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00:00I'm now live to a man who needs no tickets to a Giants game.
00:04He is Alex Pavlovich of NBC Sports Bay Area,
00:06joining us now on the River Island's guest line.
00:09And before we get into Bomell and just the depressive nature
00:13of what's going on with Giants baseball right now,
00:16let's get to the good stuff, Alex.
00:17How's the book going? How's it going?
00:19It's doing really well.
00:21It actually did so well that they moved the paperback already.
00:24So I'm very appreciative of everybody who bought one, who helped me.
00:28You guys had me on a couple times.
00:30So it's been great.
00:31And honestly, it's been something really cool to experience,
00:34like the book signings and meeting Giants fans and people who got it early.
00:39So it's been really nice.
00:41Okay, there it is, the franchise.
00:43San Francisco Giants, a curated history of the orange and black.
00:46That's from Alex Pavlovich.
00:47And it is available coming up here in paperback.
00:52And so you can get that wherever you get your books.
00:55Awesome. Well, congrats, Alex.
00:56That's fantastic, man.
00:58Yeah, I don't think they've won a game since it came out.
01:01Yeah.
01:01The book did well.
01:03Yeah, would you like to write a new chapter, 2025?
01:05This sucks.
01:06Like, how about that?
01:07Can we do that?
01:09Yeah, there's a couple chapters there of seasons that went in the tank.
01:12And this feels like, you know, I'm like, yeah, I've covered this a few times.
01:16Alex, here's my question.
01:18It's the question they won't answer.
01:20And I'm starting to get frustrated by it.
01:22When people go, hey, you know, to Logan Webb or Bo Mell, and they're like, what is it?
01:28What happened?
01:28What's not working?
01:30Their answer across the board is, we don't know.
01:34Like, if we knew, we would fix it.
01:36So that's one of the reasons we want to come to someone like yourself.
01:39What is it?
01:40Why is this team not better?
01:42You're going to hate me.
01:45I really don't know.
01:47I looked up.
01:48I was doing this this morning.
01:49I was looking up some of the offensive numbers.
01:52And the crazy thing is a lot of these guys are going to kind of end up where you would think.
01:56Like, where you would be like, okay, that was fine.
01:58He had the season that we expected from him.
02:01They just cannot do it at the same time.
02:04And we saw Adamas go crazy in July.
02:07But obviously, we know early in the year for him.
02:09You know, right now it's Devers and it's Tom Smith.
02:12But there's guys behind him who aren't able to do it.
02:14So I don't know that I've ever covered a team where you're like, they're healthy.
02:19These are their guys.
02:20This is their lineup.
02:22You feel, if you look at the names every day and look at some of the numbers on the scorecard,
02:27it looks okay.
02:28But then you're not surprised when they score one run.
02:31I don't know what, I really don't.
02:33I think they are baffled by it a little bit.
02:35And I think there's going to be a deep dive in the offseason if it keeps going this way.
02:39But I don't know the exact answer because there's been other teams I've covered where
02:43it's like, well, you know, they lost this guy.
02:45They lost that guy.
02:46This is really easy to figure out.
02:48Or something happened along the way.
02:50I really don't know what to tell you.
02:51I mean, I look at the score, the lineup card today.
02:53And a lot of these guys are big names.
02:56And they're going to end up with 18 homers, 22 homers, 27.
03:00And they just can't put it together.
03:02And I'm wondering, situationally, from whence those home runs derive.
03:07In other words, what situations.
03:08And that's something that I'm going to look at when I start to do my dive.
03:12But I look at a team yesterday, Alex, who had two at-bats with runners in scoring position.
03:17And they didn't deliver on either one.
03:19Is it as simple as a lack of lineup connectivity?
03:23Like you were saying, you might have two guys hot one game and then a different two the next.
03:27Yeah, and I think that's hard to figure out.
03:30I mean, the easy thing to look at is they just don't hit with runners in scoring position.
03:34And they haven't for a while now.
