It will be a triumphant Opening Day at Oracle Park when the San Francisco Giants host the Seattle Mariners. The team is off to their best start (5-1) since 2014 thanks to new leadership by franchise legend Buster Posey. They’ve also got some new faces sprinkled in around some young players who figure to excite. The Mariners pale in comparison.
Jerry Dipoto, their President of Baseball Operations, is (basically) the darling of the previous generation of MLB front office exec. That’s the data-driven efficiency model that compressed players into widgets and our fandom into a given that could be abused however the front office saw fit. Its innovations were gutting the work force, disciplining arbitration and free agency, and using trash cans to win championships. For his part, Dipoto’s data-driven and rational approach to the game — wherein the goal is to win 54% of their games — has netted the team exactly one (1) playoff appearance in his tenure. The Mariners have just four trips to the postseason this century.
Giants fans are no strangers to overhyped data-driven guys failing to deliver when handed the keys to the kingdom. This is where the differences between the two franchises begin to show. The Giants’ dozens of owners don’t seem content to rest on their ownership stake; the Mariners seem content with issuing their fanbase annual mediocrity. So, we should consider ourselves lucky that we root for the Giants and not the Mariners…
Even though the Mariners have some dazzling talent. There’s Julio Rodriguez, of course, but also fun-loving Randy Arozarena (acquired in trade last year from the Rays). They’ve got Big Dumper Cal Raleigh behind the dish, and some enviable young pitching. But this team also traded away Robbie Ray last year to save some money and got back Mitch Haniger’s disastrous three-year deal. They cut him in Spring Training, and will pay him $14 million or so to stay home. Last year, Dipoto pulled the FIRE MANAGER lever to protect himself. The ground is shrinking beneath him. Will the Giants add to the precarity?
The Giants have won a season series against the Mariners just once in the 21st century (2020), but their hot start makes a setback this weekend feel… if not impossible, then close to impossible. Both teams have a lot to prove this season and here in the early going have come out of the gate with positions they will need tremendous energy to hold onto (in the case of the Giants) or improve upon (the Mariners). Momentum versus anxiety.
I got an email in my inbox a couple of days ago offering me discounted tickets for the home opener, so maybe the momentum part of the equation is a bit of a mirage and it’s anxiety all the way down for both teams.
Series overview
Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Seattle Mariners
Where: Oracle Park | San Francisco, California
When: Friday (1:35pm PT), Saturday (6:05pm PT), and Sunday (1:05pm PT)
National broadcasts: None.
Projected starters
Friday: Luis F. Castillo (RHP, Season debut) vs. Justin Verlander (RHP, 0-0, 3.60 ERA)
Saturday: Bryce Miller (RHP, 0-1, 4.76 ERA) vs. Robbie Ray (LHP, 1-0, 5.06 ERA)
Sunday: Bryan Woo (RHP, 1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. Jordan Hicks (RHP, 1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Where they stand
Mariners, 3-4 (4th in AL West), 18 RS / 29 RA | Projected W-L: 84-78
Giants, 5-1 (3rd in NL West), 30 RS / 16 RA | Projected W-L: 85-77
Mariners to watch
Luis F. Castillo: Somehow, another Luis Castillo has appeared. No, this is not the Luis Castillo the Giants traded away for Casey McGehee and who is currently the ace of the Mariners’ staff. Nor is this the switch-hitting second baseman of the Florida Marlins. He’s 49 and hasn’t had a major league at bat in 15 years. No, this is 30-year old Luis F. Castillo who was an international player signed by the Diamondbacks in 2012.
He became a minor league free agent after 2021 and signed with the Detroit Tigers, lasting just a season with them (he got into 3 MLB games). Those 3.2 IP in 2022 represent his only MLB innings. He’s pitched 543.2 professional innings elsewhere (primarily in the minor leagues), and after leaving Detroit, he pitched in Japan and did well. As MLB Trade Rumors notes:
After turning in a 3.12 ERA across 49 innings for the [Chiba Lotte] Marines, Castillo moved to the Orix Buffaloes. He fired 94 1/3 innings of 2.96 ERA ball despite a pedestrian 19.6% strikeout rate. Castillo showed fantastic control, though, walking fewer than 5% of batters faced for the second consecutive season.
This is a spot start, but the Luis Castillo weirdness and the Giants’ history with facing junkballers (or just new pitchers) for the first time makes him a player to watch.
Bryan Woo: Back in 2023, MLB Pipeline ranked him as the Mariners’ #6 overall prospect. The #3 prospect as the other starter in this series, Bryce Miller, but I’m focusing on Woo here because woo boy does Bryan have some serious Bay Area ties. Born in Oakland, went to Cal Poly, and grew up a Giants fan. His favorite player was Brandon Crawford. Will the Giants flash Brandon Crawford at the bottom of every inning when he takes the mound?
Donovan Solano: Oh sure, of all the lineup options I could go with, I’m spotlighting the former Giant because, well, why not? He might’ve aged out of that bat that made him so valuable to the team — but then again, maybe being back at Oracle Park will give the 37-year old a shot of youth. He’s a career .278/.332/.389 hitter there.
Giants to watch
Justin Verlander: Getting the start for the home opener has to mean something because the Giants could’ve adjusted it so that Webb was the guy, but maybe the market research has shown that the older Giants fans — those most likely to buy a ticket and concessions — know who Justin Verlander is and think he’s still as good as the Hall of Fame peak guy in their memories. Or maybe they just hope to catch a glimpse of Kate Upton?
She won’t be in attendance.
Willy Adames: He doesn’t need to be a hero in his new home, but it couldn’t hurt, right? Remarkably, he’s played in Oracle Park just 16 times in his career (63 PA), but he has a pair of home runs on top of a triple slash of .321/.381/.446. Try not to strikeout or commit any errors. Those are the surest ways to get on the fans’ bad side, Willy.
Heliot Ramos: A chance to really, truly claim the hearts and minds of some younger Giants fans. We’ve seen him hit righties on the road trip. Can he keep it up against what figures to be a tough trio of righties and become the cherished “prospect turned star” fans have wanted for so long?
Prediction time
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