Shayna Rubin talks Giants' identity, Buster Posey's plan, Melvin & Verlander back in '26?

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hi, SHANEA.

00:00:05
Speaker 2: Good to be with you.

00:00:06
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for being with this. Shana Rubin, you can find her on x at Shana Rumin. That's s h A y n A r U b i N.

00:00:14
Speaker 2: She just wrote.

00:00:15
Speaker 1: The Giants are losing ground fast and running out of games to catch up. I tell you what, you're absolutely right. The calendar is not in their favor. What do you say, do they get in or not?

00:00:27
Speaker 3: I mean they're running out of time and the kind of lost their opportunity here against some division fos. So it's it feels like a miracle needs to happen for them to crack the wild card and the Met's one yesterday. They've got the Arizona Diamondbacks that breathing down their back. They got the Cincinnati Reds also in there. So it's it's the room is closing in on them, uh, and they're not really playing their best ball. They have a very tax pitching staff, and it's just feels feels less and less likely, especially just given the four game losing streak there on.

00:01:00
Speaker 4: Right now, because this team was built not on in my opinion, not on superstars like as far as like everybody can hit the ball, so well and everything besides Raffy, besides you know, almost thirty homers by Willie. Did it feel like the wins went out of the sale when they went back to back games. Logan Web and Robbie Ray they're two aces, they're two best pitchers, and they gave up eleven runs combined between the two of them.

00:01:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels like there was a major momentum shift because the offense was really powering through the last couple of weeks, and it was that's that's really what powered them through the winning stretch.

00:01:39
Speaker 2: That they were on.

00:01:40
Speaker 3: Raffi Devers was smashing the ball, Willie Domas was following suit, everyone else was kind of following suit when Devers sort of caught fire a little bit, And I think that they were really riding the high of what their offense can potentially do. So you were seeing not only glimpses of, oh, this is what the team can look like if they really make a run at the postseas, but also a glimpse of what the team can look like next year is at their best. So there was sort of a lot of hope riding high on you know, how capable they looked Over a couple series, and the wind definitely sort of got knocked out when the pitching staff, that the workload from the bullpen and the starting rotation started to catch up to them, and it caught out to them at the worst time against the Dodgers. And I think that right now you're sort of seeing the trickle down of of that.

00:02:38
Speaker 4: Do you feel like this team was built to one hundred percent win this year? This is Buster Posey's first year, and Buster would never say, oh, I would never concede a season. That's just not who he is. He wasn't like that as a player. But until they had gotten Raffie and obviously you get Raffi Devers, you're like, hey, we're gonna win. Do you think they were really built to win this year or do you feel like this is kind of a little bit of an over achievement and going into next year now we're going to make that final piece that's going to push us across the finish line.

00:03:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you sort of nailed it there.

00:03:14
Speaker 3: I think obviously they're never going to say, you know, this is a discovery year for us, so we're trying to sort of hone in on our identity. But they came into the season a completely different organization. They have a completely different guy in charge, completely different guys in charge. So even though they're going to say we want to win and this is a winning year and we want to contend, and they spent in a way that is meant to content, I think that what we're seeing now and the ups and downs and the significant trade on June thirteenth to get Devers and some of the trades at the deadline to reconfigure their bullpen, which was their strongest suit when they were winning. You're seeing that they were competing even though they were going had signs ups and downs, but they're also an underlying purpose of finding their identity, finding out who they want to be next year, sort of rounding into a more complete team. And even though right now they're in a little bit of a skit, it feels like uh and the fans notice it too. They're they're showing up a little bit more than they were last year. I think they're starting to become more of an identity that maybe will will look a little more clear heading into the offseason and maybe next year.

00:04:29
Speaker 5: You forgot that they had a four nothing they had last night also Shana by the way and lost that. So let's not forget that. But what is their identity? What you're saying, it's become clear, what's their identity?

00:04:40
Speaker 2: What is it?

00:04:41
Speaker 6: Is it?

00:04:41
Speaker 5: Raffie Devers and eight other guys and Willia Damas, like, what is it?

00:04:44
Speaker 3: Is it?

00:04:45
Speaker 5: Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander?

00:04:47
Speaker 2: Next year?

00:04:48
Speaker 5: What is their identity? Because they traded away a lot of their bullpen, they've they've made some moves, they have some aging veteran starters. What is their identity for the years going forward?

00:04:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting because I think I mean not, I think it's pretty clear. Going into the year, the proclaimed identity was that they're pitching and defense team, and they kind of shifted more towards you know, we got more power and thumb in the in the heart of the lineup, and there's some good defensive players. But I wouldn't say that that's been the identity of this team at all.

00:05:20
Speaker 2: I think that.

