Your 2015 Giants: Beat LA!

The game has already started but I don't think that changes much that I'll say here.

Your 2015 Giants: Road Trip Gauntlet Over

Thought I would share some thoughts after this tough road trip.

Your 2015 Giants: Trade for Marlon Byrd

I can't believe that I didn't think of writing on this, but the Giants yesterday traded prospect RH RP Stephen Johnson (AA) for Marlon Byrd, former CF but been playing corners lately.  The Giants are only paying him $500K of his contract, the Reds are handling the rest.  He's happy to join the team, looking forward to contributing, as he understands that he will sit once Pence returns.  Which is the right attitude to have for someone who has only been in the playoffs once in his career, in 2013 with the Pirates.

To open up a 25-man roster spot, Chris Heston was optioned to AAA today, reportedly to rest (no plans for how he'll be used or even started) and to work on his mechanics.  Sinkerballs are notoriously a feel pitch that can be lost suddenly, but more likely this is just the time of the season that Heston starts to tire out, because last season, his production went down right around this same time:  he has three DIS starts out of his last four.  (I got into more detail about why the Giants should option Heston in the comment section of my last post)  Oh, just found out Bochy noted in his comments that he saw some fatigue, sees this as a skipped start to rest him up.

This move also gives the Giants an extra position player on the bench for this game, as most probably, the OF who would have been optioned back to AAA (Lollis probably) will be optioned to bring back Leake to start the game Saturday.

Your 2015 Giants: The August Gauntlet Hits Its Peak

I was commenting on Raising Matt Cain (great blog to go to for Giants news and a heavy dose of Matt Cain, which is always good) and I realized that I should post something regarding this important and tough road trip:  facing Cards for three then the Pirates for four.  I took some stuff about the pitchers and expanded it into the below.

Your 2015 Giants: Reviewing Schulman's Pre-Season Questions

Hank Schulman had a nice rundown review of the key questions he had regarding the Giants in the pre-season.   I wrote some comments down and thought I should post them here as well, with tweaks.

Your 2015 Giants: A Peek at PQS Data

As you may or may not remember, I've been actively keeping track of PQS data the last two seasons, and this season I expanded it to include the actual pitching line for each starter, so that I could build pivot tables and see what the numbers say.

Your 2015 Giants: Cub's Sweep Aftermath

A lot of fans (and beat reporters) are up in arms after the Cub's sweep, with talk about being "brave" when Peavy notes that the team is not panicking.

Your 2015 Giants: Some Notes on Cubs

I haven't had time to delve into series for a while, but thought I would throw down some info.  Go Giants!

Your 2015 Giants: The August Gauntlet

{Note:  I had this written up for publication before Friday's game, but then the Leake trade happened.  Apologies in advance for any numbers not updated to current figures as of publication, I'll update where I can.}

Every year, the Giants have a schedule full of games in August, leaving only two days off the whole month.  That's why I've been suggesting a modified 6-man rotation during this period, to give our SP regular rest.  This season, people are also worried because the Giants are facing teams who are all contenders:  Rangers, Braves, Cubs, Astros, Nationals, Cards, Pirates, Dodgers, during the month of August (only the Braves are too far out of a playoff spot).  That would be 27 out of 30 are contenders.  Plus 18 of 30 (I'm including the Rangers first game of the series) are on the road.

The following was a comment I posted on Raising Matt Cain, and expanded (as I am wont to do) because I tweak.  Plus, then, you know, the Leake trade happened, so this post got delayed to today instead, with some final tweaks.