SLIM HOPE: Giants HUGE Series against the Rays | Bob Melvin Job Security and Bryce Eldridge timeline

SLIM HOPE: Giants HUGE Series against the Rays | Bob Melvin Job Security and Bryce Eldridge timeline

Are the Giants completely done? The fate of Bob Melvin and the farm system moving in the right direction. This all coming up next on Locked on Giants. You are Locked on Giants, your daily San Francisco Giants podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome to Locked On Giants, part of the Locked On podcast network where it’s your team every single day. My name is Alan Styles. On the show, we provide daily episodes Monday through Friday talking about the Giants in a way that combines passion and analytics with the eye test and a little bit of fun. I’m from the Bay Area. I also host a show in Sacramento, Sacktown Sports, 11:40, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Check that out. As well as MCing at Sacramento Rivercats games. and I’m lucky enough to cover a team that I’ve been a fan of all my life. It’s time to break down whether or not it is truly over for the Giants. The fate of Bob Melvin and the farm system moving in the right direction. This episode is brought to you by 5H hour energy transfusion. Go to 5houry.com today and use promo code locked on golf to receive 20% off your order. Only valid through September 30th. Order transfusion flavored 5-hour energy shots today. Here’s the question. It’s a very simple one. Is it truly over for the Giants? Well, first things first. The reason it isn’t is because the Mets are truly truly imploding. Okay, they lost last night. The Giants got a half game back and because of that, okay, you are still in the conversation. The way I see it is like this. You basically have to sweep the Rays. I could be talked into uh just winning the series, but I mean it is the time. They cannot lose this series because of what they have coming up. If they can keep their heads above water against the Padres’s, the Brewers, and the Cubs, and take care of business against the Lesser teams, it’s not completely cooked yet. I know people are probably saying, Allan, just let it go. I’m not letting it go yet. I’m not letting it go until uh it’s truly truly over. If they lose a series to the Rays, I think it’s truly over. And if they just get destroyed by the Brewers and the Cubs and they got the Padres’s again as well, then it is truly truly over. But it is not. As of today, it ain’t over yet. The Giants still have a chance. This is also, and by the way, it’s been a pretty tough week. So, I’m going to take an optimistic outlook today for as long as I can cuz I don’t know how much longer we have left to to do that. And technically, the Giants are still in it. All right. It’s it’s it’s slim, but they’re still in it. This is also something that’s interesting, and I’m going to hopefully convince some people and and make you feel a little bit better going into the race series. This is also pretty interesting. The Giants have the 23rd toughest remaining schedule left according to Tankathon. So if you say that in a different way, they have the eighth easiest schedule left in the league. It gets even more interesting. Here are the teams that they’re battling with and where they fall as far as strength to schedule according to tankathon.com. The Reds have the toughest remaining schedule. The Cardinals have the seventh toughest remaining schedule and the Diamondbacks have the sixth toughest remaining schedule. The only team that’s even close to the Giants is the Marlins and they’re at 22nd. So, the Giants still have an easier schedule than the Marlins, but they’re basically right there together. So, everyone that they’re battling besides the Marlins have a significantly harder schedule than them. And on top of that, they have six more games against the Cardinals and they have six more games against the Diamondbacks. So, it’s all in front of them. The you you could argue that you don’t control your own destiny, but technically all these teams do if they just win a bunch of games, right? All you got to do is get hot, similar to how hot you were at the beginning of the season. Again, it’s slim, but it’s a Friday. I I want people to feel a little bit better about the situation for as long as we can until first pitch. So, I’m I’m trying here. All right, here’s the thing. To keep it realistic, the Giants do have seven more games against the Dodgers as well. But hey, the Dodgers have been struggling, so you really never know. It’s probably over. I’m having some fun. It’s probably over, but there’s still a shot. Last season, the Mets got in with 89 wins. The Giants are at 59 right now. So that’s basically 30 and 11. That that’s what it is. A couple years ago, the Diamondbacks and the Marlins got in with 84 wins. So will it happen? It’s going to be tough, but it is not over quite yet. It all starts with the Rays. You have to take care of the Rays. And speaking of the Rays, they’re pretty much in the same boat as the Giants. They’re five and a half games back of the last wild card spot in the AL. So, they’re probably thinking the same thing. Most likely, without