The party’s over
Time for Giants to forget past, find new blueprint for success
In the early days of “Monday Night Football,” toward the end of every telecast TV color commentator Dandy Don Meredith would warble, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.”
Where’s the Danderoo when you need him? The Giants’ party is over. The glory days of 2010-12-14 are in the rearview mirror. It’s time to semi-officially recognize that.
The party actually petered out a couple of years ago, but you know how some guests are slow to leave. The current Giants still have a shot at the playoffs, but despite the optimism conjured by games like Sunday’s 4-3 win over the Pirates, this isn’t the Giants’ team the Giants were hoping it was going to be.
On a day like Sunday, when AT&T was rocking with a full load of fired-up fans basking in
the sunshine and Cove breezes, you can see why Giants’ brass is reluctant to strip down the team and do a complete “Bar Rescue”-style rebuild.
But this season isn’t just a speed bump. It’s more like the Rocky Mountains, and the Giants are a covered wagon. In other words, not an easy hump to hop.
But here are some random thoughts on what might be looming:
Buster ain’t got squat.
Buster Posey will be moving. To first base. Starting next spring.
This is sad. Posey loves to catch, he’s superb at it. Only behind the dish does he feel like a complete player, his talents and intellect fully utilized. But Posey ain’t a caveman. He can’t afford to take any more foul tips to the mask. And the squat is hard on the hips.
Posey’s move to first will mean the Giants are getting an upgraded Buster, a better hitter, and someone who doesn’t have to take concussion breaks.
Catcher-in-waiting Joey Bart is at least a full year away from being big-league ready, so the Giants will sign someone to split time behind the plate with Nick Hundley.
Bye-bye, Belt.
Another sad day, but Brandon Belt will get dealt. The Adolescent Giraffe (no longer a baby) is the team’s only tradeable player. The Giants aren’t going to trade Posey. Brandon Crawford? Can’t trade him because there are no shortstops looming in the system. They’re not going to trade Madison Bumgarner, because he is Madison Bumgarner, and they are the Giants.
That leaves Belt. Fan reaction to a trade will be mixed. He helped ’em win two rings, he was part of their cute-animal culture, he has been a solid performer and a good dude. But fans will forgive the Giants for this one.
Hello, New Baseball.
The Giants are late in embracing New Baseball, which is all about hitting home runs and de-emphasizing starting pitching.
The Giants’ ballpark isn’t suited to home run hitters — other than Barry Bonds, who seems to be retired. But you play half your games on the road. The Giants need a bopper. They took a swing last year at Giancarlo Stanton and whiffed. Bryce Harper? Only if Harper has the arrogance to bring his swing to a ballpark that eats 400-foot drives for lunch.
And though the Giants probably will reward Bumgarner with a massive contract extension before his deal runs out after next season, they’ll shift their priorities away from the starting rotation and toward the bullpen, which is where New Baseball games are won.
Shrink the outfield.
Won’t happen. Team Prez Larry Baer is adamantly opposed to altering the dimensions of the outfield. On Sunday, Gorkys Hernandez got AT&T’d, hitting a drive 420 feet to right-center field, simply an “F8” in the scorebook.
An inning later, Hundley tripled to Triples Alley, so it was a wash.
Do the Giants not hit homers because their park is too big, or because they have built a station-to-station team to fit their park? Whichever, barring an earthquake, the park’s not changing. So, how about it, Bryce Harper? Ready to man up?
Meanwhile, there’s still a quarter-season of baseball left. The Giants could scuffle their way into the playoffs. That was the Giants’ MO in their three championship runs — scrap and claw and surprise people. But this team doesn’t have that feel.
The era of glory is over. To go to the Don Meredith well one more time, to something he said one day when it looked like the Cowboys’ plane was flying into a dangerous storm: “It’s been a good-un.”
Colossal good fun, those three World Series triumphs. And nicely spaced out, with rest stops and reality checks in between.
But that show is over. Cue the next era, and might it be as eventful, thrilling and tortuous as the last one.