Call to the pen
Fansided

Phillies vs. NL West wild-card hopefuls

By Tal Venada

Arrieta's first Phillies start might be against the Mets. Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images.
Arrieta's first Phillies start might be against the Mets. Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images. /
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Bumgarner will miss most of the first half, and his absence is dimming hopes for Giants fans. Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images. /

Giant steps:

In ’17, San Francisco went 64-98 after the loss of Bumgarner, and they were 14th in NL run scoring. No surprise there!

Over the winter, they acquired Evan Longoria and Andrew McCutchen, while they anticipated decent pitching from their top three starters: especially Bumgarner. The Giants were eighth in pitching: overall, starting and relieving. And they expected to improve on 2017’s stats.

According to Fangraphs, San Francisco will finish in second place in the division. And their odds are 24.9 percent for the playoffs and 19.3 percent for the wild card.

Unfortunately, losing their ace for 6-8 weeks and another month to build up arm strength during a minor league rehab means he’ll miss almost half of ’18. And Jeff “Shark” Samardzija, their three-slot hurler, won’t return until May.

Although their chances have dropped, they are close to being under the luxury tax threshold of $197 million for this campaign. In other words, they won’t be taking on salary at the trading deadline even if they are in wild-card contention.

On a Giants site, while some posted their club will only have a small possibility for serious October baseball, others pointed out the flawed logic of those with limited optimism. But they are right that teams without depth can’t afford the loss of a significant piece.

"APPLIES HERE: “Time is a figure eight, at its center the city of Deja Vu.” – Robert Breault"

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