03:36And I think if there was one thing I'd point to overall, they've been really bad at home,
03:42especially offensively.
03:43And I don't know that this team is fully built for this ballpark.
03:47I think they're trying to get there.
03:49And we've seen the way Buster is drafting.
03:50And we've seen some of the guys they've traded for.
03:53There is a different style.
03:54But this is a team that I think on the road you see they can hit timely homers
03:58and they can get those extra base hits.
04:01They haven't been able to do it here.
04:02They don't run at all, which is something we've been waiting years for them to get more athletic.
04:07And I go back to teams that I wrote about and teams that are in that book that you would have
04:12Angel Pagan and Gregor Blanco and Hunter Pence and these guys who would run a little bit
04:15and do some more things.
04:18I think that's part of it.
04:20But in general, I still think they have good players out there.
04:23And I think that's what I get the frustration with Bob and his answers after games.
04:28But I think he looks up and there's a runner on second and a runner on third.
04:33And he sees two good players come up.
04:35And he thinks one of them will get the job done.
04:36And they just haven't done it.
04:38Alex Pavlovich, NBC Sports Bay Area, with us here on Weathered and Dibs 95.7 The Game.
04:43Let's dive a little further into the Bob situation.
04:46Alex, how safe is he at the end of the year?
04:49That's a good question.
04:51You know, I said this at the time when they picked up the option that none of these things
04:56ever are guaranteed.
04:57I mean, it's an option for next year.
04:59It's not three more years.
05:00It's one year.
05:01And if the season goes completely in the tank, you never know.
05:05I mean, Buster could decide that, hey, we've changed our mind in the last three months.
05:10I mean, sometimes things happen quickly, too.
05:12You look at, there was some ambiguity with Gabe and with Farhan in August and early September
05:19about what would actually happen.
05:20And there were a lot of questions.
05:22And then all of a sudden it just happened really quickly with both of those guys.
05:25I still think Bob will be safe.
05:27I think Buster likes working with him.
05:29And I think, you know, in general, we've seen one thing we've heard from Buster over and
05:35over again in recent months is he has put some of this on the clubhouse, which usually you
05:39don't hear in professional sports.
05:41But I think rightfully he has pointed to these guys and gone, look, this is an expensive roster.
05:47You guys are a bunch of veterans and you haven't performed.
05:50And I think he would probably not feel great about even any perception that he has scapegoated
05:57a manager for a team that hasn't played well.
06:00I'm not saying that would be the case, but just even anything that it's putting it on one person
06:04when I think this is, you know, a failure across the board the last month.
06:08So I still think he would be safe, but certainly cannot feel as good as he did a month ago at
06:14this time or six weeks ago and whenever he got the extensions.
06:18Yeah, the definition of insanity is when you repeat something that's not working.
06:22So if they wind up with another near 500 season, what do you think would be the most logical
06:28change that he could make to shake things up?
06:32Well, can I counter to that?
06:33They, you know, repeating something, they have fired their manager.
06:36They fired their president of baseball operations.
06:38They have gotten rid of a lot of coaches in the last few years.
06:41At some point, you can't keep going to those people.
06:45At some point, maybe you have to look at how you're developing or at some point you put it on
06:49the clubhouse, which I think Buster has done.
06:51I don't know what they'll do at the end of the season if it keeps going this way and they end up 500
06:56because it is going to be pretty similar to previous years.
07:00But we've seen that cost people their jobs.
07:03I think there probably would be some staff changes in that case.
07:06And look, Buster will have had a full year to digest and see who he wants to keep and
07:11what he wants to do behind the scenes.
07:13How much of the front office scouting department changed over from Farhan to Buster?
07:19A fair amount.
07:20I mean, there was, you know, the new pro scouting director.
07:23Zach got promoted.
07:24So, there's been some new guys.
07:26But there also are a lot of people who have been here a while.
07:28And I think those people have had success at times.
07:30And they've also experienced some mediocre seasons now.
07:33So, I've been through a few of these now.
07:36I know September in a season like this, if it keeps going like this, is not at all comfortable for coaches.
07:42Usually, those people are on short contracts.
07:44A lot of them are year to year.
07:46So, it's not going to be a comfortable time, I think.
07:48And I typically come down on the side of feeling for those people as well because they're just not making a lot of money.
07:55And they're not guaranteed of what's next.
07:58They're not the ones making $17, $20 million.
08:01And I think that's one thing that I'll go back to.
08:03We have heard that from Buster a couple times because he has been in that spot as the player, as the star of a team.
08:10And I think he wants, you know, a little bit more of the shouldering of the blame to be on those guys.
08:15Alex, do you think they got any buyer's remorse on Jung-Hoo Lee?
08:18Um, no, I don't think so.
08:21I mean, look, at the very least, he's been a fan favorite here, which they needed more of.
08:26I think what they probably are going to look at at the end of the year is they probably played him too much in the first half.
08:33And that is the one thing that we don't know about him just because we saw 37 games last year.
08:38But, look, he is, we saw this with Yaz over the years.
08:41I'll go back to, I remember covering Blanco.
08:44Like, Blanco was great for two weeks.
08:45If you played him for two months, at some point you'd look up and the numbers weren't there.
08:51So, I do think it's maybe easy to point at the frame and go, it looks like he's worn down.
08:56But I do think he looks like he has worn down a little bit, especially at the end of the first half.
09:00And I do wonder, going into next year, if they will feel like maybe they need to find a few more days off and wait to keep him fresh.
09:08I also think, and it's one thing I asked Bob Melvin today just about the base running.
09:12Because of the injury last year and because he was rehabbing, basically going into spring training,
09:17they didn't work on some things that they want to work on this offseason.
09:20And he probably does need an adjustment a little bit in how he plays the game.
09:25And, you know, going the other way a little bit more, being more of a singles hitter, putting more pressure on the defense.
09:31And he's a fast guy.
09:33He just doesn't steal a whole lot or try to steal a whole lot.
09:35And I think that's going to be something that they talk to him about going into the offseason.
09:39Carson Wisenhunt sent out today.
09:42Tyler Fitzgerald recalled.
09:43Do you think that's just to get more bats up, knowing you're going to skip Carson?
09:47Would you anticipate he comes back up and makes another start in the next eight days or so?
09:51Yeah, I think this is one of those roster moves for today, when specifically they have a lefty on the mound
09:57and they didn't have another right-handed option in the outfield.
10:00So they'll get Fitz back up here and maybe keep him in that utility role.
10:04I mean, I don't know that they need both Gilbert and McRae here when they have Lee in center field.
10:08So we'll see how that goes.
10:10But I think we'll see Wisenhunt again this year.
10:13And, you know, one thing that will happen at the end of the year, again, I keep saying if it goes this way,
10:19just because they're trying to chase down a Mets team that loses every night, seemingly.
10:22So that has kind of kept them in this race.
10:25But if they do fall out of it, I do think they want to take a look at Tidwell.
10:28They want to see Birdsong again.
10:30So there are some guys they would like to see Wisenhunt again.
10:33There are some guys they would like to see down the stretch.
10:34And there will be innings because there are guys in the rotation currently who probably at some point will need to be shut down.
10:42Is Bryce Eldridge one of the people they would like to see in that scenario?
10:46I think they would.
10:48Again, they're being extremely, you know, deliberate with that one and making sure.
10:52Like, I know there are some people speculating when Wilmer hurt the hamstring and then Gerard goes down.
10:57When he comes up, he's here ideally to stay, and he is here to play every day.
11:02I asked Buster a couple weeks ago, we had him on our podcast after the deadline,
11:06and I asked him about his experience as a September call-up, and he's like,
11:09I don't know that I really got much out of it.
11:11He got like 17 at-bats over a few weeks.
11:14He didn't play a whole lot.
