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Mariners 0 Blue Jays 7

I was worried about Max Scherzer getting the start today, but he was terrific. Seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk with ten strikeouts. He passes Gaylord Perry for ninth all-time in strikeouts. He now has 3535 strikeouts. He needs 20 more to pass Justin Verlander for the eighth spot. And he has five or so starts to go this year.

Spencer Miles and Braydon Fisher each pitched a scoreless inning.

And the offense did their job today. We scored:

• Two in the first: Brett Bateman (what a great trade that was) walked and Alejandro Kirk hit his eighth homer of the season. We are so lucky to have Kirk on the team.
• One in the fifth: Myles Straw singled to start the inning, Bateman bunted (why?) and Vlad doubled, just under the glove of the Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford, driving him Straw home.
• One in the sixth: Kazuma Okamoto homered. Number #28 on the season.
• Three in the eighth: George Springer started it off with a double. Nathan Lukes was hit by pitch. Okamoto walked. Andrés Giménez singled in two. After Ernie Clement hit into a double play, Straw walked and Bateman (him again?) doubled in our seventh run.

We had ten hits and four walks on the day. Kirk and Springer had two walks each. Bateman had a hit and two walks. The only starter not to reach base was Charles McAdoo.

Jays of the Day: Scherzer (0.34 WPA) and Kirk (0.15). I’m giving Bateman an honourable mention.

No one gets the Other Award. The low mark was a -0.03 from Nathan Lukes and Charles McAdoo.

Tomorrow is an off-day. And then a huge series against the Guardians. Three games in Cleveland which has the possibility of telling us whether we have meaningful baseball for the rest of the season or not.

Mark Vientos' power surge continues. 

Facing the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs on Sunday, Vientos homered not once, not twice, but three times.

Vientos' three blasts on Sunday give him five for the week.

Syracuse defeated the Iron Pigs 8-0, with six Mets pitchers combining to throw a no-hitter.

The corner infielder has been on the IL since July 10 due to a fractured hand, and when he does eventually get activated by the Mets, his path to playing time may not be straight forward. 

"I don't know," interim manager Andy Green said about Vientos' role earlier this week. "I was very forthright with him when he started the rehab assignment that a lot of that will be dictated by how others perform and also by how he performs. Still think there’s a very bright future for him out there if he wants to grab a hold of it. That’s on him."

It's been a down season for Vientos, who is hitting just .211 with 11 home runs and 35 RBI in 73 big league games. 

As Sunday's power display proves, the talent is there for Vientos, but he hasn't been able to put it all together since his 27-homer campaign in 2024.

Here are all three of his home runs:

Mark Vientos hits another home run on his rehab assignment with Triple-A Syracuse pic.twitter.com/Lo8hQ3TV08

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) August 30, 2026

MARK VIENTOS AGAIN! 💣💣💣 pic.twitter.com/Bx1PwEPm8v

— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) August 30, 2026

Mark Vientos has three home runs today for Triple-A Syracuse pic.twitter.com/b3WfNLXbqa

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) August 30, 2026

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Arizona Diamondbacks fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Yeah, it’s a story which is not going to go away. Since last time, we’ve had a major Athletic story on the topic, and to be honest, the information in it did make me more sympathetic to Ketel Marte. Some of the quotes ascribed to him do appear to me – though I am not a trained professional – to indicate significant mental health issues. It always strikes me as weird that, if an athlete has a physical issue, treatment for it is taken as a given. But if the affected part of the player happens to be the brain, then showing empathy for them and wanting them to get help, is labeled by certain parties as “soft”.

Anyway, here’s how you voted.

Brought to you by FanDuel

Here’s a sampling of comments on the topic, in no particular order. A “well done” to the community, incidentally, for perspectives which were generally thoughtful and considered. This was definitely not the case on certain other sites I could mention…

