Uncharted territory for Posey & Giants
BUSTER Posey, pretty much same as always, is at the All-Star Game. What is different is he is without a San Francisco teammate — the first time the Giants have had just one All-Star since Barry
Bonds in 2007 — and as part of a non-contender.
San Francisco had the majors’ second worst record (34-56) at the break and will be sellers later this month. But team officials say this will not trigger a rebuild, but rather a hopeful refortification.
But are the Giants deluding themselves? They lack power at a time of record homers (their 75 are 12 fewer than any other team) and it is possible the Giants are trying to hold onto a core that helped bring three titles from 2010-14 beyond its expiration date.
“I think we still can win with this core,” Posey said. “I really believe that. I look around and it is not like we have guys in their mid-30s. We are not old yet.”
The cornerstones are Posey, 30; Madison Bumgarner, 27; Brandon Belt, 29; and Brandon Crawford, 30. But is that good enough and, simply, enough when the Giants are not known to have a deep farm system and No. 2 starter Johnny Cueto could opt out of his contract after this season?
The Astros have been a freight train you could see coming. The talent accumulation was impressive and steady. There was a wild card in 2015, a slip last year, but now the AL’s best record at 60-29, a runaway leader in the AL West.
The three main building blocks: second baseman Jose Altuve, shortstop Carlos Correa and center fielder George Springer are All-Stars and strong MVP candidates. Each has an OPS 65 percent or better than league average (factoring in the ballpark). No team has ever had three qualified batters reach those levels.
With Dallas Keuchel, Lance
McCullers Jr. and Chris Devenski also on the squad, Houston has six All-Stars for the first time in its history.
“For us to be so young and to come up together, this is special for us,” Springer said. “We hope it is a step in the right direction and that there is a chance to keep doing this for a long time.”
McCullers said within the club- house “we are not shying away from anything. The aspiration is to win the division, win an AL championship and win a ring together. We know people outside are going to talk about this whether we do or not, so we might as well embrace it.”
Clayton Kershaw is having another Hall of Fame-caliber season, yet already has yielded 18 homers — three more than in any other full season. I wondered if this is just a fact of life now, that with the ball flying, even great pitchers cannot avoid allowing them in bunches.
The Dodgers ace said he thought there were still pitchers excelling who can limit the damage if they execute well, explaining, “I have given up 18 homers and I would venture to say they were not great pitches.”