The other big source for gains on the margins in 2021 was the bullpen, and the Giants' relievers have regressed from the top third to the bottom third of the league in 2022. The Giants have had success with journeyman Joc Pederson in a platoon role, but it'll cost them more money to bring him back for 2023 after he signed for $6 million in 2022. At this point, outfielders Steven Duggar and Alex Dickerson, useful 2021 contributors both, are long gone. After an unspectacular first half, fellow breakout star Darin Ruf went to the Mets at the trade deadline - albeit for a significant return. LaMonte Wade Jr., a 27-year-old who somehow delivered in nearly every significant spot he entered a year ago, has regressed to being a fairly middling hitter. This is best exemplified by 2021's breakout platoon stars failing to replicate their success in 2022 Most of their marginal gains disappeared. The Giants attempted to replace him with former first-round pick Joey Bart, but Bart has been only passable, not near Posey's longtime standard.Ģ. He'll be 35 in April, and he has come to the plate 500 or more times in a season only once since 2016.Īnd Buster Posey, of course, retired. He played out his 12th season in San Francisco on an $18.4 million qualifying offer but will have to accept far less to return next season. The longtime first baseman recently underwent season-ending surgery and will become a free agent after the World Series. Maybe more concerning has been Brandon Belt's downfall. Plus, it's not like he hasn't bounced back in his 30s before. The Giants are committed to him for another season. He might have one more chance to surprise in 2023, as his 2021 campaign earned him a two-year extension. After logging the best year of his career at 34, shortstop Brandon Crawford is putting up one of the worst seasons of his career at 35. Third baseman Evan Longoria, 36, has matched his offensive output but only in about a half-season due to injury. And it is, as much as anything, the story of their disappointing 2022 that they are not. It was, as much as anything, the story of their miraculous 2021: All San Francisco's 30-somethings whom the sport had given up on were great again. Let us examine three key reasons the Giants are experiencing inferior results this season and what those reasons indicate about their chances to contend again soon in one of the sport's most competitive divisions. Good fortune with health gave way to far lesser luck. What worked then has not worked this year. His team's decline has been as or more precipitous than its surprise rise to success in 2021.
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