Beating Dodgers a dream for now
GLENDALE, Ariz. — It was quite an afternoon for dreamers. Home runs exploded off the Giants’ bats, the vaunted Dodgers went down, and — wake up, fans, it’s February.
Stand-ins ruled the show Saturday at the Dodgers’ spring camp, roughly 180 miles from nowhere. Far from the bustling town of Scottsdale, which the Giants are so lucky to call home, a trio of hope-I-make-the-team players — Hector Sanchez, Mac Williamson and nonroster infielder Kyle Jensen — hit drives that cleared the fences in a 9-3 victory.
Dreams seldom lead to clear-cut conclusions, and although there’s nothing wrong with some abstract thinking in the Arizona desert, those annoying realists will take note that the Dodgers slugged 221 home runs last year to the Giants’ 128, easily the fewest in either league. So as we analyze the 2018 prospects for each team, just forget about power. It’s going to be crushingly lopsided once again.
Is there any way the Giants can take down these guys? Viewing the likes of Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen, doesn’t one become quickly discouraged?
Without question, but just as Saturday’s game was full of surprises, the regular season follows suit. Great teams inexplicably fall from grace. Drudgery-tormented teams spring to life. And Hunter Pence once struck a pitch three times with a broken bat (in the 2012 World Series).
Taking it by position, the Giants might have the edge in several places: right field (Andrew McCutchen, should Yasiel Puig falter), second base ( Joe Panik) and catcher (Buster Posey). Madison Bumgarner would like to think he’ll get right back to Kershaw’s pure-
ace status. Most interesting, from this viewpoint, are the respective philosophies on the rotation.
How could a team just blithely cast aside one of the most respected pitchers in baseball? The Dodgers did that with Yu Darvish after his astonishingly dreadful performance in last year’s World Series. After notching a tidy 6-1 victory over the the Cubs in the NLCS, Darvish failed to survive the second inning of his World Series starts (Games 3 and 7) against Houston, leaving him with a 21.60 ERA and tears streaming down his face in the aftermath.
Reports suggested Darvish was tipping his pitches, but the Cubs seem thrilled over signing Darvish to a six-year deal. “His deception is off the charts,” left fielder Kyle Schwarber told reporters. “He almost throws a Frisbee up there, and he has like eight different pitches,” marveled shortstop Addison Russell. “I’m just glad he’s on our side now.”
The Dodgers won’t waste time regretting Darvish’s departure. They knew he simply had to go. But the way this team goes through starting pitchers, he will be missed.
It’s a crazy, analytics-driven notion that the Dodgers have turned into a successful template: With a few exceptions, like Kershaw, don’t let your starting pitcher face a lineup three times. At the slightest hint of injury — or even one that doesn’t exist — L.A. starters will hit the disabled list for a little break. Two years ago, the Dodgers used 16 starters over the course of the season — and for a quality starter like Rich Hill, it’s intensely annoying to work four quality innings and get yanked in the fifth.
Controversial as they may be, the decisions are quite easy for manager Dave Roberts, who operates strictly under the orders of his analytics-driven management. Now we’re hearing that the Giants fancy this policy, at least in theory. I’d suggest waiting until August to see if this is actually true.
Bumgarner, for one, won’t hear of an early hook if he’s on. Jeff Samardzija still has his good, 95 mph fastball in the late innings of a good day. If hitters aren’t “seeing” Johnny Cueto when he goes into Luis Tiant mode, they won’t be any more successful the third time around. And there’s a lot of old-school thinking between manager Bruce Bochy and chief executive Brian Sabean, who quite properly believe there are few things more valuable than a 200-inningsplus starting pitcher.
With Darvish gone, the Dodgers have no reliable depth beyond their rotation of Kershaw, Hill, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda and Hyun-Jin Ryu, all of whom have had injury issues in the past. They’ve also lost two valuable relief pitchers, Brandon Morrow and Tony Watson (to the Giants), suggesting the possibility of risk when starters give way to an endless bullpen parade.
The Giants feel they have plenty of rotation depth, all of it in the form of still-developing prospects, and they might be able to match up with the Dodgers’ bullpen with two healthy mainstays (Mark Melancon and Will Smith) and the vital addition of a proven lefthander (Watson).
The Giants also felt the pressing need for offensive change, acquiring McCutchen, Evan Longoria and Austin Jackson — granted, not necessarily as promising as Seager, Bellinger and Turner, but heavy on class and respect. The Dodgers, meanwhile, added nothing.
“People were like, ‘The Dodgers didn’t make no moves,’ ” said Jansen, defiantly. “We don’t need to make moves.”
Such is the brazen confidence of a proven winner. Yapping at their heels: the dreamers. The Giants haven’t left any wake-up calls.