Monday BP, 6/17

The Giants’s next off day is the 4th of July. They’re already three games into this 17-game stretch and are 2-1. Let’s consider this the most critical chunk of the season. Not only will they be playing just the NL West — four in LA, four in Arizona, at home for three against the Rockies, then four against the Diamondbacks, then three in San Diego — they’ll likely be changing up the roster quite a bit, if the recent rumors become true.

Tyler Beede and Shaun Anderson will get long, harrowing looks to determine if they can match up against the rest of the division and we’ll see if Buster Posey can get his timing back. More importantly, what’s going to happen with the roster?

In the Brewers series preview, I predicted the Giants would make a trade over the weekend. That didn’t happen, and I’ve been disgraced. My prognostications can heretofore be ignored... for all time. But it’s clear that something’s brewing, and with no trades possible after July 31st, it seems unlikely that teams would wait until then to get something done.

Even if the Giants are trying to hold out for the best possible deal, which is smart and makes sense, there’s going to be a break even point where an interested team will look elsewhere to resolve their need(s) sooner. Realistically, though, teams these days “know” what their players are worth and tend not to budge unless that exact price is met, so the possibility of bidding wars for players with expiring deals seems remote.

Now, if, like, Heliot Ramos becomes available for some reason, then that could change, and maybe a surprise team decides it’s “in it” or one even decides it’s “out” of it, complicating matters. I remember seeing something about the Reds possibly being sellers. That would be weird — they have a +38 run differential, suggesting their 31-38 record could flip in their favor over the rest of the season — and it would totally bone the Giants.

But let’s not dream of such things right now. Instead, here’s a prediction template for these next 17 games:

Giants record:
Who will hit the most HRs?:
How many times will Bruce Bochy be ejected:
How many times will a SP go at least 5 innings?:
Who will be traded?

I’ll go first:

Giants record: 6-11
Who will hit the most HRs?: Pablo Sandoval - 3
How many times will Bruce Bochy be ejected: 1
How many times will a SP go at least 5 innings?: 9
Who will be traded? Sam Dyson, Madison Bumgarner