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New York Times
7 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Free-falling Giants react to the Tyler Rogers trade: 'It kind of shows where we're headed'
SAN FRANCISCO — Tyler Rogers and Ryan Walker kept the same routine every game. San Francisco Giants' two right-handed setup relievers would watch the first two innings from the comfort of the clubhouse. Then, before the top of the third inning for road games, or the bottom of the third for home games, they'd stroll across the field and take their seats in the bullpen. Advertisement They were sitting at their lockers and watching a clubhouse TV in the early innings Wednesday afternoon. Then, Rogers got called into the manager's office. In the bottom of the third, when Walker headed to the bullpen, he was on his own. The Giants traded Rogers to the New York Mets for three players on Wednesday, and although one of them was another major-league reliever, right-hander José Buttó, the implications were as clear as they were stunning. Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey had shifted into a selling posture. In the funereal hush of the home clubhouse following a 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, as the Giants packed and dressed for a flight to New York, it was an open question who else might be on the move before the plane touches down. 'We lost six in a row and haven't given Buster and the front office any reason to add,' Giants third baseman and unofficial captain Matt Chapman said. 'We kind of did it to ourselves. It sucks. Obviously, you can tell everybody is pretty upset. It's not how we saw this thing going. 'I don't know what to expect. When you trade one of your best arms in the bullpen, I think it kind of shows where we're headed.' The only thing more stunning than Posey subtracting from the major league roster was how the Giants arrived here. They climbed to a season-high 12 games over .500 and pulled into a share of first place in the National League West when they won the first game of a series at Dodger Stadium on June 13. Nobody knew it at the time, but Posey was on the verge of completing the biggest trade any team is likely to make all season. The acquisition of All-Star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox made shockwaves through the industry and signaled the Giants' aggressive resolve. After seven seasons with the #SFGiants and 392 games pitched—10th-most in the SF era—we say thank you, Tyler 🧡 @tyrogers2020 — SFGiants (@SFGiants) July 30, 2025 Nobody saw the Devers trade coming. Nobody could've seen what the next six weeks would bring, either. The Giants are 13-24 since the trade. Not only did the Devers addition fail to ignite the lineup, but the production went backwards while the Giants have scored the fewest runs in the major leagues. The depth-challenged pitching staff hasn't been able to carry the team to the degree it did in May and June. Worst of all, most of the losses featured bad optics, physical errors and mental mistakes on the bases and in the field in situations so basic that a Pony League coach would make their players run laps for making. Advertisement It happened yet again in the 10th inning to decide Wednesday's loss. The Pirates advanced runner Oneil Cruz to third base on a groundout, and Walker issued a walk to Jack Suwinski to put runners at the corners. When Henry Davis followed with a tapper back to the mound, Walker did not check on Cruz before he whirled and threw to second base. He hadn't realized that Suwinski was running with the pitch. Suwinski beat the throw, and Cruz scored without a play. 'It was a mental mistake,' Walker said. 'I take full responsibility for today, personally. A play has to be made there. I mean, that's a Little League mistake. For some reason, I had 'turn two' all the way, which, sure, could it have (worked) if he didn't steal? Maybe. But in a situation like that, it doesn't matter. You've got to make sure the runner stays, or you've got your play at the plate. I didn't do that. So, it's my fault.' A night earlier, the Pirates' winning run was fueled by a miscommunication on a ground ball to second baseman Casey Schmitt. Devers, who is having a rough apprenticeship at first base, went for the ball and ended up screening Rogers, who covered the bag but never saw the throw. Left fielder Heliot Ramos, who has made too many baserunning mistakes to catalog, walked into an out because he either misinterpreted or failed to understand the infield fly rule. As poorly as the Giants have played since the All-Star break, losing nine of 11, it was difficult to envision a scenario in which Posey would shift into sell mode. It probably would've required getting skunked on their six-game homestand against the Mets and Pirates. That's precisely what happened. The Giants were winless on a homestand of at least six games for the first time since 1896, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. And they're suddenly six games behind the San Diego Padres for the third and final NL wild-card spot. But it was the manner of Tuesday night's loss that represented a breaking point for the front office. The Giants had looked every bit like a losing club, even though they hadn't had a losing record all season. Now they do. Wednesday's loss left them at 54-55 and under .500 for the first time all year. Advertisement 'Unfortunately, it's where we're at,' said Giants manager Bob Melvin, whose contract option has been exercised for next season but must ask himself hard questions about the team's preparedness and almost certainly will be asked to make changes to his coaching staff. 