SAN FRANCISCO — The row of lockers directly to the right of the home clubhouse entrance has seen tremendous stability over the years.
Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford spent more than a decade there, and at a certain point Crawford had been a Giant for so long that even his show shoes got a locker. For years, Joe Panik was tucked alongside them. Other infielders came and went, but in good times and bad, that row generally looked the same.
For four seasons, Thairo Estrada also called it home. He dressed a few feet from Crawford and Belt when all three were teammates, but this spring he watched others move in.
On Friday, he packed his stuff and moved out.
Estrada was outrighted to Triple-A in the afternoon, all but ending his time in San Francisco. But if the Giants do things right, they soon could again lean on stability in that row.
Matt Chapman is five months into his tenure as a Giant, and can opt out of his three-year contract at the end of the season, but he continues to show that he’s a building block, one San Francisco should make every effort to bring back regardless of whether he wants to test the market or not. With two outs and two strikes in the eighth on Friday, Chapman lined a double into the gap, giving the Giants a 3-1 lead that would hold up and saving them from what would have been the worst loss of the season.
The Giants need to sweep this series against the last-place Miami Marlins, but for six innings they looked completely lost against right-hander Adam Oller. Then it was Mike Baumann’s turn, and the man who has played for five teams this season — including the Giants — briefly kept the shutout going before loading the bases in the eighth.
Baumann was inexplicably left in the game to face Michael Conforto, but struck him out. It was an at-bat that looked very familiar to anyone who has watched San Francisco scuffle with runners in scoring position in recent weeks, but Chapman made sure it wasn’t a back-breaker, and he did so on a night when the Giants drew 33,606 to the park because it was Drone Show Night.
What was his manager’s reaction?
“Thank god,” Bob Melvin said. “The way offensively it’s been recently, we needed a spark like that.”
There haven’t been enough of them this season, but Chapman has at least done his part. After signing late, he has a .775 OPS, 21 homers and 67 RBI while playing Gold Glove defense. He has been Melvin’s most consistent player, appearing in 133 of 136 games.
The Giants shouldn’t need to see anything else. Chapman might not be a superstar like past offseason targets Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani, but he’s one of the league’s best players when right, and he certainly is a winning player. The Giants haven’t had nearly enough of those in recent years.
Estrada at times did all the little things, too. Like Chapman, he took on a leadership role in the clubhouse when he could, even though there was a language barrier. With San Francisco sliding last year, he spoke passionately in a pregame team meeting. For large chunks of that season, he was Gabe Kapler’s best player.
On Friday, with Kapler back in town with the Marlins, the Giants parted ways with the second baseman. It was a surprise, but the players also somewhat understood. They haven’t played well enough to keep the whole gang together, and barring a huge winning streak in the early days of September, most of the month will be spent building for the future.
“Some of those decisions obviously are out of our control,” Chapman said. “What we can control is (that) our season is not over by any means. We still have life, we still have things to show up and work hard for and play for. Our goal is to win every single day and until somebody says we’re eliminated that’s not going to change.
“Obviously we love Thairo and sometimes business decisions and things are made that are out of our control. But whoever is in this room, we have a goal to win.”
Simply winning series won’t get it done at this point. With 26 games to go, the Giants are still 6 1/2 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies, with the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs also standing in their path. All three teams won Friday, shrinking the Giants’ playoff odds even with Chapman’s heroics.
Barring a stunning September against a gauntlet of contenders, the Giants will spend the month thinking about the 2025 roster. That’s one reason they jettisoned Estrada, as his at-bats will go to Casey Schmitt and Brett Wisely.
The much bigger decisions will come in November and beyond. Scott Boras clients don’t generally sign extensions, and it seems likely that Chapman and Blake Snell will again test the market, although this time with a desire to sign much, much faster.
Internally, the Giants are a lot more confident about bringing Chapman back than Snell. The lefty has been so dominant that he again will be one of the best starters on the market, and he figures to take a second crack at a healthy nine-figure deal.
The lone run Snell gave up Friday snapped a streak of 30 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings at home, the longest by a Giants pitcher since Oracle Park opened in 2000. Afterward, Snell was asked about his future, something that’ll come up often as he finishes the first season of a two-year contract that has an opt-out he’ll surely take.
“I don’t think about it. I’m really big in, where I’m at is where I’m at and my feet are here,” Snell said. “I’m not going to look at what-ifs and what could happen. It doesn’t matter. Right now I’m here, we need to win, I love this team and that’s all I’m focused on.”
Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast