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The Giants still sit atop the standings in the North East Division with a 38-31 record.  A 19-9 May has propelled them into a strong first third of the season.  The perennial rivals, the Marauders, sit 3 games back in the standings, and occupy the last wild card spot as well.  The Halifax Heathens and Austin Desperadoes of the South Division look to be the class of the American Conference for now.

The offense remains the surprising bright spot.  The team is in the top 3 spots in nearly every category except strikeouts, and with a conference best in OBP and runs, it doesn't look like the swing and misses are a big problem for now. Angelo Mejia's rookie campaign has amassed 12 homeruns and 53 RBIs with a .296 avg and 1.5 WAR so far.  Chris Lutz sophomore campaign has an even better line with 16 homeruns and 43 RBIs with a .290 avg and a 3.3 WAR so far.

The pitching appeared to be a problem early on.  However, Danny Offen has been elevating his game as the ace of the rotation.  So far this season, he's working a 3.08 ERA and 1.05 WHIP to earn a 137 ERA+. Despite his previous start, Quito Herrera has had a good start as well with a 3.69 ERA, despite a 1.53 WHIP.  There is hope that Shevlin and Bryant will continue to improve as well.The reliever corps looks to be a bigger problem.  The acquisition of David Pruner and the steady work by middle reliever Chris Fitzsimmons may be the only thing holding the group together. Devin Wickliffe continues to have problems as closer of the Giants and now the second highest paid player on the team.  An ERA of 5.58 and a WHIP of 1.83 was highlighted by his last outing, a 5 run blowup on 3 hits and 3 walks. As one of the highest paid players in baseball, fans are counting the days to his contract expiring.

The trade deadline is coming up and the Giants seem to be in the buyers position for now.  Its clear that pitching is where they need the most help, but that position tends to increase the cost of doing business. But a third reliable reliever may be needed if Wickliffe can't get out of his own head.  And if the price is right, Offen could use any help he can get at the top of the rotation.

Once again the Giants have completed an April with a record below .500.  The loss of reliever Tommy Swift in Spring Training along with some lackluster numbers along the entire pitching staff except for people named Offen and Pruner have hampered the Giants.  The Giants took a risk in the offseason on relying on the farm to fill out losses to Caporn and Shoemaker, and it looks like the team will have to pay a high price to get better in this area or hope that some arms start performing better.

However, the team may have already shaken off the Spring Training blues.  Last season, it took until the All Star Break before the team started to put together wins and it took a near historic run just to grab a wild card spot.  The 2022 version of the Giants are already back above .500 and sporting one of the most potent offenses in the conference.  A team .430 OBP is best in the conference, with 149 walks being second best.  However, the power is there as well, with 42 homeruns, 6th best in the conference leading to a .767 OPS, 2nd best in the conference.  Chris Lutz and Keith Brosch have locked down the corner outfield spots and Angelo Mejia has completely reversed his slump and could be locking down the first base spot.

All of these players are under team control for several years. This leads us to the trade deadline and amateur draft.  Are the Giants willing to spend some money to shore up their pitching staff or are they going to continue risking and rolling the dice on rookies to turn things around.

The next couple of weeks are going to speak a lot towards what the Giants are going to look like over the next 2-3 years.

The winter season has given way once more to baseball season. The fans have been asking all offseason whether the Giants are actually contenders in the 2022 season.  Last year, the Giants organization went through a turnaround from seemingly out of contention in the first few months to making a run to the Conference Championships.

Over the offseason, the Giants offloaded starters Caporn and Haynes in favor of utilizing AAA starters that look ABA ready.  Danny Offen and Julian Bryant are back in the rotation, and Mike Wroten has received the first tryout in a crowded farm field.  With the addition of David Pruner on the backend, the hope is that the starter and reliever corps remain the backbone of the team.

The offensive side of things is a different story. Last season the team struggled to put up a consistent offense.  It wasn't until the last two months of the season that the offense was able to win games for the Giants.  Chris Lutz and Jaylen Joyner look to continue building on strong resumes in what looks like another strong outfield.  However, the infield again has several question marks.  Veteran Travis Collier has started the season on the bench in his final year of his $355,000 contract.  Forsythe and Barbone have strong starts so far, but first base is a question mark in what should be a strong offensive position.  Gregg Valentine was brought in to have a slightly more consistent offensive output at shortstop, but its been a struggle at the plate so far.

Once again the team is under .500, losing the first two series and sporting a 3-5 record. This is pretty typical for a GM JJ April, but everyone is going to question just when, or even if, this team starts its postseason run.

As is tradition for the Giants organization, the team has started to emerge from their usual ice cold April and has put together winning months in May and June.  Multiple players have had stretches of absolutely abysmal numbers such as RF Jalen Joyner with a -0.8 WAR and a .233 batting average after hitting .266 with a 4.3 WAR last year.  3B Travis Collier looks to have entered a "cold" season again hitting .205 after hitting .254 last year and would be replaced if he wasn't the second highest contract on the team.

Giants supposed ace SP Rodney Caporn who had a 3.07 ERA and a ERA+ of 127 last season finds himself in AAA after posting a 5.07 ERA and a 74 ERA+ in the first half of this season.  Rule 5 draft pick RP Eddie de Leeuw was sent back to Oakland while it looks like the Cameron Outlaw experiment is also finally over.

These are just some of the examples of the complete inconsistency that runs across the team.  But the team has slowly turned around, and it looks like a new generation is being given a chance.  SP Julian Bryant, RP Tommy Swift, and RP Tony Gutierrez have been called up from AAA in potentially permanent roles.  Julian Bryant's second start ever in the ABA was a gem, going 9 innings of shutout ball that was foiled by a lack of offense in extras.

With the calendar in July, it becomes time to ask if the team is a buyer or seller at the trade deadline.  Seeing the Giants at the bottom of the division should probably make this an easy choice, especially after recently losing 2 of 3 to New York.  However, the team is still hovering around .500 and 4 games back against the Nightmare, so a postseason run isn't out of the question.  If the Giants can go on a mini run, prior to the All-Star Break, they certainly have the assets to trade for a bat that could put the team into contention in September.

Otherwise, expect to see SP Shevlin, Haynes, Caporn and others being shopped around for picks in 2022.

That optimism that fans and players have at the beginning of spring training?  Well now we're a month into the season and reality can hit hard.  The Giants were hoping for some young prospects to pick up the slack and provide an improvement for the team both now and in future years.   But so far, the team's offensive and defensive metrics are both in the bottom half of the conference.

In the outfield, Ionut Irimia was expected to take Jeremy Moore's spot in left field while it was an absolute free for all in the centerfield spot with Colt Hickenbottom and Brendan Scrivanich splitting time.  So far the three prospects have generated a combined WAR of -0.5.   Hickenbottom looks to be sent down to AAA to figure things out while Curtis White looks like he'll get his shot in the majors.  Ionut might be given more time given his power and an OBP above .300, but with another prospect in Chris Lutz mashing in AAA after skipping AA last year, it might be a question of when to start the clock for Lutz.

The one prospect that seems to be as advertised is SP Danny Offen.  There were some concerns that his dominant two-pitch combination would lead him into the closer role, but a changeup has developed enough to disguise the 100mph fastball.  So far he has a 3-1 record and a 2.75 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP, leading all Giants starters in these categories.  Acquisition Devin Wickliffe, who had a very rough 2020 campaign with the Giants, looks to be a dominant closer again with 8 saves in 9 opportunities.

With another sub-par start, the Giants find themselves in last place in the North East Division with an 11-15 record, 5 games behind the division leading Marauders.  The Giants were swept by the leaders in mid April in convincing fashion and are 5-10 against teams with a .500 record or better so far.  The team needs to pick up the pace and fast or the front office might once again pull the plug in favor of loading up even more on draft picks.

Twas the night before opening day, and the field has been set.  26 players have made the team, and a city sleeps to championship dreams.

There were a couple of open spots on the roster that turned Spring Training into a tryout.  The front office has finally made their choices among the prospects they have, but a month from now this team could look drastically different.

One of the big moves is the #6 prospect Danny Offen earning a spot in the starting rotation.  Jon Haynes will be your opening day starter but all eyes may be on game 2 for Offen's first start in Detroit.  Reliever Tony Gutierrez will start the season in AAA, making way for Cameron Outlaw, a former first round pick who has bounced around as a AAAA player.  This could be one of Outlaw's last chances to turn his career around.  Rule 5 acquisition Eddie De Leeuw has made the active roster as well, but spring training was a rough time and De Leeuw could be on a flight back to Oakland if there isn't an improvement.  Veteran Aaron Sutton has been pushed out of the starting rotation again, and it will be a big question whether his personality will keep him on the team at all.  GM JJ has tried to retain players and Sutton has spent his whole career in Detroit, but he's definitely in the twilight of his career with a whole other year left on his contract.  This may be an unceremonial end to a fixture in Detroit baseball.

There was an open tryout for center and left field positions and its possible that no one really emerged as a clear front runner.  Colt Hickenbottom looks to have earned the starting gig but Brenden Scrivanich has a better defensive profile that may allow him to split time.  Ionut Irimia has emerged as a starter in left, batting .273, but with only 1 double and 1 home run in Spring Training.  He beat out 1st round pick Darren Gemme for the position, but Gemme's upside has people wondering if Irimia is also not long for Detroit.

The infield will look largely the same, but Ben Barbone may have taken a split position with Bill Shahan for second base.  Shahan won the starting role over Pratt in the first two seasons, but now Barbone may be the next in line.  It's also possible that Shahan will play some center field if the two rookies don't work out, allowing Barbone to start more often at second.

Overall, this roster has had some significant turnover, but its hard to say if its better than last year.  The Northeast division was one of the weakest last year, but the New York Nightmare added over 10 WAR in offseason acquisitions.  That's a lot of pressure on prospects to make up and improve upon last year's roster.

The baseball diamond is ready for some spring baseball and all eyes will be on the prospects this spring.  The front office kept the stove ice cold all offseason and only made two acquisitions this offseason, acquiring a left handed reliever Tim Lewis and a right handed reliever Eddie De Leeuw to get some depth in the bullpen.  The whole organization appears to be particularly short of left-handed relievers.

Otherwise, the organization looks like its ok with banking on the 2021 campaign with a roster that is largely unchanged from a 2020 roster that finished two games below .500.  Part of this optimism is banking on the idea that the reliever corps blowing 18 saves was an anomaly.  The team's bullpen went through an atrocious 2 months of failing to close games that the front office simply believes won't happen in 2021.  Otherwise the Wickliffe contract is going to end up being atrocious in the history books.

The other part of the equation is that the young players in the outfield and stars in the infield take a step forward as well.  Jeremy Moore was traded before being allowed to go to free agency, so a tryout is emerging between Ionut Irimia, Darren Gemme, and David Hollick.  Jalen Joyner looks to have the other spot locked down after a consistent 2020 campaign and a 3rd straight 30+ HR year.

In the infield, Travis Collier had a rebound season last year, but there has been a worrying trend of rollercoasting with his performance.  Ryan Forsythe, a former top 5 ABA prospect looks to continue building his career after a much improved 2020 campaign as well.  Bill Shahan has successfully pushed out Jesse Pratt for the full time second base position at a fraction of the salary and any improvement here would be a welcome bonus.

For some reason, without any real changes, the ABA preseason predictions believe that a Giants roster from last season that finished 2 games under .500 can win the division and improve by 12 wins.  Even Giants fans might like those vibes, but may need some more proof that this is a possible reality.  Spring Training could go a long way in showing that last year was just a fluke and the team can get back into the postseason.

It looks like the Giants front office is sticking to its guns by staying put this hot stove season.  The team had cleaned out several contracts over the past year to put itself in a good financial situation for the next several seasons.  That additional room could have opened the door for another FA acquisitions but instead it looks like they will be saving for 2023 when several players will enter arbitration or reach the last years of protected time.

This plan sounds good in theory, but is this actually a plan GM JJ has come up with?  Recently some footage has leaked from fans on social media talking to an elderly man working as a greeter at Walmart.  Soon afterwards, its revealed that this mystery person is a former GM of the league and has taken the open Hollywood Stars GM position.  Its making fans question whether the GM is even working on making the Giants competitive in 2021.

The preseason has started, and there's only one way to find out whether this Giants team is going to be able to return to October baseball.  There's a full crop of rookies looking like they will be starters, and that could be an insurmountable amount of pressure for this new roster.

This offseason was going to set the theme of the organization for the next couple of years.  Is this a front office that buys its way to a World Series contender, or does it grow one from within.  Based on the complete lack of activity since the start of the offseason, it looks like the farm is going to be the focus.

Given the talent that looks to be major league ready, the lack of activity makes sense.  The team needed starting pitching help, and it looks like there will be tryouts for half the AAA staff. Other prospects have already broken into the outfielder positions earlier last season.  Otherwise pre-existing long contracts tend to block any other move, and are serving as multi-year reminders of what bad contracts can do to a team.

It does look like the front office is making some calls for left-handed relievers.  The team has a huge hole from the majors all the way to AA in southpaw relievers.  Otherwise, it looks like ownership is happy with the team they have, making the offseason rather boring for the fans waiting for the sun to come back.

With a new year there is always some optimism in the possibilities of where a baseball team can go when the first pitch is delivered.  But for most teams, there's a brutal reality afterwards that wipes away all of it.  Giants fans are living in that brutal reality, and the front office is going to have to come to grips with the fact that the team might be significant sellers at the trade deadline.

The Giants are 4 games under in the division race, but with 2 teams ahead.  The team is 6.5 games back for a wild card and towards the bottom of the conference in record.  Before this season, there was the idea that the new young core's ceiling can only take this team higher, complimenting the established players from the previous farm callups of a couple of years ago.  Add in a sprinkle of talent from free agency in the forms of Collier, Pratt, and Wickliffe and the team looked poised for another and deeper playoff run. But at nearly every point, the team has fallen below expectations.

The most glaring example of missing expectations is in the highly touted closer in Devin Wickliffe, who signed a 5-year contract worth a total of $2,260,000 over the offseason. In a span of 8 games starting in late April, the fireballer completely unraveled, blowing 5 straight save opportunities, all of which turned into losses.  The closer he replaced, Chris Fitzsimmons, has started the year with a 2.33 WHIP, an ERA of 8.49, and a BABIP of .500.  The starters haven't fared much better either.  Longtime veteran Aaron Sutton seems to have fallen off of a cliff, posting a 6.14 ERA and 1.72 WHIP in 9 starts.

The bats aren't helping much either.  LF Jeremy Moore is another player who has fallen off, with a batting average 60 points off of his average.  2B Jesse Pratt is 50 points off of his 2019 average and no longer looks like a starter at second.  His replacement, Bill Shahan, would have been the starter had CF Mike States bat not completely disappeared, bringing down the range and defense arm of the outfield.

In previous years, some of these results were attributable to luck, as the team's hitting BAPIP was usually low and pitching BAPIP tended to be high.  The pitching staff of 2020 may still be unlucky, but the offense may be the best its going to get this year and may actually regress.

There isn't much optimism to be had right now, and some in the front office may already be thinking about the 2021 season, freeing up payroll and accumulating draft picks for the farm system.  But looking at possible trade pieces, its hard to see who gets moved to free up space aside from maybe a starter.

Maybe things change by the time the deadline comes around, but for now, the Giants need some help.

So far, the Giants front office haven't made any special splashes in this year's free agent class so far.  So far, the players off the board are all starting pitchers signed to multi-million dollar 6 year deals.  These types of deals are exactly the kind that GM JJ has tried to avoid and with a starting pitching corps that's young and cheap, picking up an established ace would have been a serious luxury, but that's not where the need is.

It looks like the front office is holding off to address more every day needs.  There's still a need for offense and back end pitching help, and it looks like the Giants are working the phones.  There's still a major closer on the FA list in Wickliffe, and some big bats are still on the market as well.  The Giants could try for another ride with Jonathan Ashley, but the .220 average was difficult to take despite another 40+ HR season from the veteran.  A couple of top rated second basemen are also available, but the Giants have Jesse Pratt and Bill Shahan already, with Shahan putting together surprising numbers over a couple of seasons.

So maybe there's one big splash possible, but for the most part, the team looks to be young and improving, and the GM would like to see how the team plays going forward.  Its even possible that the organization may try and make a deal to work on the farm instead with the sudden surplus of outfield bats and Jalen Joyner about to hit free agency.

