Latest / Foul Territory / Shayna Rubin talks Giants' identity, Buster Posey's plan, Melvin & Verlander back in '26?

Transcript

Shayna Rubin talks Giants' identity, Buster Posey's plan, Melvin & Verlander back in '26? · Foul Territory

0:04
Speaker 1: Hi, SHANEA.
0:05
Speaker 2: Good to be with you.
0:06
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for being with this. Shana Rubin, you
0:08
Speaker 1: can find her on x at Shana Rumin. That's s
0:11
Speaker 1: h A y n A r U b i N.
0:14
Speaker 2: She just wrote.
0:15
Speaker 1: The Giants are losing ground fast and running out of
0:17
Speaker 1: games to catch up. I tell you what, you're absolutely right.
0:20
Speaker 1: The calendar is not in their favor. What do you say,
0:24
Speaker 1: do they get in or not?
0:27
Speaker 3: I mean they're running out of time and the kind
0:30
Speaker 3: of lost their opportunity here against some division fos. So
0:33
Speaker 3: it's it feels like a miracle needs to happen for
0:36
Speaker 3: them to crack the wild card and the Met's one yesterday.
0:40
Speaker 3: They've got the Arizona Diamondbacks that breathing down their back.
0:43
Speaker 3: They got the Cincinnati Reds also in there. So it's
0:46
Speaker 3: it's the room is closing in on them, uh, and
0:50
Speaker 3: they're not really playing their best ball. They have a
0:52
Speaker 3: very tax pitching staff, and it's just feels feels less
0:56
Speaker 3: and less likely, especially just given the four game losing
0:59
Speaker 3: streak there on.
1:00
Speaker 4: Right now, because this team was built not on in
1:04
Speaker 4: my opinion, not on superstars like as far as like
1:07
Speaker 4: everybody can hit the ball, so well and everything besides Raffy,
1:10
Speaker 4: besides you know, almost thirty homers by Willie. Did it
1:14
Speaker 4: feel like the wins went out of the sale when
1:16
Speaker 4: they went back to back games. Logan Web and Robbie
1:20
Speaker 4: Ray they're two aces, they're two best pitchers, and they
1:25
Speaker 4: gave up eleven runs combined between the two of them.
1:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels like there was a major momentum shift
1:31
Speaker 3: because the offense was really powering through the last couple
1:36
Speaker 3: of weeks, and it was that's that's really what powered
1:38
Speaker 3: them through the winning stretch.
1:39
Speaker 2: That they were on.
1:40
Speaker 3: Raffi Devers was smashing the ball, Willie Domas was following suit,
1:44
Speaker 3: everyone else was kind of following suit when Devers sort
1:48
Speaker 3: of caught fire a little bit, And I think that
1:49
Speaker 3: they were really riding the high of what their offense
1:53
Speaker 3: can potentially do. So you were seeing not only glimpses of, oh,
2:00
Speaker 3: this is what the team can look like if they
2:01
Speaker 3: really make a run at the postseas, but also a
2:04
Speaker 3: glimpse of what the team can look like next year
2:07
Speaker 3: is at their best. So there was sort of a
2:09
Speaker 3: lot of hope riding high on you know, how capable
2:14
Speaker 3: they looked Over a couple series, and the wind definitely
2:19
Speaker 3: sort of got knocked out when the pitching staff, that
2:22
Speaker 3: the workload from the bullpen and the starting rotation started
2:27
Speaker 3: to catch up to them, and it caught out to
2:29
Speaker 3: them at the worst time against the Dodgers. And I
2:32
Speaker 3: think that right now you're sort of seeing the trickle
2:35
Speaker 3: down of of that.
2:38
Speaker 4: Do you feel like this team was built to one
2:41
Speaker 4: hundred percent win this year? This is Buster Posey's first year,
2:44
Speaker 4: and Buster would never say, oh, I would never concede
2:48
Speaker 4: a season. That's just not who he is. He wasn't
2:50
Speaker 4: like that as a player. But until they had gotten
2:53
Speaker 4: Raffie and obviously you get Raffi Devers, you're like, hey,
2:56
Speaker 4: we're gonna win. Do you think they were really built
3:00
Speaker 4: to win this year or do you feel like this
3:02
Speaker 4: is kind of a little bit of an over achievement
3:06
Speaker 4: and going into next year now we're going to make
3:08
Speaker 4: that final piece that's going to push us across the
3:11
Speaker 4: finish line.
3:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you sort of nailed it there.
3:14
Speaker 3: I think obviously they're never going to say, you know,
3:16
Speaker 3: this is a discovery year for us, so we're trying
3:19
Speaker 3: to sort of hone in on our identity. But they
3:22
Speaker 3: came into the season a completely different organization. They have
3:26
Speaker 3: a completely different guy in charge, completely different guys in charge.
3:29
Speaker 3: So even though they're going to say we want to
3:32
Speaker 3: win and this is a winning year and we want
3:33
Speaker 3: to contend, and they spent in a way that is
3:37
Speaker 3: meant to content, I think that what we're seeing now
3:41
Speaker 3: and the ups and downs and the significant trade on
3:45
Speaker 3: June thirteenth to get Devers and some of the trades
3:48
Speaker 3: at the deadline to reconfigure their bullpen, which was their
3:52
Speaker 3: strongest suit when they were winning. You're seeing that they
3:56
Speaker 3: were competing even though they were going had signs ups
4:00
Speaker 3: and downs, but they're also an underlying purpose of finding
4:03
Speaker 3: their identity, finding out who they want to be next year,
4:07
Speaker 3: sort of rounding into a more complete team. And even
4:10
Speaker 3: though right now they're in a little bit of a skit,
4:12
Speaker 3: it feels like uh and the fans notice it too.
4:16
Speaker 3: They're they're showing up a little bit more than they
4:18
Speaker 3: were last year. I think they're starting to become more
4:21
Speaker 3: of an identity that maybe will will look a little
4:24
Speaker 3: more clear heading into the offseason and maybe next year.
4:29
Speaker 5: You forgot that they had a four nothing they had
4:31
Speaker 5: last night also Shana by the way and lost that.
4:34
Speaker 5: So let's not forget that. But what is their identity?
4:38
Speaker 5: What you're saying, it's become clear, what's their identity?
4:40
Speaker 2: What is it?
4:41
Speaker 6: Is it?
4:41
Speaker 5: Raffie Devers and eight other guys and Willia Damas, like,
4:44
Speaker 5: what is it?
4:44
Speaker 3: Is it?
4:45
Speaker 5: Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander?
4:47
Speaker 2: Next year?
4:48
Speaker 5: What is their identity? Because they traded away a lot
4:50
Speaker 5: of their bullpen, they've they've made some moves, they have
4:53
Speaker 5: some aging veteran starters. What is their identity for the
4:56
Speaker 5: years going forward?
4:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting because I think I mean not, I
5:02
Speaker 3: think it's pretty clear. Going into the year, the proclaimed
5:05
Speaker 3: identity was that they're pitching and defense team, and they
5:09
Speaker 3: kind of shifted more towards you know, we got more
5:12
Speaker 3: power and thumb in the in the heart of the lineup,
5:15
Speaker 3: and there's some good defensive players. But I wouldn't say
5:18
Speaker 3: that that's been the identity of this team at all.
5:20
Speaker 2: I think that.
5:21
Speaker 3: I mean, you have Matt Chapman, who's probably one of
5:23
Speaker 3: the best, if not the best, third basement in baseball.
5:26
Speaker 3: You got one of the best, Patrick Bailey, best catcher
5:28
Speaker 3: in baseball. But they a lot of what went wrong
5:32
Speaker 3: had to do with sort of the missteps and fundamentals
5:35
Speaker 3: and the pitching staff. You know, they have a pretty
5:38
Speaker 3: good one two three, but in the rotation, but they
5:42
Speaker 3: went through a lot of transformations in the in the bullpen,
5:46
Speaker 3: and and a lot of the young pitching didn't really
5:48
Speaker 3: live up to with the exceptional Land and Roupe didn't
5:51
Speaker 3: live up to expectation. So the pitching and defense identity
5:55
Speaker 3: seems to be a little bit more in flux. And
5:58
Speaker 3: it seems like that that's not to say that they
6:01
Speaker 3: don't have a lot of good options that always add
6:03
Speaker 3: some pitching, but it feels like there's more of an
6:05
Speaker 3: emphasis on the offense, the bats and having sort of
6:09
Speaker 3: a more powerful offense than maybe it seemed that they
6:13
Speaker 3: were letting on that they wanted to have. So it's,
6:16
Speaker 3: you know, it's it's right now. It feels like they
6:19
Speaker 3: go when their offense goes, they go, when Devers goes,
6:22
Speaker 3: they go when a Damas and Chapman and maybe Jung
6:26
Speaker 3: Hu goes. So it feels like that's where the momentum
6:30
Speaker 3: is swing is maybe and I say the identity is
6:34
Speaker 3: getting clearer. Maybe it's just sort of we're starting to
6:36
Speaker 3: see more of what the Posey front office is looking
6:41
Speaker 3: to direct next year towards.