• Veeloh: “This is a fluid situation and I am so far removed from knowing the real details that I will spare you all the hubris of thinking I can weigh in with any meaningful opinion. In other words, I have no idea and will leave it to those actually in the room at the correct time to determine the best course of action.”
• gzimmerm – “If you can get out from under his contract, I vote for taking anything you can get. The cancer needs to be cut out.”
• BTbaseball – “I voted to keep his value. Torey has done as good a job as anyone maybe could to manage Ketel and I think they find a way to keep going. The bigger question, I think, is whether Ketel even wants to be a baseball player anymore.”
• JustRonM – “Once you can excuse. Twice you still excuse with caution. Three or more times, you have a pattern and that’s where we are. I just don’t know if the headache is worth it for an extremely talented but aging, me-first player.”
• Chicharron – “I do know he’s a great ball player. I also know that when he behaves like an entitled prima donna (e.g. Barry Bonds), it’s potentially toxic to the team. Given Ketel’s erratic history and his lack of a viable explanation, it’s pretty easy to make a case for trading him – if the deal makes sense. I wouldn’t trade Ketel at a huge loss to make a point though.”
• AzDesertLovr – “Torey may have received direction from the front office to do whatever necessary with this asset to get production, and perhaps that coddling had results in the past. That has to stop ASAP, or there is little chance that Torey will be effective with the rest of the roster”

With the return of Marte imminent, it does appear the team will be bringing him back on board for the remainder of the season. With replacement Ildemaro Vargas now batting .154/.167/.212 for a .378 OPS over thirteen games in Marte’s absence, that makes absolute sense to me. Hopefully, everyone can put it behind them and concentrate on winning a wild-card spot over the remaining month. But as for what might happen over the winter, we can only wait and see.

You can make a whole list of the most humiliating 9th inning meltdowns of the Nats season. The bar is very high, so this one may not be number one, but it is easily in the top 5. It may not have been the worst, but it was the sloppiest and most self destructive.

The Nats are in the middle of a 16 day run of playing every day, so the bullpen is on fumes. However, Blake Butera’s decision to use the two worst arms in the bullpen to close out the game is still head scratching. When a fan sent out a picture of Kranick and Cosgrove warming in the bullpen, you had a feeling something awful was coming.

After the Nats squeezed across an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th, they only needed three more outs to secure a series win and get a 4th straight win. However, we ran into problems instantly, as Esteury Ruiz dropped down a beautiful bunt. It was a nice play, but you have to shake it off.

Instead of shaking it off, it seems to throw off Max Kranick, who lost the strike zone. As soon as he walked Griffin Conine, Nats fans started getting deja vu. He got an out, but he allowed a double steal by not keeping track of the runners.

If you thought that would be the last mental mistake by the Nats, boy would you be mistaken. Kranick exited the game after another walk and the bases were loaded. Blake Butera turned to Tom Cosgrove, who had given up runs in 5 of his last six outings. The soft tossing lefty came in and plunked the first guy he faced.

Butera’s logic for putting in Cosgrove was likely that he was saving Will Dion for tomorrow. That is not a line of thinking I agree with. Go and win the game instead of sitting back and waiting for tomorrow. The Nats waited for tomorrow while the Marlins won today.

Cosgrove’s meltdown was only beginning though. His failure to back up third base allowed the go-ahead run to score on a two-run sac fly. Jorbit Vivas also needed to keep the ball in front of him instead of trying to deke the runner. However, as a pitcher your job is to be the last line of defense. Cosgrove did not do that and it cost the Nats a run.

The lefty cost his team yet another run when he fell for a very obvious double steal attempt. He stepped off and turned his back to the plate. That allowed the Marlins runner to steal home just putting even more salt on the wound. The cherry on top, or in this case, the nail in the coffin was a homer by Otto Lopez.

That is the type of outing that costs players their jobs. I do not expect Cosgrove to be on this team tomorrow, and if he would, I would have questions. The production has not been there lately and his mental mistakes cost the team multiple runs.

You also have to question Blake Butera for putting him in that spot though. I get he does not have much to work with, but he has made a number of head scratching bullpen moves this season. It seems like he always has a lefty he trusts far too much. Mitchell Parker, Matt Krook and Cosgrove all fall in that category.

In what could have been a really fun afternoon win, the Nats bullpen and lack of fundamentals struck again. The team just melted down both physically and mentally in the 9th inning. Some of the mistakes they were making were stuff you would not see in high school ball. 

The fans were not happy. I have not heard the Nationals Park crowd boo the home team like that in a very long time. It was pent up energy that was just launched onto the field by a fanbase that has seen this movie too many times.

