As the San Francisco Giants continue to look to play spoiler down the stretch, it has been a bit of a disappointing season overall.
The National League West has been very good this season, as they will potentially be sending three teams to the playoffs this year. While it hasn’t been the season that the Giants would have hoped for, there have been some bright spots despite the organization missing the playoffs this season.
For San Francisco, there is going to be a lot of decisions to make this offseason. The Giants will be looking to build around their core and the franchise hasn’t been afraid to spend money.
During the year, San Francisco made the big decision to lock up third baseman Matt Chapman to a lucrative six-year deal. The organization is hoping that the slugger will be one of the leaders for the team moving forward.
The decision to lock up the slugger long-term is because of the excellent first season that he has had with the team. Recently, Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com spoke about the All-Star caliber season that the third baseman is having.
“Well, you know the Giants must be happy with Chapman’s first season in San Francisco, because they just inked him to a six-year, $151 million extension. Chapman’s glove remains elite, as evidenced by him tying for the MLB lead this season with 10 Outs Above Average at third base. But by the Bay, he’s paired that with an offensive resurgence, which has produced his best full-season OPS+ (122) since 2019, when he finished sixth in the AL MVP voting.”
This campaign, Chapman has totaled a .247 batting average, 24 home runs, and 73 RBIs. While it has been a solid offensive season for the slugger, he has also been shining on the field, as he has a dWAR of 2.3.
Overall, the talented third baseman has an excellent WAR, as he comes in at 6.8 for the season. This is the highest that his WAR has been since he was 26-years-old, as he is clearly enjoying his time in San Francisco.
With young players like Heliot Ramos and Tyler Fitzgerald on the team, having a veteran leader is going to be important for the Giants. This offseason, they will surely be looking to add some more bats to a lineup that could use some more pop.
In his first season on the team, Chapman has definitely had an All-Star caliber season.
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Chicago Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg lost his battle with cancer on Monday. He was 65. A 20th-round selection by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1978 MLB Draft, Sandberg quickly moved through the Phillies system despite his humble beginnings. He made his major league debut at the end of the 1981 season, getting six plate appearances in 13 games, his only hit coming off of a bat he borrowed from shortstop Larry Bowa. Drafted as a shortstop, the Phillies hoped that Sandberg would be the heir apparent for Bowa. However, that 13-game stint convinced the Phillies that he was not the answer. Although Sandberg had played at second and third as well in the minors, he was blocked at those positions by Manny Trillo and Mike Schmidt respectively. Bowa and Sandberg were traded to the Cubs during the 1981-82 offseason, with shortstop Ivan DeJesus heading to Philadelphia. Sandberg, now a second baseman, had a solid first two seasons in Chicago before exploding into stardom in 1984. He posted a .314/.367/.520 batting line in his 700 plate appearances, hitting 19 homers and 36 doubles while stealing 32 bases as he led the Cubs to their first postseason berth since 1945. Sandberg made his first All-Star Game, was named the NL MVP, won a Silver Slugger and his second Gold Glove award. A perennial All-Star, Sandberg possessed a combination of power and speed at second base that was rare for his era. He was a 10-time All-Star, winning nine Gold Gloves and seven Silver Sluggers. Sandberg posted a lifetime .285/.344/.452 batting line in his 9282 plate appearances, hitting 282 homers and 403 doubles while stealing 344 bases. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame 2005 in his third year on the ballot. After a decade away from the game, Sandberg returned as a minor league manager in the Cubs system in 2007, moving up the ladder to Triple-A in 2009. After Cubs manager Mike Quade was fired, and Sandberg was passed over for the opening, he joined the Phillies organization in 2011. After three years in the Phillies organization, he became the interim manager in 2013, and was eventually hired full-time at the end of the season. Sandberg lasted just over two years in total as the Phillies manager, resigning after 74 games in 2015 as the losses piled up. He remained in the game as a goodwill ambassador for the Cubs before announcing that he had prostate cancer in 2024. Although his cancer had gone into remission, it returned in December, spreading to other organs before Sandberg ultimately lost his battle. Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Sandberg during this difficult time.
