One Lingering Concern for San Francisco Giants Down the Stretch

The San Francisco Giants are going to push for a postseason spot, but there is one lingering concern they need to figure out.

Aug 5, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; San Francisco Giants center fielder Tyler Fitzgerald (49) hits the ball into play against the Washington Nationals during the fifth inning at Nationals Park. / Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports

With the MLB trade deadline behind us, we have a clear vision of what teams are planning to do for the remainder of the season. The San Francisco Giants are one team that surprised some people ahead of the deadline.

Most of the deals they made were monetarily driven, looking to save some money. They accomplished that by trading Jorge Soler and Luke Jackson to the Atlanta Braves and Alex Cobb to the Cleveland Guardians.

Some of that money was redistributed back into the team when they acquired Mark Canha from the Detroit Tigers ahead of the buzzer. Their decision to hold onto starting pitcher Blake Snell was a clear signal the team felt there was enough to make a run.

The Giants have played better, going 4-2 since deadline day. But, they are still one game under the .500 mark at 57-58 and 4.5 games out of the final wild card spot.

Catching their National League West rivals in the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks will be difficult as they are two of the hottest teams in baseball. The Padres loaded up ahead of the deadline and the Diamondbacks are finding their stride after winning the NL Pennant in 2023.

There are some positives for San Francisco to lean on, such as a starting rotation that looks very strong. Snell has been incredible, making a formidable 1-2 punch with Logan Webb. Robbie Ray is back from the injured list and Hayden Birdsong has been great.

What it will come down to for the Giants is if their offense can wake up. That is where Bradford Doolittle of ESPN believes the team’s lingering concern is.

Right now, he has them ranked No. 16 in baseball as a second-tier contender. Their odds of making the postseason are slim at 11.2 percent. Doolittle wonders if Tyler Fitzgerald will be able to keep up his Barry Bonds-esque pace.

“Sometimes teams refuse to sort themselves into a coherent grouping for Stock Watch purposes. Shame on them. The Giants' deadline behavior should have them in the tier below. With Jorge Soler, Luke Jackson and Alex Cobb going out at the deadline and Mark Canha the only contributor coming in, it's a stretch to call the Giants an adder. And yet San Francisco has caught fire over the past two weeks and now owns better playoff odds than teams that did add during the trade period. Go figure. Matt Chapman is an unsurprising driver of this surge against largely bad teams. More jaw-dropping has been the ongoing power explosion of the rookie Fitzgerald, who recently became the first Giant since Bonds in 2003 to put up 11 homers in a 17-game span. If he keeps this up, who knows what could happen?” Doolittle wrote.

San Francisco has been unable to consistently build any positive momentum in 2024. Getting all facets of their game clicking at the same time has been problematic.

If the team is pitching well, their fielding has let them down. Once they have straightened things out with the gloves, the bats go cold. The bats heat up and then the pitching falls apart.

The Giants have shown no ability to string together a lengthy winning streak to this point. But all it takes is one hot streak to make a move in the logjam known as the NL wild card race.