Look, I know that the first five games of Spring Training mean nothing. I am aware of what Spring Training is. Everyone’s getting in shape. No one is playing that much. There will most likely be zero Giants pitchers from yesterday’s game on the Opening Day roster, and the only reason I have to hedge on that is the off chance that Sean Hjelle sneaks on the roster due to either Keaton Winn or Tristan Beck being secretly made out of jelly. There is no predictive value to anything that has happened over the last week.
But it would still be nice for the Giants to win a fucking game.
So far, in Spring Training, the Giants are 0-3-2. They lost their first game 8-4, then tied 0-0 (If you don’t remember, ties are allowed in Spring Training because the results don’t technically matter), lost 11-9, tied 10-10, and yesterday lost 7-4.
Those are uninspiring scores. Yes, I know the last paragraph had a parenthetical about how results don’t technically matter, but I think it’s fair to want to see more good things than bad ones when you watch or listen to (mostly listen to, because like last year, the Giants are barely televising any of their Spring Training games, presumably because they hate money) your team play.
More good things than bad. Broadly speaking, that’s what a score measures. Of course it’s possible for one team to get 12 baserunners and only score 1 of them, while the other team only has 3 baserunners all night, who all score on a 3-run homer, but that’s the exception. On the whole, a team that scores 7 runs will have done more good things than one that scores 4 runs, and that will be enjoyable to watch if you like Team 7 Runs. You will get more excited about that team than Team 4 Runs.
And what is Spring Training about if not creating fan excitement? Well, okay, yes, preparing for the season, great answer, top notch, you get a gold star. But for what I want, and people reading this newsletter presumably want, it’s excitement. It’s giving us something to look forward to. It’s reminding us that not everything has to look like the shitty 2023 Giants.
I’m not asking too much, am I? This is a team that fell apart after the All-Star Break last year, and then fell apart even more in September. It’s been a while since we saw them be good, and I would like to see that again. Please give me the false confidence of an idiot, Giants. I’m pretty sure I want this to be a Dunning-Kruger Effect situation. I haven’t looked up exactly what that means, but I don’t need to because I think I’m right.
I am well aware that spring results mean nothing, and yet the longer the Giants are bad this spring, the less I’ll really believe it. I will start finding all the ways that their failures now will carry over into the regular season.
Let’s take yesterday as an example. The Giants played their starters for most of the game and scored 4 runs. Sure, many of those starters won’t actually be starting on March 28, but all but 2 have the abillity to be on the roster, at least. Not technically a terrible group, and against (mostly) the B-team of a B-team (sorry, A’s), they couldn’t do more than that.
Plus, of those 4 runs, 3 of them came off of 2023 Giant Scott Alexander. Does this prove that the Giants front office has no idea how to evaluate pitchers? Well, it doesn’t not prove that! The Giants also gave up 7 runs, the first 5 of which came off of two stealth candidates for the back of the rotation (if the aforementioned Winn/Beck jelly catastrophe rears its ugly head), bringing their rotation depth even further into question. And again, this was against the A’s, who are likely to once more be the least talented team in the league. Why can’t they win, huh? Why can’t they just-
Sorry, I got carried away there. I know that none of that is actually relevant to the upcoming season, but it sure feels like it matters. I wasn’t even able to watch or listen to the game, but it’s had a depressing effect nevertheless. Why should I even want to watch them? It’ll just be the same slog this year as it was last year, and that’s not good enough.
What I need is some kind of sign that this year will be better, that the team won’t fall into the same rut it was in in 2023. Spring Training can be that sign, but it needs to meet me in the middle by allowing a clear reason for optimism. Let’s see dominant Logan Webb and Michael Conforto hitting dingers. We’re still a month away from the regular season starting, and it would be nice to feel the hype as something more than an abstraction. I understand that nothing happening right now actually makes any difference. But what today’s newsletter presupposes is…maybe it does.
Prayers for Beck!!
Gold star for "The Dunning-Kruger Effect," Maestro!