The hot stove season has been hot and its not over yet.  The Giants have options and flexibility, but will GM JJ actually pick one this offseason.

The time to free agency is drawing closer. and the front office of the Giants organization have some tough choices ahead.  As a rule, the organization has fought hard to avoid handing out long term contracts to people.   The contract with Travis Collier is a rare 5 year deal with the Giants and its already looking questionable in its first year.  The signing of Jonathan Ashley has the hallmarks of a Giants contract, paying a premium for a 1-year deal.

But now, Ashley's contract is up, and the 37-year old wants a new one.  The 37 year old had one of his better campaigns with a 5.7 WAR and 48 homeruns, but at the same time, Ashley had a batting average of just .227, his worst of his career.  Rumors have it that that Ashley is looking for a 4-year deal at close to the annual value of his expiring contract.  Its a lot of money to reserve for someone until he's 41 years old.

Meanwhile, Andy  Shoemaker has gotten the service time to test free agency.  Shoemaker's career so far has been steady, but he hasn't been the ace that he was advertised to be when he entered the league.  Shoemaker has hit 30+ starts in the last 5 years. with 2016 being a flash of greatness with a 2.12 ERA and 166 ERA+.  But every year since its been above average, but just barely.  The rumors are Shoemaker's agent also wants a long term deal in the $400k/year range.

It may be possible for the Giants to be able to afford both of these contracts, but whether they should is the real question.  Shoemaker looks to be the better bet, with more upside as a younger pitcher.   The pop in Ashley's bat was a shock to Giants fans, but the chances that the batting average will trend back up in future years makes the long term money worth it.

We'll see how the Giants play things in the coming weeks.  The choices here will have major consequences for future player negotiations who will be leaving FA soon.

The 2019 Giants led the North East Division from start to finish, taking their 3rd division title in 4 years and 12th title in franchise history. And while the 2019 version was able to win a postseason game, breaking an 0-7 streak, the team has once again faltered in the first round. This iteration of the team has not been able to replicate the success of the 2008-2012 version which saw 3 trips to the World Series and 2 championships.

The starting pitching in the 2019 version of the Giants remains one of its brightest spots. A young core group consisting of Caporn, Haynes, and Herrera had dominant stretches throughout the year and all still have some significant team control remaining on their contracts. If the team can get a true ace in their system, this pitching core could be dominant for years to come.

The outfield is also a core nucleus of young talent hitting the major league level. Jalen Joyner sophomore year was excellent as he hit .297/.372/.542 with 35 HR's and 102 RBI's. Jeremy Moore wasn't able to reach his 2015 or 2018 offensive totals, but rookies Ionut Irimia and David Hollick were more than ready to come up to hit.

Future Hall of Famer Jonathan Ashley was going to be a 1-year flyer for the team in dire need of some power. While the average was nothing special, Ashley's 48 homeruns was a huge improvement in the DH position compared to last year. It'll be a big question mark whether Ashley's 49 homeruns will spark talks of an extension.

The reason an extension may not be possible is that the relievers and infielders are in need of significant upgrades. Ryan Forsythe's bat hasn't developed as much as was hoped, while Travis Collier's contract is starting to look like an injured albatross in just its first year. Jesse Pratt was given a big contract to play at second base and provide some contact offense, but he's looked more comfortable at first, competing with Collier and Forsythe, while Bill Shahan may have taken Pratt's spot making just the league minimum. Daniel Pinedo has been excellent as a defensive shortstop, and the team should probably thank him for his .224 batting average.

But the most impactful change the Giants could make is probably at the closer position. The Giants ending up leading the league in blown saves with 21. Chris Fitzsimmons was assigned the closer role, but the organization played that position by committee and nobody was a winner. Fitzsimmons was an adventure. He did end up with 35 saves, 7th best in the league, but had some spectacular blow ups during the season. The farm system does have some options with some above average reliever prospects, but it may be time to sink some resources to have someone actually established to take those high leverage situations.

At the end of the day, the team did make it to the postseason, so by that metric, you can look at it as a success. But the front office will be working hard this offseason to plug some pretty big holes and avoid another one and down postseason.

The Giants front office decided to stand by during the trade deadline despite having several identified needs. GM JJ was adamant that the organization wasn't going to leverage the long term future for a short term hope. This sentiment is probably born of the several years that the Giants did make a move, only to see their new acquisition go down with an injury 5 days later.

The problem is, all of those problems remains for the Giants, and the month of August was a painful one. The bullpen ERA has ballooned to 3.68, 8th best in the American Conference after starting the year at the top. Particularly bad closer Chris Fitzsimmons in between August 14th and August 24th, where he had a stat line of 5 game appearances, 3.2 innings pitched, 12 runs allowed, and 3 losses. As a team, the Giants are now leading the league in Blown Saves with 19. Reliever Chris Earley is back from injury and hopes to stabilize the situation, but for now, it may be that the Giants offense needs to avoid save situations entirely.

As a result, the team went 10-16 in August with the division lead shrinking down to 2 games over Philadelphia and 4 over Pittsburgh. The final month of the season is going to be pivotal for the Giants, who still have 7 games left against the Phantoms and 3 against the Marauders coming up.

After an abysmal May and up and down June, it looks like the Giants have turned the corner in July.  The turn of the calendar saw the team sweep the Heathens, Gladiators, and Pines while winning series against the Trash Pandas, Stars and Wild Things.  Only in the San Francisco Fire series did the Giants get swept, and that series required 7 extra innings in two of the games.

The starting pitching has been rock solid all year, with Andy Shoemaker starting to look like the ace he was purported to be when he came into the league in 2014.  His 2017 and 2018 campaigns saw jumps in ERA and a worrisome trend of allowing too many mistake pitches ending up as souvenirs.  However, since his June 7th start, Shoemaker has posted 8 straight quality starts.  His last start just before the All-Star break went 9 innings with 11 strikeouts and only one run allowed.  Whenever one starter starts struggling, it looks like another is ready to step up.

On the other side, the hitting has finally shown some electricity.  Jeremy Moore has been hitting around .300 in June and July, a stark contrast to a .202 average in May.  Ryan Forsythe has been re-elevated to the majors after vacationing in AAA and has shown signs of life as well hitting .290 in his 9 games back.  This has thankfully offset some downward trends with Pratt and Travis Collier.  Collier, in his first year of his 4-year $1.48 million extension, has had a very tough start to the season, hitting just .181 before an unfortunate collision in the 5th inning with Stars Andy Gonzalez tore a ligament in his knee.  The Collier injury continues the trend of a very underpowered Giants infield.

This leaves less than a week to potentially work out a trade to address these issues.  The Giants remain a team with a good amount of depth to utilize or trade, and another quality infielder could be what's needed after the Collier collision.  However, after the series with the Fire, finding a quality shutdown closer and potentially another left-handed arm may be the most pressing need.  Detroit has landed in the top 5 for blown saves and Fitzsimmons has had some spectacular blowups that keep people questioning his role as a closer.  One or two more quality relievers may be what's needed to get the Giants beyond their first round exit woes.

The losing streak seems to have ended for the Giants.  The team has run off 8 wins in a row against quality teams with a series win against Indianapolis, a sweep of division leading Halifax and wild card Phoenix, and a win last night against the division leading Maine Pines with Jeremy Moore smashing a 2-run walk-off homerun for the fans to enjoy on the way home from the ball park.

Jeremy Moore appears to have awoken from his offensive slumber and this last week has been an example of what the front office is hoping the corner outfielders positions will look like in the future.  LF Moore has hit .447 in the last 11 games with 5 homeruns while second year starter RF Jalen Joyner has been unstoppable all year with a .345 average and 23 homeruns.  Joyner has hit .533 with 4 homeruns in his last 8 games.  If these two continue hitting alongside the immortal Jonathan Ashley, then the Giants will stay in good shape for the season, or at least until some other hitters start finding their bats again.

The injury bug is something that always threatens the best laid plans, and it seems its the Giants turn to feel the hurt.  The reliever corps has been the best in the American Conference by ERA all year.  In the last week, injuries to Jose Contreras and Chris Earley threaten to derail one of the strength's of the team.  Closer Chris Fitzsimmons had stumbled in the last couple of weeks as well, having allowed runs 5 of the last 10 outings.  All this looks like an obvious area that can be addressed in the trade deadline that is now just 25 days away.  Before any trades happen, it looks like AAA pitchers Tommy Swift and Luis Maldonado will be getting an opportunity to close the gap.

Its getting to be decision time for the Giants front office.  The team may be good enough to go wire-to-wire with the division, but whether it has enough to go far in the playoffs will be the bigger question.

After a 21-10 start, the Giants have watched their 7 game lead in the division evaporate in the last 4 weeks.  The recent wins over the Tampa Bay Captains represents the only series win since the May 17-19 series against the New York Nightmare.

The pitching side of things remains as one of the top pitching staffs in the American Conference.  The bullpen still maintains their #1 ERA ranking at 2.25, while the starters are also in the top half of the conference.  Concerns about Quito Herrera seems to have disappeared as the astronomical 6.37 ERA in April have been countered with a 2.01 and 2.31 ERA in May and June.

Instead, the concerns are the free fall of the offense.  Veteran 1B Travis Collier's batting average continues to plummet thanks to his 8-game hitless streak.  His batting average of .156 is now 103 points off of his 2018 pace.  When the Giants acquired Collier in 2017 through free agency, Collier resurrected his career and improved his batting average from .196 in 2016 to .287 in 2017.  Collier opted out of his contract in the last offseason and just signed a new 4-year deal with the Giants.  These offensive numbers are already making fans and management queasy.

The offense wasn't designed to go through Collier exclusively, however.  3B Ryan Forsythe's struggles continue as well in his second season in the majors and there is talk of him being optioned to AAA to work on his swing.  LF Jeremy Moore is still looking to find his bat again with a 50 point deficit in the batting average as well.  The only saving grace so far seems to be in walks and the long ball.  The team is 2nd in walks at 211 so far and 3rd in homeruns with 86.  The 1-year deal to DH Jonathan Ashley may be the deal that transformed the team from a bubble team to a division contender, but without some more help, it may not be enough when the leaves start changing.

The trade deadline is suddenly a looming deadline and the Giants front office are hoping that at least one more bat shows up to play before then.  Otherwise a deal to acquire a bat could be costly and all that the team might get in return is yet another first round exit.

In a stark contrast to the start of the 2018 season, the Giants were absolutely dominant in both offense and pitching in the first month of the year, going 21-10 and entering May with a healthy lead in the North East Division.

But with the turn of the calendar, we may be seeing that feared regression that statisticians and baseball analysts love and hometown fans hate.  Two thirds of the way through May, the team has gone 11-12, getting swept by the Maine Pines and losing series to the Vancouver Mounties and Pittsburgh Phantoms.  The pitching has still gone strong with Caporn and Haynes looking like they are ready to compete for the ace of the rotation.  The reliever corps is posting the best ERA in the American Conference at 1.87.  And these strong pitching stats are in contrast to a BAPIP of .320, which could mean the pitching may be getting somewhat unlucky, although 3rd worst 21 errors in the field may explain some of the BAPIP.

The offense has gone in a different direction in May.  The batting average for the team sits at .236, 19th in the league.  Veteran Travis Collier and second year starter Ryan Forsythe have regressed by at least 70 points compared to last year's totals, which could lead to Forsythe being sent down to get his bat working again.  Jeremy Moore is another hitter who is hitting 50 points off of last year's pace.  These performances are being offset somewhat by Bill Shahan competing with Jesse Pratt at second, Jalen Joyner continuing to hit often and hard, and Jonathan Ashley's 20 homeruns, good for second in the league.  If one of these three go down before Collier, Forsythe, and Moore figure things out, then this team may not have enough gas for a postseason push.

This means that the Giants may need to acquire some outside help at the trade deadline if they want to make a serious run in the postseason. But with a couple of months left before the trade deadline, the team has some time to figure out just how lucky the team has been so far.

It was a shock for everyone when the Giants announced that they had signed contracts with Aaron Sutton and Jonathan Ashley.  Usually the organization is looking to add more draft picks, and Sutton initially rejecting the qualifying offer was another move towards building draft stock.
By February, the organization had reversed course.  Based on Sutton's falling demand price, it didn't look like a compensation pick was coming for Detroit.  And Jonathan Ashley's agent began signaling that a shorter term deal was possible.  Suddenly it seemed like there could be enough to propel the organization beyond the usual last team in, first team out that has plagued the team, if they make the playoffs at all.  Its been over 5 years since the team has won a single playoff game.  With these veterans now signed with the team, the hope was to take the pressure off of all of the younger players to perform.
So far in 2019, this strategy seems to be working.  The Giants have the fourth best record in baseball so far compared to they're abysmal start in 2018.  The offense has been above average with Jonathan Ashley leading the league in homeruns.  The offensive production in the outfield and Ashley's DH role has helped hide the lack of offense from a young Forsythe and the veteran Travis Collier.
Meanwhile, Aaron Sutton continues to be the workhorse of the starting rotation, posting a 3.23 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP.  Sutton's experience will hopefully be invaluable for Shoemaker, Haynes, Caporn, and Herrera.  The team's starting rotation is 5th in ERA while the reliever corps has done well enough in the backend,  earning 11 saves in 12 chances and having the best ERA in the American Conference.
The amateur draft is coming up and the Giants are without their first round draft pick.  With a top 5 farm system, the Giants could certainly trade up or attempt to make up the gap with some trades.  There's a logjam of outfielders and first baseman at the AAA and AA levels that could easily get dealt.  However, given the sudden "buy now" attitude, it might be that the Giants are saving trade capital until the trade deadline to address any future concerns they have.

Back in November, we published an article predicting that if the Giants were going to make a move in free agency, it was going to be through trades.  There just wasn't enough on the open market to get excited about.

Then in late January, rumors started to circulate that the Giants had changed course.

On the 18th, SP Aaron Sutton resigned with the Giants with a 4-year deal at $350,000 per year.  The 2005 1st round draft pick was still out in free agency and hadn't had much activity on the market.  As a result, the Giants reached out again to Sutton's agent to make a deal.  This deal was almost $300k per year less than what Sutton's agent put forward during the extension talks.  By January, it seemed as though the market had spoken.  Sutton has always been an innings eating workhorse, posting 8 straight 200+ innings seasons in 28+ starts.  He has always had the ability to stabilize a rotation that is otherwise filled with unproven arms, and its looking likely that this disruptive personality will make it a career only in Detroit.

Sutton's signing wasn't surprising once it became obvious that there wasn't much a market for his services.  However, just 5 days later, the Giants organization made a surprise press conference showcasing the signing of CF Jonathan Ashley.  Ashley has been a top-tier talent in the league since 2005 and looks to be first ballot hall of famer.  He leads the league in all time home runs with 553 and is top 10 in several other metrics.

Ashley has signed for a 1-year deal worth $500,000.  Its clear that this is a temporary solution until the Giants feel confident in elevating outfielders Ionut Irimia and David Hollick. Elevating either creates a problem for established outfielders Jeremy Moore and Jalen Joyner.  Its possible that the Giants will let Ashley take centerfield, but the 37 year old doesn't move like he used to and will most likely end up as a liability.  Ryan Forsythe looks to be the top 1B as well.  This leaves Ashley as strictly a cleanup DH.  Its a lot of money to tie up in a player who will only swing a bat, but the Giants organization figures with a 1-year deal that the risk is worth it.

If Ashley can continue to deliver the long ball and Sutton can keep up his numbers, the hope is that the younger players can focus on their own development rather than feel like they have to carry the team like last year.  This could be a really exciting year to be a Giants fan.

Spring Training must be just around the corner...you can just smell the optimism in the air...

The free agency period is upon us.  And it looks like if any team is going to be making moves this season, its going to be through trades.  The Giants lost Sutton in the starting rotation and some middle relief pitching, but much of this can be made up through the farm system, so its unlikely that a big splash is going to be made on the market.

The bigger problem is the lack of a true ace.  The hope was that some highly touted prospects would be able to elevate the pitching staff, but Shoemaker has regressed into a unreliable starter and Caporn hasn't matured enough yet with an uneven rookie year that had him sent down in June and August.  Another problem is the lack of a shutdown closer.  Chris Fitzsimmons was able to take the job from Chris Earley and had an excellent first half of the year, but started blowing saves late in the season, including the fateful Game 2 of the ACDS.

Another problem is at second base and is something free agency can't fix.  Jesse Pratt was signed as the second baseman of the future for the Giants back in 2016.  3 years in and his contract, the second highest on the Giants, has taken on a distinct smell.  He's been consistent as a hitter, but barely above average and not nearly as productive as his contract suggests.  Prospect Bill Shahan looks like a copy of Pratt, except massively cheaper.  Pratt looks to be more comfortable at first, but it looks like this job is going to end up with highly touted prospect Ryan Forsythe.  Pratt could end up as a DH, but a whole host of prospective outfielders with big bats may be better served in this role.

Pratt is certainly serviceable at second, but he looks like the poster child of the Giants problem in general.  Aside from the corner outfielders, the whole team looks like they are barely above average.  That may be good enough for the Northeast division, but it doesn't look nearly enough to bring back a championship to Detroit.

With the quick exit from the postseason, all eyes turned to the front office on what they were going to do to build on the momentum of this year.  Powered by a host of rookies, the team quickly rose from near lifelessness to division winners in the span of a couple of months.

No one predicted that the first thing that was done was to fire the manager.  Josh Gifford had been the skipper of the Detroit Giants for 19 seasons, had won 3 world series rings and made the playoffs in all but 6 of those seasons.  He had survived through the 2014-17 era where the team could barely manage to get to .500, so why now?  GM JJ explained that it felt like it was time for a new era in Giants baseball and that required change in the coaching staff as well.  The team has since promoted from within, giving the reins of the team to AAA manage Sean O'Leary.  O'Leary got started in the club organization as a Rookie league manager back in 2003 and has risen through the Giants organization.  Starting in 2006, he has brought his minor league team to the playoffs in every year except 3, winning AA and AAA titles in 2013 and 2018.  Some of those rookies he'll be managing in the show are the same players he was managing in the minors, and GM JJ is expecting this familiarity to translate better to on-the-field success much faster.

Back on the more expected players front, there's news here as well.  Agents for both Aaron Sutton and Travis Collier have reported that they have opted out of their contracts.  Travis Collier was expected to make around $250,000 but decided that number is no longer market value.  His two years in Detroit have been up and down so far with a .287 average and 25 homeruns in 2017 and .259 and 20 homeruns in 2018.  The 32 year old looks to be negotiating for his final big contract of his career.  The Giants organization have struggled to develop corner infielder depth in the past several years.  Attempts to sign other solutions haven't worked either so the front office felt like the stability that Collier offered, both on offense and defense, are worth the $1.48 million contract for 4 years.  The Giants organization appeared to offer more money on a year-by-year basis to reduce the initial agent offering of a 6-year deal for slightly less.  The Giants fanbase expressed relief that Collier looks to be staying in Detroit for years to come.

Aaron Sutton, on the other hand, also declined his contract option of $350k for the 2019 year.  In 2018, his $350k was represented the 19th highest paid contract in the ABA.  The 32 year old is one of the first products of the Giants farm system and during his tenure as a Giant, he has accumulated 2 World Series rings, 1 Cy Young award, and 4 All Star appearances.  In his entire career, Sutton has missed 2 weeks in 2007 with an elbow strain and a day in 2012 with the flu.  Sutton is also 10th all-time in WAR and 10th in WIP.  So the stats are all there for a reasonably big contract.  Why the hesitation?  Leaked details on the contract negotiation suggest that the asking price for the 2019 season is $456k in a contract that will go until Sutton is 36.  With the plethora of AAA prospects that look major league ready, the front office is thinking that the price for Sutton, while affordable now for the organization, would be committing too many resources against what the organization really wants to attact, a AAA super star player.  Sutton is the workhorse among a group of workhorses in the starting rotation.  With Caporn, Shoemaker, Shevlin, Haynes, and Herrera, they all have similar statlines.  Letting Sutton go and freeing up $350k is the right move in the front office's estimation.  Sutton has also been a certain kind of personality in the clubhouse that, while the team has been able to tolerate, now may be deciding that behavior is no longer acceptable.  It'll be a tough pill to swallow, but the Giants hope that this is the right move for signing a better replacement down the road.

It was a very quick series against the Tampa Bay Captains, and the Giants had breakdowns in nearly every aspect of the game.  Game 1 starter Andy Shoemaker was rocked and only made it through 3 innings before getting pulled in what became a 12-7 rout to start the series.  Aaron Sutton actually delivered a stellar 8 inning performance giving up just one run, only to watch closer Chris Fitzsimmons completely unravel, eventually giving up a 2-out game winning grand slam, the dream of every baseball hitter.  Finally in Game 3, the Giants simply looked like they folded at home, with Shevlin giving up 4 runs early, errors by rookies Forsythe and Shahan, and not enough offense to make up the difference.

In the end, it was the expected outcome from the Northeast division, which still is maintaining a reputation of being one of the weaker divisions in the league.  Despite some better than average metrics, nothing stood out as being dominant when coming up against teams like Mexico City, Phoenix, or Tampa Bay.

So the season is over for Detroit.  Despite the abysmal performance in the postseason, I think most fans would consider it a success.  The Giants were at least back in the postseason after missing in 2017.  This year marked a 12 win improvement over the last year and the first 90+ win season since 2013.  The team was below .500 until July before posting 4 straight months of .600+ baseball.

This offseason is going to be interesting for the Giants as the range of what this team could be is unbelievably wide.  If you are a believer, then you have a lot to be excited about in the up and coming rookies that look to be major league ready.  Jalen Joyner's rookie season was exactly what you hoped for. 160 games played, .293 batting average, 34 homeruns and 101 RBIs, and an arm in the outfield to keep runners honest.  He's a perfect compliment to Jeremy Moore, now in his 4th full season, hitting .272 in 151 games with 36 home runs, 112 RBIs, and a 4.3 WAR.  Ryan Forsythe came on to the team in August, and instantly became a hit, slashing a .337/.409/.594 in August before cooling down in September.  Even Bill Shahan, in what was supposed to be a temporary replacement for Jesse Pratt's injury, ended up hitting .293 in 76 games.

But if you look at September and October performances, you can see the low end of the range for this team.  The reliver corps completely collapsed under pressure during the postseason.  Chris Fitzsimmons had a 90% save percentage in the first half of the season, but completely unraveled in the second half.  The starting corps was also a big uncertainty all year.  Top prospects Rodney Caporn and Cameron Outlaw were unable to maintain their starting roles throughout the year.  Outlaw was only able to make 7 starts with a 6.08 ERA going 2-4.  Caporn made 20 starts and had a bright spot in June and July, going 5-0 in that stretch with 0 earned runs in June.  However, in May and August, the left-handed looked lost and outmatched.  Only Dave Shevlin and veteran Aaron Sutton could be relied on throughout the year.

This inconsistency showed with the hitters during the postseason as well.  Forsythe's average dropped almost 100 points in September and he was only able to get 1 hit in October.  Veteran Travis Collier was hitless in the postseason.  Jeremy Moore's average dropped 130 points in September and he had 1 hit in the postseason, although that 1 hit never touched the ground.

Its this maddening range that will make it difficult for the front office to plan for during the offseason.  This team looked absolutely dominant at times.  And then there are times where everyone needed to be replaced.  There are some certainties however.  It is looking likely that the Giants will not extend SS Jon Rouse's contract.  Despite some bright spots, Rouse wasn't startable at shortstop and his hitting became too inconsistent.  Despite being a fan favorite, at 36 and showing his age, the Giants will be freeing up about $250k in contract space.  Up to half of the reliever corps may also not get extended.  The AAA team had the best bullpen ERA and its probably that many of those pitchers may end up in Spring Training competing for a job in the show.

For now, the baseball world is watching the postseason, but the Giants front office is getting the stove ready for the offseason.

Despite a losing 3 of 4 against the Marauders and 2 of 3 against the Gladiators, the lead that the Giants had built in July and August was simply too large for the Marauders to make up.  The 92-70 record ended up good enough to take the division with a 5 game advantage.

The record was not good enough to get home field advantage in the upcoming 5-game division series against the Tampa Bay Captains, and the Giants are in need of any advantage they can get.  During the month of September, the offense looked like it disappeared.  Jeremy Moore was batting .220, Forsythe had cooled off and was hitting .245.  Pratt and Shahan were the only players hitting well in September for the team.  Also alarming, Aaron Sutton had an ERA of 4.58 and Andy Shoemaker had an abysmal 5.79 ERA in September.  For the presumptive #1 and #2 starters in a playoff series, this is a very bad sign if the Giants want to make some noise in the postseason.

The Giants will have to find a way to solve Tampa Bay's pitching, which was ranked 2nd in ERA and 1st for reliever ERA in the division.  Ben O'Halloran's September ended with a 2.06 ERA in 3 starts, while Albert Fabian notched a 2.98 ERA.  If the Giants can break through against either of these pitchers, then they might have a chance to advance to the conference championships.

With just two weeks left in the season, the Giants have an eight game lead over Philadelphia.  With the Marauders in town for the next four days, this series can end the division race right now, or could make things extra spicy with not many games left.  The Marauders represent the closest team in both the division and the wild card race, so for now that represents the line into the postseason.

The Giants have continued their second half resurgence, with September's winning percentage on pace to be above .650.  However, most of these wins are not against playoff bound teams.  In June, July, and August, the Giants played against Sandusky, Mexico City twice, Indianapolis, Tampa Bay, San Diego, Vancouver, and Boston.  The Giants fell short with everyone except Mexico City and Boston.  The North East conference has been seen as one of the weakest in the ABA, so despite Detroit's success, whether its real or simply preventing a bad team from getting good draft picks is still a question mark.

The acquisition of Quito Herrera at the trade deadline has been a huge contribution to the team's starting rotation.  Since coming to the team, Quito is 4-0 in 6 starts with a 1.43 ERA.  In his last two starts he's recorded 22 K's.  Walks are still a problem but for now, the 24 year old has been a boost to the rotation.

On the hitting side, Ryan Forsythe seems to be crashing back to earth with a 5 game hitless streak until yesterday.  His bat helped helped sustain an extended offensive burst for the Giants and for him to get ice cold prior to the playoffs would be a huge hit for the team's chances to make a deep run.  If the offense starts faltering now, there could still be some disappointing golf in store for Detroit in October.  You can feel a chill in the air now, and as the Stark's always say, "Winter is Coming".

There were still a bunch of unknowns when the Giants traded for SP Quito Herrera rather than selling. If the team's sudden surge suddenly disappeared, there was going to be some issues in the front office. It seemed like the 2018 season was riding on the back of a couple of rookies, one of which hadn't yet made his debut.

The fans were already introduced to RF Jalen Joyner, who won the starting job in right field in spring training this year. His rookie season has been a stabilizing force for the team, batting .300 with 29 home runs so far this year and leading the team in most of the offensive metrics.

The other anticipated rookie was 1B/3B Ryan Forsythe. Despite a solid spring training, the #3 prospect in the ABA went back to AAA to make room for veterans. By midseason, with Jon Rouse's defense struggling and a trouble with steady corner infield power, the organization simply couldn't wait any longer. Forsythe responded by mashing 3 home runs in his first 2 games in the majors. While the power may have vanished for a bit, with just 2 home runs since those first two games, Ryan has maintained a .333 average and an OPS of 1.033 so far. Offensive numbers paired with better than average first base play has led to the team finally having stability at the corners.

Losing 2 of 3 to San Diego and Vancouver does raise some concerns on whether this success is sustainable, particular during any postseason run. But at the very least, the Giants are doing what they need to do to get there, beating the teams they know they can. The Giants have now run an 8 game winning streak and an 11-5 August, opening a 6 game lead over the Philadelphia Marauders for the division. The run has been so good that Jon Haynes has blamed Philly for his food poisoning scare he suffered earlier this morning. While everyone is pretty sure that was in jest, the Marauders have yet to comment on the issue.

At the trade deadline, it was a question of whether the Giants would be buyers or sellers.

Now we know. The Giants front office believes in this team.

In the hours before the deadline, the Giants pulled the trigger on a trade sending AA prospect SP Dave Harvey and AAA prospect CL Taylor Motyl to the San Francisco Fire in exchange for SP Quito Herrera. Harvey is the 43rd best prospect in the ABA, sporting a 2.51 ERA in 21 starts with 85.7% of those starts being quality starts. Taylor Motyl has pitched in 19.1 IP with a WHIP of 0.98 and an ERA of 1.86.

For the new acquisition, SP Quito Herrera, has started 21 games, with a record of 4-8. The 4.35 ERA and 1.31 WHIP might not be much to write home about either, and certainly doesn't look like a season altering acquisition for the Giants playoff hopes. However, with pitching as a whole down in the league, a Giants starting corps looking like they go on vacation from time to time and a top tier reliever corps with holes that need improvements, Quito provides a lot of depth options. His numbers are practically interchangeable with Shoemaker, Haynes, and Caporn, all of which may be going on vacation at some point before October.

But the biggest acquisitions didn't come from other teams. RF Jalen Joyner is making a strong case for rookie of the year leading the team with a .311 average and a .558 slugging% with 23 homeruns. And now 3B Ryan Forsythe has made it on to the team with a bang, hitting a homerun in his second at bat and 3 HR's in the first two games. While he has cooled off. the rest of the offense has picked up steam, moving from below average to average in nearly every stat category. The front office clearly thinks that these rookies can push the team into playoff contention.

Its August now, and the Giants are 2 games ahead of the Marauders and 3 ahead of the Whistlers for the second wild card spot. The fans are hoping for a fun ride now and dreams of glory in October, once again.

The last article, detailing that things were not working, occurred on May 4th and at the time, the Giants were 30% favorites to get a playoff spot. True to the predictions, the team would continue to trend downwards.  By June 4th, the team's playoff odds had fallen to 7% and the calls to dump players, coaches, everything were getting louder and louder.

Now the team is just a couple of weeks from the trade deadline and suddenly thrust into 1st place in the AC Northeast division with a 3 game lead over the Marauders.  Could this team be buyers at the deadline looking to make a run instead?  Or is this the mirage that leads to a middling draft pick and golfing a bit too early in October?

Looking at the schedule since mid-June, the Giants accumulated series wins over the rebuilding Cleveland Wild Things and Austin Desperadoes, but have also picked up wins against the division leading Oakland Invaders and Mexico City Aztecs along with division rival Pittsburgh Phantoms.  These wins plus a seemingly weak division may make a run to the playoffs plausible.

The performance of the team has picked up as well.  The pitching staff was ranked in the bottom half in almost all categories in the conference.  Suddenly the bullpen ERA is the second best while the starters have moved up several places as well.  SP Aaron Sutton's 11 scoreless innings in his 3 hit shutout against Mexico City may be the best of his career and is emblematic of a pitching staff living up to its potential.

Even the offense has gained a couple of ranks, although they remain in the bottom half of the conference in all categories.  Rookie RF Jalen Joyner had a big June hitting .337 and an OPS of 1.016.  Jon Rouse was forced into playing second base once it was revealed his range just wasn't there anymore, and his hitting has picked up as a result with a .357 average and a .997 OPS in July.  More importantly, fewer tough plays has led to fewer injuries as well.

So if the Giants are buying, where are the targets?  Somewhere in the offense is the obvious choice, and it could be no harder than finding a true DH rather than filling the role with a backup/journeyman.  A lot of pieces can be moved around to make room for a DH, in which case a corner infielder could be a target.  Finding a more capable defensive replacement at shortstop may also be possible.  The answer could actually be on the pitching side, however. Finding another mid-level reliable reliever or a 3 through 5 starting pitcher for depth may be more valuable for a stretch run.

At any rate, its looking more and more like the fans will be have meaningful baseball beyond the trade deadline, and that's always a good thing.

With over a month complete and a 15-17 record to show for it, its clear that the opening day roster wasn't working the way the front office was hoping for.  The question in May is what is the Giants organization is going to do about it.

Pitching is still suffering throughout the league after a period of about 5-7 years of dominance, and it appears to have affected the Giants staff more than most.  This year there was a lot of hopes pinned on prospects Rodney Caporn and Cameron Outlaw to hold down the bottom half of the rotation and realize more of their potential as the season goes on.  However, Caporn's WHIP of 1.37 is still too high to be considered effective and Outlaw's been hit around several times and most likely is headed back to AAA to hopefully develop further.