Heading into the offseason, building a competent bullpen needs to be a top priority. If the bullpen does not take massive strides next year, this regime will begin to lose the trust of the fanbase. Having 35 blown saves before September is just comical. The manager, POBO and owner all have to do some soul searching after building and managing this kind of bullpen.

There have been a lot of positives this year, but the bullpen hangs over this organization like a massive dark cloud. Outside of yesterday, the late innings have been doom and despair all year for the Nats. If this franchise wants to actually compete again, that has to change and change fast. For now, Nats fans are just getting punched in the gut over and over in the late innings.

A few weeks ago, I put out a call for San Francisco Giants mailbag questions. Then both life and the Giants got hectic and, well … it’s been a few weeks, hasn’t it?

But the Giants have the ultra-rare Sunday off-day today, offering us one of the scariest things in all of sports: a Sunday that features neither baseball nor football. How do people live like this?

Anyway, seems as good a time as any to finally answer those questions. Thanks to everyone for the interesting and insightful questions that were posed!

Thompson for 3
What can/will the organization do (if anything) this offseason to help repair the effect the Pride Night fiasco had on many of us?

For starters, I recommend reading our own Sami Higgins’ recent piece, When the team you love won’t even tolerate you. How Sami — who will be stepping away from covering the team after this season because of the team’s bigotry — is feeling is fairly critical to my point.

I don’t think the Giants should try to repair the situation because I don’t think the Giants can repair the situation. They have lost fans; a lot of fans. Some will come back with time, regardless of what the team does. Some will come back with time, presuming there’s an appropriate change in behavior. And some will never come back, no matter what the team does.

That’s the reality, and those are the repercussions you face when you make such a catastrophic unforced error. And as such, I believe the primary focus should be on creating a more inclusive environment for the fans and employees that are still there, and the ones that will be there in the future. You can’t put together a glass after you’ve dropped it and shattered it into a thousand pieces; all you can do is take the necessary steps to not drop another one.

Which, to be clear, doesn’t mean neglecting the lost fans. I just think that, in order for behavior to actually change, and in order for an apology to actually be honest, you need to be comfortable with that apology not being accepted. Or being accepted but not forgiven. The Giants lost a huge amount of both fans and public grace, and if they actually care about the LGBTQIA+ community, they’ll look forward to how they can be an asset and an ally to that community going forward, rather than spending all their energy apologizing for the past.

But it does start with an apology. A big one. The organization still has not actually taken any level of accountability for what happened, only done the meekest of “I’m sorry if that hurt you” pseudo-apologies.

So, apologize. And then, critically, affirm the organization’s stance, while making it abundantly clear that support of the queer community is not because of marketing opportunities. Work with local organizations. And then, when next June rolls around, have a proper Pride Night free from distractions and bigotry … or, at the very least, with the celebration of the queer community being much, much, much louder.

CurryfromDeep
Who is your pick to start in left field on opening day next year?

Well, I’m taking the field, that’s for damn sure!

There are too many plausible options to count. Honestly, everyone playing the outfield on the active roster right now is a decent enough guess. Turner Hill has been really impressing, and does everything the organization wants out of an outfielder. Drew Gilbert and Jonah Cox look poised to form a center field platoon next year, but one of them could end up getting a chunk of playing time in left. Grant McCray is a few good at-bats and a strong Spring Training away from being in the mix. Hell, even Jung Hoo Lee could slide over to left to allow one of the better defenders, like Gilbert or Cox, to play in right.

Then there’s Victor Bericoto, who, had it not been for an injury, would have had a chance to run with the job for a while and make a strong impression. But he did impress during his time in the Majors this year, and will get a long look in Spring Training (if there is a Spring Training, that is).

Bo Davidson, Scott Bandura, and Parks Harber are all tearing it up in AAA. And that’s before we get to free agency and the trade market. Hell, Heliot Ramos has struggled so much in the Bronx that maybe he gets non-tendered and re-signs with the Giants (yes, that’s a joke).

I don’t think there’s a single player who I would give a better than 10% chance of being the left fielder on March 25, should we be lucky enough to have baseball then.

But you asked me to make a pick, not to explain why making a pick is so difficult, and my pick is none of the 10 names that I just mentioned. I’m going, instead, with Casey Schmitt. It’s clear from his performance this year that Schmitt will be an everyday player for the Giants next season, unless he’s traded for pitching depth. He wasn’t a great left fielder, but he was plenty competent there, and I think the Giants would be fine sticking him out there again. In a perfect world, I think Schmitt is the easy answer, but in the actual world we still have no idea what Marcelo Mayer looks like and we don’t know if Willy Adames will be healthy by Opening Day. And if there’s a hole in the infield, Schmitt won’t be in the outfield.

Pumping Irons
Who are the Giants likely to protect in the Rule 5?

Well, since this question was first posed, the answer got a little bit easier. I was surely going to talk a fair amount about Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson, Yunior Marte, and Turner Hill; but in the weeks since this question was asked, all three were added to the 40-man roster, which presumably tells us that the organization planned to protect them.

There’s only one player that I think is an absolute lock to be protected: outfielder Bo Davidson. Even when he was struggling in AAA, Davidson was an automatic protection. Teams just don’t leave top-10 prospects who are in AAA unprotected, nor should they. And then Davidson caught fire in AAA and, well … what’s more of a lock than an absolute lock? At this point the only question regarding Davidson and the 40-man roster is whether he’ll be on it before this season ends or not.

They have too many outfielders, but I still strongly suspect they’ll protect Scott Bandura. His hot streak in AAA has lasted two months now, and when you hit as well as he has (.880 OPS, 131 wRC+) while playing all over the outfield and being a lefty, well … that decision makes itself. Bandura may not be a blue chip prospect, but he does things the Giants either value (he has just a 14.6% strikeout rate) or claim to value (he’s stolen 32 bases between AA and AAA this year). As the team has shown this year, you can never have enough outfield options, even though it’s hard to carry them all through the offseason. Bandura is the perfect fifth/sixth outfielder to provide depth in AAA, come up to the Majors when there’s an injury, and hopefully turn an opportunity into a job.

Left-handed pitcher Joe Whitman is one of the more interesting decisions. He hasn’t been particularly good in AAA, but he’s a lefty with draft pedigree who has shown a lot of signs, and was arguably the best pitcher in the AA Eastern League before his promotion. All of that points to an automatic protection, but the fact that the Giants turned to both Wilkinson and Marte without rostering Whitman might suggest that the team isn’t yet sure about it.

Perhaps the most fascinating decision is left-hander Henry Lalane. On the one hand, Lalane, a 6’7 southpaw who came over in the Heliot Ramos trade, is only seven starts into his High-A tenure, and those aren’t usually players you need to protect. On the other hand, he’s one of the top pitching prospects in the organization, was thoroughly dominant in Low-A, and it’s not inconceivable to think he could jump straight into an MLB bullpen. And the Giants are surely scarred by last year’s Spencer Miles incident.

Those are really the big four, now that Wilkinson, Marte, and Hill have been promoted. I’ll say they protect Davidson, Bandura, and Lalane.

Other names of note: AAA lefty Cesar Perdomo, who I think is kind of in the same class as Whitman and Wilkinson, but with less name recognition; AAA second baseman Diego Velasquez, who could play a role in the Majors next year, but isn’t enough of an impact player to be selected; righty Josh Bostick, who probably would have needed protection had he not lost the entire year to injury after playing last year in High-A, and who could work his way into the fold if he’s healthy enough to pitch in the AFL; and High-A relievers Gerelmi Maldonado, Marty Gair, and Liam Simon, who all have the Miles-esque electricity, but I think are raw enough that the Giants don’t need to worry about them.

Lyle
If you had to put money on it, do you think Flora makes his MLB debut before July 2028, or after? I’m leaning before.

What a great question, Lyle. Let’s look at a little historical precedent, yeah? July, 2028, would be two years after Jackson Flora was selected fourth overall. So let’s see when other collegiate pitchers taken in the top 10 of the draft debuted…

2024 had two NCAA pitchers in the top 10: Chase Burns (No. 2) and Hagen Smith (No. 5). Burns debuted just 11 months after being drafted, while Smith debuted earlier this month, just missing the two-year mark.

In 2023, there were three such players: Paul Skenes (No. 1), Rhett Lowder (No. 7), and Chase Dollander (No. 9). Skenes nearly made the Opening Day roster, and debuted 10 months after being drafted. Lowder also debuted in his first full season, 13 months after draft day. And Dollander debuted in April of the next year, 21 months after being selected.

