Nightengale's Notebook: After 'perfect storm of awesome' last year, Giants struggle to recapture the magic

It was the most magical place in baseball last season, a virtual Camelot, where everything the San Francisco Giants touched turned to gold.

Old players looked young. Young players turned into stars.

Journeyman pitchers became aces.

A platoon system looked like a virtuoso performance.

A manager mocked back East became a genius in spikes out West.

“Everything did go perfectly last year,’’ Giants catcher Curt Casali told USA TODAY Sports. “It was unbelievable. We didn’t win the World Series obviously, but nothing went wrong during the regular season.

“In terms of just overcoming expectations, and exceeding them, it was the perfect storm of awesome.’’

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Well, here we are at the halfway mark, and as third baseman Evan Longoria told reporters in San Diego on Friday before their latest loss: “It’s kind of been a bit of a train wreck.”

Certainly, compared to a year ago, there’s not a soul in San Francisco who would argue.

A year ago, they won 107 games, the most in the 140-year history of the franchise, finally ending the Los Angeles Dodgers’ stranglehold on the NL West.

These days, the Giants are mired in mediocrity, entering Sunday with a 42-41 record after losing 14 of their past 19 games.

That riveting NL West race last year, with the Giants winning the division by just one game, seems like forever ago.

We’re not even at the All-Star break, and there is no division race this year, at least involving the Giants.

They already are 12 games behind the runaway Dodgers, and just six games out of last place.

“I think something needs to change,’’ Giants lefty Carlos Rodon said. “You can say as much as you want, until we physically do something, and make a change, I don’t think we’re going to see any results.”

Manager Gabe Kapler isn’t going anywhere. They’re not going to overhaul the roster halfway through the system. There are no plans to spend $300 million and jump into the Aaron Judge sweepstakes, either.

The Giants want to do things their way, platooning, seeking the best matchups no matter what stage of the game, and no matter who it offends.

“We need to be as a unit, hang in there,’’ Kapler said, “even though it seems like there's pressure to make changes and do things dramatically different with a roster that's built for doing it exactly as we're doing it. ….

“The best predictor of future performance is past performance.’’

Some of the same players who were platooning a year ago when everything was going so wonderful, are now complaining about their playing time. Some of the bench players from a year ago believe they should be starting. The same players who are being lifted for pinch-hitters early in games a year ago are now voicing their displeasure.

It doesn’t make them selfish, but hey, in an industry in which arbitrators decide how much you’re paid, and the free-agent market dictates your worth, who wouldn’t want to be a full-time player?

The Giants, of course, have been masters doing their shopping in the budget aisles in free agency, pouncing on Rodon when they let ace Kevin Gausman walk away. Rodon signed a two-year, $44 million contract and he will be an All-Star with his 7-5 record and 2.87 ERA, including 112 strikeouts in 80 innings.

Joc Pederson, who was voted to the starting lineup in the All-Star Game with his 17 homers and .885 OPS, was signed for just $6 million.

The trouble, of course, is that no one they brought back is having the same season of a year ago, and invaluable All-Star catcher Buster Posey has retired and isn’t coming back.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford finished fourth in the MVP voting last year and won a Gold Glove, hitting .298 with 24 homers and 90 RBI with an .895 OPS. The Giants signed him to a two-year, $32 million extension in August to keep him from free agency. This year? He has already made 11 errors, two more than all of last season, hitting just .224 with five homers, 31 RBI and a .664 OPS.

First baseman Brandon Belt hit .274 with a team-leading 29 homers and a .975 OPS last year. The Giants offered him an $18 million qualifying offer to keep him from free agency, which he accepted. He is hitting .208 with just six homers and a .694 OPS this season.

The list goes on and on. It’s like a World Series hangover without the World Series, with pitchers still recovering from the exhausting regular season and first round of playoffs. You can argue that outside of reliever John Brebbia, who has already appeared in a league-leading 40 games with a 2.39 ERA and 1.115 WHIP, no one has improved from a year ago.

Joey Bart, the heir apparent to Posey, is hitting .155 with a .586 OPS, and his only homer since April was off Albert Pujols. And their defense has been comical, ranking last in baseball in Fangraphs’ Defensive Value and Outs Above Average.

You know things have gone sour when their team leader in WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, who has a slash line of .136/.224/.272 since June 4, but has a 1.5 WAR, which ranks only 94th in baseball.

This is a team that won the most one-run games in baseball a year ago, going 30-17 with a 51-30 record in games decided by two or fewer runs. This year, they are an NL-worst 10-17 in one-run games.