11:15I think he believes pretty strongly that when Bryce arrives,
11:19that he is in the lineup every day for the rest of the season when that happens.
11:22And we'll see when they get to that point, if they get to that point this year.
11:26I think right now there's no pressure because it is for as much as we talked about early in the year
11:30about Wade and first base and all that.
11:32Like, right now they have Devers and they have Dom Smith,
11:34who's been their best hitter maybe the last couple weeks,
11:36and they feel okay there, and they're totally fine with letting Bryce figure it out.
11:41And there are – the highlights are great.
11:43The power is great.
11:44He's doing a really good job.
11:45I've heard really positive things about how hard he's working defensively
11:48and how far he has come along there.
11:50But he is striking out a fair amount, and there is, you know,
11:52a way to pitch to him right now in AAA.
11:54And big league pitchers will execute on those pitches.
11:58So there's some work to be done, but they are very excited about him.
12:02And I think, you know, ideally if this keeps going this way,
12:05they would get a look at him in September.
12:07You're listening to 95.7 The Game, KGMZ FM, and HD1 San Francisco
12:11on Odyssey Sports Station in the home of the Golden State Warriors and Valkyries,
12:14always live on the free Odyssey app coming to you live from the Laughing Monk Studios.
12:18And we're talking with Alex Pavlovich of NBC Sports Bay Area.
12:21Alex Pavlovich, Landon Roop goes three innings and throws 50 pitches in AAA.
12:26Is it your understanding?
12:27Did Bob Melvin talk about whether or not he'd be ready to come up and take a turn?
12:32Yeah, he's going to be back on Friday.
12:33And he felt like he was ready, and he was their best, you know,
12:37their number three guy and really throwing as well as anybody.
12:39So he'll be back on Friday.
12:41Kyway 10 will get tomorrow's game.
12:43That was part of the thing with Woodson Hunt is he was going to be one of those two guys.
12:48And Hank threw pretty well on Friday, so he'll get another shot tomorrow.
12:51And he'll get a shot to actually start it against a pretty good lineup.
12:54Alex, I also just, you know, you think about some of the words that are coming up,
12:59especially over the last 48 hours, with regard to what fans are seeing at the ballpark
13:04and even Bo Mel saying it.
13:06It's just kind of lifeless.
13:07So what if we asked it from that perspective?
13:10It's not so much the numbers that the players are putting up,
13:13but why in your mind does this thing feel like it's just so, ugh, so vanilla, so not there?
13:23Yeah, for me that's the biggest thing right now.
13:25And I brought my son on Sunday.
13:28He's almost two years old, and he had a blast in pregame introductions
13:31because he just wanted to clap, and he was clapping along with everything.
13:34And then he had nothing.
13:36There was nothing.
13:37He's not going to clap on his own,
13:38and there was nothing to cheer about after that for the rest of the game.
13:42And that has just kind of become the case here.
13:44And, you know, I was in the stands for the first time all year and looking around,
13:47and, yeah, there have been really good crowds all year.
13:50There were 40,000 on Sunday, and they gave him absolutely no reason to cheer.
13:54And that's become the norm.
13:55For me, that is kind of the unforgivable part of this season,
13:58is being this bad at home after, you know,
14:02you started getting back to 38,000, 40,000 a game.
14:05And that is something I think that probably really annoys Buster more than anything
14:10because he talked about it in his press conference about memory making.
14:14And, look, they built some momentum early in the year,
14:17and I was stunned before the deadline when they drew 35,000, 38,000,
14:22and 38,000 against the Pittsburgh Pirates and then played the way they did.
14:27It just, for me, that was like the biggest letdown that they could have possibly had,
14:31not just because it led to what happened at the trade deadline,
14:33but because they had really built the momentum with this fan base.
14:36And they haven't, you know, it's tough.
14:38You're asking people to spend a lot of money to come here.
14:41And when people do that and they watch a game like last night,
14:44it's tough to ask them to come back over and over again.