a doubt, they are. I I know it was I I know it’s been tough on y’all. And I want to thank you for rocking with me uh this week as we got started. It’s been a lot of fun this week getting to meet people, talking to you on social media at the Styles File Styles with an I. All the comments, by the way, I see all the comments on the YouTube. I just want to say thank you. I can’t respond to all of them because then I would feel bad about not responding to some of them, but everybody that had things to say, uh, I appreciate you. So, it’s it’s been a brutal week to kick off my tenure here and my time here. So, I wanted to start the show off with some positive notes and possibly leave the door cracked open for the Giants to slide on in. So, it’s a final final nail in the coffin if they don’t win this series against the Rays. I I really think that you have to sweep the Rays, but I understand that that’s going to be really hard to do. At some point, you’re going to have to make up the time evolve. Like I said, 30 and 11 that gets you to 89 wins, which would be ridiculous. Even if you get to You never know what’s going to happen with the other wild card teams. Like I said, they all have tough uh tough roads ahead. So, if you can get to that 85 range, which might feel a little bit more realistic on you, if you’re listening right now in your car, you’re watching on YouTube, however you’re listening on your on all the different podcast platforms, maybe that sounds a little bit more realistic if you drop it down to 86 or 85 or maybe even 87, something like that. But the reality is they got to take care of business against the race. There is no there is no if and buts about it. If they do not beat the Rays, if they don’t win this series, then I’ll stop. I will stop if they don’t beat the Rays. So, obviously, they take on the Rays today, 7:15. It is what it is. Then they’ll have them uh on uh on Saturday, tomorrow, and of course on Sunday. After that, you got four games against the Padres’s. Okay, four games against the Padres’s. I don’t love it. Don’t love it at all. Especially after what we just watched. The Giants just got swept by the Padres’s in embarrassing fashion. And the Padres’s, they’re battling out with the Dodgers as well. So, you get four against the Padres’s, then you get three against the Brewers. All of that is on the road. next seven games after this after this uh Ray series on the road, then you will have the Chicago Cubs come to town, then the Orioles come to town, then you go to Colorado. So, we don’t even really need to look that far because the reality is this season is going to uh either boom or bust and continue or hey, it’s time to just talk about 2026 uh within the next 10 games. That That’s pretty much it. What you do against the Rays, what you do against the Padres’s, and what you do uh against the Brewers. That’s pretty much it. Can you keep your head above water in those situations? Let’s get to the next segment, and that is the fate of Bob Melvin. Don’t move. More Locked on Giants coming up. Time to fuel up and turn it up with 5Hour Energy Transfusion. It brings the bold grape, ginger, and lime flavor of your favorite golf drink, minus the alcohol, into a quick, energizing shot. Whether you’re sinking birdies or just making memories with friends, this one’s a holeinone for your energy game. Let’s be honest, some days on the course or off of it, you just need that extra boost to stay sharp and energized. 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It’s been talked about time and time again on this show, on other shows. I’m sure everyone in in columns, we’re going to talk about one in a second here. The fate of Bob Melvin and whether or not he will make it through this season. So, it seems like Bob Melvin will be here at least through the end of the season. And that makes sense to me based on what Buster Posie is trying to build and instill in the organization and and the foundation that he is trying to to to build up. What’s interesting is what happens if they get hot the last, let’s say, 20 games, right? Not even this stretch, but the last 20 games they get hot once they’re officially out of it and there’s a feeling of, hey, we had some good momentum, right? Hey, if if a couple different things break here, there Bob hasn’t lost the locker room. Clearly, this roster just needs to be tweaked a little bit. They’re having a good time now. It reminds me of the beginning of the season, things like that. Now, just because I wasn’t thrilled with the Bob Melvin hire, as I’ve said on this show multiple times, I ultimately just want the team to win games. So, if he finds something or they write the ship, what are you going to do, right? I also am just not sure what’s going to happen in general. So, if he did go on that stretch, he probably would earn the right to coach out that option that they picked up for really no apparent reason, but everybody says it’s not that big of a deal anyway, right? This is what Ann Killian had to say for SF Chronicle. Change could be coming, but it almost certainly wouldn’t be until the off season. A late season managerial change