6:45
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7:46
Speaker 4: So these last two weeks, these last eleven games, are
7:50
Speaker 4: we going to be able to tell how they're going
7:52
Speaker 4: to use Bryce Eldred next year because he sat against
7:56
Speaker 4: the lefty. No, he sat against the lefty last night.
8:00
Speaker 4: I supposed to be the most elite a power prospect
8:04
Speaker 4: that the Giants have ever had ever, more than Brandon Bell,
8:08
Speaker 4: more than any of these guys. And he sits in
8:11
Speaker 4: his second game in the big leagues against Eduardo Rodriguez,
8:15
Speaker 4: not like he's not sitting against Chris Sale, right.
8:19
Speaker 2: Yeah.
8:20
Speaker 3: I think what we're seeing now is probably not what
8:22
Speaker 3: they want to envision for Bryce Elders in the future.
8:26
Speaker 3: I mean, he kind of came up in a situation
8:28
Speaker 3: where Dom Smith went down with a hamstring injury. They
8:33
Speaker 3: needed someone to take over his role, which is, you know,
8:37
Speaker 3: left handed bat. No, the left handed bat infielder. He's
8:39
Speaker 3: not going to play first base to our understanding. But
8:45
Speaker 3: I think that what we're seeing right now him, I
8:48
Speaker 3: don't think that. I think the future Bryce Elders, they
8:50
Speaker 3: would not want him to be sitting against left hand
8:52
Speaker 3: or they see him as a future cornerstone of the franchise.
8:57
Speaker 3: So if if that's the case, then what we're seeing
9:01
Speaker 3: right now is definitely not what we would see next
9:03
Speaker 3: year if and when he makes the.
9:04
Speaker 1: Team, Shana, when you think of cornerstones of the Giants,
9:07
Speaker 1: I always used to think, of course, and I still
9:09
Speaker 1: do to a certain extent, of Buster Posey, And I
9:11
Speaker 1: just don't feel like this team has been the same
9:14
Speaker 1: since Buster Posey was not behind that, you know, not
9:18
Speaker 1: behind catch and balls and guiding a pitching staff and
9:22
Speaker 1: doing what he does offensively as well. I mean, are
9:25
Speaker 1: they still kind of searching for that? It's kind of
9:27
Speaker 1: like the Cardinals with Yadi or Morelna, right when Yatty
9:30
Speaker 1: decided to retire. Are they still searching for that quintessential
9:35
Speaker 1: starting catcher that just kind of leads the way the
9:37
Speaker 1: way that Buster did.
9:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that it's not only just a starting catcher,
9:43
Speaker 3: but a leader in general. I think they're looking for
9:48
Speaker 3: sort of. I think every team ideally would like to
9:50
Speaker 3: have a player like Buster where they're the star of
9:55
Speaker 3: the show, They're the face of the franchise. The young
9:58
Speaker 3: homegrown that everyone can latch onto from the time they
10:03
Speaker 3: get called up to the time that they potentially lead
10:06
Speaker 3: them to greatness.
10:07
Speaker 2: That's that's sort of the dream situation.
10:09
Speaker 3: And I think that the pursuit of Raphael Devers was
10:14
Speaker 3: the front office's acknowledgment that they want to have not
10:17
Speaker 3: necessarily just a leader, but someone that is compelling in
10:20
Speaker 3: the same way that that Buster Posey was compelling and
10:23
Speaker 3: that team was compelling. I mean, Buster says the memory
10:26
Speaker 3: making he said, they want to recreate the memory making business.
