Splash Considerations Ep. 15: The Bryce is Right? (feat. Shayna Rubin)

SAN FRANCISCO — Following a winless six-game East Coast road trip, the Giants have made the bold move to call up top prospect Bryce Eldridge, as well as catching prospect Jesus Rodriguez, from Triple-A Sacramento. Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle once again joins the show to discuss the timing of calling up Eldridge as the team (and offense) is scuffling, the lingering question of Eldridge's long-term development and how he'll fit into this team given the current roster construction. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Welcome to another episode of Splash Considerations. My name is Justice Devil Santo, San Francisco Giants Bee Reporter for the Bay Area News Group, San Jose Mercury News, East Bay Times, whatever you want to call us, as long as you read, as long as you subscribe. And speaking of subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel, follow us on Apple, follow us on Spotify, rate us five stars if you do feel so inclined. A lot of things in this life cost a lot of money, but following, subscribing, rating five stars, all those things cost free 99 and just a moment of your time. And I'm now joined by someone who was also a top prospect at one point, turned superstar reporter. That's Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicles. Shayna, how we doing?

SPEAKER_01 1:12

What does that even mean? What does that even mean? I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

I mean, hypothetically, like we were all like we were reporting prospects at some point, like theoretically. Yeah, sure. I think that make that makes sense. I thought about that. Listen, Shayna, I wasn't even supposed to I'm I'm gonna be at the ballpark, you're gonna be at the ballpark. I was not supposed to be at the ballpark today. I had a scheduled day off. Load management, whatever John Shea likes to say when I'm not at the ballpark. Taking it. But I'm gonna be there. And I woke up. We had I wasn't even gonna record a podcast episode like this week. I was just I was the tiredest boy. I don't know if you listened to the last one. I did that by myself for 30 minutes. It made me grateful for you and every guest I have, but we're here. We're here, Shayna.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

I didn't think honestly, I'm surprised that you didn't like talking to yourself in 30 minutes. Because that seems like a very that seems like something that you might enjoy doing.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Yeah, I I sent this in the group chat, but you know that meme of the dude like he he has his hands for the vision for the people watching, you'll see like the hands, and he's talking to a brick wall. That was me. And I I did take a couple breaks, but it was still the like 30 minutes. I don't I don't know how some podcasters do it, but anyway, we're not we're not here to rehash what I was talking about a couple days ago because we are here to talk about the Giants breaking the emergency glass, pushing the big red button, whatever you want to call it. Bryce Eldridge is coming up, and Jesus Rodriguez is coming with him. We knew that this was gonna happen at some point for both of these guys. Like it was always a question of when, not if, but that matter of when is on May the 7th. Amidst a pretty brutal losing streak. It's the fourth. May the fourth. See, saying I don't even know my dates. I don't even know my dates. Amidst but an I do know these numbers to be true. It's amidst a six-game losing streak. They've been the worst offense in baseball. Shannon, just your initial reactions on the Giants on May the 4th be with you to the Giants deciding to push the big red button.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

I mean, it's one of those things where uh you talk to any Giants person in the uh days and weeks leading up to the season, the first month of the season when it was kind of touch and go for them, and they're saying uh they don't want to have to press the red button. They don't want to have to have Bryce Eldridge come up and be their savior. They don't want anyone to have to come up and be their savior. And right now that's feels like what they're doing. Um, that's not to say that Bryce Eldridge and Jesus Rodriguez are um not performing well down there, not like they're undeserving of a call-up, not like they uh it's out of nowhere for them specifically, but for the Giants in the context of losing six straights on the road in the fashion that they did, where the offense and the guys that they're paying all this money to just look like, you know, they're they're floundering. It feels like it's a big red button push, and it feels like Bryce and Azu's come come save us. And who knows what kind of uh precedent, not precedent, but who knows what that actually means for what they can actually do? Like, are are these guys capable of saving them? Is that what they need to do? So that's that's my initial reaction.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Yeah, I think everybody knows the larger context of why they're being called up at this moment in time, but I I think to just really emphasize the point, Shana, you know I love my numbers, so I'm gonna rattle off a couple numbers. I'm gonna kind of rattle off a couple categories, and you just tell me whether this is good or bad. Okay. Uh the Giants have uh their position players by fangrafts war.6. That's the last in the majors. Is that good or bad?

