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00:00So it wasn't just over 150,000 people who went to Oracle Park
00:05because there are others who aren't counted.
00:09Like whom? Like people in the cove?
00:11No, like people in the dugout or in the press box or those people.
00:15They count?
00:16No, they don't.
00:18They matter?
00:18They matter, yes.
00:20But they don't count?
00:21No, not those numbers.
00:22Please explain.
00:23Well, Shana Rubin, for example, covers the Giants for the San Francisco Chronicle.
00:27She was kind enough, one of the people in the dugout,
00:31well, first of all, the Giants were kind enough to allow me to bring
00:35a freaking party of 20 into the dugout.
00:3820?
00:39It was obnoxious.
00:41But, you know, he had a class from Cal Poly that we brought in there,
00:45and like they even commented to me, we had the class again this morning,
00:49and they were like, everybody in the dugout was so nice to us,
00:53starting with Tony Vitello, but also a lot of the reporters on the scene,
00:58including Shana Rubin, who joins us now on the River Islands guest line.
01:01And so I wanted to thank her for that.
01:03And as she's sitting there kind of like leaning in and maybe talking to her
01:06student or two, I'm like, why haven't we had Shana on the show before?
01:10Right.
01:10So let's do that.
01:11So hi, Shana.
01:12Thanks for coming on the show.
01:13What's up?
01:14Hey, it's good to be here.
01:15Yeah, it's been a while.
01:16It's been a long while, I guess.
01:18It has.
01:18And here we are.
01:19So let's talk this out.
01:20I was struck over the weekend by what sounds to us in our job like an angry
01:27fan base, but not a fan base that has stopped showing up because the place
01:33was jammed over the weekend.
01:35What's going on there in your mind with regard to that dynamic?
01:39A team that's struggling, but a fan base that's going to show up anyway.
01:44I know it's, I don't want to say it's confusing, but it was surprising to see.
01:48I mean, the season has been nothing short of a disappointment up until now.
01:52And maybe it's just the nice weather.
01:54Maybe the, I mean, the ballpark still hits when you're out there.
01:56It's hard to beat a nice sunny afternoon.
01:59We had two day games over the weekend.
02:01It's hard to, it's hard to beat the vibes no matter what.
02:03So I have to think part of it is that, but, and you know, the, the team delivered
02:08and returned the favor and met the energy at least against the White Sox.
02:12So, uh, you know, it's, it, I guess it goes to show that, uh, a nice day at the
02:17ballpark is still going to, going to bring people out, but I mean, you know, you
02:21got some star power there too.
02:22So maybe there's something to that.
02:23I guess a little bit of that.
02:24And then you have yesterday, I mean, Saturday and Sunday, it's like, okay, this
02:28team can hit and they can pitch and they're fun and they're winning.
02:30And then yesterday happens is, is yesterday more of a reality for this team as far
02:36as like the flaws and what is really wrong with the club?
02:40I mean, it's sort of indicative of what's been happening for a majority of the season.
02:44I mean, they had that stinker of a start against the Yankees and that kind of dug
02:47them a very deep hole.
02:49And then ever since then, they've had little peaks where they've won two games in a row
02:54and then fallen back into not being able to hit with runners in scoring position, uh,
02:58just showing a lot of futility offensively where you expect there to be at least sort of
03:03like a breakthrough or you, they show signs of breaking through and then they just take
03:06two steps forward and one step back.
03:08And it feels like that's been the story of the season, at least over the last month or
03:12so.
03:12And the steps forward are really promising.
03:14The steps forward are like, no, that's the team that they're supposed to be.
03:17That's the team we're expecting to see that you're seeing the power, you're seeing the
03:21star power show up.
03:22And especially on offense, that's on paper, they're, they're, they're strengths.
03:26Uh, and then when they take a step back, it's just, you see where the biggest concern lies,
03:32which is they can't get it together all at once and go on a winning streak.
03:36And if they ever want to get off the shine, if they ever want to get into the relevance
03:40again and division and make a fight for it, then they have to go on some sort of winning
03:45streak.
03:46They have to go on some sort of stretch where they're not always taking a step back.
03:50So that's, that it does seem like that's the story of the season.
03:53So Shana Rubin covers the giants for the Chronicle with us here, Willard and Dibbs, 95, seven
03:58the game, Shana, look, there's a lot of ways to answer this question, but if I asked you
04:02to try to zero in on what is at the top of your mind in terms of what is the
04:10biggest problem
04:12with this team, what would you say?
04:15I mean, I think the biggest problem is where the money is.
04:18The money lies in the top three players that Devers, Adamus, Chapman, Jung Huli to a certain
04:25extent, and where the money is, is not delivering where the money should go.
04:30So that it's you, I think going into this Buster Posey era, going into these next few years,
04:37it looks exactly like how a lot of the fans want the team to look, which is you're investing
04:41in a potent offense.
04:42You're investing in a team that's supposed to deliver some pop and, and be competent.
04:46And I think that the biggest, most glaring problem is that where there is all this investment
04:53is not returning on investment.
04:56And, you know, I think that there, there are plenty of other issues with roster construction.
05:00You're seeing sort of a backlog of position and they're kind of trying to chase offense
05:05where they can't get any by, you know, calling up Eldridge and Jesus Rodriguez and hoping that
05:10that kickstarts things.
05:11And it just feels like they're, they're looking for answers where they thought they had already
05:14paid to solve those answers, solve those questions.
05:17So that it feels like if I could pinpoint it to one sort of central nucleus problem,
05:24it feels like that's where a lot of their problems start is that where they're investing
05:28money is not paying off.
05:29And they invested in Bryce Eldridge in draft picks and then they called him up and it's
05:34kind of been, you know, in and out and start and stop.
05:36What do you make of the way that they've handled him so far?
05:39I mean, I think it's a little bit odd.
05:42I think that it's fair to question what's going on with Eldridge if he was ready when
05:46he came up.
05:47He seemed just about ready.
05:48But when, when, when they are talking during spring training and months prior about how
05:53they want the Bryce Eldridge timeline to look, it didn't look like this.
05:57They're saying, you know, we want to give him not a, just a soft landing spot.
06:01We want him to force the issue.
06:02We want it to be that when he comes up, it's because he's ready to be the guy.
06:05And that's just not what happened.
06:08And it was, I guess the reason made some sense, you know, you call up your hot hitter in AAA
06:13to sort of jumpstart the cold offense of the big league team, but then you're calling up
06:17to a situation where there's no real pipeline or pathway for that to happen.
06:22Positionally, there's no clear cut way for him to play every day or regularly, unless you're
06:28doing some sort of out of platoon or you're sitting Devers or Casey Schmidt and you need Casey
06:34Schmidt at this juncture to play every day.
06:35And Devers, even though he was off to a cold start, you need him to play every day.
06:38So it just, it feels like there was, I don't want to say a lack of thinking, but now you're
06:43sort of, you're coming up against a situation where you, if you're Tony Vitello, you're like,
06:49well, where do I put him?
06:50You know, it's, it's always a, you're, you're forcing a puzzle.
06:54You're forcing him to sort out a puzzle.
06:56So that's, it's just sort of a, it's an odd handling of a top prospect because first of
07:02all you want to come up and play every day, if he's, if he's up and there's no clear way
07:05for that to happen.
07:06Shayna, I would love to get your reaction to this.
07:09Jim Bowden over the weekend, apparently spoke directly to Zach Manassi and the GM of the
07:14Giants and got this quote.
07:16Zach said, quote, we are all in this together, but the lineup decisions and construction is
07:23Tony's call.
07:25I would love your perspective.
07:26Having been there every day, uh, when it comes to the Bryce issue and where guys are
07:32ending up in this lineup, is, is that your impression?
07:35Is this, is this, is this Tony's decision in the end?
07:40I mean, yeah, I think, I don't know the context of that quote in the context of that conversation.
07:45I think that would probably, uh, be helpful in determining what it means.
07:50Cause I think you look at that and it, I think a lot of people are like, well, that seems,
07:54you know, out of nowhere, not even out of nowhere, but it feels, it just, it just feels a little
07:58bit out of context because it really is.
08:00Um, I would imagine it, I mean, that's something that, that the Giants front office folks have
08:05been saying forever.
08:06They say that with Bob Melvin, they say that with Tony, it's, it's, it's more the way that
08:10I read it.
08:10And I don't know the context of the conversation, so I can't, uh, fully ascribe what's going on
08:16here.
08:16But my read of it is that yes, Tony is putting together the lineup, but I think that in the
08:23context of Eldridge, it's like, well, it's, it doesn't answer the question about, uh, what's
08:29going on in terms of the intention of having Bryce Eldridge in the big leagues.
08:33So yes, Tony is drawing up the lineup.
08:35And I think that that's in a isolated bubble.
08:38That's what Manassian was addressing.
08:40But I think that it, you know, it's, it's, it speaks to the larger problem that I was
08:44talking about earlier, which is, well, what's Tony supposed to do?
08:47He's drawing up the lineup, but he always, he has a kind of awkward roster construction
08:51to maneuver around.
08:53And he's a, not just a rookie manager.
08:55And I don't think that's an excuse for something like this, but it's, it's a, it's a little bit
08:59of a conundrum for him.
09:00So I don't, I think that it's, uh, not fair to, uh, uh, overanalyze a removed quote from
09:10a contextual conversation that I was not part of and didn't report on specifically in that
09:13situation, but having been around the team and understanding maybe how that could have
09:17come up, I imagine that the question is why is, uh, Bryce not playing every day?
09:23And is Tony, is Tony responsible for drawing up the lineup?
09:25The answer is, yeah, he is.
09:27But I think that it speaks to a bigger, uh, dilemma or situation when you talk about, uh,
09:34how to fit Eldridge into a regular lineup.
09:37That was beautifully navigated by Shana Rubin here on 95.7, the game.
09:41And I mean, to be honest, you were not there to ascribe the quote exactly as you said, but
09:46I'm just wondering about the bigger question about, you know, Casey Schmidt and left or Jesus
09:50Rodriguez and left.
09:52If you look at this roster, it's supposed to be pitching and defense, but the pitching has
09:56been shaky and the defense yesterday was really quite poor.
10:00So what's the identity of this team, Shana?
10:03Yeah, it's, it's interesting.
10:05And this one I noticed in spring training a little bit where, or not, yeah, sort of off
10:09season spring training is they, uh, the described identity of the team has always been pitching
10:15and defense and they want to play to the ballpark.
10:18And that's always, that was the strength of the team when they won all the world series
10:22and Buster's very familiar with that formula.
10:25Um, but it hasn't really turned out that way with, with this team.
10:28Um, and the money isn't really going to the pitching and defense either, maybe a little
10:32bit, but all the money is in the offense.
10:35So it, I think we're looking at that play out right now.
10:39I mean, the bullpen, there was a lot of questions about the bullpen and now those questions are
10:43becoming even bigger questions because, you know, you don't have a closer and that becomes
10:49an issue in that, uh, walk-off loss in Arizona.
10:52You're starting to see, uh, you know, the, the rotation you, you signed to free agents
10:57that, uh, you know, you don't, not entirely sure what to expect.
11:02They're either coming off in here, they're coming off sort of, um, off seasons.
11:05And that hasn't really, uh, paid off the way that you would like sort of like a flyer acquisition
11:12to pay off.
11:13And, uh, you're seeing Logan Webb, he's dealing with injuries and, and Robbie Ray's dealing
11:17with the, uh, he's not his all-star self, but he was last year.
11:20So you're seeing the, the little flaws start to, to fester a little bit with the pitching
11:25staff.
11:26And I think like, it's, it's interesting that that's supposed to be a, an, uh, identity
11:31of the team, the pitching and defense, but it's, it's been filtering a little bit, uh,
11:35to start the season.
11:36So in a perfect world, where do you think the giants would like to play Casey Schmidt?
11:42I don't know.
11:43That's a good question.
11:45Where do you like to play?
11:46I mean, I think, uh, they like that they can play him anywhere.
11:51Clearly.
11:51Um, I think that he is a, the, a quality infielder.
11:57I think that they would like to play him in the infield.
11:59I don't think they want him to, to be DH.
12:01Uh, I don't think that they would prefer to have him in left field, even though he's been
12:04pretty okay out there.
12:05Um, it's hard to say, I think it, he, he's an infielder and I think best case scenario
12:12you'd like to play, have him play in the infield, but you know, that's, uh, you're
12:17looking at the, the results of the odd roster construction when, when it comes to, oh, our
12:21hottest hitter is the guy with no actual position.
12:23What do we do?
12:24So it's just, uh, it's hard to say.
12:27It's hard to say what they would like to play, right?
12:29I mean, do you think this is headed for second base?
12:31Do you think a rise is on the team in August?
12:35I mean, it's, yeah, it's hard to say, right?
12:37He logically speaking, that makes a lot of sense that, uh, if come August and they're
12:43going with, or they're going, that he's their most obvious trade chip.
12:46He's kind of their all-star right now.
12:48He and Casey are their all-stars right now.
12:50So it just, it makes a lot of sense puzzle wise that if that's where it goes, but now
12:54there's an easy, there's an easy way to place to put him, to put Casey Schmidt.
12:58But, um, so yeah, if it's hard to say now, but it, if, if things are going the way that
13:04they're going by August, I would not be surprised if, if, uh, second base is something that, that
13:09opens up, uh, opens up to, to unplug the jam a little bit in the infield.
13:15Um, and that, that, that makes a lot of, it makes a lot of sense at this point.
13:19Shayna, great stuff.
13:20A lot of fun to have you on.
13:21Thank you so much.
13:23Yeah.
13:23Thanks.
13:24Thanks for having me guys.
13:25Okay.
13:25Shayna Rubin, the Chronicle covering the, uh, the Giants.
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