10:30
Speaker 3: I think it's just want to They want to get
10:32
Speaker 3: people excited about a star player playing at their home
10:36
Speaker 3: ballpark again. That hasn't really happened since Buster retired. So
10:41
Speaker 3: I think that that's where the conversation with Bryce Eldridge
10:44
Speaker 3: comes in. That's there's this sort of underlying hope or
10:49
Speaker 3: expectation that he or anybody can be the guy to
10:53
Speaker 3: take that torch that no one's been able to take
10:56
Speaker 3: since the glory years of the early twenty tens, and
11:00
Speaker 3: so we I think that there's some frustration from fans
11:03
Speaker 3: when they see Eldridge come up and sit against a
11:06
Speaker 3: LEFTI It's like, Hey, I thought this guy was supposed
11:08
Speaker 3: to be, you know, the guy. I thought, this is
11:10
Speaker 3: the beginning of the beginning, and and we're starting to
11:13
Speaker 3: see this team take off with its young core and
11:16
Speaker 3: young superstar leading the way. But I think what we're
11:18
Speaker 3: seeing now is a more tempered uh you know, they're
11:21
Speaker 3: trying to win the week and fill the roles that
11:26
Speaker 3: they need to fill to get there, and uh so
11:29
Speaker 3: that's what we're seeing now. But I think that overall,
11:34
Speaker 3: there's a hunger to get the guy to fill the
11:39
Speaker 3: role that Posey filled for.
11:41
Speaker 2: So many years.
11:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's definitely hard to replace, There's no question about that.
11:45
Speaker 1: Do you see any reason in which Bob Melvin would
11:48
Speaker 1: not be at the Helm next season for the San
11:50
Speaker 1: Francisco Giants.
11:52
Speaker 3: I think at one time it felt pretty possible, possible
11:56
Speaker 3: or on the table, just given the rise and the
12:00
Speaker 3: and the utter collapse. And I think that when you
12:03
Speaker 3: are playing as bad as they were a couple of
12:05
Speaker 3: weeks ago, it has to be part of the conversation,
12:08
Speaker 3: and it definitely was. I think there's always it's always
12:12
Speaker 3: on the table, But I wouldn't say one way or
12:15
Speaker 3: the other if that's the case or not.
12:19
Speaker 4: Does Buster Posey have the ability to debunk the narrative
12:24
Speaker 4: of free agents not signing in San Francisco. I know
12:28
Speaker 4: they got Willia Damas, Williadomas didn't have, didn't have anybody
12:32
Speaker 4: else that was courting him like that. Does he have
12:35
Speaker 4: the ability to get past that? Like feeling that people
12:42
Speaker 4: just for some reason think of San Francisco. But like Chapman,
12:46
Speaker 4: he resigned. When he's there, he's loved it. Willia Domas
12:49
Speaker 4: loves like nobody that plays there is like, man, I
12:52
Speaker 4: hate it. It's all the people coming in on free
12:54
Speaker 4: agencies that we heard it was like, I don't know,
12:56
Speaker 4: I don't want to play in San Francisco because it'll
12:58
Speaker 4: hurt my offensive stats. Can he change that and get
13:02
Speaker 4: land a big free agent because too giants have money
13:05
Speaker 4: for it?
13:07
Speaker 2: Yeah?
13:07
Speaker 3: I mean I think that there is potentially a change
13:11
Speaker 3: in that trend because of Posey himself. And you've heard
13:14
Speaker 3: adam As, even though his options maybe weren't as expansive
13:18
Speaker 3: as you might think, he was talking about how swayed
13:23
Speaker 3: he was by the fact that Buster Posey was the
13:26
Speaker 3: one selling him on San Francisco, and even justin Verlanders
13:30
Speaker 3: talked about it. He talked to me about how when
13:36
Speaker 3: he was sitting down with Buster, he felt like, this
13:38
Speaker 3: guy really understands how to communicate with a baseball player,
13:42
Speaker 3: and this guy really understands how to how to sell
13:47
Speaker 3: me on this experience. And so I think that there's
13:52
Speaker 3: something too and we have the proof will be in
13:56
Speaker 3: the pudding, But I think there's something to the idea
13:58
Speaker 3: that maybe having Buster, former player that a lot of
14:01
Speaker 3: these guys are very familiar with, either played against or
14:04
Speaker 3: just watch growing up. Having a guy like that not
14:07
Speaker 3: just sell the concept of San Francisco, which I guess
14:11
Speaker 3: it can be hard to sell in some circumstances, but
14:13
Speaker 3: sell the concept of playing for him and playing for
14:17
Speaker 3: a team that in a front office that understands what
14:20
Speaker 3: they want. And so I think that if anything, that
14:24
Speaker 3: would be their advantage to landing one of those free
14:26
Speaker 3: agencies is having Buster the former player, sell them, sell
14:30
Speaker 3: them on the idea.
