#Austin Slater

Today was the deadline for teams and arbitration eligible players to exchange contract figures. The San Francisco Giants had thirteen arbitration eligible players to start the offseason, and back in October I reasoned that they should focus on eight of those players. About a month later, the team said they'd planned to retain nearly all of…

I write this piece every year, but I never could have predicted what happened in 2021. Usually, "bold predictions" come up short because they're too bold. For instance, last year I picked Austin Slater to hit more homers than in his previous four seasons combined (he came close, missing by two!) and Duane Kuiper projected double-digit homers for…

SAN FRANCISCO -- During the 2021 season, as he watched Cody Bellinger take early batting practice at Oracle Park, a member of the Giants staff talked of the adjustments he would try and make if he could work with Bellinger, who at the time was struggling to push past offseason shoulder surgery. Bellinger never found his old form that year and in…

During the Winter Meetings we all got a big laugh at Jon Heyman tweeting that "Arson Judge" was heading to the San Francisco Giants. A much bigger story dropped at almost exactly the same time when Bradford William Davis reported on Dr. Meredith Wills' latest round of research for Insider, revealing that MLB used at least two (and possibly three)…

After waiting until a month after the World Series for the winter meetings to get the ball rolling, Major League Baseball's free-agent spending spree has been something of a runaway freight train. There have already been 30 free agents who signed contracts with an average salary of at least $10 million. And, no, we're not just talking about the New…

SAN DIEGO -- It has been three years since executives, agents and the media gathered in one hotel for the annual MLB Winter Meetings, but the Texas Rangers weren't going to wait for everyone to arrive to get the fireworks started. A year after locking up Corey Seager and Marcus Semien for half a billion dollars, the Rangers gave Jacob deGrom a…

An NL West contest features the Los Angeles Dodgers (71-33) traveling to play the San Francisco Giants (51-54) on Thursday to round out their four-game series. Los Angeles has been playing extremely well, winning seven of their last eight games. Meanwhile, San Francisco has struggled during the second half of the season as it is 0-7 against Los…

Dodgers vs. Giants is one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports and the two teams will begin the second half of their season going head-to-head on Thursday. The Dodgers entered the All-Star break on a four-game winning streak while the Giants have won their last three contests. Los Angeles will send Mitch White (1-2, 4.20 ERA) to the mound for…

SAN DIEGO - Speaking with reporters before a recent game, Giants manager Gabe Kapler raised some eyebrows with one particular assessment of his club. It wasn't his plea for better energy, nor was it any indictment of their poor play. "It's a different group of guys," Kapler said, referring to the 2022 team versus the one that won 107 games a year…

Another 1-1 day yesterday, but I feel the tides are beginning to turn. I used this exact sentence yesterday, and it still bodes true. We took the under in Twins vs. Tigers, which hit pretty easily. We saw one blow-up inning from the Twins as Bailey Ober had a rough fifth inning. It didn't matter, as those were the last runs scored in the game, with…

I feel a little bit icky doing a postseason speculation post when the San Francisco Giants are still in playoff contention (lol), but yesterday for The Athletic, somebody suggested they trade Camilo Doval to supercharge the rebuild. Well, I had a post in my brain queue that was along those same lines, only about J.D. Davis! So, I'm writing it now,…

The San Francisco Giants face the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight at Oracle Park. The table-toppers Dodgers face the third-placed Giants in this National League West clash. The Giants have been a shadow of their previous selves. Last season, they finished at the top of the NL West standings ahead of this season's leaders, the Dodgers. Their record this…

The San Francisco Giants (65-70) and Milwaukee Brewers (71-65) will square off in a doubleheader in Milwaukee on Thursday. The Giants enter this game fresh off of two consecutive losses. San Francisco ultimately dropped two out of three games against the Dodgers. They are aiming to rebound against the Brewers in this ball game. The Brewers dropped…