00:05:21
Speaker 3: I mean, you have Matt Chapman, who's probably one of the best, if not the best, third basement in baseball. You got one of the best, Patrick Bailey, best catcher in baseball. But they a lot of what went wrong had to do with sort of the missteps and fundamentals and the pitching staff. You know, they have a pretty good one two three, but in the rotation, but they went through a lot of transformations in the in the bullpen, and and a lot of the young pitching didn't really live up to with the exceptional Land and Roupe didn't live up to expectation. So the pitching and defense identity seems to be a little bit more in flux. And it seems like that that's not to say that they don't have a lot of good options that always add some pitching, but it feels like there's more of an emphasis on the offense, the bats and having sort of a more powerful offense than maybe it seemed that they were letting on that they wanted to have. So it's, you know, it's it's right now. It feels like they go when their offense goes, they go, when Devers goes, they go when a Damas and Chapman and maybe Jung Hu goes. So it feels like that's where the momentum is swing is maybe and I say the identity is getting clearer. Maybe it's just sort of we're starting to see more of what the Posey front office is looking to direct next year towards.

00:06:45
Speaker 6: Hey, if you're a card collector or you're looking to collect, buy, sell, trade, Arena Clubs the spot. I'm going to tell you why because the old process AJA was very clunky. By a box, rip the pack, tons of comments, send it in for grading, and then finally you get everything back. This is weeks and weeks and you can start to try and sell the card. We have eliminated that with Arena club or they have. I act like I'm part of it, but in really one step.

00:07:11
Speaker 5: Arena's your one stop shop for everything. You get a card, you open a slap pack, the card is there, it's graded, It spins around. Cooley shows you three D the front, the back, you can look at the corners, you can look at everything, and then you get a decision. Do I want to keep it? Do I want to sell it? Do I want to trade?

00:07:26
Speaker 2: It?

00:07:27
Speaker 5: Gives you an instant offer. You can buy it back and re rip another slap pack and try for someone else, or you can keep it and hope the value goes up and sell it a later day. It is truly the best spot to get cards.

00:07:36
Speaker 6: Twenty percent off your first slab pack or card purchase can be had right now at Arena club dot com. Slash foul and use code foul.

00:07:46
Speaker 4: So these last two weeks, these last eleven games, are we going to be able to tell how they're going to use Bryce Eldred next year because he sat against the lefty. No, he sat against the lefty last night. I supposed to be the most elite a power prospect that the Giants have ever had ever, more than Brandon Bell, more than any of these guys. And he sits in his second game in the big leagues against Eduardo Rodriguez, not like he's not sitting against Chris Sale, right.

00:08:19
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:08:20
Speaker 3: I think what we're seeing now is probably not what they want to envision for Bryce Elders in the future. I mean, he kind of came up in a situation where Dom Smith went down with a hamstring injury. They needed someone to take over his role, which is, you know, left handed bat. No, the left handed bat infielder. He's not going to play first base to our understanding. But I think that what we're seeing right now him, I don't think that. I think the future Bryce Elders, they would not want him to be sitting against left hand or they see him as a future cornerstone of the franchise. So if if that's the case, then what we're seeing right now is definitely not what we would see next year if and when he makes the.

00:09:04
Speaker 1: Team, Shana, when you think of cornerstones of the Giants, I always used to think, of course, and I still do to a certain extent, of Buster Posey, And I just don't feel like this team has been the same since Buster Posey was not behind that, you know, not behind catch and balls and guiding a pitching staff and doing what he does offensively as well. I mean, are they still kind of searching for that? It's kind of like the Cardinals with Yadi or Morelna, right when Yatty decided to retire. Are they still searching for that quintessential starting catcher that just kind of leads the way the way that Buster did.

00:09:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that it's not only just a starting catcher, but a leader in general. I think they're looking for sort of. I think every team ideally would like to have a player like Buster where they're the star of the show, They're the face of the franchise. The young homegrown that everyone can latch onto from the time they get called up to the time that they potentially lead them to greatness.

00:10:07
Speaker 2: That's that's sort of the dream situation.

00:10:09
Speaker 3: And I think that the pursuit of Raphael Devers was the front office's acknowledgment that they want to have not necessarily just a leader, but someone that is compelling in the same way that that Buster Posey was compelling and that team was compelling. I mean, Buster says the memory making he said, they want to recreate the memory making business. I think it's just want to They want to get people excited about a star player playing at their home ballpark again. That hasn't really happened since Buster retired. So I think that that's where the conversation with Bryce Eldridge comes in. That's there's this sort of underlying hope or expectation that he or anybody can be the guy to take that torch that no one's been able to take since the glory years of the early twenty tens, and so we I think that there's some frustration from fans when they see Eldridge come up and sit against a LEFTI It's like, Hey, I thought this guy was supposed to be, you know, the guy. I thought, this is the beginning of the beginning, and and we're starting to see this team take off with its young core and young superstar leading the way. But I think what we're seeing now is a more tempered uh you know, they're trying to win the week and fill the roles that they need to fill to get there, and uh so that's what we're seeing now. But I think that overall, there's a hunger to get the guy to fill the role that Posey filled for.