would be shocking, especially after the Giants picked up Melvin’s extension just six weeks ago. At the time, Giants president of baseball operations, Buster Posey, cited Melvin’s leadership and preparation and connections with quote our players as the reason he believed Melvin was quote the right person to continue guiding this team forward. Posey is a pragmatic and methodical person. As a former elite player, he must be first and foremost incredibly frustrated with how poorly his players are executing. He would not want to scapegoat Melvin for the failure of the players. When Posy’s predecessor, Farhan Zidy, fired manager Gabe Kappler with just a few games left in the 2023 season, it came off as a move by Zidy to save his own job. Posey isn’t in jeopardy as far as his job is concerned. Okay, so Ann Killian is saying it ain’t happening during the regular season or during the season because if you get they get to the postseason, it definitely not happen. But that’s what Ann Killian is saying. Like I said, I think what’s tough about the hot streak if it happens is after it’s over, that would probably be the most annoying thing to the fans because it would lend itself to the idea that the Giants this whole time as they’re just tricking off their situation and messing up games and messing up their positioning for the wild card, it was just a lack of focus, right? So, do I think it would save his job? I think it would. if they if they even if they’re out of it, if they have a good end of the end of the season 20 games, I think it would since they already have that option. I’m not sure it should, but I think it would in general in sports, the lame duck uh situation as far as coaches, that’s not something that you see a ton, but it does happen. So, they could make a decision and say, “Hey, let’s pick up. We already picked up his option. Let’s see what happens in 2026. Buster’s going to go out. He’s going to go get a right fielder. He’s going to go get a second baseman, fill some of those holes that we’ve talked about. And then after that, right, we can be assessing the whole time in the summer, obviously, at the beginning of the season leading into the end of the season, and we make a decision. Are we going to extend Bob again, or are we going to just move in a different direction? That’s kind of what I think this thing is going to come down to. Unless it gets really bad and it’s very clear that the that the Giants and Bob Melvin, there’s just something not working. But I have a weird feeling that this is going to annoy all of us and they might even bring up some guys. Maybe Bryce Eldridge goes off for them or Drew Gilbert feels more comfortable. Whoever they bring up after they’re out of the race, everybody’s going to be a little looser. Everybody’s going to be feeling a bit more comfortable. Ah, all of their shoulders are just going to relax a little bit. They’re going to mess around, go, I don’t know, 14 and six their last 20 games, maybe better than that, maybe a little worse, 13-7. And the Giants are going to probably say, “Hey, there’s still something here. This roster is a work in progress. We had to make some of these moves because of what was left for us.” Buster is still getting into the fold. Bob is kind of still getting into the fold as well. Let’s see what he can do with one year. It’s my job. I’m Buster Posie now. It’s my job to go out there, make sure that there are less revolving doors. You can’t do anything about Janghe, right? But even the Elliot Ramos conversation, right? Is is that the left fielder of the future for the next five years? I don’t know. I don’t know. You know, you have your shortstop. You know, you have your third baseman. The questions are, you know, you have your first baseman DH with Devers, that second base, that right field, you you really can’t do much about center field, right? Jung Hale Lee has shown flashes. So that second base, that right field, left field, I think a conversation is had. Ramos probably deserves another year just because of how he was hitting. You can’t move him to DH. You can’t move him to first base. So he really he kind of has to stay in left field. And then the catcher position, what what we talked about earlier in the week. That’s where I mean I’m trusting Buster on this one. Do you think that Patrick Bailey should continue to just sit there with absolutely no competition? Right. The Adley Rushmans of the world, guys like that, that might be past competition because you’re sitting there and you’re you’re going to start Adley in that situation. I would assume if you still even have Patrick Bailey on the roster, which is another question, but I I have a weird feeling that the Giants are going to play pretty well after this thing is fully done. And Bob Mel Bob Melvin with the with the option already picked up, they’re just going to go through the next year and say, “Hey, Bob, here you go. Now, there are literally no excuses for everybody out there that want to complain about the roster. There are no more excuses. we just our pitching is where it needs to be. They go out probably get another pitcher for that rotation since