Even the mainstays of the rotation are having a difficult time.  Aaron Sutton has a decent 3.18 ERA but his 1.37 WHIP would be the worst of his career.  The former #6 top prospect, Andy Shoemaker, has a WHIP of 1.54, also a career worst.  Jon Haynes isn't doing much better.  Some of this is probably bad luck as the team's pitching BABIP is a whopping .347, second worst in the league to Syracuse @Quinn-ABA-Scorpions's astronomical .360 BAPIP.  However, the team may not have time to wait for the bad luck to simply resolve itself.

Shockingly, the reliever corps is holding up despite all of the duct tape being used.  CL Chris Fitzsimmons is 7-for-7 in closing out games and is leading a group that's 2nd in the conference in Bullpen ERA.  There's possibilities to score some cheap improvements here as well.  If there's a silver lining, its that there are plenty of ways for the pitching to improve quickly and decisively.

The batters are a different story for the Giants.  When the Giants signed SS Jon Rouse to a 3-year extension, they knew they were getting a future hall of famer in his twilight years.  And just like the past couple of seasons with Luis Soto, it looks like the sun may have slipped below the horizon for Rouse.  Offensively, Rouse is looking behind in most at-bats, with a .215 average and an OPS of .578.  His fielding has dropped off as well.  At a position that covets range, Rouse's ZR is currently at -5.2.  The front office has already announced that a reshuffling of the infield is coming up as they try and mask Rouse's defense at second base for a while.  This move would push Jesse Pratt to first base, put Collier back at third, and place the defensive minded Daniel Pinedo at shortstop, and hopefully stop more hits and prevent more runs.

In the outfield, its simply a matter of getting some bats going.  Rookie RF Jalen Joyner has been a nice addition, hitting .283 and leading the team in homeruns with 8.  He's been the impact player they were hoping for when they drafted him in the first round in 2015.  His counterpart, LF Jeremy Moore, has been slumping, hitting .239 so far this season.

If things go well, the infielders defend better and get on base, while the outfielders hit them home.  While there have been some glimpses of this, there's been nothing consistent yet to say whether this team can be competitive this year.

Spring training is upon us, and the while the offseason was cooking for most other teams, the Detroit Giants seemed content to stand by this year. It certainly wasn't out of a lack of trying. The free agent market this year seemed lackluster and the few stars on it ended up going for far more than what the Giants organization felt was prudent.

Instead, the Giants appear to be ready to latest crops from the farm grow into the organization. The only big move by the Giants was to let several players hit the free agent market and to trade a reliever for a 4th round pick. In its commitment to stay as one of the primary minor league systems in the league, the Giants have accumulated 5 picks in the first 2 rounds and 11 picks in the first 5 rounds.

This makes it an interesting year for spring training. There are 1-2 spots on the rotation available along with potentially every role in the bullpen. Highly touted prospects Rodney Caporn and Cameron Outlaw will be looking to finally solidify their roles in the majors.

In the field, the Giants parted ways with Luis Soto to free up an outfield roster spot. However, the rise of prospects Jalen Joyner, David Hollick, and Ionut Irimia are going to lead to some interesting decisions. 26 year old Jeremy Moore is still around as well. With so many outfielders, its possible someone will end up spending time at first base. This is bad news for Jose Paz, who may be trying to stay relevant after flaming out in the role the last several seasons. Another question mark will be on the backup shortstop. Its another year of Jon Rouse at short, but seeing that he hasn't completed over 80 games in the last 2 seasons means that an alternative plan needs to take shape.

Its going to be interesting to see who shines this spring training and who falters. And that's just what's happening on the diamond. There are still possibilities that the front office is still working the phones to make another deal before the start of the season.

This year more than most, it seemed as though there were several open position that needed to be filled compared to last year.  The loss of LF Luis Soto, SP Alex Alvarez, and a bevy of relievers have left gaps that the front office decided not to spend on during free agency.  That has meant that spring training has been an open competition to see who wanted to be on the opening day roster. With the surviving starters about to take some reps for the first time, we've gotten some clarity on who is likely to make the opening day roster.

Starting in the outfield, there was an open competition for Luis Soto's position and several highly touted prospects looking to make a name for themselves.  For Ionut Irimia, the 2016 1st rounder has made it clear that some more time on the farm is going to be required.  David Hollick had a very slow start but finally had some good games to get to a .279 avg.  However the clear front runner has been Jalen Joyner who has been consistently hitting around .306 with a .583 slugging %.

At centerfield, the team is hoping to get good defense and any sort of production from CF Mike Beavers.  So far in four games, Beavers is batting a .100, while his competition, prospect CF Colt Hickenbottom has turned in a .222 average so far.  Beavers's defensive metrics may be enough to keep his starting job for now.

Jose Paz still struggling to hold down the first baseman job, batting .167 and remaining incredibly inconsistent.  Travis Collier has made it clear that he can play both corner positions, so there is some flexibility if a change has to be made here.  3B Casey Schulthess has made a good impression this spring training with a .289 average and .658 slugging%.  There was some talk about converting one of the three prospect outfielders into a first basemen to get the offensive production, but given the results so far, it looks like any new corner infielder will have to come from somewhere else.

On the pitching side, the organization has been holding their breath hoping that top prospects Rodney Caporn and Cameron Outlaw can start games this season. So far they have not disappointed, making a combined 9 starts and hovering around a 2.35 ERA and a 10+ K/9 rate.  Caporn has looked especially good with a WHIP of 0.86, but the 3.3 BB/9 may give management a pause.  For relievers, its looking like it will be a free for all.  With such a limited dataset, there are going to have to be a lot of decisions made, and no one has stood out as a dominant shutdown arm.  If the Giants are buyers at the deadline, this is where the attention will be.The start of the 2018 campaign is just around the corner and there are some prospects who look to be ready to make a name for themselves on the major league squad.  However, its still going to be a question as to whether there's enough talent here to make a run, or if this is yet another "not rebuliding" rebuilding year for the Giants.

At this point, the Giants are 14 games back in the division and 12 games back in the wild card race with 29 games to go.  This effectively requires an epic collapse of someone or several teams followed by an epic turnaround by the Giants.  The mood in the clubhouse would tell anyone that this is probably unlikely.

Hope appears lost for the 2017 season, and yet there is still some things to look forward to in the final month of the season.  But in order to see it, we'll have to go down to the farm where several prospects on the AAA Walnut Park Bobcats look to be making a case for joining the 2018 Giants roster.

In the 2015 and 2016 drafts, the Giants have taken several outfielders in the first round and its looking like that group may already be ready to play in the show.  22 year old RF Jalen Joyner was having a tough time in AA hitting only .228 in 103 games, but after being promoted to the AAA squad, he's been mashing the ball, hitting .281/.393/.663 with 9 HRs in 24 games.  RF Ionut Irimia has also just joined the AAA team, hitting .311/.410/.584 after posting similar numbers in AA all years.  In AA, LF David Hollick, the third outfielder in the prospect group, is ready to move up as well, hitting .317/.391/.601 leading AA in HRs with 31 while saying in 4th in batting average and RBIs.

On the pitching side, SP Rodney Caporn and SP Cameron Outlaw are both making a case to join the starting corps.  Caporn is has a 2.57 ERA with a .093 WHIP with an 11-4 record and is 4th in AAA in strikeouts.  Outlaw has posted a top 5 ERA at 2.02 with a 0.97 WHIP.  SP Julio Castrejon is also having a good year, with a 2.62 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP posting an 8-4 record.

Now with the ML rosters expanded, it'll be interesting to see who gets the callup for an extended tryout.  The outfield situation will be especially interesting given how many prospects are available and the fact that LF Luis Soto's contract is most likely not going to be extended.  However, RF Jeremy Moore still is a standout himself and the Giants still have over 2 years of team control left.  Barring injuries, it'll be a question of how to make room for some of this talent going forward.

It may not be exciting postseason talk, but the future still looks bright for the Giants organization and farm system.

With the Giants over 12 games behind the surging Pittsburgh Phantoms and falling fast in a crowded wild card race, the front office decided that leveraging the top farm system in the league for a short term boost wasn't worth it, probably to the dismay of fans.

Back in June, the attitude in the Giants organization was quite different.  The Phantoms were still within range, the wild card was reachable, and it felt like one additional bat was all that was needed.  And then Jon Rouse got injured (again).  Then Jeremy Moore got injured.  And that is when the losing began.  When the damage was done, the record in the June-July stretch was 20-31.  It was the difference between competitive and not, the difference between buying and selling.  Both Rouse and Moore are back and are hot to start August, but they were not joined by anyone for a playoff push.

Instead the Giants sold off RP Brad Hower to San Diego and possibly more concerning got rid of a top 30 prospect in SP Donnie Marcus to the Oakland Invaders.  However, the haul back was considerable with 2 second round draft picks, a 5th, a 6th, and some prospective arms in SP Jose Paredes and RP Lee Maher.  Paredes won his first start for R league Haviland going 7.2 IP allowing no runs with Maher finishing the last 1.1 allowing no runs to seal a team shutout.

The farm system for the Giants remains fully stocked, and this September could be very interesting when rosters expand.  Several players may be looking to make a name for themselves, while the organization will have pieces to play with to perhaps become competitive in 2018.

After a 17-10 May, the Detroit Giants have slowed down somewhat, starting June with a .500 record.  The team is still atop the Northeast division standings, but the margin between first and last is just 4 games.

The trade deadline is still a month and a half away, but injuries to key players may force the Giants to act now to stay competitive.  The 5th starter, SP Miguel Gutierres, started having a muscular issue in is throwing arm and may not be back until late August.  It was thought that their were several options of ML ready starters ready to go from Walnut Park, but SP Cameron Outlaw was injured while SP Rodney Caporn and SP Dave Shevlin have struggled at this level.

Meanwhile potential hall of famer SS Jon Rouse remains a broken man.  He had just recovered from an ankle injury from April to play in two games before again landing on the IL list with a hip issue.  There are defensive replacements ready, but its difficult to replace his .296 batting average.  The bigger blow to the offensive is RF Jeremy Moore's sprained ankle.  His offensive production has jumped from last year, with a 50 point batting average increase and more home runs than the entire last season.  While only a 3 week injury, the combination of Moore and Rouse going down could hamper how the team performs in the run up to the trade deadline.

This could mean that the front office makes a move well in advance of the trade deadline.  There are already rumors that some preliminary conversations have been happening and that there are certain targets the team looks to go for.  However, if the replacements can hold the line and the lead in the division, maybe the second best farm system in the league can be a team asset rather than a trade asset.

For those remembering the question from the last article, the answer was "small sample size".

After losing the first 8 of 11 contests of the season, the Giants leveled out and started climbing.  The team finished 16-11 in April and 17-10 in May, keeping them in the race for the top of the Northeast Division.  It looks like it might be a dogfight all season for the division with every team so far above .500 and within striking distance.  The Giants are 5-2 against the Philadelphia Marauders, 4-3 against the New York Nightmare, and 5-5 against the Pittsburgh Phantoms and will look to expand on those records to keep hold of the division.

With a tight division race going on and no dominant team in the conference like last year's Mexico City Aztecs, it may be time to start thinking about what the team should be adding to get an advantage down the stretch.  There's still some time before the trade deadline, but its clear there are some areas that could be improved upon.  Its been tough to watch when a Giants left fielder is up to bat between Luis Soto's decline, Ernesto Villagomez's bat, or Tyler Beem not being in the lineup a bit more often.  With Jeremy Moore's ability to play left or right field, the Giants could go looking for an upgrade for a corner outfielder.

Another area of improvement would be another infielder.  Jesse Pratt provides a stabilizing factor at second base, and Travis Collier is showing some signs of life compared to his 2016 abysmal campaign.  But Jon Rouse is again heading to the IL, taking his .296 average and .583 slugging out of the lineup for another month.  Daniel Pinedo will move to shortstop and defensive 3B Artus Fleming moves back in, drastically lowering the offensive power of the team.

With the amateur draft concluded, the Giants used their first round pick on 1B Angelo Mejia, a big bat who was hitting .326 with 62 home runs in 120 games at Jserra Catholic High School.  The fact that the front office didn't draft a pitcher until the third round (SP Dave Harvey) had many fans surprised given previous draft runs, but many mock drafts felt that this year's draft was very offensive-heavy.

We are just 11 games into the season and that optimism that fans go into opening day with has been very quickly replaced with barely restrained panic.  The common phrase used in this scenario, "small sample size", sounds more like a very weak hope than a standard statistical phrase.

Is it time to panic?

Last year, the Giants were in a similar position.  A terrible start plagued the team for the first two months, almost leading to a selloff in May.  But by the trade deadline, the Giants had rocketed to first place with an insurmountable lead and took the division.

However, last year the Giants always had an above average starting rotation anchored by veteran Aaron Sutton and rising ace Andy Shoemaker.  It was the offense that looked like it was simply unlucky with a very low BAPIP that corrected itself.

This year, another slow start, but now every aspect looks like the definition of dumpster fire.  The offense is starting slow, yet again, ranking near dead last in almost every offensive category. Newly signed Travis Collier has started with a .211 average and .286 OBP.  Jeremy Moore is at .214 average and .298 OBP.  The hopes that Luis Soto's previous year was an aberration is fading with a .100 average and .182 OBP.  With a team BAPIP of .296, its entirely possible that this is the best we can hope for.

But the real story is the pitching.  The team has the worst ERA in the league so far at 6.24.  The team has given up 24 home runs so far, just over 2 per game.  Andy Shoemaker has the worst ERA of the starters in 2 starts with a 9.64 ERA.  He's allowed 5 HR's in 9.1 innings of work.  Last year, he allowed 15 in 220.2 innings.  Dave Shevlin allowed 3 HR's in the first inning in his last start after allowing 2 HR's in his first start.  Pick any other pitcher and its the same story.  The only possible saving grace is that the BAPIP here is .385.  For context, the worst BAPIP in the last 5 years is .315, so it seems like the team is horrifically unlucky so far.

Maybe the team gets better soon, but until that time, broadcasts should be rated R to make sure the kids aren't watching this horror movie. 

It's the start of a new day for the Detroit Giants organization as the 2017 regular season begins today.

During the offseason, the Giants focused on making moves to help out with the offense.  The free agent pool was far shallower then most years, but the Giants scored one of the few bright spots in 3B Travis Collier.  This acquisition could provide some serious stability to either corner infield spot.  This second overall draft pick from 2006 has several above average seasons under his belt, but his 2016 campaign left some question marks with a sub .200 batting average.  Both the Giants and Travis hope that an offensive turnaround is in the future for 2017.

Otherwise, the Giants remained quiet throughout the offseason, even skipping the massive firesale that the Cleveland Spiders had to undergo following their financial hardships.  As usual, the front office is hoping that the 2nd best farm system in the league will have new crops ready for the big show this year.  SP Aaron Sutton and SP Andy Shoemaker remain as the workhorses of the rotation, but things get murky past that.  Jon Haynes and Dave Shevlin look to retain their spots for now as the only right handers, but Miguel Gutierres may give way to a prospect if he falters.  Prospects Rodney Caporn and Cameron Outlaw are getting anxious to prove they belong in the majors.

For a reliever corps that has been struggling of late, this offseason brought few changes.  The front office reacquired Chris Cowen from free agency, but this looks to fill in yet another middle relief spot.  The team is desperately missing a true shutdown closer in the 9th and it might be that trading is the only way to get one.

Despite the few changes to the roster, the expectations going into the year are vastly different.  The fans were clearly expecting a full rebuild to begin last year, and almost got their wish in May after a particularly brutal stretch of baseball.  Instead, the team did just enough to get to the division title.  This year there is no rebuild talk, just heightened expectations for everyone to play to their potential like they started to do in the second half of last year.

Just like every other opening day...hope springs eternal.
Play ball!

Most teams and fan bases would consider making the playoffs a sign of a successful season.  And yet, looking at this team, there isn't much else that would signify that this team was a good one.  The 2016 Giants went 82-80, the first above .500 team since 2013, and just a three win improvement over the previous year but the batting average dropped from .240 to .233 and the ERA actually went up 40 points.  These numbers seem to look more like continued mediocrity and that someone had to win the AC Northeast Division.

The starting pitching corps remains one of the bright spots of the team.  SP Andy Shoemaker dropped his ERA from 3.02 to an amazing 2.12.  SP Dave Shevlin improved as well and Miguel Gutierres was a nice surprise to the front office, allowing prospects like Rodney Caporn and Cameron Outlaw to keep on their development.