The same team that set an MLB record with 18 pinch-hit homers just collected their first one this past Wednesday.

“I think when fans, and honestly players and staff, had a year like we did last year, you're drawn to it,’’ Kapler said. “In some ways, it was one of the better rides that all of us have experienced, fans and players alike.

“Of course, you want to duplicate it, but the landscape has dramatically changed. It’s a different roster. The other teams are different too. I think what we really have to think about it is repeating and improving processes, because that’s what really we can control.’’

In other words, all of their platoons and matchup-based strategies worked almost flawlessly last season and they aren’t going to burn the blueprint now, no matter how bad they’re struggling.

“I can’t stress it enough, this is what we do,’’ Kapler says. “We do it over a long stretch of time, it has a chance to be successful. I don’t think in baseball it makes sense to waver wildly on player evaluation and roster deployment, especially with the roster that is built for that game strategy.’’

So don’t look for them to dive into the trade market, strip their farm system and look for everyday players. They still believe they'll be around in October.

“Going into the season, I think we thought we were going to win 107 games again,’’ said veteran reliever Jake McGee (who was designated for assignment Saturday), yielding a 7.17 ERA after saving 31 games with a 2.72 ERA last season. “It’s just that everything went our way last year. Everything we did worked out perfectly. It seemed like we won every one-run game last year."

“This year has been a little tougher, but at the same time, we still have a real good team. We still believe we’ll be a playoff team. The confidence is still there. We’ll be there at the end.’’

The way the Giants look at it, they may benefit as the season drags on. They are the oldest team in the National League, just like a year ago, but with a lockout, short spring and quick start, it might have had a greater impact on them than some other teams.

The Giants have a large contingent of players that live in the Phoenix area during the winter, but they were prohibited from using the Giants’ facilities, talking and training with coaches, and the quick start-up threw them out of their routine.

“I definitely think the lockout was a factor, at least for me,’’ Crawford said. “The big reason I was able to turn my swing around and have such good offensive numbers the last two years is because I was able to work with our hitting guys leading up to spring training. I didn’t have to think about my swing or mechanics because I was working with those guys all winter. But this year hitting on my own, and having no communication with our hitting guys, I didn’t have the eyes on me to see if I’m doing things right or things are slightly off.

“Trying to figure those things out against big-league pitching in three weeks of spring training, as opposed to three months in the offseason, that’s a big difference. You try to overcompensate, and then there’s a snowball effect. I’m not trying to make it as an excuse, but I definitely think it was a factor.’’

We’ll see if anything changes the next 2 ½ months, but the Giants should still remain in the thick of contention for the third wild-card spot. It’s a best-of-three series this season, too, providing a little comfort level securing a wild-card spot instead of a sudden death game. Besides, they won the 2014 World Series, their third in five years, as the NL wild-card team.

“We went through little funks all of those years too,’’ Crawford said. “Nothing went perfectly in any of those years. That’s why it’s a little bit unfair to compare any season to last year just because of how many things went right. You can’t expect that to happen year in and year out.’’

It’s up to the Giants to determine whether they can repeat their magic of last decade, turning a mundane regular season of winning 88 to 94 games into magical postseason runs.

But, of course, they have to get there first.

“Even if we’re not a 107-win team, this is a team that can get into the playoffs, and play deep into October’’ Longoria said. "Obviously, it’s not going well for us right now. There are times it feels like we’re the worst team in baseball. But the pieces are still there.

“We believe there is a way out of this. We just have to figure out the way.’’

Time to forgive and forget

Maybe, just maybe, baseball fans are starting to forgive Astros second baseman Jose Altuve for being on the infamous 2017 World Series championship team.

Altuve has been viciously booed and taunted on the road, cheered only when he strikes out or is hit by a pitch.

Now, for the first time, maybe fans realize that Altuve is just great, no matter how many signs were stolen or trash cans banged during the 2017 season.

Yet, the fans spoke loud and clear when they voted him as the American League starting All-Star second baseman. They may loudly boo him at Dodger Stadium, but they recognize his talent, knowing he belongs as much as anyone as an eight-time All-Star. He leads all AL second basemen in home runs (17), on-base percentage (.369), slugging percentage (.537) and OPS (.907).

“I’m very happy for him,’’ Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who was with Altuve as manager of the Astros, told USA TODAY Sports. “He’s one of the most enjoyable players to be around, the clubhouse, on the road, during games. To see him bounce back and be one of the better players in the game is awesome.’’