So, removing context, recent history suggests that Flora is more likely to debut before, than after July 2028. And the context only furthers that belief, as the Giants have proven this year to have a fairly heavy hand with MLB debuts. I’m joining you and predicting before.

tgtbtrue15
Do you feel like Bader has played his last game with the Giants? If yes, who is the best internal option to replace him?

Yes, I think it is highly, highly, highly likely that Harrison Bader has suited up in a Giants jersey for the final time. We know that Buster Posey doesn’t mess around with players who are unprofessional (or at least this particular brand of unprofessional), so the combination of Bader making the mistake he made and, reportedly, not cooperating with the organization about what exactly happened, all but guarantees that his time is done. Add in the extremely poor performance and, well, yeah. That ship has sailed.

I think it will be a Drew Gilbert/Jonah Cox platoon next year. That’s the best internal option until someone proves otherwise, especially now that the Giants have moved Bo Davidson off of center field. And I think an internal option is the right choice, too … whatever money they do have should go to pitchers.

DJ Tofu
Among the guys currently with the Giants, who will be in the starting rotation when the 2027 season begins?

Well, this proved to be a cursed question, as Carson Whisenhunt and Adrian Houser were both injured since the query was first posed.

Logan Webb and Landen Roupp are locks for the rotation, assuming neither is traded. Roupp has certainly been uninspiring for a few months now, but he’s a pre-arbitration pitcher with a 3.73 FIP on a team with limited options and an even less limited interest in spending money on pitchers.

Honestly, I kind of think Houser ends up back in the rotation to start the year if he’s able to avoid Tommy John surgery. We should have an update soon. So, I think the rotation is Webb, Roupp, Houser, one outside signing/trade acquisition, and then a competition between Blade Tidwell, Matt Wilkinson, Yunior Marte, Cesar Perdomo, and Joe Whitman. And I’ll give Tidwell the nod there.

Mikey_Starbeams
Which top prospects are closest to making it to the big league roster next year?

Who’s gonna need to be protected from the Rule V draft?

We already covered the second question, but the first one is interesting. And also very difficult to answer with this front office … Mays knows I never would have listed Jonah Cox or Yunior Marte as among the 50 most likely Giants prospects to debut this year, and that’s without getting to Drew Cavanaugh or Seth Lonsway.

Barring injury, we’ll almost certainly see Bo Davidson and Parks Harber in the Majors next year. That pair is probably closest to making next year’s roster, but I don’t think Scott Bandura is far behind them. And given what we know of how the Giants use pitching prospects, Joe Whitman and Cesar Perdomo aren’t far behind, either.

Diego Velasquez probably gets to the Majors next year, maybe even on the earlier side. The Giants have some serious winter cleaning to do with the 40-man roster to accommodate acquisitions and Rule 5 protections, and that spells bad news for a few, if not all, of Christian Koss, Osleivis Basabe, Shay Whitcomb, and Nate Furman. Thinning the backup infield corps is necessary, and opens the door for Velasquez. We’ve also seen how many catchers teams need — who had the Giants reuniting with Andrew Knizner or (however briefly) promoting Zach Morgan on their bingo card? — and Adrián Sugastey is fitting in well in AAA while playing excellent defense.

As for the non-AAA players … I think Gavin Kilen has a very strong chance of debuting next season. He’s impressed in AA, he’s polished and has a high floor, and we know Tony Vitello loves him. And with the growing injury histories for Willy Adames, Marcelo Mayer, and Casey Schmitt, there will likely be a place for him. Jacob Bresnahan just got promoted to AA, too, so he could end the year in San Francisco.

Candlestix
Will the Giants sign more than one viable starter and one potential closer in the off season?

They definitely might sign more than one viable starter. I’d say you or I have as good a chance as being the closer next year as a big free agent signing, though.

The Giants just aren’t going to spend big money on the bullpen. And, in their defense, they shouldn’t. Their issue this year was not that they didn’t sign Edwin Díaz or Devin Williams, but that they brought in a shockingly small and uninteresting crop of Minor League free agents and waiver claims.