14:36
Speaker 2: Good a.
14:37
Speaker 4: Jay krautzy Go, First, Oh, my question is on My
14:42
Speaker 4: question is on Justin Erlander. He came in maybe like
14:47
Speaker 4: the outside chance of getting closer to that three hundred
14:52
Speaker 4: win plateau, to see if he play another year. It
14:55
Speaker 4: didn't happen this year. Three wins isn't going to do it,
14:58
Speaker 4: but his era is now below a four day in
15:02
Speaker 4: and day out. You see this guy, does it seem
15:05
Speaker 4: like there's another year? Probably not in a Giant's uniform.
15:09
Speaker 4: For Justin Verlander in Major League basball, I.
15:13
Speaker 2: Would say, I would say so.
15:15
Speaker 3: I think that even just the way that you've seen
15:16
Speaker 3: him pitch in the last few weeks, he's just he
15:19
Speaker 3: has a clear fire and a clear ability to pitch
15:23
Speaker 3: at a high level. Still, I think that the a
15:26
Speaker 3: lot of people are looking at the record as an
15:28
Speaker 3: indication of what he the inevitable retirement to the inevitable decline,
15:35
Speaker 3: but that's mostly just to do with the fact that
15:37
Speaker 3: he's seeking three hundred. I think that he's had a
15:40
Speaker 3: couple of really rough stretches, but his last couple months
15:43
Speaker 3: he's really he's arguably been, you know, one of their.
15:48
Speaker 2: Best starters, and I would be I would be. He
15:51
Speaker 2: hasn't given any declarative.
15:52
Speaker 3: Definitive answers one way or the other to us, but
15:56
Speaker 3: I would be surprised if this was.
15:58
Speaker 2: It for him.
16:00
Speaker 1: I think he's going to play forever.
16:04
Speaker 2: I think he wants to.
16:07
Speaker 3: Taste.
16:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, he does, three hundred wins is important.
16:11
Speaker 5: Shana are you you're at the ballpark, I'm guessing right
16:14
Speaker 5: now by your back.
16:15
Speaker 2: Yes, Do you just take.
16:16
Speaker 5: Your computer and move it a little bit, because that's
16:18
Speaker 5: the one ballpark I've never done a game in, So
16:21
Speaker 5: I actually want to know what the press box looks like.
16:23
Speaker 2: Oh I'm in a printer room.
16:26
Speaker 5: Oh okay, well you showed me that, because that's more.
16:29
Speaker 5: That's more than I've ever seen of Chase Field. So
16:31
Speaker 5: just if you can just see the.
16:33
Speaker 2: Camera, the essence of Chase Field.
16:37
Speaker 7: All right, looks looks cozy, all right, Yeah, definitely doesn't
16:44
Speaker 7: have the view of San Francisco's field.
16:45
Speaker 2: I'll tell you that right now. So it's a.
16:47
Speaker 3: Little bit different vibe here, that's for sure.
16:50
Speaker 2: Not bad, it's just different, Yeah, very different.
16:53
Speaker 1: It's a dry heat, remember that, SHANEA. We appreciate it
16:56
Speaker 1: very much. We appreciate the inside. Good luck the rest
16:59
Speaker 1: of the way. Hopefully we'll be talking San Francisco in
17:02
Speaker 1: the postseason. According to AJ, it's not gonna happen. The
17:05
Speaker 1: Mets are in, but time will tell. Shane rub And
17:07
Speaker 1: we appreciate you taking the time to be with us
17:09
Speaker 1: on foul.
17:10
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having me