But that's generally where the good parts end.  The reliever corps was a mess with Brad Hower and Chris Fitzsimmons splitting time in the closer role and both converting on around 80% of save opportunities.  The bullpen as a whole finished with an 11th best ERA of 3.40.

The offense as a whole was terribly inconsistent.  The first 2 months the Giants were on a historically bad pace.  Finally around June and July the team's offense was able to get off the ground.  But there are some serious question marks for the offseason.  LF Luis Soto was unsuccessful with his fight with the Mendoza line and eventually lost his starting job. There's still a year left in Soto's contract.  1B Jose Paz was sent down to the minors after losing 60 points off of his last year's average.  Even RF Jeremy Moore's batting average fell by 30 points, losing 50 points off of the OBP.  Up and down the order the results are similar.

The offseason has to be devoted to making the offense better by any means possible.  The farm system may not be ready yet to produce major league hitting, but the emergence of DH Jeremy Sheffield was a nice surprise and gave the team a nice boost with a .310 batting average and a .364 OBP in his 67 games with the team.  It may be a year or two before the next group of prospects like RF Jalen Joyner are ready.  The list of upcoming FA's also looks rather sparse for upgrades to the team.  This could mean that the 2016 Giants will simply have to be better in 2017.

On April 27th, StatsPlus gave the Giants a 14% chance of making the playoffs.  The team was so abysmal at the time that had the GM not been sick, panic selling would have gripped the roster.  Instead, the front office placed their faith in the team and that their depressingly low batting BAPIP would correct itself.  After a 15-11 June and a stellar 19-5 July, the Giants had made it back to .500 and more importantly, taken the division lead in a division that was struggling as a whole.

Although making the postseason should always be a cause for celebration, the performance of the 2016 roster sends more of a "someone had to win the division" message.  The pitching was certainly above average, which is the standard for GM JJ.  SP Andy Shoemaker's third full campaign was stellar with a 2.12 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. SP Aaron Sutton remained a workhorse for the rotation while SP Jon Haynes and SP Dave Shevlin continued to show promise. SP Miguel Gutierres was supposed to be holding a spot for a pitching prospect, but instead posted a 3.14 ERA and 1.14 WHIP, excellent numbers for a 5th starter.

The reliever corps was more of an adventure.  Combined, the Giants relievers blew 18 saves, 5th highest in the league.  The team bullpen ERA is 11th in the conference.  If the starters didn't have the most complete games (12) and 3rd most quality starts in the league, then its likely that this article would have been about the offseason.

By far, the aspect that's holding this team back is the inconsistent offense.   The team has been in the bottom half of nearly every offensive category since the start of the season.  LF Luis Soto's battle with the Mendoza line has gone on all year and cost him his starting spot.  RF Jeremy Moore lost 50 points off of his OBP from last year.  SS Jon Rouse was only able to play in 57 games and is 80 points off of his career average.  The rest of the players never were expected to contribute much to begin with.  Its pretty clear that if the offense stays this mediocre, then the postseason is going to be quite short.

But if just a few more players can join DH Jeremy Sheffield's offensive output and the starting pitching remains dominant.  Maybe, just maybe the Giants can make it to the promised land, starting with their series against Grand Haven in the ACDS.

Its the postseason. Anything can happen.

There was a last minute flurry of calls between the Giants front office and the Dallas Dragons over one of the top players in baseball.  Dragons GM Jonathan had been shopping around middle infielder Chris Bryan for a while.  The Giants need was focused on acquiring a third baseman that would be an upgrade to Artus Fleming and weren't exactly looking to spend more to acquire a third starting middle infielder in 6 months. However, the prospect of gaining arguably the best player in baseball to bolster a team suddenly looking to make a playoff run became an idea to hard to resist.

With just hours left in the trade deadline, a deal was proposed allegedly involving several previous first round picks, pitchers and batters both.  However, it quickly became apparent that the offer was too far off for what the Dragons were looking for.  GM JJ was also unwilling to leverage so much for a 34-year old who had already signed an extension that pays $700k/year until Bryan is 40.

This rest of the trade deadline was largely quiet for the Giants, turning over 2B Victor Santa Cruz for minor league relievers Jeremy Miller and Travis Brenza along with sending minor leaguer Chris Leidenfrost for younger minor leaguer Bill Bragg.

The front office has decided to retain their prospects in their farm system, which now ranks 4th in the ABA.  With 1B Jose Paz and 1B Brad Ross both landing on the DL in back-to-back games, the Giants had to call up AAA prospect Jeremy Sheffield to start for a couple of weeks in the meantime.  In his first 11 games, Sheffield has made it clear that he does not want to go back to the minors.  Sheffield is currently hitting at a .439/.511/.732 clip with 7 of 18 hits going for extra bases.  Brad Ross was only hitting .239 and Paz was just under .200 when the both of them went down with injury.  If Sheffield can have even a portion of this productivity throughout August, it'll be interesting to see if Paz or Ross will be able to stay on the active roster.

Overall, the Giants have posted a stunning 19-5 July record to catapult the team into a 15 game lead in the North East Division. StatsPlus is reporting a 99.78% chance of winning the division after having only a 15.56% chance on May 9th.  But with this success now, there are going to be some questions come September and potentially October of what could have been had the Giants gone a little further and secured a trade for Chris Bryan.

Maybe it was the threat of selling off everyone?  Maybe it was a silent faith in the roster?  Maybe the GM was sick thanks to a daughter going to daycare for the first time and couldn't make any moves?

Whatever the reason was, the Giants roster in April and May of 2016 is almost exactly the same as it is now.  And yet, the trajectory of the team is completely different.  On May 9th, the odds of winning the division for the team were a measly 15.56%.  As of right now, the odds have shot up to 92.58% with the team riding a second 5-game win streak in the last 30 days.  Its not necessarily a consequence of favorable scheduling either, as the team was able to get a series win against the league-dominating Mexico City Aztecs, sweeping a competitive Indianapolis Eagles club, and taking 3 of 4 against the, at the time, division-leading Philadelphia Marauders.

The biggest key to the wins has to start with the Giants pitching.  SP Andy Shoemaker continues to make the case for a Cy Young award in his 3 full season on the Giants staff.  He's 3rd in innings pitched, 2nd in ERA, 3rd in WHIP,  3rd in OAVG, and 1st in complete games, and 1st in shutouts in the American Conference.  Behind him, SP Aaron Sutton has been a workhorse and SP Dave Shevlin has been an excellent surprise as well.  The bullpen has been just as solid, providing a start to finish consistency game after game.

Its the offense that's been improved over the past couple of months, although its hard to say precisely how.  Each game there appears to be a new hero, but the team batting average remains 10th in the conference at .227.  There has to have been some improvement in the results as the team BABIP has gone up from a potentially historically bad .245 in May to an average of .285 in July.  However, only 3 starters have batting averages above .250 while another 3 starters continue to flail below the Mendoza line.  Not a statistic that makes a Giants fan optimistic.

Yet somehow, the Giants have the third best record in the American Conference and lead the division by an astounding 8 games.  Rather than looking to be sellers at 2 months ago, the team may actually be looking to be buying a bat that can provide a level of consistency in the offense and push into a postseason where maybe, just maybe....

Anything could happen.

After getting swept by Toronto last month, the Giants front office was working the phones looking for deals to sell off veteran pieces. They went so far as to skip starts for SP Aaron Sutton and SP Bob Mabe as deals looked imminent.

And then the Giants rattled off 5 wins in a row. They would finish the month .500 and despite all the shortcomings and a slight bit of panic, the team is still within a game of the division leading Philadelphia Marauders and even more shockingly, in a three way tie for the second wildcard spot in the American Conference despite being 2 games under .500.

A month ago, this team would be a seller at the trade deadline. Now its an open question again.  In the first month and a half, the team was having a near historic run of bad offense, with a BABIP of .245 and being dead last in most offensive categories.  A month and a half later that BABIP number has improved nearly 30 points, and while the Giants are still in the bottom half of most offensive categories, they are not dead last.  Still, at least a third of the starting roster should be generously called "backups".  3B Artus Fleming and SS Daniel Pinedo are still soaking in at-bats with a sub .200 average.  The rest of the infield isn't much better with few opportunities for improvements anywhere.  The outfield has at least shown some life with LF Ernesto Villagomez stepping in for a flailing LF Luis Soto.  Everyone is hoping that RF Jeremy Moore finds his stroke from last season.  If the team is going to actually put a run together, they will need to find more consistent offense from...somewhere.

As usual, the Detroit pitching staff has remained the rock for the team.  While not completely lights out, the staff consistently rates in the top half of the conference in most categories, and given the age of everyone, it could be that we are just seeing the beginning of the rise to prominence with the likes of SP Andy Shoemaker's 1.85 ERA and SP Dave Shevlin's 0.84 WHIP.  The concerns have shown up on the backend, with injuries making their presence known to RP Chris Earley, RP Ken Feeley and RP Chris Fitzsimmons.  CL Brad Hower hasn't had many save opportunities but there may be a need to add another high powered reliever to this group.

So the team is back to two options.  The Giants can make a run for the playoffs by upgrading at least in one infield position and probably a reliever as well.  Conversely, the team can go back to its May plan and sell the last of the veterans for another good draft run to go with the 6 draft picks taken by the Giants in the first two rounds.

As SP Andy Dooley was finishing his record setting 14 strikeout performance against the Detroit Giants, another performance was getting underway at the Detroit front office as they began working the phones with fellow GM's to get the word out that the trading block was being opened up.

One month into the 2016 season, and it sounds like the season is done for the Giants.

SP Bob Mabe's scheduled start on May 14th has been pushed, presumably for trade related reasons.  SP Aaron Sutton next start may also be scratched for the same reason.  There have been rumors circulating of another pitcher that has been inquired about as well.

The team will be looking for prospects to rebuild the farm system.  The 2016 draft class has looked stacked so far and Detroit is ready to capitalize with 6 picks in the first 2 rounds.  If they can make a deal for a couple more high-end prospects or picks, they may be able to make this rebuild process mercifully quick.

Last year's first round pick, RF Jalen Joyner, was recently promoted to AAA after skipping A ball and dominating AA with a .331/.389/.610 slash line.  Hopefully a bright promise of the future of the Giants.

The pitching staff appears to have gotten its swagger back after a very uneven start.  The ERA for both the starters and relievers have trended downward and are now back to better than average.  The K% rate and K%-BB are one of the best in baseball.  There are some roster moves happening as SP Jon Haynes is being optioned to AAA to try and smooth out what has been a very uneven beginning to his rookie season. However, SP Miguel Gutierres has been a pleasant surprise as the 5th starter, posting a 3.44 ERA and a sub 1 WHIP.  SP Andy Shoemaker has been extraordinary as the ace of the rotation, posting a 1.60 ERA with 3 complete games and 1 shutout in 6 starts.  Dave Shevlin will be stepping into the rotation from the bullpen having allowed 4 hits and 1 run on 11.1 innings pitched so far.

One of the question marks of the rotation will be SP Aaron Sutton.  Like many of the Giants hitters, the veteran pitcher is off to a very slow start, posting a 1.57 WHIP and a BABIP of .366 so far, compared to this career numbers of a 1.09 WHIP and .290 BABIP.  If those numbers can normalize soon, then this rotation could be one of the best in baseball, but if it can't and the rotation can't keep up this pace, it could be a long year.

But the pitching staff's performance may be a moot point when looking at the offensive side of the ball.  The Giants bats have been anything but, and the team is consistently in the bottom third in every category and a particularly glaring batting average under .200.  Supposedly higher ranked contact players like DH Brad Ross, RF Jeremy Moore, and newly acquired 2B Jesse Pratt are hitting .115, .250, and .231, respectively.  And it just gets worse from there.  The most glaring example is long-time Giant LF Luis Soto, whose batting stats are the stuff of nightmares.  A career .297 hitter has just 6 hits in his first 86 at-bats for a .070 batting average.  This compares to 9 straight seasons of a .290+ batting average as recent as 2013.  The hope is that Soto can turn things around, but his contract isn't big enough that the team could simply and unceremoniously end Soto's storied career with Detroit.

The hope across Giants nation is that the team BABIP of .245 has to be an aberration.  No team has finished a season that low since Pittsburgh had a .232 in 2011.  So how much headroom does the Giants offense actually have?

Then again, maybe teams can finish that low.  Just look at Pittsburgh.

How the season has started was perhaps the worst fear of every fan coming into this season being realized.  As the free agency period went on, the Giants seemed unwilling to make a move to add to their offense and address issues at third and center field.  On March 31st, fans watched a flailing offense strike out 17 times against the Marauders on the way to getting shutout.  The next day, fans watched again as the offense strikes out 14 times on the way to another shutout loss. 3B Artus Fleming has a .150 batting average and 3 errors in 6 games.  At least CF Mike States has done well in the field to justify a .190 batting average.

There was some hope in the middle of the week for the Giants.  The 5th inning of Game 3 had the bats to wake up, and suddenly fans were treated to a whole different team.  The Giants exploded for a 10 run inning with RF Jeremy Moore hitting a bases clearing double and a 2-run HR.  In the final game of the first 4-game series, Detroit's offense remained firing on all cylinders, winning another game where they scored 10+ runs.

And then the Giants went back to offensive ineptitude, getting destroyed in a 3-game series against the Syracuse Scorpions.  The starting pitching hasn't been able to keep up either, with rookie SP Jon Haynes giving up 13 runs in his first two starts as part of the team's 11th rank in starting ERA.

Its probably too early to draw conclusions in a 162 game season, but for fans, its never too early to panic.

Fans are asking some questions of GM JJ after news broke on the signing of 25 year old 2B Jesse Pratt to a 6 year $2.02 million deal and then traded away CF prospect Josh Hazeltine for another 2B in 22 year old prospect Victor Santa Cruz.  With team needs at third and center field, trading valuable prospects to double up at second doesn't seem to make sense.

When asked about it after the signing, GM JJ remarked that "out of the current free agent market and trade options available, this was the best move for the Giants organization.  10 years ago the pitching talent was in demand and hitting reigned. We are in a new cycle now where hitting is more in demand. You only need to look at the hitting and pitching alignment of the Austin Desperados in the last 3 World Series appearances to see where we are.

"Early in the hot stove season, it was rumored that the Giants were in on LF Mike Pardo, but his quick signing with Charlotte was quite the surprise for the front office.  Remaining options in 1B Pat Dickson and 2B Joaquin Bermudez required a compensation pick that the Giants were not willing to part with.  The Giants rebuild effort looks to continue on with a first round pick plus 3 supplemental picks after letting several high profile FAs go.  The front office must have judged that Pratt's offense potential was worth becoming the second highest contract payout on the Giants roster.

Spring Training is going to be interesting with several pitching competitions going on with a wide variety of rookies along with competition at second between Pratt, Santa Cruz, Joe Sheppard, Rusty Mingo, and Mike Melendres.  But the real question will be whether the Giants can be competitive with 3B Artus Fleming and CF Mike States as no real alternatives in FA or on the farm.

Regardless of your outlook, spring is just around the corner, and the promise of another baseball season is on the horizon.

Just prior to the opening of free agency, Giants owner Marco Reyes had his yearly meeting with GM JJ Glover regarding the goals for 2016.  The direct quote from that meeting was to "not suck completely" in 2016.

This had immediately set the tone for this offseason. As reported previously, JJ and the Giants organization had the option to be buyers or sellers when free agency started.  One half-hearted bid on potential superstar LF Mike Prado later, and its becoming clear that the Giants have made their choice.

SP Greg Sandlin has signed perhaps the biggest contract of the offseason with a 7-year $3.58 million dollar deal.  2B Frank Fernandez has also signed a 4-year $912k deal.  Both of these players have returned a qualifying offer for the Giants.  Its still not known if there's interest in CF Julio Gonzalez. For now, this translates to two compensation picks to go with the 12th overall pick in the 2016 amateur draft.  The Giants need help at second, third, and center field to make up for the WAR lost to free agency, and the fact that they are not making offers to compensation free agents like 1B Pat Dickson or 2B Joaquin Bermudez suggests that the team is stockpiling picks.

The Giants already have the 4th best farm system according to ABA Prospectus, bolstered by another 3 picks in the first and compensation rounds of last year's draft selecting SP Dusty Milligan, LF David Hollick, and RF Jalen Joyner, all top 100 prospects.  The hope is that this year will add 3 more to a farm that may be ready in 3-4 years.