Verlander that time will be done and you give Bob that last year. That’s kind of what I’m thinking is going to happen. Now, if they completely implode, obviously Bob Melvin is is going to be gone. And I I was talking to somebody pretty close to the situation. They think that it’s already cooked, right? They think that Bob Melvin, you know, Buster isn’t going to do anything during the during the season, but Bob is probably on the way out. I’m still I’m still paused on that. Even though this person does know their stuff, I’m paused on that. If they mess around and the games that don’t matter, they go ahead and go 14 and six, something like that, then I think Buster says, “Okay.” And and he’s put in a in a tougher spot. So, we’ll see. what happens with Bob Melvin. I think more than likely they’ll move in a different direction, but be we’ll enjoy it. Trust me, we’ll definitely enjoy it, but watch out for that 12 and 8, that 13 and seven, that 14 and six. That might just give everyone a little bit of hope when the options already picked up. Hey, let’s go get a right fielder, second baseman, and see what we can do. One more segment with you. Let’s discuss how the Giants farm system is on the uptick. Let’s look towards the future. One more segment when we return. Locked on giants do not move. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s 401k, properties, or investments. And when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. 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And if you’re listening to this over the weekend, I hope you’re enjoying your weekend. I know somebody got paid out there. And let’s get right on into it’s been a pretty optimistic show, right? I know we talked about Bob Melvin possibly losing his job, but besides that, it’s been a pretty optimistic show, okay? And we’re going to keep that rolling because MLB.com feels pretty good themselves about the Giants farm system. So, let’s break all that down and hang with me here. I’m going to round this whole thing out. So, my producer, uh, Kyle on Sacktown Sports 11:40, 10 a.m. to 2 PM. if you’re interested in some Sacramento radio, Sacramento sports radio, I should say, brought this up to me and it really made me think. The Brewers basically let Willie Adamus walk and they are checks notes the best team in baseball right now. The Red Sox, who were okay with trading Raphael Devers to the San Francisco Giants, have a top five record in baseball since the trade. Now, I said this on social media. Some people took it the wrong way. And I don’t say this to say the trades were bad, okay? I say it because it illustrates to me how important your form system is. And it’s not just about having players that come up to be stars for you. It’s all about them performing well on their way up in case you do want to make that trade for a win now piece if your timeline happens to change and you want to go for it, right? How many times have the Smurfs in LA, how many times have they been able to do that? How many times have they been able to go out and get a piece because their farm system is at the top? And going back to the moves for Devs and Will Thomas, yeah, obviously you have you’re not going to find your whole lineup through the draft. Most people don’t do that. Now, the Giants back in their heyday, they were really really good at that. But the fact that the Giants kind of had to accelerate their process and but suppose felt like they had to accelerate their process speaks to how rough the Giants farm system actually was. So that is why I think it is so important for us to uh really focus on and not us because we’re not the GMs, but it’s important for the Giants organization to focus on this farm system and get it in a good spot. And look, I don’t like talking about Farhanidi because he’s gone now and I do think people bring him up as a scapegoat a little bit too much. But there’s one thing that we can probably all agree about. He left the farm system in shambles. He did. He did. That there’s no denying that. Okay. So, with that being said, this is what MLB.com had to say. Their write up. The Giant system, the most improved system since their March rankings. Okay, they did rankings in March. They’re up 10 spots from number 28. They’re up to 18. All right. The Giants, they say, are loaded with young talent and poised to continue to climb. Eldridge is raking in AAA at age 20, but many of their best prospects have starred in rookie ball all this year, including shortstops Joe Gonzalez, Johnny Levelvel, and right-handed pitchers are Hennes Cay Cayama, Kor Martinez, and Alberto Lar Ro. Outfielders are becoming a strength of the system as well, led by Bo Davidson, who was signed as a non-drafted free agent, which is a crazy get. And Dakota Jordan, I was so juiced when the Giants drafted Dakota Jordan. And and I’m just looking at these guys. They’re essentially the same age. And Bo Davidson and Dakota, one’s a lefty batter, one’s a righty batter. This could be the future. Now, I know it’s not the immediate future, but this could be the future. So, I also broke down where the Giants fall, the the guys that they brought up, where