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Bad.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

WRC plus tied for the last in the majors. Oh, I think that's bad. Fewest runs in the majors. Whoa, that sounds really bad. Fewest homers in the majors. What? That's so bad. This is such an easy game. Uh fewest steals in the majors.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Not surprised.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

I'm a pivot here. 29th in OPS. So they're not last. 29th in OPS.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Who's last?

SPEAKER_00 5:19

The Mets. Who are also going through it right now.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

There's a lot of teams going through it, man. Everyone's part of their curve.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

I was just in Philadelphia with a team that was going through it so much so that they fired uh their manager. And uh I I think the bigger red button would be I'm not even gonna entertain it. That's not happening. I'm not even gonna say it. It's not gonna happen. Um, but this is I I I bring this all up to say like these have these points have been made a million times. And I don't have Rafi Deber's and William Domas's numbers in front of me, but their OPS is start with a five. That's not good. And you kind of alluded to the timing element of all this. One of the things that the Giants had been pretty vocal about wanting to avoid was a scenario where it's this 21-year-old, and again, 24-year-old Jesus Rodriguez as well, but mainly Bryce Um having all this pressure bestowed upon his shoulders. Like, I think it was two things. Like, one, you wanted to make sure he was as ready as possible, and two, you didn't want the weight of the world to be on his shoulders. And you know, we're gonna talk to Buster, presumably today, it's or at some point, we're gonna talk to Tony, we're gonna talk to Bryce, and I think they're all gonna say, like, no, it's not the weight of the world on him, but it kinda is, and I think you know, getting into the timing element, like I think that was the initial thing that really stuck out is like, yeah, it makes like X plus Y equals Z. Offense is struggling, call up your top prospect to help the offense. Sure, that makes a lot of sense, but whether or not they want to say it directly or not, like this is a lot of pressure to put on Bryce. This is not a soft landing.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

No, yeah, it's not a soft landing, and it's also like when you're calling up a top prospect in history, it does it ever start with something like this where you're calling him up to for a sort of d to demand a spark as opposed to because like he's really forcing the issue, and we think that he's just gonna add to you know to something that we already got going on. It's it's it's less about Bryce, even though he's performing well and more about their situation. And I don't, you know, that that's that's generally speaking, not even just uh from a pressure on him perspective. That's not what you want to do with a top prospect. And they've they didn't do that last year. Last year it was his his his debut was more about roster need and he was swinging well, so I was like, sure, you know, give him a look. But now it's just it, the the circumstance is so unideal for a top prospect like that. Um, and it's not to say that he can't handle pressure like that because he seems to have the type of personality that would embrace something like that, but you know, it's it goes beyond him. It goes beyond what he's mentally capable of, it goes beyond what he's physically capable of. It goes into where this team is at. And it's the it's exciting, it's exciting. I know people get excited about the top prospect getting called up, and it's like, oh, maybe we'll, you know, have something, you know, that we won't have to watch this dreadful baseball anymore. It'll be something worth watching. Um, but it's a sign of something far more concerning about where the the state of the roster and the state of the team is. Um and it's May. So it's hard not to look at this as a partial indictment on what they've uh built so far.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Yeah, and if you're a fan, like I completely understand. Like you've been watching like really bad baseball for I don't want to say the whole season, because right before they lost, you know, these two straight series on the road, like the offense wasn't great, but they did rattle off three straight series wins. And and it was funny going back to the the podcast that I recorded with Pavs just a week ago, I think, at this point, like just a week ago, you know, I did float him the question, like, do you think we see Bryson May? And he did kind of point to it's pretty ideal circumstances. It was ideal circumstances in the sense that you know, you were getting production out of the designated hitter spot because Casey Schmidt was playing really well. And the team was, you know, it wasn't great, but they were playing well enough to where it wasn't like this pressing need, and now it has uh turned into this pressing need. And one of the questions that I'm kind of left with, and I don't know if you feel the same way, is you know, they wanted to you know this is something that they have to nail. Uh-huh. They cannot afford in this current window to mess up Bryce's development. So the question that I'm kind of left with is were the 30 games in Sacramento like enough to like was that the cherry on top? Was that like enough to make sure he's like is the is he as fully baked as possible? Like, was there nothing nothing left or was there still development left to be had? And that's a question, like frankly, like we we don't know. Like it'll we'll kind of just have to wait and see. But I don't know. Like, what do you did? You have that thought as well? Because I was kind of like, 30 games like it's not a lot, like, and the strikeout issues are still there, the whiff issues are still there. It's not like he solved them, like, yeah, he was hitting well, but he didn't just like snap his fingers and it was gone. Like, and yeah, it's gonna be a part of his game always, like that's just his profile. But I that was just something like I kind of was left wondering. It's like, was the were those 30 games like enough for him to be like this never go back down again prospect?

