Add The California Post on Google SAN FRANCISCO — There’s a reason why Buster Posey didn’t hesitate before giving a succinct answer when asked last month whether he would be open to trading Logan Webb.
“No,” the Giants’ top baseball executive, and a former batterymate of Webb’s, responded.
The point-blank public refutation from Posey came amid his staff ace’s historic month of June, but the sentiment behind the statement applies all the same after his backslide to begin July.
When you have one of one of the game’s most reliable and durable starting pitchers, you don’t think about trading him, and a little two-start blip out of 148 since 2022 should barely register.
And, really, it was more like three bad innings in baseball’s toughest pitching environment, one bout of the toughest luck you’ve ever seen and six shutout, one-hit Webb-as-usual innings.
“My first thought coming back into my locker was, ‘I just hate it for him,’ because I don’t think the line score does it justice,” manager Tony Vitello said after their ace put them in an early hole for a second straight start on their way to a 10-0, one-hit loss Wednesday.
Webb was tagged for five tough-luck runs in the first inning, after the Rockies pounced on him for seven over three frames his last time out, but Vitello focused on what followed.
“He was determined to go back out there and finish the seventh inning. … It’s hard to say, I get it, I see the five [runs] on there, but it was a good day.”
It might come off as out of touch following such a dismal loss, but it was the appropriate response. If Webb made one regrettable pitch, it was a sinker that caught a bit too much of the plate that Kazuma Okamoto just barely deposited on the top of the arcade in right field.
It was a grand slam that would have been a home run in only one other ballpark that drove in two runners who reached base despite not hitting the ball harder than 71 mph.
For the next six innings, he looked like the guy that was just named NL pitcher of the month.
Webb, who wears losses hard, said the effort was “not very good.”
But he and his manager agreed: There wasn’t much of a throughline between his past two starts, despite their troubling results — the most earned runs he’s allowed in any span of two starts in his career (12).
“Colorado, I was getting hit pretty hard,” Webb said. “This one, there were some balls that fell. The rest of the time, the balls didn’t fall. That’s why you love and hate this game.”
For good reason, there’s about as much concern within the organization over Webb’s performance as there is an appetite to put him on the trading block. That is to say: none at all.
If one criticism rings true, it is Webb’s tendency to run into trouble early. He has a 5.25 ERA this season in the first three innings, compared to a 2.58 mark from the fourth onward.
His recent struggles mean he will possess the highest ERA — 3.86 — of any pitcher in Philadelphia next week at the All-Star Game. The next-highest is Jesus Luzardo, at 3.75, while six other NL starters with at least 100 innings and lower ERAs were passed over.
Webb was regaling Justin Verlander, who announced his plans to retire after this season and will be in uniform — but not active — as a Legends Pick from the commissioner’s office.
“I’m excited I get to see him in Philadelphia. Hopefully I get to give him a toast and cheers. … He’s a competitor. He’s one of the best — a bulldog out there.”
Although they were teammates for only one season last year, Verlander made an impression. The two stay in touch via text, according to Webb, who coincidentally wasn’t surprised by the retirement news.
Currently sidelined with a hamstring strain and sporting a 12.27 ERA from his one start this season, Verlander’s presence in Philadelphia is, essentially, a celebration of his career.
That was the same term Vitello used to describe Webb’s selection, even before his ERA ballooned over his past two starts. After all, it is only Webb’s third honor despite amassing more value (24.1 fWAR) since joining the rotation for good midway through 2021 than all but one other starter — Zack Wheeler (24.5 fWAR), who also has three selections.
And yet, all he has to show for it are two dominant Division Series starts five seasons ago.
In other words, Webb should have built up enough goodwill by now to withstand being roped in with the real culprits of this season gone off the rails. He’s been the one constant fans can count on every fifth day amid a playoff drought that is bound to persist for a fifth season.
He could net a king’s ransom for a team that desperately needs to hit the reset button, but his value as a face of the franchise — and a leader of the pitching staff — almost outweighs the prospect capital that could come back in a possible trade.
“I don’t know that anyone puts in more homework, and then I don’t know that anyone is as gifted on our staff,” Vitello said recently. “Webby’s so cerebral in how he thinks about the game. … There was one bullpen where [Landen] Roupp was throwing, and Webby was coaching as much on that occasion as much as any of the coaches.
“I think he’s at a point in his career, but also at a point in his intelligence, where I’d love to see more of that. He’s his own best coach out there, and I think he can help the other guys, too, just as much as anyone in the organization.”