00:11:41
Speaker 2: So many years.

00:11:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's definitely hard to replace, There's no question about that. Do you see any reason in which Bob Melvin would not be at the Helm next season for the San Francisco Giants.

00:11:52
Speaker 3: I think at one time it felt pretty possible, possible or on the table, just given the rise and the and the utter collapse. And I think that when you are playing as bad as they were a couple of weeks ago, it has to be part of the conversation, and it definitely was. I think there's always it's always on the table, But I wouldn't say one way or the other if that's the case or not.

00:12:19
Speaker 4: Does Buster Posey have the ability to debunk the narrative of free agents not signing in San Francisco. I know they got Willia Damas, Williadomas didn't have, didn't have anybody else that was courting him like that. Does he have the ability to get past that? Like feeling that people just for some reason think of San Francisco. But like Chapman, he resigned. When he's there, he's loved it. Willia Domas loves like nobody that plays there is like, man, I hate it. It's all the people coming in on free agencies that we heard it was like, I don't know, I don't want to play in San Francisco because it'll hurt my offensive stats. Can he change that and get land a big free agent because too giants have money for it?

00:13:07
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:13:07
Speaker 3: I mean I think that there is potentially a change in that trend because of Posey himself. And you've heard adam As, even though his options maybe weren't as expansive as you might think, he was talking about how swayed he was by the fact that Buster Posey was the one selling him on San Francisco, and even justin Verlanders talked about it. He talked to me about how when he was sitting down with Buster, he felt like, this guy really understands how to communicate with a baseball player, and this guy really understands how to how to sell me on this experience. And so I think that there's something too and we have the proof will be in the pudding, But I think there's something to the idea that maybe having Buster, former player that a lot of these guys are very familiar with, either played against or just watch growing up. Having a guy like that not just sell the concept of San Francisco, which I guess it can be hard to sell in some circumstances, but sell the concept of playing for him and playing for a team that in a front office that understands what they want. And so I think that if anything, that would be their advantage to landing one of those free agencies is having Buster the former player, sell them, sell them on the idea.

00:14:36
Speaker 2: Good a.

00:14:37
Speaker 4: Jay krautzy Go, First, Oh, my question is on My question is on Justin Erlander. He came in maybe like the outside chance of getting closer to that three hundred win plateau, to see if he play another year. It didn't happen this year. Three wins isn't going to do it, but his era is now below a four day in and day out. You see this guy, does it seem like there's another year? Probably not in a Giant's uniform. For Justin Verlander in Major League basball, I.

00:15:13
Speaker 2: Would say, I would say so.

00:15:15
Speaker 3: I think that even just the way that you've seen him pitch in the last few weeks, he's just he has a clear fire and a clear ability to pitch at a high level. Still, I think that the a lot of people are looking at the record as an indication of what he the inevitable retirement to the inevitable decline, but that's mostly just to do with the fact that he's seeking three hundred. I think that he's had a couple of really rough stretches, but his last couple months he's really he's arguably been, you know, one of their.

00:15:48
Speaker 2: Best starters, and I would be I would be. He hasn't given any declarative.

00:15:52
Speaker 3: Definitive answers one way or the other to us, but I would be surprised if this was.

00:15:58
Speaker 2: It for him.

00:16:00
Speaker 1: I think he's going to play forever.

00:16:04
Speaker 2: I think he wants to.

00:16:07
Speaker 3: Taste.

00:16:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, he does, three hundred wins is important.

00:16:11
Speaker 5: Shana are you you're at the ballpark, I'm guessing right now by your back.

00:16:15
Speaker 2: Yes, Do you just take.

00:16:16
Speaker 5: Your computer and move it a little bit, because that's the one ballpark I've never done a game in, So I actually want to know what the press box looks like.

00:16:23
Speaker 2: Oh I'm in a printer room.

00:16:26
Speaker 5: Oh okay, well you showed me that, because that's more. That's more than I've ever seen of Chase Field. So just if you can just see the.

00:16:33
Speaker 2: Camera, the essence of Chase Field.

00:16:37
Speaker 7: All right, looks looks cozy, all right, Yeah, definitely doesn't have the view of San Francisco's field.

00:16:45
Speaker 2: I'll tell you that right now. So it's a.

00:16:47
Speaker 3: Little bit different vibe here, that's for sure.

00:16:50
Speaker 2: Not bad, it's just different, Yeah, very different.

00:16:53
Speaker 1: It's a dry heat, remember that, SHANEA. We appreciate it very much. We appreciate the inside. Good luck the rest of the way. Hopefully we'll be talking San Francisco in the postseason. According to AJ, it's not gonna happen. The Mets are in, but time will tell. Shane rub And we appreciate you taking the time to be with us on foul.

00:17:10
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having me