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yeah, I mean, again, I think that when you have a prospect like Bryce Eldridge, you want it to be a decision where you're you know it's fully cooked, you know it's fully baked. You know, it's not only just fully baked where it's like we have this guy has to be in the big leagues right now. That's that's the ideal situation. That doesn't always happen, but you see across baseball, uh that's usually when you can expect the best results. That's when you can expect them to fulfill their destiny or whatever. Um, and the strikeout numbers in AAA, I mean, he I think he has a pretty good walk rate right now, which is probably maybe just like a sign that he's you know not chasing too much. He's he's sort of uh uh closing the gap a little bit. But um and we know his game is gonna come with a fair amount of strikeouts, but it's hard to tell now if uh that's going to translate into the big leagues in the way that it needs to. Uh so that's that's PBD. Uh, I think that there it appears that there's a difference between how he was performing in spring training versus now, because in spring training, after spring training, after he got to uh cut from uh opening day or didn't make opening day roster, he was pretty clear about like, look, I wasn't myself in spring, like the my coming back from the the surgery I had on my wrist that really changed like I wasn't taking the swings that I wanted to take. My swing didn't I wasn't feeling like myself, I was taking too big of a swing. So I think that it appears that he's has the swing that he's more comfortable taking. Um, but you know, we'll see. We'll we'll see. We'll see how he actually is able to perform. There's there's uh there's a lot to uh uh I don't know, there's a lot of um um not mystery, but yeah, there's a lot of we'll see, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Yeah, I mean in fairness to to Bryce and also the Giants, I did mention a lot of negative numbers. So let's mention some some positive numbers. We're gonna play the same game. I'm gonna list a number. Just tell me whether it's good or bad. Yeah, yeah. 963 OPS in triple A. Good stuff. Hitting 405 in his last 10 games. That's what you want. So he's hot. I'm gonna get really granular here. WOBA, 93rd percentile in triple A. That's great! X WOBA, 97th percentile.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Whoa, the expected numbers are better.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Average exit velocity, 90th percentile exit velocity, max exit v low barrel rate, hard hit rate, launch angle, sweet spot, all of that stuff. Some of you are looking at me like I'm probably gonna be like thinking, like, what the hell is he talking about? Uh it's all it's all the red you want to see. It's like Playboy Cardi is a whole lot of red. And to the walk rate that you mentioned, it is it's 14.6%. It is up from about 9.0 last year, and I'm curious because uh he has been drawing more walks, he has been swinging less. But yeah, it's just it's interesting from the perspective of like he's also a streaky guy amidst a lineup of other streaky guys, and uh you know, you don't I have like a lot of metronomes on this team, so you know the power's there, like there's that's never been a question of power, but I I kind of want to transition to like the fit right here because and I think Pav's mentioned this on his show as well. It's like if you had to pick all of the guys like uh that have been starting regularly and say, like, hey, we want one of these guys to get hot, um Casey Schmidt might have been like the last guy you picked from a fit perspective because he's been starting the majority of the games at designated hitter. You have Rafi Devers at first base, which even amidst his extended struggles, is going to continue playing, and so now you kind of have to figure out the Bryce element of it. And it seems like, you know, I don't know what the lineup's gonna look like today, but given that uh Devers has been struggling, Adamus has been struggling, Matt Chapman hasn't hit had a hit in four games, I think we're gonna see a lot, it's gonna be a lot of shifting of the puzzle pieces, mixing and matching, as opposed to a very clear you're playing here every day, or this is what the lineup is gonna look like every day.