'We put ourselves in this position. When you play like we did again today, you lose games. … (The Rogers trade) hasn't changed our expectations for ourselves. But you also understand we put the front office in a tough spot, too. They have to look at the future and the now.' In addition to Buttó, who could be stretched out to start down the road, the Giants received a pair of 24-year-old prospects who were former top draft picks. Right-hander Blade Tidwell made his major-league debut earlier in the season and could transition from starting to relief. Outfielder Drew Gilbert is a one-time Top-100 prospect who has dealt with injuries after Houston sent him to the Mets in the 2003 trade deadline transaction that brought Justin Verlander back to the Astros. To create room on the 40-man roster for Tidwell, the Giants designated right-hander Sean Hjelle for assignment. The Giants also were without All-Star reliever Randy Rodríguez over the three games against the Pirates. The right-hander was unavailable after Melvin taxed him for back-to-back appearances against the Mets — something the team has tried to avoid after he ended last season with a sore elbow — including a multiple-inning assignment when he gave up two home runs on Sunday. Melvin said he expected Rodríguez to be available Friday in New York, but it's an ominous sign that he needed a full series to recover. Regardless of the players coming back, Chapman's assessment was sobering: You don't deal away a key bullpen asset like Rogers if you're going for it. 'It can't get much worse than losing every game of a homestand,' Chapman said. 'I think the only way we can go is up. … It is surprising we are in this position. I wouldn't have thought that three weeks ago. But it's just the way it goes. We have to accept it and try to finish strong, however we can, and see how it ends up.' Advertisement Rogers wasn't the longest-tenured Giant — Mike Yastrzemski and Logan Webb have him by a handful of days — but the right-hander toiled for seven seasons in the minor leagues before he debuted in 2019, and he'd been in the organization longer than anyone. 'Ty is one of my best friends in baseball,' said Webb, who ended a rotten run of three starts with six solid innings Wednesday. 'Our entire big league career, we've been together. … It sucks we're losing a guy like that. He's saved me a lot of times. He's saved the Giants a lot of times. He's been one of the best relievers in baseball the last seven seasons now.' Webb said he didn't learn of the trade until he exited the game, returned to the clubhouse and saw Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander staring at him. 'They were kind of looking at me weird,' Webb said. 'I was like, 'I gave up a run, but I didn't feel like it was that bad.' Then they told me Ty got traded. It's not the position you want to be in, but I don't blame Buster for doing something like that.' Who's next to go? Yastrzemski will be a free agent after the season. So will Wilmer Flores. There could be a taker for Verlander after he's thrown two solid starts since the break. Perhaps Giants executives could cling to some notion that they still believe in this team after acquiring a mix of prospects and a major league arm for Rogers. But not if they give away Verlander for anyone willing to pay the freight. If Yastrzemski played his final game as a Giant on Wednesday, he made a memorable final impression. He flung himself over the short wall in the right-field corner and landed in the netting like a moth caught in a spider web as he made a spectacular catch. He tried to start a rally with a bunt single, too. But he couldn't discount the 24-hour possibility that a major-league player named Yastrzemski could be traded for the first time. Advertisement 'I've known Buster for a long time, and I know and trust he's doing what's best for this team and organization,' Yastrzemski said. 'He's cared about it for so long. Just because we traded Ty doesn't mean he doesn't believe in this team. He's making strategic moves to optimize this organization every single day. 'There's two months left in this season. There's a lot of games to make up, but crazier things have happened. I don't think there's a guy in this room that has quit on this season, and I don't think they're going to. … Even though we've had a really rough start to the second half, I still believe in this team. And I'm going to give 100 percent of my effort every day to try to make something happen. 'It's kind of a tough place. We haven't really played well enough to force them to add any more pieces. As big a piece as Ty was, it's not like the whole team has been dismantled yet.' Yet. 'It's pretty s—-y, to be honest,' Webb said. 'We're not playing good, plain and simple. … We have a great group of guys. We hang out together. We have a blast. We just haven't put it together. It's not like we're trying to go out there and look like s—. It's a hard game. I know that's not going to be a popular answer. But it's just not good right now. We all know that. You feel it. You can see it in the clubhouse. It's not fun to be in here. 'The only thing you can do is show up on Friday and try to beat the Mets.' (Photo of Mike Yastrzemski: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)
Globe and Mail
19-07-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
The work that goes into infrastructure projects like the Port Lands should be seen by the public
