As the 2020 season gets underway, the Giants still have a big question in who will be the closer for them during the shortened season? There are many options that they could choose but I think there are some options that should and could happen this season. Here are some possibilities:

Who Can the Closer be?

In 2019, the Giants closer was Will Smith. He had a great season last year with a 2.76 ERA, 3.23 FIP, and 1.026 WHIP in 53 innings. However, in that same off-season he was a free agent and signed with the Atlanta Braves. So who can be the closer for the Giants in 2020?

Tony Watson

Tony Watson is a veteran arm who would fit the spot perfectly for the Giant’s closer role. He has been in the league for 9 years and has played with the Giants since 2018. He had a great 2018 with a 2.59 ERA, 2.45 FIP, and a 1.030 WHIP in 66 innings. However, in 2019 he did have a bit of a decline by giving up more hits, home runs, and limiting the strikeouts. However, I think that he will have a bounce-back season and go back to his old self.

Tyler Rodgers

Tyler Rodgers was recently called up by the Giants in 2019 and only pitched in 17 games for the Giants that year. Encouragingly, he was amazing in those games by only allowing 2 ER. He had a 1.02 ERA, 2.08 FIP, .849 WHIP, and didn’t allow a single home run. He looks bright for the future and could definitely be a possibility for the Giant’s closer role.

Trevor Gott

Trevor Gott could also end up being the Giants closer in 2020. He has struggled in the past few years but showed signs of improvement in 2019. Gott also didn’t have a full season of playing time until 2019. Although his ERA was a bit high at 4.44 in 2019, his FIP was only at 3.12. He strikes out a lot of people which is a good sign. If Trevor Gott improves from his 2019 season, I could see him as a serious threat in the Giants bullpen and possibly their closer in 2020.

My Prediction

I think at the beginning of the season, we will see Tony Watson as the main closer because he has the most experience and is the most reliable pitcher. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if towards the middle of the season Tyler Rodgers took that role. I’m super excited to see him play this year and grow as an MLB pitcher.

Predictions

Lineup

1. Mike Yastrzemski LF
2. Mauricio Dubon 2B
3. Joey Bart C
4. Evan Longoria 3B
5. Hunter Pence DH
6. Alex Dickerson RF
7. Brandon Belt 1B
8. Brandon Crawford SS
9. Billy Hamilton CF

The reason why I have Joey Bart at Catcher instead of Posey is because recent rumors are saying that Posey has a high chance of opting out of the 2020 season. If he does play in the season, I think he and Joey Bart will switch off times at catcher. I also have Billy Hamilton at center field due to the fact that his speed and defense could really help out especially with a big outfield at Oracle Park.

Starting Rotation

1. Johnny Cueto
2. Jeff Samardzija
3. Kevin Gausman
4. Drew Smyly
5. Andrew Suarez

I don’t have Tyler Beede in the Starting Rotation because he is injured as of this date (7-6-20)

Record

25-35

To get this number, I used all of the Giants expected opponents and predicted the record vs each team and added all of the wins and losses.

Recap

I do not think the Giants will be in the Playoffs, but I do think it will be great to see many prospects show off what they have and give the Giants an idea of who will be playing for them in the future.

Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, the MLB season was delayed. However, this delay lasted much longer than most people expected. This was also due because the MLB owners and Players Association could not agree on a deal to start the 2020 season. The deal includes the following:

• 60 game regular season
• Spring Training returns on July 1st
• Opening Day is on the weekend of July 24-26
• Universal DH

What Could This Mean for the Giants?

Spring Training

With the return of Spring Training, the Giants have a great opportunity to see who is ready for an MLB spot and who is not. There could be many players in the farm system to step up and be called up in 2020.

60 Games

With the 60 Game season being so short, anything can happen with almost any team. The Giants can definitely take that to their advantage. In 2019, the Giants had a massive winning streak from June 30 through July 23. Their record during those dates were 16-3. That was in 19 games. 19 games would be about 1/3 of the games in 2020. If the Giants had another streak like that in 2020, it would be equivalent to go 45-9 in a regular season.

Universal DH

I’ve already made a post about who could be the Giants DH for the 2020 season. I think the best DH for the Giants would be Hunter Pence. He played for the Texas Rangers in 2019 and hit .297/.358/.552 with 18 HR in 83 Games as their designated hitter. I think that having a universal DH would help the Giants a lot especially with a shortened season.

Overall

Overall, I think that if the Giants start off strong to the season, they could have a good chance of making the playoffs. The shortened season could either help the Giants a lot or hurt them a lot. Even if the Giants don’t succeed, I’m just happy for the baseball to be back after many months of it gone.

July 31 was the date of the 2019 MLB trade deadline. The Giants made the following moves:

In:

• Scooter Gennett (From Reds)

Out:

• Sam Dyson (Twins)
• Mark Melancon (Braves)
• Drew Pomeranz (Brewers)
• Ray Black (Brewers)

New Prospects:

• INF Mauricio Dubon
• RHP Prelander Berroa
• RHP Kai Wei Teng
• OF Jaylin Davis
• RHP Tristan Beck
• RHP Daniel Winkler
• OF Joseph McCarthy

The Good

Mauricio Dubon

At the trade deadline, the Giants traded Drew Pomeranz and Ray Black to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for INF Mauricio Dubon. Dubon was an MLB ready player and quickly made his way to the MLB with the Giants. He batted .279/.312/.442 with 4 HR in 28 games for the Giants. Also, in Spring Training, he batted .345/.367/.655 with 2 HR in 11 Games. He has shown glimpses of success and I think he has a bright future ahead of him.

