching a ton of interest, but you never know.
The Giants can't trade Posey or Bumgarner, due to them being franchise icons. They deserve to be career Giants and the fans deserve to keep them as favorites. They would also be clubhouse leaders for the next Giants nucleus. Given the state of the farm system -- not to mention the big-league team -- the Giants desperately need to restock things. Right now is as good a time as any. Some creativity is in order with all those multi-year contracts left, but this team as currently constructed isn't going anywhere.
It's rebuild time. During the miserable moments, at least Giants fans have the three championship memories.