Caitlin Clark is expected to sit out for a fourth straight game on Sunday when the Indiana Fever take on the Chicago Sky in a much-awaited rivalry matchup. The 23-year-old is still dealing with a reaggravated groin strain and has no timetable to return. The rest of her Fever teammates have had to step up in her absence. There is, perhaps, no other player who has taken a bigger role on the offensive end amid Clark’s injury spell than three-time All-Star Kelsey Mitchell. Mitchell, however, struggled with her shot in Thursday’s win against the Las Vegas Aces. The 5-foot-8 guard shot the ball poorly in the first three quarters, going just 4-of-19 from the field for 12 points. Mitchell caught fire in the fourth, though. She went 4-of-5 in the final frame for nine points, finishing with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-24 shooting. This is exactly why head coach Stephanie White remains completely confident in Mitchell’s scoring ability. The veteran coach has made it clear that she has given Mitchell the green light to shoot the rock. “The biggest thing with Kelsey is just telling her, ‘Let it fly.’ It’s going to go,” White said after Thursday’s win against Las Vegas. "... Keep shooting it from outside. She made some big ones when we needed them.” Kelsey Mitchell Has Stepped up Amid Clark's Injury Mitchell has answered the call for the Fever of late. In the three games Clark has been sidelined, Mitchell has put up averages of 22.0 points on 42.9% shooting. She also knocked down 2.7 triples during that stretch on a 34.8% clip. The 29-year-old veteran will need to keep her foot on the gas on Sunday as the Fever try to take down the Sky at United Center. With Clark watching from the bench, the Fever will rely on Mitchell’s scoring against Chicago as they look to improve on their 13-12 record. The Fever and Sky meet at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on ABC.
Kirk Cousins might be relegated to the job of backup quarterback, but he is showing veteran leadership to his Atlanta Falcons teammates. Following Sunday's practice, Cousins pulled aside rookie defensive end James Pearce to encourage the first-round pick after his fourth practice in the league at Flowery Branch, Georgia. "QB Kirk Cousins pulled aside Pearce after practice to compliment him on a pass batted down," wrote Marc Raimondi of ESPN. Cousins reportedly had a solid day of practice on Sunday, going 7-of-12 passing against the first-team unit. If Cousins wants out of Atlanta, he's not showing it at practice. The four-time Pro Bowl quarterback is competing on the field and being a good teammate around the facility. Cousins' actions on the field backed up what Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot praised Cousins for before the team's practice on Sunday. “Outside, it's a lot more of a deal than it is in the building,” Fontenot said to the media about the idea of friction between the Falcons and Cousins, per video from D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “He shows up, he does his job, just like anybody ... We've gotta build the best 70-man roster so we can go win games. "That's what we're focused on, and Kirk, just like all the other players, is focused on coming in here and doing their job. That's what he's been doing." Fontenot didn't dismiss the idea that Atlanta would trade Cousins before the season. He said the Falcons will do whatever it takes to make the team better, but stressed that Cousins has been a professional throughout the process of being replaced by Michael Penix Jr., a first-round pick from the 2024 draft. “In terms of making moves, whether it's trades or acquiring players, we're always looking at those factors," Fontenot said. "We're gonna do whatever we can do to make this team the best it can possibly be. But he's been a great professional, and he's handled himself well.” Cousins is coming to work in a manner that will make another owner want to take a chance on the veteran quarterback. That could be one of his best-selling points before he plays in his 13th season in the league.
It hasn’t been the flashiest of offseasons for the New York Knicks, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been productive. After acquiring Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns last summer, the Knicks have toned it down a bit this time around, targeting key depth pieces for the second unit, which struggled mightily last season. So far, the Knicks have signed Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele to help beef up the team’s bench. These moves have been largely acclaimed by analysts and pundits as positive additions. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton is one of those who believe the Knicks made strong signings. He graded the Knicks’ offseason up to this point a "B," citing the value they’ve gotten for such a small price. “After adding Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns last offseason, the Knicks had limited room to maneuver this summer,” wrote Pelton. “Getting Guerschon Yabusele to take ever so slightly less than the entirety of their taxpayer midlevel exception allowed New York to upgrade its second-unit frontcourt and still fill out its bench with veteran minimum contracts. One of those veterans, Jordan Clarkson — signed after reaching a buyout with the Utah Jazz — gives the Knicks more athleticism off the bench than unsigned backup guards Cameron Payne and Landry Shamet.” Clarkson has been one of the NBA’s best bench scorers during the 2020s, leading the league in total points off the bench in that timeframe. This past season with the Jazz, he averaged 16.2 points per game while shooting 36 percent from three-point range. Yabusele was originally drafted in 2016 by the Boston Celtics, he would go on to play two seasons for them in limited minutes before departing overseas, where he remained until this past season with the Philadelphia 76ers. He would go on to have a career year with the 76ers, averaging 11.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in 70 appearances (43 starts).
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