they fall as far as the Giants prospect list. Eldridge is obviously number one in the system. Joe Suir Gonzalez is number two. Johnny Levelville is number four. Bo Davidson is number five, and Dakota Jordan is number six. Okay, now let me be clear. We’re we’re trying to be optimistic here today. Obviously, all these guys aren’t going to be hits, right? or or the Giants have just pulled off some of the best drafting we’ve seen in a very very long time. But they’re probably not all going to be hits, but it gives us as a fan base something to look forward to and gives us some hope for the future, specifically for Buster’s tenure and this new regime’s ability to identify, draft, and sign talent. But I know what you’re thinking. Okay, Allan, this is we’re talking about 2029, 2030. We don’t know where we’re going to be at at that time. Who is going to come up at the end of this year if they don’t play well against the Rays or they do play well against the Rays and they get beat down against the San Diego Padres’s, they get beat down against the Brewers and this thing is cooked. Who is it that we could see at the end of this season? Well, I’ll tell you right now, it’s Bryce Eldridge or Bust to me. Maybe Jesus Rodriguez, but I doubt it. He came up not too long ago. Like I said, they’ve really only had him dhing so far when I’ve seen him in Sacramento. The Bryce Eldridge thing, I know people are on the fence uh on that one. Hey, should he should he come up and kind of join this uh mess or should they keep it clean and just wait for next season and start him off that way? I don’t think it’s going to make that big of a difference. I tend to heir on the side of let the kid get reps, right? Let the kid get reps. We know that there is a uh a learning curve between Triple A and the big leagues. We know that all too well. We’ve seen it with the Giants time and time again. Hello, Luis Moss. Hello, Marco Luciano. Hello to these guys. Now, to be fair, and I looked it up, Marco Luciano, a little over a hundred at bats in in in the bigs. Now, to be fair, I do think that you need consistency, right? You take away the pinch hits, you take away, hey, random series here, random series there. I’m not saying you can’t continue to throw guys out if they’re not performing well, but I do think that the Giants need to figure out what their process is. I would almost make the argument and I guess counterpoint myself if the Giants don’t really have a plan for Bryce Eldridge and they just want him to come up and see some ABS, you could make the argument, all right, maybe just wait and and take the off season to to come up with an actual plan because right now, okay, we’re just going to sit uh Raphael Devers for a day or he’s going to come up as a DH for a random series. I guess I understand where people are coming from. I personally just seem to heir on the side of just get big league at bats when you can get them. So, I understand the other side of it. That’s really just because the Giants throughout this season with the revolving door in right field and to a lesser degree second base up until Casey Schmidt kind of figured it out. The Giants, I’m not really sure what they wanted from some of these guys. You had Luis Mtos up all season and then you trade Yremsky and send Luis M. We haven’t seen Luis Matoss, I don’t believe, since the trade. So, I I think and I don’t know if that’s a Buster thing. I don’t know if that’s a Bob Melvin thing. So, am I completely confident that the Giants will bring Bryce Eldridge up with a full-blown plan? Not at this moment in time. I would still probably say just get him up there so he can feel good about seeing some abs. I think that being 20 years old also helps because they got short memories. I don’t think his confidence will be shook. I’ve said the same thing. I’ve said different things about Tyler Fitzgerald who I mean he saw he saw the most success you could even think of and I think he’s just been in his head ever since then. I don’t see that being the case either way with Bryce Eldridge just based on how he carries himself and and not to say anything, you know, wrong with Tyler Fitzgerald, but being 20 years old, uh knowing uh how the process should work as long as they give him that information and that plan, I don’t I don’t think that would be the case. It’s been a great first week with y’all. Be sure to like and subscribe. Follow me on social media as well. You see it in the corner at the I’m pointing the wrong way at the_southf with an I. Have a great weekend. We’ll talk to you on Monday. Peace.

The San Francisco Giants’ playoff hopes are on life support, but they’re not dead yet. In today’s episode, we break down whether it’s truly over for the Giants, the exact math and schedule outlook they’re facing, and how their playoff competitors stack up. We also dive into the future of manager Bob Melvin: will he finish the season, and could a late hot streak save his job? Finally, we look at the Giants’ farm system, which is climbing MLB rankings, and highlight prospects who could make an impact sooner rather than later.

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