The problem is division rivals the Philadelphia Marauders and the New York Nightmares are also heavily invested in this same strategy, having the second and best farms systems in the ABA, respectively.  The Nightmare have been particularly active this offseason major trades for high powered prospects while Philly has benefitted from scouting discoveries and the international amateur market.  All three teams might become powerhouses at the same time when prospects start appearing on the big stage.  The Marauders have already assembled a young and talented major league team and the fact that there's more in the pipeline makes this team scary for potentially a long time to come.

So the Giants are now sellers already for 2016, but are they actually doing enough to contend in 2018 or 2019? Or are they doing just enough to "not suck"?

The days leading up to free agency have cooled the market somewhat as teams take some high profile players off of the 2016 free agency market.  In Detroit, SS Jon Rouse agreed to a 3-year deal worth $750k in total.  He was one of three players with a 4.5 star rating that was up for free agency.

The other player that has been removed from the market is CF Jeremy Yamakawa.  The Atlantic City Laughing Birds signed Yamakawa to a monster 5-year deal worth $1.7 million dollars. This leaves 1B Pat Dickson and RF Chris Wolf as a the only 4-star players left in free agency.

This has implications on the theory that CF Julio Gonzalez is on the chopping block as the only clear upgrade is now locked up.  The Giants may have near equivalent players ready to take over, but the best option might be to extend Gonzalez and remove one more question mark from the 2016 roster.

Its the first official day of the 2016 offseason, and its officially decision time for the Detroit Giants.  Ace SP Aaron Sutton, #2 SP Greg Sandlin, SP Bob Mabe, 2B Frank Fernandez, SS Jon Rouse, 3B Zach Swint, and CF Julio Gonzalez are some of the major players who either need an extension or become free agents.
The major unknown is the free agent class incoming this offseason.  The current known crop of free agents is definitely looking sparse if the Giants were looking for a superstar replacement at any level.  This is especially true when looking at the team needs in the infield.  Any big splash may require a bit of hope that the undeclared free agents from independent leagues turn out to fit in with what the Giants are looking for.
With this much pessimism and uncertainty in the market, it's probably that the Giants will lean towards extensions rather than future compensation picks in the next draft.  The Giants certainly have the funds for both high powered free agents and extending out players contracts.  For the entire roster, the Giants only have 2 contracts outstanding in LF Luis Soto (2 years left) and 3B Artus Fleming (2 years left).
For the pitchers, there are far more options available for the Giants.  SP Andy Shoemaker and SP Jon Haynes could be a fearsome 1-2 punch if they keep developing. Keeping SP Aaron Sutton just makes too much sense.  The 2011 Cy Young winner may no longer be an ace, but few pitchers have been able to consistently pitch deep into games season after season.  He is consistently able to avoid giving up the long ball, always giving his team a chance to win.  SP Bob Mabe has consistently had his season terminated due to injury, but his price tag may be so cheap that it may be worth an extension as a 5th starter.
This means SP Greg Sandlin could be an odd man out.  His price tag may be a bit too high for what is essentially a 2nd/3rd starter.  Given the depth still remaining with Dave Shevlin, Miguel Gutierres to fill out the bottom of the rotation, or the Giants really going out and adding a yet to be named free agent, it may make sense to make a qualifying offer to Sandlin and get another draft pick.
The pitching situation is a situation that affords many options for the front office.  The infield situation does not.  There simply isn't a whole lot of upgrades to any of these places for a team that needs upgrades.  Its hard to get an upgrade on SS Jon Rouse, but his injury history is going to make any large monetary commitments painful, along with needing a better than average backup for when the inevitable happens.  2B Frank Fernandez and 3B Zack Swint are also very injury prone.  The Giants have at least some depth at second base, but it would make the team feel a lot better if there was a more consistent upgrade at this spot. Third base is a different story.  Swint has played 15 years at the hot corner for the Giants, but failed to hit 100 games in the last 3 and failed to hit .200 last season.  Artus Fleming was brought in as a backup last season, but this may be the most glaring weak spot in the lineup.  The front office is probably hoping for a retirement announcement, but if they don't get one, its more than likely he will end up as a free agent.  Fernandez could go either way, but if a new free agent appears, then Fernandez could be moved or shipped.
Finally, CF Julio Gonzalez may be on the chopping block.  This could be the only position where a clear upgrade could exist in CF Jeremy Yamakawa.  Offense is where the team has struggled and adding a clear HR threat to the lineup to compliment emergent superstar Jeremy Moore could be the clearest path for the Giants to instantly become competitors again.
Strap in your seat belts sports fans, cause the hot stove season could be extra fiery!

We're headed into the postseason race, and the Giants are nowhere to be found. Right now the team is 11 games back in the wildcard race and while they have not earned the "e" designation in the standings, StatsPlus Analytics has the Giants with a 0.0% chance at a playoff spot.

This means that its time to look beyond the season and start working on constructing the 2016 roster and beyond. No one likes to hear the word "rebuild", but its certainly on the table.  Looking at the infield, 2B Frank Fernandez, SS Jon Rouse, and 3B Zach Swint are all on the last year of their contract.  They all happen to also have a "wrecked" durability rating by OSA.  It could be the definition of a "rebuild".

However, there are parts of the team that look major league ready.  SP Andy Shoemaker looks like he could be the future ace of the team.  SP Jon Haynes , the #3 prospect in the ABA, looks to be finishing another stellar AAA season and will get some additional starts at the major leagues to see if a 2016 debut is in the cards.  If SP Aaron Sutton or SP Greg Sandlin get an extension, then the team will still have a very competitive starting rotation.  Complementing that is a young bullpen ranked 1st in the American Conference.

The issue is the upcoming free agents.  If there is going to be a quick turnaround, finding ways to improve the roster quickly looks to be difficult this offseason.  The infield especially will be difficult to upgrade as the top shortstop and 2nd baseman on the market are currently wearing Giants uniforms.  The minor league system just hasn't panned out in the infield space either.  If however you take a longer view on a rebuild, then letting a 3-4 high end players hit free agency could turn into 3-4 compensation picks in the 2016 amateur draft.  This could bolster a farm system already ranked 5th in the ABA.

The days have gone colder and baseball in Detroit is quickly coming to a close. The big question is how many players are playing their last games in a Detroit uniform.

We're headed into the postseason race, and the Giants are nowhere to be found. Right now the team is 11 games back in the wildcard race and while they have not earned the "e" designation in the standings, StatsPlus Analytics has the Giants with a 0.0% chance at a playoff spot.

This means that its time to look beyond the season and start working on constructing the 2016 roster and beyond. No one likes to hear the word "rebuild", but its certainly on the table.  Looking at the infield, 2B Frank Fernandez, SS Jon Rouse, and 3B Zach Swint are all on the last year of their contract.  They all happen to also have a "wrecked" durability rating by OSA.  It could be the definition of a "rebuild".

However, there are parts of the team that look major league ready.  SP Andy Shoemaker looks like he could be the future ace of the team.  SP Jon Haynes , the #3 prospect in the ABA, looks to be finishing another stellar AAA season and will get some additional starts at the major leagues to see if a 2016 debut is in the cards.  If SP Aaron Sutton or SP Greg Sandlin get an extension, then the team will still have a very competitive starting rotation.  Complementing that is a young bullpen ranked 1st in the American Conference.

The issue is the upcoming free agents.  If there is going to be a quick turnaround, finding ways to improve the roster quickly looks to be difficult this offseason.  The infield especially will be difficult to upgrade as the top shortstop and 2nd baseman on the market are currently wearing Giants uniforms.  The minor league system just hasn't panned out in the infield space either.  If however you take a longer view on a rebuild, then letting a 3-4 high end players hit free agency could turn into 3-4 compensation picks in the 2016 amateur draft.  This could bolster a farm system already ranked 5th in the ABA.

The days have gone colder and baseball in Detroit is quickly coming to a close. The big question is how many players are playing their last games in a Detroit uniform.

In the span of just 3 weeks, the house of cards that was the 2015 regular season completely collapsed.

So far in July, the team has posted a rather impressive 3-12 record, dropping the team back down below .500.  Team officials confirm that some trade talks were already underway to try and bolster the team's offense against right-handed pitching.  The Giants were 29-38 against right-handed starters but 18-10 against lefties.

However, the sources within the organization have said that the trade talks have shifted to a more of a seller role and may intensify over the next couple of weeks.  SP Aaron Sutton and SP Greg Sandlin are both entering free agency next year, and the team has yet to start any sort of extension talks with them.  SP Ron Baumgardner may also be available with a year of team control still to go.  With AAA prospects Jon Haynes, Miguel Gutierres and Steve Bolling all looking ML ready, now may be the time to get as much value as possible for players while avoiding long term contracts for starting pitching.

Hitting was the weakest point of the Giants game and farm system, and it could also end up being gutted.  2B Frank Fernandez and 3B Zach Swint are in the last year of their deals, but also struggle with injury problems.  SS Jon Rouse is also in the last year of his deal.  The bigger problem here is the farm hasn't produced much in the way of hitters in the infield.  But given the financial resources of the organization, its a space that could be revamped with free agents quickly.

The Giants of August 2nd could be vastly different than the Giants of today. Stay tuned.

It's just over a month to the trade deadline, just over a month before some major decisions need to be made about the future direction of the Detroit Giants.  There are some major players about to head to free agency without an extension and this may be the last time the organization will be able to get more than a compensation pick if they decide not to open the purse strings.

The Giants are 6 games out of the division, trying desperately to keep pace with Philadelphia, the one team who statistically has a better pitching staff than Detroit in the American Conference.  The Giants do have a game up on a wild card spot, but it looks like its going to be another competitive race.

And then a week ago, Zach Swint's season came to an end.  It will be the third year in a row that the starting third baseman will be unable to start in 100 games in a year. Had the injury happened to any other position, especially if it happened to a pitcher, the team would be able to carry on.  However, the farm hasn't been able to provide much in the way of infielders.

This should make the Giants buyers at the trade deadline.  Zwint was struggling at the plate batting below .200.  Backup Artus Fleming has the defensive chops at 3B and was hitting 50 points better anyway, so any move doesn't have to involve the hot corner.  But the question is whether the Giants have enough offense to get into the playoffs and do some damage.  The 1B/DH spot with Brad Ross and Jose Paz could represent an opportunity for a major upgrade.

Being a buyer is the logical choice in the Giants circumstance, but there's always the possibility that the organization is trying to keep up a high wire act and could end up being sellers instead.  The organization has already traded a prospect in Miguel Benitez for a 1st round draft pick this year.  There's a sense in the organization that Aaron Sutton isn't guaranteed for an extension at the end of the year.  If that's the case, he could be a big factor in any trade deal, both for current needs and future draft picks.  Jon Haynes and Steve Bolling are both having excellent years in AAA, with Haynes especially looking to be major league ready.

There are lots of options that the Giants organization are looking at, and they all could drastically alter the direction this team takes both now and in the future.  The next month could be very interesting.

All of the speculation about what is to come can finally be put to rest. For the grass has been cut, the diamond prepped, the chalk laid down, its finally time to play ball!

The opening day roster for the Giants have the same question marks from last year.  Is there enough batting power to get on base and generate runs?  Luis Soto and Dale Little brought the power from the corner outfielders role in the past, but Soto's numbers dropped off in 2013 and is starting the season injured.  Little's performance wasn't enough to keep him from getting traded in favor of giving Jeremy Moore the starting role. But Moore's start in 2013 was a complete train wreck.  There's may not be anyone to step in and save him this time around.

The real questions come from the infield.  Jon Rouse is the star shortstop here, but can he stay healthy?  Behind him are defensive shortstops in Pineda and Chavez, but they battle with the .200 line all the time.  Brad Ross might have enough pop to help out.  Frank Fernandez and Zach Swint are also both incredibly injury prone and may not have enough upside to compensate.

Once again, it will be the pitching that will need to carry the day.  And if Andy Shoemaker can continue to develop, he and Aaron Sutton could be a pair of aces that can get Detroit back into the playoffs.  Chris Earley and Brad Hower look to be more than adequate replacements in the bullpen for Hethum Manasaraian.  The whole spring training pitching staff looked ML ready.

However this season goes, its going to be interesting!

Let's play ball!

We are fast approaching the start of a new spring and a new season of baseball in the ABA.  The Detroit Giants organization weren't hibernating during the winter, but fans who watched in 2014 will recognize most of the faces at the start of the 2015 campaign.

The Giants were largely idle on the free agency market over the winter.  While teams went crazy blowing up the market with what turned out to be a $55 million dollar contract to 2B Willie Rios, the Giants didn't get into the hype and barely made an offer to the player.  Instead, the organization worked towards restocking the farm by selling in some areas where roster competitions may happen.

To start, it looks like the organization is going to give RF Jeremy Moore the starting job despite a very poor start in the first try in 2014.  As a result, starter RF Dale Little was moved to the Dallas Dragons for LF Joe Nevitt, the 61st rated prospect in the league, and a second round pick in 2016.  Next, the Giants moved veteran 3B Alberto Ojeda to the Charlotte Whistlers for rookie prospects LHP Travis Sanchez and RF Logan Patten.

With these moves, the Giants signed 3B Artus Fleming to a 3-year deal to provide depth against an injury prone...infield, and 1B veteran Matt Vickers to presumably take on the newly implemented DH rule.

On the pitching side, there were no moves made to replace the loss of closer Hethum Manasarian. The AAA roster had several prospects ready for the major leagues and it looks like it will be an open competition for the bullpen.  The starting corps will be the exactly the same as last year, hoping for a bit more run support than what they got in 2014.

It will be a big 3 months for the Giants organization. With Sutton, Sandlin, Mabe, and Frank Fernandez ready for free agency at the end of the year, a slow start prior to the trade deadline could see some big trade moves to close the door on this iteration of the team.  Conversely, if the team does very well, the organization may make some big offers and decide that this is the team they want for the foreseeable future.

With each day, we're getting closer to seeing which Giants team were going to get in 2015.

The hopes of Giants fans, on prolonged life-support after the trade deadline and suspicious from the beginning of the season, was finally killed on October 3rd.

Despite a top 4 starting pitching staff and a 2nd in conference ERA for the entire staff, the hitting never was able to provide run support for the team.  LF Luis Soto had his worst year ever dropping with a batting average .056 below last years average.  SS Jon Rouse was able to bat .313 for the half of the season he stayed healthy for. Only 2 other starters had a batting average above .250, and just barely so.  RF Jeremy Moore was called up perhaps a bit early to try and add some power to the lineup, only to go 6-42 in the first half of the season and get sent back down. And the crown jewel of it all was the Frank Fernandez trade that lasted two games and got head trainer Daniel Hutson fired midseason.

It was a slow death for the team with few bright spots. Now the question moves on to the offseason, and what the 2015 Giants will look like.  The Giants organization has the financial flexibility to build the team that they want.  Ace Aaron Sutton, SP Greg Sandlin and SP Bob Mabe are all under team control for one more year and also represent some of the biggest contracts.  RF Dale Little, 1B Brad Ross, and SP Ron Baumgardner are under team control for even longer.  LF Luis Soto and CF Julio Gonzalez represent some of the "long" contracts and are probably considered team friendly values at this point.  The big question will be whether this group of players can get back into the playoffs at this point, or if changes need to be made and some bigger splashes in free agency need to be considered, after a thorough health checkup, of course.

For now, the Giants organization becomes fans in October, watching postseason games and wondering if the window is now closed.

Its almost a month past the trade deadline and this season, the Giants don't look like they have that extra gear they seemed to have in previous seasons.The usual rookies that got called up haven't been the saviors of the team.  SP Andy Shoemaker has done well in the starting role with a 1.11 WHIP and a 3.09 ERA. However, highly touted rookie RF Jeremy Moore has only recorded 6 hits in 43 at-bats and hasn't been able to break into a starting role.  1B Brad Ross in his third year as a starter has lost 60 points in his average.  Across the board, Giants hitters have dropped down to become one of the worst hitting teams in the American Conference.

With rookie 2B Rusty Mingo unable to generate any offense at second, the team ultimately decided to trade for Frank Fernandez at the deadline, but for some reason decided to just ignore the rather lengthy injury report. And for the second time in three years, a trade deadline acquisition falls apart just a couple of games into the second half of the season.  In unrelated news, team trainer Daniel Hutson was fired two days ago, replaced by Josh Coulter.