Jaylin Davis

The Giants picked up OF Jaylin Davis from the Twins in the Sam Dyson deal. He showed an immense amount of power. Davis slugged 35 Home Runs in 2019 between AA and AAA. He also had a .987 OPS in 2019. He has shown great amount of power and even had a decent Spring Training. This was definitely a great pickup last trade deadline.

The Bad

Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith

The worst part of the Trade Deadline didn’t even happen in during the trade deadline, it what didn’t happen during the trade deadline. Bumgarner and Smith both were heading into free agency after the 2019 season. The Giants had to make a decision if they were going to rebuild and trade Bumgarner and Smith or to keep them and push for the playoffs. They decided to keep both which was a big mistake. The Giants didn’t make the playoffs and both of them didn’t come back to the Giants due to free agency in the off-season. Bumgarner and Smith could have been traded for prospects or many pieces in the trade deadline.

Drew Pomeranz

Drew Pomeranz didn’t have great numbers in 2019 for the Giants but has had some great seasons before. Pomeranz was mainly a starter for the Giants in 2019. Even though the Giants got Dubon, which was a huge win, Pomeranz put up great numbers as a reliever for the Brewers with a 2.39 ERA and 2.68 FIP with a 15.4% K/9. Even though the return for Pomeranz was great, the Giants still lost a potential great reliever to go along with Reyes Moronta.

Overall

Overall, the Giants had a pretty good trade deadline but could have gotten more out of it by trading Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith.

Outfielder Mike Yastrzemski was picked by the Baltimore Orioles with the 1,098th pick in the 39th round in the 2009 MLB draft. He didn’t make the majors playing for Baltimore but did shortly after he was traded to the Giants for RHP Tyler Herb.

Success as a Giant

Mike Yastrzemski quickly made his way to the majors and start playing almost daily for the Giants. He had a great season batting .272/.334/.518 with 21 homers in 107 games. He was arguably the Giants best hitter in 2019.

Why Yaz could be the face of the Giants future

2019 was Yastrzemski’s first season as a big leaguer. I think that he will grow as a player even more and come back better than he was in 2019. And I think, with the Giants having some young stars coming to the outfield soon, Yaz could step in and be their leader.

The main concern

The main concern about Yaz is his age. He was a late bloomer and didn’t get to the majors until age 29. He’s almost 30 years old and no one knows if he will be as good as he was in 2019. Maybe in a couple of years, the new guys will take his spot. We will just have to wait and see. I believe that Mike Yastrzemski will the face of the Giants’ future. 

The DH has been around the MLB for many decades but it has only been available by American League teams. For the past few years, it has been a big question if the MLB would let all teams around the league be able to use a designated hitter. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Major League Baseball has been questioning if there would be a 2020 season at all. The MLB and MLBPA are trying to make a plan for Major League Baseball to start back up soon. In many of their brainstorms, the idea of having a DH for all teams has come up. This season would be a perfect opportunity for the MLB to test something like the universal DH.

What Does This Mean for the Giants?

The Giants, as well as all National League teams, have not been focusing towards grabbing a “designated hitter”. This may hurt many NL teams as many don’t have many players who could take the DH roll. But would this hurt the Giants? There is no definite answer for this question, but the Giants have lots of infield depth and some outfield guys who can be the DH this season. But the big question is who?

Who Could Be the Giants’ DH in 2020?

Hunter Pence

Hunter Pence was picked up from the Rangers on a one year deal last off season. He had a great season in 2019 after struggling with the Giants in his few seasons prior. Pence hit .297/.358/.552 with 18 HR in 83 games playing the DH for the Rangers last year. Due to injuries he could not play the whole season. But when he played, he had great numbers. Pence has played in the NL for his whole career prior to 2019. He showed that he could be a big threat at the DH spot. A change to the DH will be better for Pence and the Giants defense. Since Pence is already 37, his production in the field has gone down immensely in the past years. This move could save some room for defensive players like Billy Hamilton. If the DH does come to the National League in 2020, Hunter Pence would be a great player to fill that spot.

Wilmer Flores

The Giants signed veteran player, 2B Wilmer Flores to a 2 year deal last off season. Flores played for the Diamondbacks in 2019 after playing his first 6 seasons as a Met. He had a career best season last year batting .317/.361/.487 with 9 HR in 89 games. With rookie, Mauricio Dubon maybe taking over the Second Base roll for the future, Flores might be a good fit for being the Giants DH next season.

Alex Dickerson

The Giants traded for OF Alex Dickerson in the middle of the 2019 season. After struggling with San Diego, he has been way better with the Giants. He batted .290/.351/.529 with 6 HR in 56 games for the Giants in 2019. He also started off Spring Training with great numbers too. With the Giants having many outfielders to use, Dickerson has too good of numbers to not play in 2020. With Mike Yastrzemski, Hunter Pence, Billy Hamilton, and even Jaylin Davis coming up soon, Alex Dickerson may have to take the DH roll in 2020. I think that this would be a great fit for the 29 year old.

Could The DH Benefit the Giants?

My answer is yes. I have a strong feeling that if the universal DH does happen in the MLB this season, the Giants would benefit from it because they have many options that they could use for the DH in 2020. All we have to do is wait and see if the MLB season will start soon.