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Yeah, I think Casey Schmidt being hot allows you to mix and match a little bit because he can play basically anywhere uh on the infield. So, and the guys on the infield are the ones that could use a little bit uh less weight on their feet, I guess. So I wouldn't be surprised if there is a lot of mixing and matching within the infield with using Casey Schmidt using that DH spot. Um, it all depends on what roster moves they make. We still don't know who's getting sent down, but you know, you can make your best guesses based on uh performance and who's been you know kind of hiding in the dugout all this time. Um who knows? But it Casey being the hottest hitter is is it's it's not unexpected, but I mean it it allows the it allows for some uh versatility in the way that they're going to mix and match and set the lineup on a daily basis that hasn't been um what they want and what they've been doing, which is just looks like the definition of an insanity, which is rolling out the same couple guys, which of course you are. You're paying all these guys a bunch of money. You want those guys to you you well this is a whole other conversation, I guess. But like you that you you you're setting up the lineup based on how you expected to be uh rolling out this team. And now this is not only a big call-up, but it's uh in in Eldridge and and uh Rodriguez, but it's it's um it's gonna force them to stray from the we want to roll out the same guys every day mentality that seemed to be the philosophy of this front office. So it's gonna force some some changes, I would believe, at least in the next couple, whatever weeks, months, who knows.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Yeah, as far as you know who might you know be option DFA'd, um, I personally wouldn't be shocked if Gerard is someone that's DFA'd. I think that they wanted to give him an opportunity, um, but you know, it just kind of hasn't materialized. And and one kind of thing that I wanted to mention that I didn't mention in the last podcast is there was a it was during the Thursday doubleheader where I I think he just forgot how many outs there were on a fly out. Like he caught it as if he was gearing up to throw. And it's like super granular in like the grand scheme of things. And I think I wouldn't be shocked if Will Brennan's sent down either. He's just hasn't been playing a ton. Like I sometimes forget Will Brennan's on the team just because we don't see him play that often. Um I do kind of I want to get to the Jesus Rodriguez piece of all this, but uh before that I I kind of want to circle back to the Rafi Devers part of this as well. Talk to Pavs about it. Um didn't mention on the last podcast, which may be testament to how tired I was, that you know, he talked for the first time in three weeks. He said he's not frustrated, um, he didn't appreciate how the media coverage of him has been pretty negative. You I mean, you know the comments, you've read the comments. Um still hasn't really turned it on. The OPS still starts with a five. He's been one of the worst regulars in baseball, or depending on which metric you look at, might just be the worst regular in baseball. And we know what his track record is, we know what he can do, but I wanted to pose this question to you as well, as Eldridge is coming up. Just what is your personal level of concern when it comes to a guy like this, especially when you consider some of the underlying stuff as well that just hasn't maybe looked great?