Its becoming clear that the window for building a dynasty and quickly being shut. And with the window closing, a look at the upcoming contract negotiations show that Aaron Sutton, Greg Sandlin, Bob Mabe, Jon Rouse and Frank Fernandez all have one year before hitting free agency, along with a possible opt out with Luis Soto.  It could be a very hot stove this winter and next year and your 2015 Giants will probably be looking completely different this time next year.

We're almost two months into the season and everyone is still wondering what kind of team the 2014 Giants are going to be like.  A 5 game losing streak leading to a 2-10 start to the month sure seemed like the team should be going for prospects.  Instead, the team has rallied to get back to .500 in May and are just 1 game back of @Darryl - Philly, taking the first two of the series with the Marauders.

So for now, it looks like its band-aids for injuries and duct tape for second base.

For the duct tape, the Giants signed 2B David Janson to a 1-year minimum deal.  The hope is that a marginally better bat with a similar amount of defense will be enough to last until some of the other bats (hopefully) come alive.  Anything close to the career .270 average that Janson has provided would be good enough for the Giants.

There was enough corner infield depth that it looked like someone was going to be a cornerstone for a trade deal.  Clevinger was lost to waivers as a result early, but now Zack Swint and Brad Ross have both landed on IL stints.  Suddenly there were no more first baseman on the team.  The next available on the depth chart is 23-year old ace Andy Shoemaker.  Shoemaker was treated like a 2-way player throughout his minor leagues path with, but only managed a .200 average over 872 plate appearances and no homeruns.  So in his 4-game debut as a major league first baseman, naturally he hits .375 with a double and his first and second career homeruns. This was followed by a 7 inning 0 earned runs and 10k performance.

The front office isn't about to let Shoemaker keep playing first base. Making his major league debut tomorrow will be highly touted prospect Jeremy Moore.  Normally a right fielder, Moore has been tearing up AAA pitching, slashing a .308/.395/.623 line with 15 home runs. It will be interesting to see if Moore can perform well enough to stay in the major league level and what will happen to the rest of the roster.

It was a very slow start for the Giants in April, at times dipping below the .500 mark in the first couple of weeks. League wide it looked like the bats had disappeared with the league batting average plummeting 25 points from last year.  The Giants hitters were no exception, batting dangerously close to .200.  But when the calendar changed to May, it looked like Detroit found its groove, running a 5 game winning streak together.

The Giants are now racing against @Darryl - Philly Marauders to reclaim the American North East division crown. And while the hitting has picked up, the Giants have to question whether they have the firepower to stay competitive with Philly, @Jonathan - Dallas - Commish, or @Billy Pollo - Austin (Doug).  The middle infield in particular is a place where the Giants may need help.  The Rusty Mingo, Joe Sheppard experiment doesn't look like its going well at second base.  Alex Chavez is finally back from injury to shore up the shortstop spot.  The entire outfield has been missing their bats as well while the GM continues to keep prospect Jeremy Moore in AAA to hit with a .352 average and .707 slugging%.

Its clear that some moves will need to be made to balance the team out.  The bigger question is how much of a push will the front office make to keep this competitive window open? Seemingly all of the impact players for the Giants were called up at the same time.  The call of free agency is fast approaching for these players and will it turn into a team overhaul when its all said and done.

Baseball is once again signaling the return of spring and a new year around the country where the fan bases of the 24 teams in the ABA have the renewed hope of the upcoming season.

For the fans of Detroit, the return of baseball will largely be focused on the potential emergence of rookies to fill in the gaps from departing players.  The retirement of Paul Ledford at the top of the rotation was a shocking blow to fans over the winter.  With many top free agent pitchers already signed, the Giants were forced to promote from within.  During spring training, we got to see some of the future with top prospect Andy Shoemaker and Dave Shevlin battle attempt to win the last starting spot from Shawn Spruce and Mickey Farrell.  Andy Shoemaker looked like the favorite for the spot, but it looks like Spruce's numbers may have won him a spot in the rotation to start the season.

Second base is another position that has some question marks.  Sakaguchi's bat became a rally killer for the offense and the front office decided to get its power somewhere else, but as the offseason moved on, the front office barely made any offers.  This led to a battle between Rusty Mingo, Joe Sheppard, and Ryan Bonsall for the starting role, all from Walnut Park.  Rusty's bat put him above Sheppard along with superior defensive tools, but the front office may still be trying to make a trade if things don't work out.

The surprise of Spring Training was the dominant performance of 22 year old RF Jeremy Moore, who led the league in batting average with power and an excellent arm.  Most fans are probably going to be disappointed that Moore isn't on the roster for opening day with Dale Little and Luis Soto doing enough to keep his starting position, but an injury or perhaps even a trade could bring Moore to an every day role for a long time to come.The Giants front office has always tried to prioritize developing young talent at just the right time.  This season looks to be no different with a young core of talent and world series aspirations.

Giants fans were shocked a couple days after Christmas that future Hall of Famer Paul Ledford had announced his retirement. Ledford was the first overall pick in the ABA's inaugural draft back in 2000, and his stat line does not disappoint. From 2000 to 2013 Ledford has started 448 games, leads the league in career wins (225), complete games (35), shutouts (19), strikeouts (3,305), WHIP (0.90), and was worth 110.23 wins above replacement. Ledford has 2 championship rings, won the Cy Young 9 times, gone to the All-Star Game 13 teams, and been the MVP 3 times. Now, at the age of 40, he can look back at a career that may never be matched.

For the rest of the Giants organization, this retirement wasn't totally unexpected, but the window for this team to compete for a championship might have shrunk considerably. The front office is keenly aware that Sutton, Sandlin, and Mabe are all up for free agency at the end of 2015.

The Ledford-Sutton combination at the top of the rotation drove this team into the playoffs and pulled out wins when the offense was sputtering in the postseason. In 2014, the Giants will have to hope that Sandlin stays hot, Mabe stays healthy, and Shoemaker stays in the show. The timing of the retirement also is a problem for the front office as most of the big names in free agency have already been taken. So far, the Giants have stood by and not made any real moves to address the retirement or the loss of Sakaguchi at second base, hoping that the farm system remains fertile.

There have been some rumblings that the team may be looking towards trading to address some issues. Already one move has sent prospect Jesus Fernandez away to @Niddler - Cleveland Spiders for a A-level reliever and a 3rd round pick. It'll be an interesting to see whether the trades look to replenish the farm or strip it bare for a couple more years of staying competitive.

The Detroit Giants were looking like a playoff contender yet again at the trade deadline. However, the lead has been more contested as the Brooklyn Ravens looks to have returned to their winning ways and are staying with the Giants. Theoretically, this should turn the Giants into buyers at the trade deadline to keep up or help maintain a lead in the division.

The first move certainly does make sense. The Dragons were sellers and were willing to retain the entirety of 3B Alberto Ojeda's contract. The Giants long-time 3B Zach Swint continues to have injury problems and was back on the IL. While not a homerun hitter that can help the Giants compete with the likes of the Desperadoes, Ojeda may help keep rallies going.

It was the second move that made little sense to fans and sports pundits everywhere. GM JJ sent SP Brian Rohde to Charlotte for prospective reliever Jon Haynes and minor leaguer 2B Mike Melendres. Rohde was a first round pick who dominated in AAA before getting the starting gig in 2010. In 2013, he was posting his second best year with an 11-4 record and an ERA of 3.26 and an ERA+ of 116. When a team is preparing for a playoff run, they usually try and keep their starting pitchers. Rohde also has a couple of years of team control left so there wasn't much of a rush to get value before the offseason.

JJ defended the move as one that will position the team better for a dynasty. The team has perpetually had 6-7 starters on the active roster and all of them would eventually be up for free agency at some point. But whether now was the right time to extract maximum value vs staying the course and keeping all of your weapons for another championship run will be the question that needs to be answered at the end of the year.

The past Giants teams have built early leads in the division and to coast to the postseason. The 2013 version will not have that luxury. For the first time in probably 3 years, the Giants are not leading the division coming out of April, and there are some worrying signs that this team is going to have trouble when we get to the dog days of summer.

The strength of the team has always been in the starting pitching. The team ERA remains near the best in the American Conference, but Ron Baumgardner and ace Aaron Sutton have both had slow starts this year, with the former being sent down to AAA for some additional starts.

The bigger concern is good pitching being wasted on an underpeforming offense. In his 13th season, Zach Swint is way off pace in April batting just .185 so far. The always streaky Mitsuaki Sakaguchi is also batting under .200 and there's always a concern that the hot streaks may never come back with him. In the outfield, Dale Little and Luis Soto are also hitting far under their usual pace.

There may not be much left in the farm system to call up at this point for the Giants on the offensive side of the ball. The reliance on prospects to plug into gaps may have finally stripped the farm bare of ABA-ready talent. This means that FA signings and trades may be the only way to correct a long-term offensive problem. For now, management is banking that this is just a slump and that the team will bounce back, preferably before the trade deadline requires a move.

Opening Day brings excitement for the fans after a long winter without baseball, but for that cutdown to 25 on the active roster, it is a tough time to be a GM. And for the first time since the league's inception, SP Xiang-ling Fei is not on that roster, the 40-man, or the organization.

Fei was the 31st overall pick in the 2000 ABA Inaugural Draft to the Detroit Giants. In 13 seasons of work, Fei never missed a game due to injury. Fei collected 3 Cy Youngs, 8 All Star Appearances, a Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove award to go with 3 championship rings. Fei flirted with perfection twice and has hit one grand slam.

In the past two years, Fei's velocity fell off a cliff and he was forced to the bullpen. By 2012, Fei's WHIP had risen to 1.88 and he was left off the postseason roster. At Spring Training this year, Fei's velocity was at 86-88 mph and his secondary pitches had all lost their bite. After Fei's outing on the 22nd, it was becoming clear that the future Hall of Famer was not going to be on the final roster. GM JJ finally met with Fei on Wednesday the 27th to deliver the news that Fei was going to be a free agent.

Most of the other roster moves of the day will move most players back into the minors. Every starter from 2012 looks to have retained a roster spot. SS John Rouse looks to last longer than a couple of games, pushing Alex Chavez into a backup role. SP prospect Andy Shoemaker made a strong push to join the major league rotation, but the front office decided to let him continue to develop in AAA.

After 2012, it looks like the Giants front office decided to let everything ride in the hopes that this core group of players can lead the Giants to a dynasty.

The ticker tape parade is over, and the Giants front office staff is back to working on the roster that will be tasked with defending their World Series title.

The question will be how does this roster improve from the 2012 version of the Giants. Aside from left-handed reliever Chris Frey and backup catcher David Ugarte, there hasn't been much turnover on the roster. The current contracts on the books are also very team friendly. Aaron Sutton, Greg Sandlin, Ron Baumgardner, Brian Rohde, Shawn Spruce, and Bob Mabe are all still on arbitration through at least 2014, providing a rough window of opportunity for the Giants and their current financial situation.

With only two players making over $100k this year and a budget over $3 million, there's some room to make additions to the Giants. There aren't many holes in the projected 2014 Opening Day rosters. The issues are whether the Giants depth can handle the types of injuries that seem to plague the team after a long season. Zwint has been more and more injury prone at third, Dale Little was injured right before the start of the postseason, and closer Manasarian missed 2 months last year.

This probably means that the Giants will be looking for depth pieces or AAA players with upside to help bolster a minor league system that has been picked clean. Someone with veteran leadership like JP Arnemann may be a good target for the team. The other interesting option is to go to the trade market. A plethora of young starting pitching that may all come out of arbitration at the same time could create some financial issues down the road. Dealing some of these pitchers now with some years of control left could be the best time to get something more than a qualifying offer later. The only problem is whether other teams would be willing to deal prospect and picks.

The Giants front office could stand pat this offseason and let the 2012 champs ride into 2013. But is that the right move for the future of the organization?

There were questions on if the Giants had enough offense to break through against other headline teams for the 2012 postseason. Injuries to Little, Zwint and Rouse meant the team had to start Cherkezi, Chavez, and McGinnis which combined have started 150 or so games with a batting average at or below .210. It looked like it would be up to the star pitchers to get it done.

In the Divisional Round against the Austin Desperadoes, it was Roy McGinnis who stepped up for the Giants, with a .286 average, 2 HRs, and 7 RBIs. In addition, the bullpen in Manasarian, Frey, and Earley combined for 9.2 IP and 0 runs allowed to go with excellent starts by Baumgardner and Ledford.

For the Championship series against the Phoenix Gladiators, the Giants got revenge for the 2011 sweep on the bats of rookie Brad Ross and Alex Chavez. Again, Manasarian, Frey, Earley again allowed 0 runs in relief and again Ledford, Baumgardner, and Sutton combined for 4 excellent starts.

The World Series was as close as you could have it with 5 of the 7 games decides by just a single run. Ledford continued his amazing postseason run with 2 more quality starts and again, the relievers Manasarian, Frey, and Hower were once again shut down relievers. Soto and Sakaguchi stepped up to provide the necessary offense and to go along with consistent production from Brad Ross. It was just enough to get past a tough San Diego team and take home the championship for the second time in three years.

With the World Series win and the beginning of the offseason, its time for GM JJ to get to work. The possible free agents are Manasarian, Julio Gonzalez, and Frey, and that's about it. Looking at the current roster, and the potential roster already in place for 2013, its hard to not to think that the championship window may be open for the next couple of years.

Could this be the start of a new Giants dynasty?

Its the eve of the start of the Divisional round in the 2012 postseason. Its been a foregone conclusion for months that the Giants were playoff bound thanks to an excellent first half of the season. But as the postseason has gotten closer, injuries started to take a serious toll on the team. The playoffs are a time for the best players to excel. Last year the offense let the team down but was seen as a bit of bad timing.

This year, the offense was supposed to be bolstered by Rouse and Ross. Brad Ross has been excellent all year in his first as an every day starter. Rouse went down immediately after being traded. Then Zwint. Then Little. Luis Soto and Brad Ross can be counted on as reliable, but after that it gets far more sketchy.

This is going to put a ton of pressure on the Giants starting pitching. It was going to be challenging enough as the Austin Desperados lead the American Conference in virtually every batting category and set a record for most home runs in a single season. There simply won't be any margin of error for Paul Ledford and Aaron Sutton and the rest of the staff.

We'll find out tonight whether the Giants can exorcise last year's demons or if yet another successful regular season campaign ends on a whimper.

The Giants celebrated their second straight division title Saturday night in Pittsburgh, the first team of the year to celebrate a postseason berth. And yet, for most fans, there's still a lot of people holding their breaths.

The memory of the 2011 season is still fresh in the minds of fans and players alike and it hangs over the team like a dark cloud. Last year's team saw the best record in baseball go down in the first round without recording a single win to the wildcard team that would eventually take the title in the Phoenix Gladiators.

The team's pitching and hitting statistics for this year so far are almost exactly the same from last year, with the same strength in starting pitching, and a weakness that's getting worse in batting power and consistency. The big trade at the deadline with S.F. Fire for SS Jon Rouse was supposed to plug a gap at the shortstop position and provide a veteran bat come playoff time, but that plan went down with a snapped MCL in less than a week.

So with less than 2 weeks left in the regular season and now another fresh injury to Zach Swint that will keep him out of most of the postseason, does this team really have what it takes to beat the best in the ABA? Or is it a team that is just above average to get into the playoffs, but without enough talent to break through and claim a third title for Detroit.

At the trade deadline, the Detroit Giants were looking to patch some holes to keep their position as the best team in baseball.  The first half of the year had the team firing on all cylinders, but around the All Star Break, players started getting the injury bug.  Perpetually injured closer Hethum Manasarian and 3B Zach Swint both had to go on the IL for a couple of weeks. They were followed by SS Alex Chavez and SP Bob Mabe just a week later.

The injury to Mabe was particularly devastating as it ended his season which he had been setting personal bests in ERA and WHIP.  The injury to Manasarian left a bullpen deficient of left-handed relievers. However, the front office felt they had the depth to cover these vacancies. It was the left side of the infield that was the problem, as there really wasn't any depth to address a problem. Swint's defense has been stellar but his bat has been slowly disappearing with age. Chavez's offensive struggles were looking like he needed a stint in AAA if there was a suitable replacement. But there really wasn't.

