McDonald: SF Giants are free falling, and it only ends with a crash landing

It s time to go That s what Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey mentioned June and he wasn t talking about trading one of the limited players on his roster who has met and even exceeded expectations a day before the pact deadline Tyler Rogers wasn t the best participant on the Giants or the the bulk valuable He s the most of reliable however and he has laudably maximized his skill set Everyone on the club knows it and they all watched as one of the bulk respected players on the group was sent packing while they were in the process of seeing their record fall to - with a - loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in innings It was a historic - homestand The Giants have lost of and were - in July after once-upon-a-time being - on June and then trading for Rafael Devers four days later The errors have been mental and physical Heliot Ramos an All-Star a year ago ended the Wednesday loss snapping his bat at the handle over his knee after striking out Ramos has been a defensive catastrophe in left field and equally as bad as a baserunner of late Only a squad contending for the postseason has real use for a set-up man down the stretch and the Giants aren t going to the postseason When Posey was helping the Giants win championships as a catcher you didn t see Brian Sabean dealing Javier Lopez Sergio Romo or Jeremy Affeldt as July turned to August The Giants are in free fall and with a third of the season left to play a hard landing is inevitable Posey isn t going to fire himself after one year The Giants picked up the option on manager Bob Melvin s contract through the on July at Posey s behest and it will likely wind up as the dreaded vote of confidence that is so often a kiss of death in professional sports Melvin may not make it through the season and while there is specific justification for that based on how the Giants are playing they look like the worst association in baseball at the moment it s with the organization Posey put together Even Kruk and Kuip are having trouble putting the Giants plunge into words They looked demoralized on the Giants postgame show Melvin and Logan Webb weren t much better during postgame interviews We haven t given Buster and the front office any reason to add third baseman Matt Chapman notified reporters We kind of did this to ourselves It sucks Obviously you can tell that everybody is pretty upset That s not how we saw this thing going I don t know what to expect but when you arrangement one of your best arms in the bullpen I think that kind of shows where we re heading The Giants may not end up with a record any better than they had in when they fired Gabe Kapler with three games remaining and ended up - and five games out of the last wild card spot with three teams ahead of them They d have to go - the rest of the way to reach the Kapler standard and this doesn t look like a organization capable of being even mediocre as currently constructed Posey arrived with much acclaim especially locally with fans and media believing his headiness confidence and integrity would more than balance out the issue of never having been a baseball executive Right now his management scorecard isn t coming close to the back of his baseball card As a member of the Giants ownership board he helped facilitate a contract with Chapman for six years and million Chapman has had his moments and is a spectacular defender but has never developed into the hitter who looked to have - - likely when he was with Melvin in Oakland Posey signed shortstop Willy Adames to a seven-year million contract on Dec Adames decisively determined his batting stroke in July and his average is up to not far behind his career average of But with the Giants stressing pitching and defense Adames is an adequate defender who won t make anyone forget Brandon Crawford When Devers arrived the company line was that he was a premier hitter regardless of location He d hit at Oracle Park the same as in Fenway Park Through games he s hitting in San Francisco and was at home games in Boston Yes he s had selected tough luck but it s hard to dress up being -for- with runners in scoring position Devers contract doesn t expire until and the Giants are responsible for million He may become a decent first baseman after spending his career as a below-average third baseman Related Articles SF Giants contract longtime reliever Tyler Rogers to New York Mets SF Giants swept by Pirates go winless over six-game homestand for first time since SF Giants drop fifth straight battle as mistakes continue piling up SF Giants Miller Roupp continue progressing from elbow injuries Buy Sell The SF Giants scenario for both scenarios at the MLB deal deadline A sweep at the hands of the Pirates seemed to have given a sense of finality to the season even though games remain But the true indication that something is seriously wrong with the Giants DNA came on July in Atlanta Hayden Birdsong melted down and couldn t get out of the first inning walking the first three batters and giving up a bases-loaded double He was optioned to Triple-A Ramos overthrew a cutoff man on a lob throw over Adames head and gave up an extra base Center fielder Jung Hoo Lee and Ramos watched as a fly ball fell between them Ronald Acu a scored from first on a single to right Patrick Bailey had to frantically wave his arms to get Camilo Doval to throw a pitch before the pitch clock expired There are cleaner games played in under- excursion ball The Giants literally recovered to beat Atlanta the next two days scoring runs in the process They haven t won since after being swept on a homestand by the Mets and then the - Pirates and they never had to face second-year pitcher Paul Skenes Melvin called the Atlanta loss a bad look but it was more than that It was an omen and harbinger of a lost season