The San Francisco Giants are in a tailspin. They've lost seven straight coming out of the All-Star break. They're two games below .500. Their playoff odds are fading fast. With less than a week until the trade deadline, the Giants increasingly look like they'll be sellers. Who's to blame for the Giants' unacceptably poor performance in 2022?
Most of the blame should fall on those who constructed the Giants' deeply flawed roster. They've got players out of position all over the field. They're old and unathletic. Indeed, the SF Giants front office built this roster and they must take responsibility for it. There were numerous star position players out there in free agency this winter. Why didn't the Giants sign any of them? Why was their payroll flat from last year to this year? Giants ownership may be to blame for that, but Giants president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi has said that ownership is supportive of higher payrolls. We'll take Zaidi at his word, which means he takes the majority of the fall for this seemingly doomed roster.
Manager Gabe Kapler may not be perfect, but he's mostly just working with what he has. The Giants' problem isn't their platoons; it's their lack of impact everyday talent. If you have a few impact regulars, go ahead and platoon everywhere else. But they don't have any impact regulars in the lineup. On the contrary, they have platoon players who are frequently bad defenders who play out of position.
Carlos Rodón had a little blowup in the dugout in his start on Tuesday, kicking a bat into Thairo Estrada. It was a bad look for Rodón, who's time with the Giants may be coming to an end because the Giants look increasingly likely to trade him by next Tuesday's deadline.
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The best daily San Francisco Giants podcast. Whether the Giants are winning championships or retooling for another title run, Locked On Giants host Ben Kaspick—a lifelong Giants fan and former contributor for RotoGraphs and Beyond the Box Score—breaks down every game, rumor, and transaction in a way that's data-driven and rational but also simple, passionate, and accessible to all.
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