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Universally projected to finish fourth in the deep National League West, the Giants find themselves a half-game out of a playoff spot through the season’s first 3 ½ months.
Fresh off the All-Star break, they open a three-game series Friday night in Toronto with designs on playing postseason baseball in Buster Posey’s first year as president of baseball operations.
Here are some key angles to follow as we head into the season’s dog days.
Three players who need to step up
Rafael Devers: The Giants will go as far as Devers takes them, we say. Lot of pressure for one man, but he’s here to resurrect an offense, the team’s weak point. Is he capable? Absolutely. Is he healthy? That’s a bigger question. He could barely run in recent weeks, and the expectation is the four-day break did his body well.
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Patrick Bailey: His wild inside-the-park home run is the Giants’ most exciting moment to date. Problem is, his history of second-half struggles suggests he won’t turn it around — last year, despite a good first half (.283 average, .784 OPS at the break), he hit .170 with a .434 after the break and experienced an especially anemic .063/.090/.078 slash line in August. Time for Bailey to reverse course in a hurry so Posey doesn’t think about landing a new catcher. Sean Murphy, anyone?
Jung Hoo Lee: Pulling lazy flies to right or rolling over grounders to the right side isn’t working. Lee needs a much better opposite-field approach, whether it’s hitting the gap in left-center or even grounding to the left side with a chance to leg out an infield single. He was wonderful in the early weeks, seemingly an All-Star in the making, but is hitting .208 since May 7.
Three players who need to carry over momentum
Willy Adames: His bat was so dreadful that he and his .193 average and .584 OPS were rested — OK, benched — for a game just before a team off day, giving him a two-day break. In 31 games since June 10, he has hit .282 with an .892 OPS and finally is showing why he received his seven-year, $182 million contract. The shortstop looks far cleaner defensively, too.
Justin Verlander: It’s not often a starting pitcher feels good about his progress after a 13-0 loss — it must be noted that Verlander gave up four of the runs (two earned) in six innings and came away encouraged after making a mechanical adjustment in his latest start against the Phillies. The 42-year-old, winless in 15 Giants starts, needs to add several notches to his career win mark of 262.
Landen Roupp: The No. 5 pitcher at the season’s outset has pitched well enough to be the No. 3 behind All-Stars Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. Since getting crushed by the Dodgers on June 14, he has a 1.37 ERA in five starts.
Three roster needs to address before the July 31 trade deadline
Hitter: This is easy. Ranking 21st in runs, 24th in OPS, 25th in homers, and 28th in average, the Giants are a subpar hitting team and are desperate for a boost. Devers hasn’t made a difference so far and is expected to move to first base, a troubled spot all season. Second base is another concern, though Casey Schmitt recently assumed the position. A versatile outfielder would help. Shoot, anyone with a decent OPS would help, no matter what the position.
Starting pitcher: Hayden Birdsong (5.10 ERA, nine starts) isn’t cutting it in the rotation, and Roupp’s workload (96 ⅓ innings) needs monitoring in his first full big-league season. Depth is light, which could force the promotion of Carson Whisenhunt from Triple-A unless someone from the outside arrives before the deadline.
Reliever: OK, in other words, one of each. A hitter, a starter, a reliever. That’s quite a demand, but if Posey follows Brian Sabean’s deadline blueprint, he’ll at least beef up the bullpen, especially after unloading Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks in the Devers trade. With Erik Miller shelved, there’s an urgency to find a lefty reliever. For now, Joey Lucchesi and Scott Alexander are the options.
Three players who could be traded
Marco Luciano: He’s raking at the right time for Sacramento, with a whopping seven homers in 11 July games. He could serve as a valuable trade chip. A change of scenery could do him well, and he’d welcome a chance to play regularly in the majors. The Giants’ former No. 1 prospect was moved from shortstop to left field and remains a project at 23, seven years after he was signed out of the Dominican Republic.
Carson Whisenhunt: Ouch. This one would hurt. Wouldn’t happen unless it brings a major haul, and Posey would need to conclude he’s in a win-now-at-all-costs mode. Even then, it’s a risk. Whisenhunt could be a future ace.
Ryan Walker: Trading from a position of strength — the Giants’ bullpen is their best asset — can be advantageous to improve other parts of the roster. Walker lost the closer’s job to Camilo Doval but still exhibits stretches of dominance: no runs allowed, no walks issued so far in July.
Three cool developing storylines
Logan Webb: The Cy Young Award race is on. Webb finished 11th, second, and sixth the past three years in voting and is on target to be a finalist in 2025. Paul Skenes and former Giants prospect Zack Wheeler are the favorites, but plenty of season remains for the gap to tighten. Webb leads the league in innings (Wheeler and Skenes are 2-3), ranks second to Wheeler in strikeouts, and is ninth in ERA (Skenes and Wheeler are 1 and 3). The Giants have had just two Cy Young winners, Mike McCormick in 1967 and Tim Lincecum in 2008 and 2009.
Bryce Eldridge: The 20-year-old slugger still has a chance to be called up to the majors before the end of the season, though he hit a detour in late June with a hamstring injury. He’s playing rehab games in the Arizona rookie league and soon will return to Sacramento, where he would need to make a strong case for a promotion.
Buster Posey: No matter what happens the rest of the way, it’ll be fascinating to watch how the former decorated catcher runs the show, including his first trade deadline. He was out front of the industry with the Devers trade and, based on his ring collection as a player, knows what it takes to get to October and do dynastic things.