Who knows, maybe one day, all will be forgiven too when he retires and is on the Hall of Fame ballot.

“I would never count him out for anything,’’ Hinch says. “He posts every day, he’ll play every day, he contributes every day, he’s one of the best players of our generation, and he does it year after year.

“It’s been a grind for him the last couple of years, but to a man that plays with him, or manages him, or gets to be around him, it’s so special. Jose is as authentic as they come.’’

The Hall of Fame guinea pig for the Astros’ cheating scandal will be outfielder Carlos Beltran, who goes on the ballot this winter. He’s a nine-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner, two-time Silver Slugger, who hit .279 with 435 homers, 1,587 RBI, 312 stolen bases and an .837 OPS.

“I got to play with Carlos and I always said he’s one of the most gifted and one of the best players I’ve ever seen on the field,’’ Hinch says. “I haven’t studied it enough to know where he stands among the greats. But he was really good for a really long time, and deserves all of the attention for being the great player he was. A switch-hitter, a star in the the regular season, the postseason, an elite baseball mind, it all speaks to a Hall of Fame resume.

“I have no idea how the writers are going to handle that, obviously understanding all that comes with 2017, but that doesn’t take away the player he was for multiple decades.’’

Around the basepaths

– The Milwaukee Brewers, who entered the weekend with a 3 ½-game lead in the NL Central over the St. Louis Cardinals, have informed teams they are willing to listen to offers for All-Star closer Josh Hader.

Really.

It doesn’t mean they’ll trade Hader, and certainly still love having the greatest closer in the game, but they believe they can trade Hader, acquire plenty of young talent in return, and still win the NL Central. The Brewers have listened to offers before on Hader, and never acted. They certainly could trade him this winter, one year ahead of free agency. Still, it would be stunning to see him moved now.

It will be fascinating to see the offers the Brewers receive, but the most logical fit would be the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are looking for back-end bullpen help given closer Craig Kimbrel’s struggles, and they have a world of minor-league talent that has teams drooling.

The Brewers, according to rival executives, also are listening on Gold Glove second baseman Kolten Wong and catcher Omar Narvaez.

– In contrast to the Brewers’ willingness to listen on Hader, the Pirates are emphatically telling teams that they are not trading closer David Bednar. Bednar is a modern-day Goose Gossage with his multiple-inning saves, pitching at least two innings six times, going 3-2 with a 2.31 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 39 innings.

– The New York Yankees were in Arizona closely scouting left fielder David Peralta of the Diamondbacks. He would be a fallback option if they can’t land Andrew Benintendi of the Kansas City Royals.

– The Toronto Blue Jays are expected to be the most aggressive team pursuing starting pitching help, and like so many teams, have their eyes on Cincinnati Reds ace Luis Castillo, who is the best of the bunch on the trade market.

– The free-falling Los Angeles Angels have no choice but to listen for offers on Noah Syndergaard, but his $21 million salary will be a deterrent.

– No one has been more disappointing than the Chicago White Sox, who must take a good hard look at what went wrong if they miss the playoffs. There have been a lot of whispers of unrest, cliques and the lack of player leadership inside the clubhouse tearing apart this talented team.

– Mike Trout isn’t going anywhere unless he asks the Angels to trade him, and there are no indications that will happen any time soon.

“I signed the contract and this is where I want to be,” Trout told the Orange County Register, having signed a 10-year, $360 million extension in March 2019. “A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, he wants to be traded. Do this. Do that.’ I want to win. Everybody knows that.’’

– Executives predict that teams will be more aggressive in trade talks in the early part of this week, and then it will be quiet until after the All-Star break with teams focusing on the draft.

– You can be assured that the Twins will grab at least one, if not two late-inning relievers on the trade market. Their bullpen ranks 10th in the league with a 3.81 ERA, successful in just 18 of 35 save opportunities.

– Go ahead and look around, but the only two teams with a winning record that have consistently won all season without enduring a slide are the Yankees and Mets.

– The AL Central has become a circus with the first-place Minnesota Twins having outscored the opposition by 51 runs, while the rest of the division has been outscored by a whopping 245 runs.

– The Colorado Rockies are shopping reliever Alex Colome, but would like to keep closer Daniel Bard. They each are eligible for free agency after the season, but the Rockies plan to open contract talks with Bard in the upcoming weeks.

Rockies starter Chad Kuhl, who signed a one-year, $3 million contract, also is being made available.

– The Mets are desperately looking for a DH, and are exploring the possibility of adding Trey Mancini, Josh Bell or Nelson Cruz.