SPEAKER_01 17:47

It's hard to know because we haven't I haven't watched this is like the first time I've watched Devers on a regular, regular basis, and you have an expectation of what he's capable of, what he how is the the power he's supposed to provide. I mean, and it's it's we're at a point where it's not early anymore. So it's sort of we've officially transitioned from it's early, you know, you have guys that don't start out great to start out the season, and now all of a sudden it's like, wait a minute, it's not early anymore, it's still it's getting worse. So what does this tell us about who this player is? Um I mean it's it's hard to be overly concerned given his history. Uh yes, it's been a long time, but he, I think historically starts out pretty slow. I don't know if I can say that. I don't know if I can say it was a straight face anymore, just because it's not early. But um I it's hard to be overly concerned about what he's capable of as a player in terms of the next seven, eight years, whatever he's under contract for. Uh he is he has outlier uh uh uh hitting ability that isn't showing now, but we know exists. So it's hard to make it have any sort of definitive concerns when he has years of history where you see that and then a couple weeks and months where it's just gone completely out of the picture. So uh it's it's it's just more than anything, you gotta be disappointed because uh there's just absolutely no hint of anything that he's capable or he's supposed to be capable of doing since he's been in San Francisco, except for maybe a couple weeks last year.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Yeah, I think it's all for me personally, it's kind of gotten to a point where you know, I think the get the second game in Philly, he had like a single awoke, a sacrifice fly, and it was like, whoa, like there's this might be something just because the bats haven't been great, and you know, we talked about this a lot in the last pod. I don't want to, you know, dedicate too much time, but I just didn't want to grab your thoughts on that as well as we're kind of parsing through, you know, the offense as a whole, because it would be kind of funny if not funny, I don't know if funny's the right word, but you know, if if Bryce comes up and then Elders kind of instantly turns a corner as well. Because, you know, these are guys with you, if you've had to pick and choose two guys on this team with 30 horror power, you're picking those two, and it's no question about it. Um, getting into the Jesus Rodriguez piece of this, I I he is so fascinating to me as a player, and we've covered baseball long enough. Like, every once in a while, a manager will refer to somebody as a baseball player. And we know what that means. They mean it in the sense of like uh it's not just like there's some guys like they can hit well, they can't really do anything else well. They can't really run. Like they when they say that they mean like this is a complete guy, like there's nothing that he can't do in the realm of baseball. Uh and Jesus Rodriguez is a baseball player by literal definition and the figure definite definition.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Wow, that's some powerful stuff.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Some powerful stuff. But I am curious just like how this is all gonna kind of fold into him with him because he can catch, he's also played second base, he's also played left field, and his hitting profile is very fascinating as well. Like he he's kind of the opposite of Eldridge, he doesn't hit the ball like super hard at all, but he makes a ton of contact, he does not strike out, he draws a decent amount, he actually has drawn more walks than strikeouts. And I don't think Eric Haas is gonna be optioned, he's actually been hitting pretty well. I think it does help to have a veteran backstop. I don't think they're gonna option Patrick Bailey. I saw I've seen people on Twitter being like they might option him, but like I don't think that that's like an even that might be a bigger red button to me if they do that. But I'm kind of fascinated to see like how Jesus like folds into the current operation and for no other reason than it just gives them a lot of opportunities to do a lot of different things around the infield and outfield.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Yeah, I mean you talk about versatility and and what uh how Eldridge's presence changes the options in terms of who's how they set up the lineup. The same is with same goes for Rodriguez. Like he's he can catch, he can, he can they can put him in a couple places in the infield. It's it's um it opens having him there. From a defensive standpoint, opens up a lot of options when it comes to mixing and matching. And in terms of the hitting profile, it's not the complete opposite of Bryce Eldridge, but he uh he achieves individually something, and not saying that he's going to save the numbers, obviously, but he achieves something that has been a problem for this team, which is they're just not walking. And a lot of that has to do with how pitchers are approaching them. They're getting attacked. Uh, there's there's no pitching around, there's no hesitancy from the opposing pitchers. It's it's kind of just like a dive and kill type of type of uh approach that we're looking at. Uh so I'm not saying that having Jesus Rabriga's up there is going to solve all of their problems. All of a sudden their walk rate is gonna skyrocket, but he does sort of uh present a skill that has been severely lacking on this team, and that's not for nothing. So uh that's that's that's the dynamic that I think the front office is envisioning and uh when when they're thinking about uh giving him an opportunity, as well as the defensive versatility.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