The thinking was to bring in an established shortstop that can take over the job until Chavez or a prospect was ready.  San Francisco looked to be the only team that had what the Giants were looking for. SS Jon Rouse would be an offensive boost for the position without sacrificing defense. The existing contract was long enough to allow the farm to develop another shortstop. In exchange, the Giants gave up RF Glen Mills, an ABA league-ready prospect who was going to get blocked by the emergence of RF Dale Little.

For the first 3 games, Rouse was as advertised. 5 hits on 9 AB to start his stint in Detroit. Right up until his knee exploded on a play at the plate in the bottom of the 6th, effectively ending his season.

With the trade deadline past, the options for the Giants are limited now. Swint and Chavez are back, but Chavez still looks lost at the plate. It'll be interesting to see if the Giants are really going to have the bats going into September and potentially October, or if they disappear again in front of playoff caliber teams.

There were some concerns after Spring Training on just how cold the bats were going to be to start the season. Well past the one-third post of the season, those concerns have disappeared, only to be replaced by different problems.  "The life of a GM," as JJ says in post-game comments after finding out that Zach Swint will also be going onto the IL.

Swint is the 4th starter to land on the list in a painful month of June.  The right side of the infield is on backups as Alex Chavez strained a hamstring.  Both are out until July. Closer Hethum Manasarian has a herniated disk and won't be coming back until July as well.  The closer was having another standout year converting 18 saves in 19 chances so far. Starter Bob Mabe wasn't so lucky, as the torn rotator cuff might keep him out until the end of the regular season.

The injuries come while Detroit has the best record in baseball.  The team is 13-2 so far in June.  The hitting has come around since early April and the pitching has been dominant with a league-leading team ERA of 2.72 and 10 shutouts.

But the specter of getting swept out of the postseason by Vancouver last season hangs over the team.  The trade deadline is over a month away but already it feels like it could be a make or break for the team's championship aspirations.

In front of the "home crowd" on May 11th, Paul Ledford allowed 1 run in 7 and 1/3's innings to collect his 200th win. The 34,818 people in the crowd cheered as the 15 year pro took one more curtain call as the only player in the league to have reached this milestone.  Home crowd is in quotes because this is the first year the star pitcher isn't pitching for the Brooklyn home crowd.

Paul Ledford was the first overall pick of the ABA inaugural draft and his 13-year career has lived up to the hype. The starter leads in virtually every major career pitching category there is. Back in April, he was the first pitcher to strikeout 3,000. The next closest pitcher is 500 K's behind.  The pitcher has been selected to 11 All-Star games out of 12, has won 8 NL Cy Young Awards, 3 Triple Crowns, and 3 MVP awards.  With all of this success, it was almost scary that the Brooklyn franchise seemed snake-bitten in postseason play, leading many to wonder if Ledford would be the best ever to never win a championship.  But in 2009, Ledford was able to collect his first World Series ring.

Now at age 38, Ledford is still dealing at a high level and sharing his experiences with the very young Detroit Giants starting pitching staff. Greg Sandlin calls Ledford and fellow veteran Xiang-ling Fei "the Giant Grandparents" of the pitching staff, signs of both experience and reverence for the pitchers. Fei is in good company with Ledford. The 31st overall pick in the inaugural draft has 3 Cy Youngs, 8 All-Star selections and 2 championship rings of his own. Fei is second to Ledford in Wins and total WAR.

The pair hope to add to their trophy collection again in 2012.

So much for a quiet offseason. Soon after the article went out, the Giants entered, and surprisingly won, the sweepstakes for free agent Paul Ledford. General Manager JJ was quoted after the signing as saying "I was just trying to drive up the price for competitors...but it never works for me in fantasy football, I don't why it didn't work here." Ledford in response talked about simply about wanting to win another championship and seeing Detroit's young group of promising pitchers as the best landing spot.

The Giants were also active in the trade markets as well. With the LF Luis Soto extension, top prospect LF Enrique Islas looked like he had lost a shot at getting a starting gig. He was sent to San Francisco for prospects CF Mike States and RP Dennis Jones.  The Giants also moved top prospect C Jesus Moreno for prospect SP Russ Hewitt and a 3rd and 4th round draft pick.  Moreno was one of the top catching prospects in the league and had a path to a starting position in 2012 for the Giants, so the move was somewhat surprising. GM JJ felt talked about the current catching by committee being a sufficient answer for the next several years and that the depletion of the starting pitching farm system being a much more valuable asset to build in the current system.  As the 2012 season starts, it'll be interesting to see if that's still his tune if the committee collectively decides to bat under the Mendoza line and Moreno anchors the rival Dallas Dragons into another world series run.

During Spring Training, there wasn't too many battles that were expected. With the departure of fan favorite RF Manny Hernandez, the right fielder position is perhaps the only contested one in the field. However, RF Dale Little was already looking to be a starter last year and his spring training seemed to put any doubt to rest.

The bigger question marks are towards first and second base. 2B Mitsuaki Sakaguchi had an awful spring training and continues to show his extremely streaky bat. 2B Joe Sheppard looked great by comparison, but long-term he would need to show a lot more to gain an everyday starting spot. 1B Danny Cruz was not extended with a declining bat and liabilities in the field. However, his replacement 1B Brad Ross was another player with a horrific spring training, opening the door for Cesari, Ortiz, and potential convert Ryan Clevinger. Ross probably will hold onto the starting spot for now, but his leash may be rather short in April.

For the pitching staff, the addition of Ledford increases the number of major league starting pitchers to a million. The question here is which middle relievers will make room for the 6th, 7th, and 8th emergency starters. Veteran SP Xiang-ling Fei will most likely serve out the remainder of his contract in a middle reliever role. His spring training continuing to signal that this future Hall of Famer has lost too much velocity after an incredible 18 year career. Relievers Richards, Raines and Jim Moss will most likely start the season in AAA given their Spring Training performance. Closer Manasarian will start the season on the IL, moving Tomita into a closer role temporarily. With so much flexibility with the starting corps, expect pitchers to be shuffled in and out of AAA when they get cold. This strategy may include the 2011 Cy Young winner Aaron Sutton, who did not arrive in shape for spring training and struggled.

Certainly there are some questions and a lot of uncertainty that accompanies any team on the eve of a new season. But the expectations this year is that this team should be a World Series contender again, and should have been running a dynasty had the bats not gone ice cold at exactly the wrong time. Everyone is anxious and ready to hit the field and get back to the promised land.

The snow is starting to fall which means its time for another hot stove season. This year's forecast however have signs pointing to a very cold free agency period. There simply aren't that many big name players out there on the market. The headliners are a very fragile outfielder in LeFever and a 38 year old immortal pitching machine in Paul Ledford.  After that its all above average outfielders and spot relievers. Its during free agency markets like this everyone will look back with envy at a few teams who took a chance on some players that explode out of nowhere and elevate a team to the postseason.

But should the Giants even be buyers?

The latest iteration of the Giants that have made the playoffs in the last two seasons have completed their remodel on the fly. They now have a young corps of starters led by Cy Young winner Aaron Sutton. There were points in the last season where the team had 7 or 8 major league starters. On offense, the team led the American Conference in homeruns and was near the top in all other categories. The players who may have been lagging behind were Danny Cruz and Manny Hernandez, both of which were not extended and have several replacements ready to go.  So aside from relievers and maybe a catcher, is there any FA actions the team needs even with the terrible ACDS performance leaving a bad taste in every Giants fans mouth?

But of course, the free agency market is just one aspect of the hot stove season, and the major league roster may not be what the organization should be focused on. As noted above, there are 6-8 major league starters, 6-8 pitchers who have all come up at the same time and at best there are only 6 pitching spots. At the same time, there are some highly touted AAA prospects in left field in Ryan Clevinger, Enrique Islas, and Glen Mills, all of which just got stuck behind Luis Soto's 6 year extension. There's also been talk about moving highly touted catching prospect Jesus Moreno. But after trading away David Diaz to Chicago for a reliever who busted, the GM might be a bit gunshy moving anyone at the C position.

The plethora of major league ready pitchers and outfielders being pulled up has left huge holes in the minor league system that will need to be reseeded. It may be time to start shopping these highly desirable players for draft picks and prospects to reseed a prospect system that in one harvest produced a potential world series contender right when the team needed them the most.

It could be a cold stove season, but the moves made here might make the difference between perennial postseason contender and a team that squandered value and was left barren

The Detroit Giants that surprised everyone with a World Series win in 2010 had no prior expectations.  It was a team that was expecting to take some years to retool and rebuild.  It was a team with an unproven pitching staff replacing some big names. It was a team that couldn't make moves after having the budget slashed by $600,000 by team owner Marco Reyes.

The 2011, the players were largely the same, but virtually everything else was not.  Isaias Rodriguez's albatross contract expired, Izzy Montano retired. The starting pitching corps had stats that rivaled the best in the league and was doing that largely out of arbitration and rookie contracts. And as every player felt when they received their 2010 championship rings, an added weight was added to repeat as world champions.

On October 6th in front of 19,945 screaming Gladiators fans, the dreams of a repeat died in the desert. What went wrong?

As far as the series went, it was a complete power outage. The Giants bats were helpless against the Gladiators pitching staff and weren't able to score a single run until Game 3, by which time it was too late. The team lead the league during the regular season at 195 HRs with Mitsuaki Sakaguchi hitting 48 of them. Precisely 0 were hit during the series.  The team was 2nd in OBS at .324.  During the series, the OBS fell to .264. The team's bats got cold at exactly the wrong time.

But to say that the season as a whole was a complete bust would be going too far.  Finishing with the best record in baseball, something that could be seen as a negative for draft considerations, was actually a relieving confirmation that the young pitching staff that the Giants have assembled could drive a team for years to come.  The outfield was surprisingly durable with Luis Soto, Julio Gonzalez, and Manny Hernandez providing a good mix of defense and offense. The left side of the infield was providing a ton of defense, with Zach Swint showing a return to his pre-injury form.  The right side of the infield has the power, with Sakaguchi leading the way.  Overall, the Giants window for establishing a dynasty remains open.

This doesn't mean there aren't questions to be handled during the offseason. LF Luis Soto has signed an extension, but rumors are that RF Manny Hernandez will not be offered an extension, given the emergence of Dale Little, Roy McGinnis, and Glen Mills all waiting their turn. Another question mark is Xiang-ling Fei and his remaining contract. Does the former 3-time Cy Young still have gas in the tank and can he stay a Giant for his whole career? And will Hethum Manasarian be back from injury and stay in top form?  But the biggest question will be the infield of the 2012 Giants.  Swint and Cruz both appear to be headed towards free agency, and is Alex Chavez's defensive prowess enough to keep him on the roster?

There's a lot to look forward to with this Giants team, but there's a lot of expectations too.  And a mistake at this junction could quickly close any hopes of any future dynasty.

As the baseball world moves into September callups, the Detroit Giants looked to be continuing the success they've been building off of since last year's championship season. Despite a full month of games left, the magic number for Detroit winning the AC East sits at just 9 games. 100+ wins by the end of the season  for the third time in franchise history also seems like a probable outcome for the team. Once again, the team is being led by dominant pitching from a very young corps of starting pitching and veteran relievers. The offense has been consistent, with the long ball giving the team more efficiency in scoring runs. This offseason, there will be some choices to be made, but they will largely be focused on how to make the offense even more prolific and cost effective.

It's easy to look at the talent today, backed up with numbers, and say this is an obviously talented team.  But if you look back to 2009, no one was sure that this team was going to be average. Most of the town's sports pundits were convinced a full rebuild was on the horizon and 2010 was the start of the fire sale.The 2008 season saw a 92-70 Giants team edge out the @Tim Andrews Charlotte Hellfire to win the division. The team went on to make it to the World Series, only to fall short to the @Brenden-Brooklyn Bandicoots team in 5 games. When Spring Training started for the 2009 season, the team looked extremely similar and the team had similar expectations for the year.

The 2008 season saw a 92-70 Giants team edge out the @Tim Andrews Charlotte Hellfire to win the division. The team went on to make it to the World Series, only to fall short to the @Brenden-Brooklyn Bandicoots team in 5 games. When Spring Training started for the 2009 season, the team looked extremely similar and the team had similar expectations for the year.

When it was all said and done, the Giants finished in second in the division, 2 games below .500, 24 games behind Charlotte and 8 games out of a wild card spot. Statistically the team had performed slightly better than the 2008 version, but between expensive contracts and age becoming an increasing factor, it was clear that the window was now closed.  In the 2009 offseason, Sukeaki Kato, coming off one of his best years, was not given an extension. Iliana Preciado wasn't extended either. Alberto Fregoso was a disaster and had been traded in the middle of 2009.  Austin Bauer as a rookie was kept for 2010, but he too was traded midseason.  On top of all that, ownership was very unhappy with end of year negative balance that comes with a non-competitive team and slashed the 2010 operating budget by almost $600,000.

In essence, the pitching corps was blown up.  In its place, Baumgardner, who came into the ABA from an independent league with no history. Aaron Sutton pitched 5.2 innings and had a 6.35 ERA in 2009. He hadn't started a game since 2004 in college.  Sandlin who had 6 very good starts in 2009, but 2010 would be a rookie season. Rohde had 15 IP to his name prior to the 2010 season.  Reliever Shawn Spruce had a disasterous September in 2009 allowing 8 earned runs and 2 homeruns in 3.2 innings of work.

No one knew how 2010 was going to go.  Statistically speaking the team did worse in pitching and batting, but by the second half of the season the team began to hit its stride. The Giants got into the 2nd wild card spot, and the rest of it is history.

Today the Giants will once again rely on its crop of pitchers to defend their title against the likes of the Dragons and Ghostriders.  But it is an expectation today.  At the start of 2010, it was simply hope.

The Detroit Giants are right where they thought they'd be in the standings right now, leading the division with one of the best records in baseball.  There were some concerns on whether the very young pitching staff that led the team to a World Series title would have any sort of sophomore regression.  With a team ERA 1st in the conference and top 3 in most pitching metrics, its looking like the Giants have a pitching corps that will be competitive (and cheap) for many years to come.

The bats have been alive and working as well. Luis Soto is 4th in batting average. Mitsuaki Sakaguchi is tied for a league lead in HR's with 20, 6 of them coming in 3 games in a row. Danny Cruz has hit his 14th HR, and has 5 HR's in the past 5 games. The average and the power are both present. Its just a matter of consistency.  After rocketing out to a 17-8 start in April, the team crashed back down late in May, almost going into a 9 game losing streak had there not been come back wins against Halifax in the middle of the potential losing streak.

The biggest question facing the team now concerns the trade deadline.  The Giants have a potent team that is largely made up of the 2010 championship roster, but can this roster do it again? Or does the team need to add one or two more pieces to win it and does the farm have enough pieces to even make a move? June and July could be a sign of clear sailing this season, but it could also be a sign of danger if the team isn't consistent enough to win it all again but is too good to get the draft picks to rebuild the prospect pipeline.

In 2011, Giants fans look around and see that the ABA is now a radically different place. Expansion and realignment have change the world.  The divisional rivalry with @Tim Andrews Charlotte Hellfire has been replaced with an absolute juggernaut in @Brenden-Brooklyn Canaries and their massive $3.4 million budget. The Hellfire stay in the conference with @Jonathan - Dallas - Commish Dragons, and suddenly the American Conference has 4 of the top 7 budgets in the league.

However, when Giants fans look at the 2011 roster, its pretty much exactly the same as 2010. GM @JJ - Detroit has decided to stand by during the feeding frenzy that is free agency. Even with Brooklyn now competing with the division, JJ remains optimistic about the current Giants' roster being able to defend their championship.  The team lost two relievers over the offseason in Izzy Montano and Isaias Rodriguez to retirement and added a reliever back in Chris Frey. The team will have to continue to rely on the very young starting pitching corps.

The bigger concern for Detroit is on the farm.  8 minor leaguers were taken in the expansion draft, and another pitcher was lost to the Rule 5 draft. Coupled with the callups in 2010, the minor league system for Detroit looks to be incredibly barren, particularly with pitchers. The hope is that the major league team can hold its own for the foreseeable future with some smart draft picks to reload the minor league system. However, if things do go south this year, there will be several coveted pieces that could be traded to jump start the minor league system this year if necessary.

Buckle up and get ready.  The 2011 ABA Regular Season is fast approaching!