14:46Especially when you have that kind of a disinterested product that you're seeing on the field.
14:52So what can Bob Melvin do?
14:53I know he's not a flip the spread and go crazy guy,
14:56and you've got veterans in there who should know how to get out of it.
14:59But what does a manager do, what's the solution to try to salvage something here
15:04as you get down the stretch?
15:06Yeah, you know, they've tried to, I mean, today it's a little bit of a different look with the lineup.
15:11I think some of the younger guys, maybe you see them play a little bit harder.
15:15That's what you like to see.
15:16I mean, I did like seeing at least Gilbert's energy last night.
15:19I know it didn't work out for him going into third, but I like the bravado there.
15:23But I do think I'll go back to sort of like these guys just turning it around suddenly
15:28and then starting to win some games here.
15:31I think a big part of this will be in September and getting some other young guys up here
15:35and maybe seeing if some of those guys can bring some energy.
15:37And I think it was important what happened at the deadline.
15:40It was a message to this clubhouse that, you know, you can't keep, to your earlier point,
15:44you can't keep doing this over and over again and all your friends get to stay.
15:47Like, they get traded if this happens.
15:49And Buster did not do a whole lot last offseason.
15:52I think he wanted to get a lay of the land.
15:54But, you know, he would be more active, I think, this offseason if it keeps going this way.
15:58Because it is – the energy is a big thing.
16:01And it's problematic, I think, when it feels like this happens every year in the second half.
16:06This group just runs out of energy.
16:08And at some point, you need to figure out what's going on there and who can be the spark.
16:12Alex, great stuff, man.
16:13Thank you so much for the time.
16:15Appreciate it.
16:16Congrats on the success of the book.
16:18Thank you, guys.
16:19And I will say, I heard you talk about this.
16:21Zach Renke blew me off really well.
16:23Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:24Who's the –
16:25Oh, yeah.
16:25Oh, for the – so this was recent.
16:28This was – yeah, I mean, he was – I tried to talk to him.
16:31I don't blame him.
16:32He was very actually polite about it.
16:33But it was – he was just like, yeah, absolutely not.
16:36So it was a good one.
16:38And I'm like, yeah, you don't have to talk to me.
16:40Who's not been polite?
16:42Like, what was your worst, if you're willing to go there, because it was years gone by?
16:46Like, what was your worst interaction with a pro athlete?
16:50I don't want to say who it was, because it's been very nice to me since.
16:53Oh.
16:53But early in the Farhan era – remember they made a bunch of cash considerations trades?
16:59Yeah.
16:59Yes.
17:01My editor asked me to write a story about it, and I went up to a player and asked him about
17:06the concept of getting traded for cash, and he was not having it.
17:09And just was very upset and stood up right away.
17:13And he took offense to be – you know, I may be asking in a poor way.
17:18But he's been very nice to me since.
17:20But did not – I learned, I was like, oh, yeah, guys don't like being traded for cash.
17:24So it's not a – you don't feel like you're – you got traded for something then.
17:29Dude, I'm Googling me.
17:30I'm so hard right now.
17:31I'm just Googling my face off right now.
17:35AI answered with –
17:36There was like 20 of them, so you're not going to be able to find it, because every trade
17:41was cash considerations.
17:42I know.
17:42Could it be Bravig Valera traded to Baltimore for cash?
17:48Mike Ford, Anthony Banda, Trevor Gott, Alex Young, Tyro Estrada traded for cash.
17:55Okay.
17:56Good Lord.
17:57A lot of Giants cash deals.
17:58Yeah.
17:58Good Lord.
17:59Where'd all that cash go?
18:00That's my question.
18:01Raphael Devers.
18:02Totally.
18:03Yeah.
18:03All right.
18:03Thanks, Alex.
18:05All right, guys.
18:05Take it easy.
18:06Okay, Alex Pavlovich, NBC Sports Bay Area.
18:10Don't ask him about deals with cash considerations.
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