And I do kind of wonder like how funky might some of these lineups look, like if the offense continues to struggle. Like, do we have a game where it's like we see Jesus Rodriguez at second and Casey Schmidt at short? Do we have a game where it's like we're gonna move Elliott to right field for the day, we're gonna put Rodriguez in left? Like I I I don't I don't know like if they'd go like that far, but like it does he does provide interesting options from that perspective. And again, because I just love rallying off numbers, I'm gonna give you a couple more.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

He has a 98th percentile strikeout rate in triple A. Whoa. Like when it comes to like whiff rate, end zone contact, like again, it's kind of like the Playboy Cardi. It's a whole lot of red. So it it is he is like quasi-aligned with the Luisa Rias on that regard. Obviously, nobody's a Luisa Rias, but it is in the sense that like you're gonna get another guy that like knows how to put bat on the ball and can at least just provide like a little bit more versatility in the offense as far as like what this guy can do individually. And it's funny, like when I was thinking about like how he kind of folds into this operation, like the defensive versatility, like my brain kind of went to like it's a version of Blake Sable, but a little maybe a little more defensively versatile. But you know, this is not to be a one-to-one comp, but that's just kind of where my mind went. Um, one other thing I want to get into before you know we wrap up, get out of here, that I think is worth addressing is the bullpen. And I think we've all overall generally been very positive about the bullpen. I think as of right now, they're still second in the majors in ERA, but the Giants just suffered three walk-off losses during this six-game road trip. It was three instances where they tried to hold on to a one-run lead and couldn't. Uh Ryan Walker was at the center of two of those. Sundays against the Rays, like, that was a little more like I I don't like it seems harsh to say like I put the blame solely on Ryan Walker, but like that kind of felt like more of a traditional blown save. The one against Philly in game one of the doubleheader was a little like that. Was kind of weird um with Patrick Bailey calling 20 sinkers. But the bullpen is definitely not in the same spot it was since the last time we talked. Just how do you see things with this bullpen right now coming home after a road trip that they had? And like, do you think that we might see, you know, Eric Miller get more save opportunities, other guys get save more save opportunities? It kind of feels like the conversation we had in spring train, like all over again. That's kind of what it is.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Yeah. I mean, I Ryan Walker's never been declared the closer. I think he was sort of put in that role a little bit on this road trip, and not to say that he blew it, but you know, it didn't go great. Um, so I would imagine that that, you know, looking for the right guy, uh Ferris wheel is still happening for them to to close games, looking for for the the best role to have each of their guys in. And I mean, we're seeing exactly the the concern that uh existed when the season started, which is this is there's not a whole lot of uh high-leverage experience in this bullpen. Um you're seeing the the cracks open up uh for the guys that do have high-leverage experience, and there isn't a lot of safety net under them. So I think that this the faults of the of this road trip are not to entirely to blame the the bullpen. Uh I think that overall you you're looking at a series where or two series where the offense just looked putrid, but um you're seeing the cracks that existed open up a little bit. So maybe you see Eric Miller close a little bit, he's been pretty good. Um maybe you see the the Ferris wheel start to spin a little bit more in terms of who gets what role and and what part of the game. Uh that definitely seems like another another area where uh the coaching staff and and everyone's gonna have to sort of refocus their attention and figure out who's best where.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

I've been simmering on this question for the last couple days since the Philly series, and this was before Sunday's game. And I think John Shea even mentioned this in his piece today or yesterday, whichever whichever day it was. I'm I'm mixing up my days. I don't even know what day it is. Do you think the Giants need to just outright name a closer and like just have like a definitive, like, this is our guy? Like, we're not gonna do by committee and just put everybody in their roles. Like, do you think like that could help this bullpen, or do you think it maybe not matter?

SPEAKER_01 27:40

I mean, maybe. I don't know. It depends on how much that actually helps their entire group's mental state, because that would be the reason, right? You wanna if uh maybe I'm wrong, but the uh the pro to doing something like that is that everyone has an uh it sort of settles the dust for everybody, and there's no sort of um uh uh cobweb, or the every everyone benefits from knowing where they're gonna be in the game, and and you ask any sort of reliever and they they say, yeah, there's a benefit to knowing where I'm at when I'm gonna pitch. But uh to the extent that it would help things, I think that's the extent of it is it would maybe uh settle everyone's mental a little bit. Uh maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm missing something. I don't I don't know why it would why else it would or if it would actually have a major impact on on how they're performing.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Yeah, I go back to I think I can't remember if we were talking to I can't remember who which manager we were talking to about, but Tony is like mentioned all the time, like guys like knowing what they're doing when they get to the ballpark. And I think one of the reasons that last year's bullpen was successful, and even like the core four, like they kind of just all knew like when they were gonna pitch. Like Tyler Rogers, if there's a lead late in the game, and it's close, you got you got the eighth. Randy Rodriguez before he got elevated to closer role. Same thing, like we're winning. You're pitching the seventh. Camillo you've got the ninth, which side note and all this, I've been seeing again, I'm terminally online. I've been seeing a lot of people saying I miss Camillo. I'm like, this is this is just such a the toxicity of social media discourse. I'm I saw what some of y'all were saying last year and all this, but I I think that's you know something that I think is worth posing to Tony is like, do you think that's just worth at some point just like putting a stamp and saying, like, hey, these are gonna be the definitive roles and we'll go from there. If we gotta adjust, we gotta adjust.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

But I mean that's a problem. I think that they know that they would need to adjust. So why name a closer? If you name Ryan Walker closer two weeks ago, and then you're looking at it now, it's like, okay you know, then then what? Then you know you're gonna adjust, so why why bother?

SPEAKER_00 29:48

That's true. And I think in in talking about the bullpen, I think it just illustrates that you know, kind of to go like full circle on this, to bring it back to Bryce, to bring it back to the dis decision to call him up. Even if Bryce comes up instantly and just starts raking, this isn't just like a one like one Bryce fits all type thing. Like there are some legitimate flaws on this team. Like the starting rotation like has had moments where they've been solid, but on the whole, it just hasn't been the type of excellence that you need. And even today, we're gonna get because of the decision to start Adrian Hauser in game two with a double header, we're gonna get a starter for today. Specifically, like the bullpen's kind of been whatever. The defense has actually been fine. I think defensive run saved, like, has them pretty high, but this isn't just a matter of the offense, it's a matter of the whole team. This team is uh eight games under 500, they're last place in the NL West, and so it's not just the pressure to bring Bryce up for the offense, it's kind of the pressure of the totality of it all. And I think again, to kind of pin a ball on this conversation, that's kind of where my mind gravitates. It's like this is a lot to put on a 21-year-old Bryce Elders. And it is funny, we've you've covered basketball. I was texting Joseph Dykes about this, and he was like, Well, putting the weight of a 21 on the of his franchise on 21-year-old's shoulders is like pretty common in the NBA. And I'm like, oh, different sport, completely different.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