Another thing that would help the bullpen? The other thing you mentioned: multiple viable starters! The more starters get displaced to the bullpen, the better the bullpen is. That said, if Adrian Houser avoids Tommy John, I kind of think San Francisco only adds one starter this offseason.

Candlestix
Should the Giants re-sign and bring back Robbie Ray to bolster starting staff?

It’s certainly not the worst idea, but probably not the best idea, either. Ray feels like a bubble waiting to burst: he has an awesome ERA this year, but his FIP, expected ERA, and expected FIP are all fairly awful, and he’s rocking his worst strikeout rate since his rookie season. He’s about to turn 35 and has Tommy John in his not-too-distant past.

He’d be a decent pickup for the back of the rotation, but I would be quite against the Giants signing him for a large amount of money, or to have him be the No. 2 or 3 starter.

dangerismycat
In light of the Pride Night debacle, piss-poor performance this season (and hella mid-ness for almost a decade), baffling “management”, etc — when do you think we can get psyched on the MLB team again?

I think 2028 will be a very exciting year. Buster Posey will be entering Year 4 and Tony Vitello Year 3, which likely means that either A) they will have shown enough to give us optimism about them going forwards (exciting!), or B) they will have failed and been fired and replaced by people presumably better fit for the job (exciting!).

Most importantly, that’s when the exciting crop of young players should start to show up. 2028 should feature heavily some combination of Bo Davidson, Parks Harber, Jhonny Level, Dakota Jordan, Gavin Kilen, and Jackson Flora. The quintet of Flora, Miguel Mendez, Jacob Bresnahan, Ramon Marquez, and Henry Lalane will have hopefully paired with some of the older prospects (Yunior Marte, Tugboat Wilkinson, Blade Tidwell, Joe Whitman, and Cesar Perdomo) to create a rotation with a few young players that you’re excited about. And Josuar González will, Mays willing, be flying through the Minor Leagues and nearing a debut as the No. 1 prospect in baseball.

Now, that’s a rosy outlook. But after this year, I’m allowed to dream a little, right? We all deserve it.

SonofaPitch
Since we actually don’t have any bonafide 60+ FV prospects in the farm system, wouldn’t that mean that it would take a lesser prospect significantly performing above expectations in order for us to develop our own stars/superstars or are we destined for more disappointment and overall mediocrity with just a few brighter lights? Who are the prospects who you see exceeding expectations and possibly becoming true superstars? How often do 50+ FV prospects actually become true stars? If not, will we once again be at the mercy of a front office needing to overpay to get those stars in other ways and choosing not to spend the big bucks? Tell me, oh baseball go, what’s the pathway to the stars?

Wow! That’s a lot to unpack, but some fair concerns. On the one hand, I want to tell you to take a deep breath and stop Joe Paniking, because there’s a lot there that you don’t need to feel so negative about. On the other hand, the overall conclusion you reached is probably a fair one: you can’t ever count on the farm system. It’s one of the funniest things about baseball: you have to build a team through an entirely unreliable system.

But there are a lot of things here to tackle. First, the claim of the team lacking a 60+ FV prospect. It really depends on where you’re looking, which is why all prospect rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. Fangraphs doesn’t give the Giants any 60FV prospects, but MLB Pipeline slaps a 60 on Josuar González, while Baseball America gives both González and Luis Hernández a 65 in their “BA Grade” (with a lower “adjusted grade”).

Second, the Giants — who undoubtedly have one of the best farm systems in baseball right now — have the bulk of their talent in the lower Minors. Players in the lower Minors inherently have lower grades, not because they have less potential, but because that potential is countered by more risk. Fangraphs, which is always a little stingier with high grades, has just nine players given a 60FV or higher. Three of those nine are in the Majors, two are in AAA, and two are in AA. The only two players that aren’t in the upper Minors or Majors are Eli Willits and Seth Hernandez, High-A stars taken first and sixth, respectively, in the 2025 draft.

This year’s No. 1 pick, Roch Choloswsky, viewed by most as better at the time of being drafted than Willits was? He’s a 55, because that’s about the highest you’ll ever see a Fangraphs rank a prospect who was just drafted.

