While it's almost certainly too little too late, it was nice to see the San Francisco Giants play well and show signs of life. Wilmer Flores hit a thrilling walk-off to seal the Giants' sweep of the Phillies. Carlos Rodón was a big bad dude on the mound and racked up his ninth 10+ strikeout game, tying a franchise record. The offense exploded in the series opener, and Alex Cobb continued to be excellent. Cobb, who was so unlucky early in the season, has seen his results-based numbers rebound in a major way. Another win for the underlying numbers...
There were several key injury updates over the weekend. SF Giants first baseman Brandon Belt had season-ending knee surgery. Belt is a free agent at the end of the year and it remains to be seen whether he's played his final game in a Giants uniform. Lefty reliever José Álvarez had Tommy John surgery and will miss all of 2023. Álvarez was very good for the Giants last season, but this year was a struggle and it's his last year under contract. Alex Wood has a left shoulder impingement and might be done for the season. He's given up a ton of runs since first dealing with the injury in mid-August. It wasn't a very good second season in San Francisco for Wood, who has an ERA in the 5's. But the underlying metrics suggest he deserved better.
Lewis Brinson made his San Francisco Giants debut and collected a couple of hits. The Giants and manager Gabe Kapler used their bench aggressively over the weekend, something they've been able to do more with rosters expanded to 28 from 26. Last year, as a residual effect of the covid-shortened 2020 season, teams had 28-man rosters all season. It was perhaps an underrated reason why the Giants were able to be so successful with pinch hitting, platoons, and matchups.
Aaron Judge's impending free agency, and the likelihood of the slugger landing with the Giants, is also discussed.
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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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