Vid Ingelevics is a visual artist, former educator and now professor emeritus at Toronto Metropolitan University, where he taught in undergraduate and graduate programs. His exhibitions, curatorial endeavours and writings on art and photography have appeared across Canada and in the United States, Europe and Australia. My connection with Toronto's Port Lands began with a high school summer job at the Smith Transport offices on 150 Commissioners St., a company where my father worked. I remember the heady mix of fumes rising from the dozens of leaky gas and oil tanks and the sickly sweet odour of soap wafting from the nearby Lever Brothers plant just across the Don River. The Port Lands industrial sector was created in the early 20th century by filling in Toronto's extensive marshlands that extended from the delta of the river. Years earlier, the Don's natural course was forced into a 90-degree turn westward through the concrete-lined Keating Channel. In the decades since, the potential flood risk to hundreds of acres in this area adjacent to downtown Toronto has risen dramatically as climate change has increasingly become a driver of extreme weather. Fifty-six years later, I returned as a photographer to begin work with my colleague, Ryan Walker, on a five-year commission to 'document and interpret' the Port Lands Flood Protection Project, one the most ambitious public infrastructure and climate-change adaptation plans in North America. The overwhelming prospect of capturing such a mammoth undertaking led to the idea of collaborating with Ryan, a former student of mine in the Documentary Media program at Toronto Metropolitan University. Together we applied for the commission from Waterfront Toronto. Today, 150 Commissioners St. no longer exists – the buildings and once-busy truck-loading docks were demolished back in the 1990s. The scruffy, once-toxic vacant land, home for a while to coyotes, is now lush, green and revitalized as part of the new Biidaasige Park, which opens to the public this month. The Port Lands Flood Protection Project has corrected civic mistakes made over a hundred years ago, creating a new mouth for the Don River with reintroduced wetlands, all engineered completely from scratch. Beginning in July, 2019, Ryan and I visited the site on a weekly basis and have hiked hundreds of kilometres around the area. Our presence there and relatively unrestricted access was seen, especially at first, as highly unusual. Resident photographers are a rarity on construction projects. Companies generally hire photographers temporarily for specific purposes, retaining control over the images and how they're used. One has to go back just over a hundred years – yes, a hundred years – to a set of remarkable and often-cited photographs created by Toronto's first official photographer, Arthur Goss, of the construction of the Don Valley-spanning Prince Edward Viaduct – popularly known as the Bloor Viaduct. The representation of labour and sites of labour has become increasingly restricted, tending more to reflect corporate publicity goals than quotidian life on construction sites. Our work, we hope, offers an antidote and a potential model for other such commissions. Our unusual access has resulted in a large image archive spanning the gamut from the epic to the everyday – the surgical demolition of many industrial buildings, the takedown of the Gardiner Expressway off-ramp, the excavation of the new river course, heroic efforts to subdue pollutants found deep in the soil, and the arrival and installation of new bridges. We have witnessed the stages of the project shift from heavy machinery and excavation to hand labour, planting and weeding. We've documented First Nations' ceremonial activities, returning wildlife and the emerging new ecosystem. All of this work has been carried out through ever-changing and sometimes challenging weather conditions on a site that, for the first few years, existed mainly as fields of mud and dust. It is worth reflecting that the scarcity of comprehensive, long-term documentation of sites of labour and labour itself includes that of Toronto's own more ambitious civic infrastructure projects. Goss' set of remarkable and often-cited Bloor Viaduct photographs inspired Michael Ondaatje's celebrated novel In the Skin of a Lion. His work seems most aligned, at least in terms of historical value, with the visionary, multi-year Waterfront Toronto commission that Ryan and I have been privileged to work on. It would be gratifying to us if Toronto's photographers, and those who love the city's history, didn't have to wait another hundred years for the next one. Ryan Walker is a lens-based artist exploring land, identity, and society's response to climate change. He is an Adjunct Professor in the BFA Photography programs at TMU and Sheridan College. His work has been exhibited in Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Australia, and the U.S. The Port Lands Flood Protection Project is not just a story of infrastructure or flood mitigation. It's a story of time, of people, of history moving in cycles, of shifting social values, and of the evolution of land itself. The site has always been in flux. Once a marshland, then an industrial hub, later a neglected brownfield, and now, it's returning to nature. Vid and I watched its current transformation unfold up close: from the flowing new river, where hundreds of machines and people worked along its bed and banks, to the edge of a newly established wetland, watching a great white egret fish in the exact spot where Cherry St. once ran. This return to something natural carries the weight of countless hands: designers, engineers, tradespeople, labourers. But it is also a result of the passing of time that has led to a societal paradigm shift from conquering nature for the sake of industrialization, to respecting and cherishing natural ecosystems. That cyclical nature of the Port Lands' history became all the more apparent through its soil. As crews dug deep into layers of the once-buried marsh, they unearthed dark, damp and ancient peat that's rich with memory. And from it, the past began to breathe. Seeds, long dormant beneath the surface, were stirred. Bulrushes and cattails of the original wetland from the 1910s pushed slowly toward the light. At first mistaken for weeds, they were, in fact, time travelers – remnants of the Ashbridge's Bay marsh that rose over 100 years later to meet a world that had long forgotten them. Some were carefully transplanted to Tommy Thompson Park, others studied, and some were replanted here, where