The point I’m trying to make is that if you’re a 50-55 FV prospect in rookie ball, Low-A, or High-A, you almost always have 60-65 grade talent and 30-35 grade risk, for lack of more industry-accurate terms. It’s why you hear analysts say about González, if he keeps this up he’ll be a top-5 prospect. Not, if you gets better, but if he keeps this up. The “low” grades on González, Hernández, Jhonny Level, and Jackson Flora are not an indictment of their talent, but rather an acknowledgement of their inherent risk.

You won’t meet a single prospect analyst who thinks González doesn’t have superstar potential. You just also won’t meet a single prospect analyst who thinks superstardom — or even stardom — is a given for a player in Low-A.

I’ll end on this: ultimately, every great MLB player dramatically exceeded expectations. That’s just the reality of it. If you win an MVP award, you greatly exceeded your prospect expectations, even if you were the No. 1 prospect. So seen through that lens, yes, the Giants will need prospects to go above and beyond the projections; but that makes them just like the other 29 teams.

sachertorte
Giants have made a lot of trades in the last 13 months, and their farm system ranking shows it. But aside from that bounce, is there anything different happening in the farm system — administratively, financial investment, personnel, or otherwise – that makes you think that there is an identifiable improvement in how the organization is managing the farm system?

Great question. The simple answer is “no.” The farm system has made dramatic improvements, which is primarily due to two things: signing the best player in back-to-back international classes, which was agreed upon many years ago; and making a bunch of trades (and good ones, at that), which, it bears noting, is the direct result of failing at the Major League level.

Ultimately, I don’t see anything tangible going on developmentally to suggest they’ve taken huge strides there. That’s not a criticism, to be clear; these things are not easy to spot, and the new front office has been in place for less than two years. It will likely be a little while before we have any concrete data on how they’re developing prospects. But I’m certainly not aware of anything tangible, like a certain approach or investment, that represents an improvement over recent years.

MrInteligint
This is probably a dumb question, but it seems like Vitello is playing to win, as opposed to protecting his big money stars like Adames and getting a good look at the prospects during the next 6 or 7 weeks. There’s a question in there somewhere….

Definitely not a dumb question although, technically, not a question at all!

It’s a sticky situation, and one of the harder things for a new manager to handle. You can’t just not play your best players, especially when they’re so well compensated. And you want to develop a winning culture. But you also need to turn to the future.

I don’t envy Tony Vitello for having to balance it, but it’s also not something he’s done well. I’m particularly thinking of the game where he said the reason he took out Blade Tidwell was because they were chasing wins, but then left Drew Gilbert in to face Josh Hader with the game on the line. There have been a lot of such instances.

For better or for worse, injuries have forced Vitello to manage more with an eye towards the future. But you can’t really blame the man for trying to win games.

Pumping Irons
Will the Giants move Landon Roupp [sic]?

Highly unlikely. The Giants are catastrophically thin in the rotation. Roupp is currently their clear No. 2 starter, even if he should be a No. 4 or No. 5.

PoloFieldNeighbor
I’m curious about what the heck happened to Bader’s foot after he ran into the fire engine. Some reports said his foot was run over, which sounds horrible. Others say he flew to Indianapolis the next day to get it checked out, which makes it sound at least somewhat less serious than horrible. It’s a bit hard to square these reports. Since there are legal/pr issues involved for Bader and the Giants, it might be a long time before we learn anything more. Any idea how this is likely to play out?

I don’t think it’s hard to square those reports. Harrison Bader had a scheduled trip to Indianapolis to have his plantar fasciitis checked out by a foot and ankle specialist. The day before, he further injured the foot in the scooter accident. He still went to Indianapolis to have a specialist check out the plantar fasciitis, only now the specialist also got to check out the reportedly-fractured foot. So I don’t think those particular reports need squaring.

Unfortunately, it seems we’ll never learn the whole story, as Bader is reportedly not cooperating with the Giants in revealing details. Perhaps they come out in court, if it comes to that.

As for how it plays out? The Giants probably hope that the foot is still injured come next season, which would make it much easier for them to void the contract. And if they’re unable to do that, I suspect they try to trade him and, if failing, just waive him. I don’t think he’ll be in Scottsdale next year, let alone San Francisco.

Chris867
The Giants will host the 2028 All Star game. Let’s say Bryce Eldridge is one of our All Stars. If he hits a splash hit bomb, will it count as a official Giants splash hit? Thanks

What a great question. I’m not entirely sure, to be honest, but I believe the answer would be yes. The closest thing we have to historical precedent for this is 2002, when Barry Bonds hit a ball into the water during a postseason game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Postseason stats do not count on a player’s record, but the Giants did count it as a splash hit. Now, the All-Star Game is a bit different than the postseason, in that it’s an exhibition rather than a meaningful game, but I suspect it would count.

Thanks for the great questions, everyone!

The Cubs will wrap up a wild three-game series against the Reds Sunday night. They dropped a close game on Friday 10-8 after they just couldn’t quite pull off the comeback. Saturday they left no room for error, scoring 17 runs, including the first career three home run effort from MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong. They’ll look to win their final game at Wrigley Field against Cincy this season on NBC’s game of the week, and you know what that means: Bingo.

This game started as a way to make some truly groan-worthy national announcer crews more palatable, but I admit tonight’s crew for NBC is not that. Jason Benetti is the best in the business and he’ll be joined by Jeff Brantley and Anthony Rizzo. That only would be a great booth, and I admit I’m excited to hear what Rizzo has to say about his 2016 World Series teammate Jon Lester, who will be inducted into the Cubs Hall of Fame tonight. But tonight’s crew also includes the absolutely essential Joey Votto who will be contributing from the sideline and if you haven’t had a chance to watch Votto talk about baseball this season, you’re in for a treat:

But the (Bingo) game must go on even as the booth reaches legendary status. As always, play along at home and if you want a real challenge, make it a blackout game. I do not recommend making it a drinking game unless you are trying to black out:

The Orioles have an opportunity to sweep the Athletics today with Chris Bassitt on the mound. Baltimore managed a pair of close victories over the struggling A’s on Friday and Saturday. The team will look to build some momentum with a convincing result this afternoon.

Blaze Alexander is back atop the lineup and will play second base. Jackson Holliday will begin the game on the bench. Pete Alonso is back as the designated hitter, which brings both Coby Mayo (first base) and Christian Encarnacion-Strand (third) into the lineup. CES made several nice plays in Baltimore’s 5-3 win last night.

Leody Taveras (right), Christian Franklin (left) and Colton Cowser (center) will makeup the outfield. Carlos Narváez will catch Bassitt, and Gunnar Henderson will play short.

The Orioles will face left-handed pitcher Jeffrey Springs. Springs holds a 3-12 record and a 6.08 ERA over 118.1 innings.

These are the games the Orioles need to win if they hope to make the playoffs. Baltimore has already clinched the series, but the team needs every win it can get. Baltimore can come within one game of .500 with a victory today.

Orioles lineup

1. Blaze Alexander 2B
2. Pete Alonso DH
3. Gunnar Henderson SS
4. Coby Mayo 1B
5. Christian Encarnacion-Strand 3B
6. Leody Taveras RF
7. Christian Franklin LF
8. Carlos Narváez C
9. Colton Cowser CF

Starter: RHP Chris Bassitt

Here we go. Series finale Sunday. The A’s have already lost the series but can salvage a win today and avoid the sweep. Gotta maintain our lead over the Angels for fourth place in the AL West.

It’s left-hander Jeffrey Springs on the mound for today. It’s been a rough season for Springs in what is likely his final year with the squad. He’s looked better in his two starts since coming off the IL though and hopefully he can help push this team to a win in the series finale.

Here’s how the A’s lineup looks this afternoon:

Mostly the same lineup as yesterday’s with some minor changes. The top of the order is the same but McNeil and Gelof are at different spots in the field. Infielders Donovan Walton and Tommy White are also swapping spots in the order. Catcher Jonah Heim gets a full day off meaning Brian Serven is catching Springs. And Alika Williams is back in at shortstop after a day off.

As for Baltimore, they have old friend Chris’s Bassitt on the mound for them in this one. The former Athletic has bounced around in recent years. He’s wrapping up his first year in Baltimore, which has not gone well for him or team. The righty has a 4.77 ERA while seeing time on the IL this year. Could an offseason reunion happen between us and our former starter?

And here’s Baltimore’s lineup today for the finale:

Avoid the sweep. Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Athletics -Talk 650 KSTE, KVMX 92.1/105.5, A’s Cast