It's I mean, my first thought as as you were saying, my first thought about this specific moment is less to do with Bryce and more to do with what it means for this entire franchise. And not to say that this is like a pivotal moment, but it is sort of a reminder of like they put all of their eggs and their money, and everyone likes to complain about, and by everyone I mean Twitter. Okay, there's a lot of conversation of oh, they're not putting enough money into they should have gotten this starter and that closer, and they should have poor, poor, poor more money, money, money into this. And it's just like they're pouring a good amount of money into a core group of players, free agents, trade acquisitions with the expectation, you know, you get Raphael Devers, there's so much begging, get a star player, get a star player, you get that star player, and they don't perform, and then all of a sudden you're looking at a broad scope of what they're doing, and there's so much money, expectation, and investment overall into a core group of players that uh aren't delivering, and you have years and hundreds of millions and uh of invested into this group that you know might not cut it. And then all of a sudden you're taking a broad step back and you're thinking, is this really the way that this team should be building uh their roster? Is this is did they do it, is this, is this did they do it right? Not do they do it right, but the this is the philosophy that Buster Posey has, which is you get you sign a bunch of players that we think are gonna be good, you put them out there every day, and then they're gonna win. Well, maybe that's just poking a hole in the philosophy that that uh is being instituted right now. So I think that it it's potentially speaking to a much bigger problem that we have in terms of uh the direction of, I hate to be dramatic, the direction of the organization, but it does feel it does feel a little bit pivotal. It does feel like a moment where we are allowed to take a step back and wonder um in modern baseball, can you really build a contender with free agents? And I think that you look at the Dodgers and they they don't they're not just doing the the their star players are from outside organizations, but it they're very um, you know, you have show, you have you have a different caliber of star player that they've acquired. And uh it's not necessarily uh the type of team-building philosophy that's always going to apply to every single team if you don't get the right mix of free agents and and trade acquisitions. And I think when you get Raphael Deverage, you think, well, that's someone that's gonna deliver. That's he's always been able to do that. But then you take a step back and look at what they're doing now and you think, did they, is this the right group of guys that you want to invest in? And they've already done it. So I have to wonder if there's a little bit of uh free agency or contract claustrophobia where or roster claustrophobia where it's like, oh my god, we're in this room, this is where we're at, we've committed, now what? And if it doesn't work and it gets worse, then it's just gonna look even worse and be uglier. So and again, this is sort of a a spiral from this point, but I think it's worth looking at it from where we're at now and saying, is this the point where the room starts to close in on them and they start to realize, oh, what have we committed to? Is this really our team for the next few years? Is this who everyone's gonna come out to watch? Is this the team that can contend in this division? And right now, not at all. Uh and it's only been a you know, it's May. Maybe things turn around, maybe some of these players deliver uh close to what they was expected. But that's my main takeaway from this moment, which is it's not about Bryce, it's about they have to suddenly rescue these players that were supposed to rescue them. So that's uh that's it feels like where where they're at.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

You were cooking. You were cooking. I feel like you just like entered a different plane for like three minutes.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Three minutes?

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Oh it wasn't three minutes on being dramatic, but oh god, yeah. I mean, it is a matter of roster construction. Like to you to the point that you mentioned, they invested the money. Now it is gonna be like this is obviously a question not just with the Giants, but with every team that signs free agents. Like, did you invest properly? And this is just like completely different scenario or a completely different example. But like I went down like a Chris Bryant rabbit hole rabb super randomly, and I remember like after he was he played his half season with the Giants, like people were clamoring to resign him for good reason. And that contract hasn't worked out well, like that's just the nature of doing business, and you know, whether or not this was worth it, like let's have this conversation in five years, we don't know right now. But to your point, like, yeah, they've spent the money, but now it does matter that the guys that they're not spending a whole ton of money in, because for those of you who don't know, Bryce is gonna be making the league minimum, same thing with Jesus Rodriguez. You gotta hit on those guys too. You gotta hit on the guys that are not making a ton of money as well to supplement and again again, it kind of gets back to the whole thing we're saying of like, is this truly the right moment in time for Bryce Eldridge to be called to the majors? Was the development that he had in his 30 games? Was that enough? And again, I I always hate to fall back on like time will tell, but like that we're not gonna know, like we're truly just not gonna know until like everything plays out. So I guess we'll see. Uh we'll see how everything goes. Kind of starting tonight. They have it's what 645? It's like some nighttime game against the today? Yeah, some some some nighttime game against the San Diego Padres. We're gonna see who the start is gonna be. It's not gonna be Carson Wisnhunt because he started yesterday. Maybe we see Trevor McDonald, but sorry from that, China. Any any final thoughts before we get out of here?

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Uh this is a cool moment in Giants lore. I I don't know. I don't have any thoughts. I that was I don't I don't actually think that you emptied the tank.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

Yeah, you emptied the tank. And I'm sure we will have a lot more thoughts once we see Bryce Eldridge hit the dirt, and I'm sure we will have a lot more thoughts based off how these next handful of games of the Bryce Eldridge era in San Francisco go. Justice Delosanto, Shana Rubin, splash considerations. See y'all later.