the wetlands now return. As time passed and the project progressed, the labour, too, has evolved. Early on, the work was dominated by machinery. Massive diggers carved out earth, while cranes and deep-drilling rigs created a makeshift skyline. But as the work progressed, it moved to a more human scale. Now its masons hand-lay stone, carpenters build intricate playgrounds, artists sculpt subtle forms of concrete. We've watched the site become a canvas for humanity to imprint, where people poured themselves into this space, not just in sweat, but in craft and artistry. Vid and I were embedded in the Port Lands, which enabled us to become part of the rhythm of the site. In the beginning, we arrived with the intention of capturing everything, but it was the slow passing of time that revealed to us what truly matters: humanity and nature coexisting once more, thanks to the collaboration and camaraderie of those who spent the last six years bringing the land back to life. Some stories aren't visible unless you wait. Small changes that eventually show up as big shifts require patience and persistence to document. It's this type of long-term work – which Waterfront Toronto had the rare foresight to invest in – that holds space for the invisible processes of time to become visible. This project was never just about documenting what was built, but how it was built and what that incredible effort reveals. The tens of thousands of hours of labour and its results now hidden beneath the river and its lush banks may go unnoticed by future visitors, who will see only a thriving landscape. These images are our way of honouring the unseen: the moments, hands and histories buried in the earth, waiting for time to bring them to light.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ryan Walker lauds Giants' even-keeled mentality, happy winning streak continued
Reliever Ryan Walker joins "Giants Postgame Live" after San Francisco's 3-1 series-opening win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night at Oracle Park. Ryan Walker lauds Giants' even-keeled mentality, happy winning streak continued originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Associated Press
09-07-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Bailey's walk-off, inside-the-park homer lifts Giants past Phillies
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Patrick Bailey hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run with one out in the ninth inning, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night. Mike Yastrzemski reached base twice and scored to help the Giants to their sixth win in seven games. Casey Schmitt began the rally with a leadoff double. After Jung Hoo Lee popped out, Wilmer Flores lined a single to center. Bailey, who grounded into a double play and struck out in two of his previous at-bats, then smashed a 1-0 fastball from Jordan Roman (1-4) into right-center field. Ryan Walker (2-3) retired one batter, with two on in the top of the ninth, to get the win. Phillies All-Star Kyle Schwarber had two hits, including his team-leading 28th home run. Schwarber flew out, struck out and was hit by a pitch before homering off Giants reliever Spencer Bivens into McCovey Cove. Brandon Marsh, who singled as a pinch hitter leading off the inning, scored on the play. Two days after being named an All-Star for the second time in his career, Ray allowed four hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings. Key moment The Giants scored their run on Dominic Smith's check-swing single in the second. The next batter, Bailey, grounded into an inning-ending double play. Key stat Bailey threw out Schwarber attempting to steal third base in the sixth. It's only the fourth time in the last 12 steal attempts against him that Bailey has successfully thrown a runner out. Up next Giants RHP Justin Verlander (0-6, 4.84 ERA) seeks his first win with his new team in the series finale Wednesday. RHP Jesus Luzardo (7-5, 4.44) starts for the Phillies. ___ AP MLB:
New York Times
28-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Giants remove Ryan Walker from closer's role, turn back to Camilo Doval
The Giants are moving right-handed reliever Camilo Doval back into the closer's role, manager Bob Melvin told reporters on Wednesday. He'll replace right-hander Ryan Walker, who has been the one struggling reliever in a bullpen that's otherwise been one of the most effective in baseball. Doval has a 1.16 ERA this season in 25 appearances, and he hasn't allowed a home run in 23 1/3 innings. He's allowed three runs this year, all of them coming in two games at the beginning of the season. Since then, he's thrown 18 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and five walks and striking out 18. Advertisement Walker became the closer last August, after Doval struggled with his control and blew multiple saves, and he finished with one of the best relief seasons in Giants history, with 10 wins and a 1.91 ERA, as well as 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. He was hampered this spring training with back issues, though, and he's struggled to find his command and control all season. If there's a bright spot for Walker, there are several statistics that suggest he hasn't been as bad as his 4.95 ERA, from his expected ERA (3.27) to his Fielding Independent Pitching (2.86). His percentage of stranded runners — 57.1 percent — has been one of the worst in baseball, and that's typically not a predictive statistic. On the other hand, Walker's strikeout rate has fallen from 32.1 percent in 2024 to 22.6 percent this season, and both his command and control have been noticeably worse than they were last season. In a bullpen with three relievers (Doval, Randy Rodríguez and Tyler Rogers) with sub-2.00 ERAs, it was getting harder to justify giving him save opportunities. (Photo of Doval: Robert Edwards / Imagn Images)