– The Giants are keeping Carlos Rodon, but he can opt out this winter if he pitches 19 more innings this season.

– Enough with the position players pitching: It’s not cute. It’s not funny. It’s stupid and an insult to baseball.

– Diamondbacks infielder Buddy Kennedy, who’s from Mike Trout’s hometown of Millville, N.J., says one of his sources of scouting tips is from playing the video game, “MLB The Show."

He plays the video game two or three hours on gamedays, seven or eight hours on off-days, and as much as 12 hours daily during the offseason.

– If only the Orioles weren’t in the AL East….

They still don’t have a winning record, but they are one of the most surprising teams in baseball, entering Saturday just 4 ½ games out of wild-card berth.

The biggest difference has been their pitching staff, yielding an MLB-worst 5.85 ERA last season to 4.03 ERA this year. The bullpen’s 3.29 ERA is fifth-best in baseball, with half of the Orioles’ losses decided by two or fewer runs.

Too bad it will probably come to an end soon with the Orioles expected to unload position players Trey Mancini, Rougned Odor, Anthony Santander, starter Jordan Lyles, and closer Jorge Lopez.

Mancini and Odor are free agents at the season’s conclusion, along with Lyles, if the Orioles don’t exercise his $11 million club option.

– It’s hard to believe the Red Sox are still in the playoff hunt with a 9-20 record in the AL East entering Saturday.. The only teams with worse records against their divisions were in last place: The Nationals, Athletics and Diamondbacks.

Good thing the Red Sox are 36-19, .655 winning percentage, outside the division, but 48 of their remaining 78 games are against the AL East.

– In a trade market nearly devoid of quality starters, Jose Quintana of the Pirates could be a nice fit for a team needing a back-end starter. He has been healthy, and effective, going 2-4 with a 3.33 ERA. He’s also cheap, earning just $2 million this year.

– Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, 9-3 with a 1.82 ERA entering Sunday, may be only 26 years old, but man, is he going old-school. He’s the only pitcher in baseball with two complete games.

The only starter with who has pitched at least eight innings in eight different games – no one else has more than three.

He has pitched at least seven innings in 11 consecutive starts, the longest stretch by a starter since Clayton Kershaw in 2014.

He leads MLB in innings pitched with 123 1/3 – 19 more than anyone else.

And he’s the favorite to become the first Marlins pitcher to win a Cy Young in franchise history.

– The White Sox are 18-25 at home this season, after going 71-40 at Guaranteed Rate Field the past two seasons.

– There are plenty of teams hoping that Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki, 20, the country’s best pitching prospect since Shohei Ohtani, won’t have to wait until he’s 25 to come to the big leagues. He throws 102 mph and is averaging 13 strikeouts per nine innings.

He could arrive earlier depending on whether MLB and the union agree on the provisions of an international draft.

– Well, it’s certainly tough to impress Red Sox rookie starter Josh Winckowski.

He threw a little shade on the Yankees this week when asked about their lineup:

“I’m not going to say the guys they had in there are bad, by any means, but it felt like another big-league lineup, to be honest.”

And just a few weeks earlier, he was asked about pitching at Wrigley Field in Chicago:

“Fenway kind of has a presence to it. I really didn’t get that here, to be honest. I said to my mom, this place is very stock standard, if you ask me. I didn’t really feel anything, to be honest. It kind of just felt like another ballpark.”

– Don’t look now, but after a dreadful start that looked like another lost season, the Mariners have won 14 of their past 17 games and are just two games out of a playoff spot.

“A few weeks ago, everybody was ready to run us out of town,’’ Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters, “but baseball is a long, long season and you’ve got to keep grinding through it. Our guys have.”

– The Cardinals privately are concerned that future Hall of Fame catcher Yadier Molina hasn’t been around since he went on the injured list with his knee woes. The Cardinals did grant him permission to go home to Puerto Rico, but it has been three weeks now. Even while he’s on the IL, he could still be invaluable to the pitching staff and other catchers.

Molina, who’s retiring after this season, is hitting just .213 with a .225 on-base percentage and a .294 slugging percentage, the lowest of his career.

– Strange but true: The Yankees were off on Memorial Day and July 4 for the first time in a full season since 1915, according to Elias.

– RIP to the great Mike Brito, the famous 87-year-old Dodgers scout who discovered Fernando Valenzuela, and was often seen behind home plate with his radar gun, cigar and white Panama hat.

Follow Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale  

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Giants out of NL West race after 'perfect storm of awesome' last year