Know thy enemy: San Francisco Giants
There's no question that the NL West is shaping up to be the best, or at least the most competitive, division in baseball. Four teams each with a realistic shot at taking the division. But the more astute among you will note that there is indeed a fifth team in the mix, one less likely to win the division than AK is to find himself on People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive list. That would be the San Francisco Giants. But that doesn't mean they're not worthy of a season preview. After all, is there anything a Dodgers fan loves more- aside from a World Series title- than drinking in the misery of a wretched Giants team like a frat guy at a weekend kegger?
So without further ado:
The Giants are in the unenviable position of having a bunch of crusty old vets who aren't particularly good without a crop of Dodgers-esque youngsters to carry the mantle (not for a few seasons at least), and injuries have already hit the youth that they have (IF Kevin Frandsen could miss the season with a Achilles injury). At least they can start building for Life Without Barry, which could be painful this season but in the long run should be far more beneficial. For the last three seasons, and especially in '07, the Giants have been a sideshow rather than a baseball team, and it's about time they started to find a new identity. If the lineup can come together as well as the starting staff has, the Giants will have a chance, at some point.
But it won't happen this year.
BIG ADDS: Aaron Rowand (CF)
BIG SUBTRACTIONS: Barry Bonds (LF), Pedro Feliz (3B), Ryan Klesko (1B)
Projected Lineup:
Dave Roberts (LF)
Omar Vizquel (SS), currently injured
Randy Winn (RF)
Rowand (CF)
Bengie Molina (C)
Ray Durham (2B), injured, but says he'll be ready for Opening Day
Rich Aurilia (3B)
Dan Ortmeier (1B)
A quick scan shows... very little. Generally speaking, any lineup that includes Aurilia isn't very good. Winn and Roberts are useful pieces, but hardly lineup cornerstones. Ortmeier doesn't have a ton of pop. Rowand should see a drop off in his stats because a) he'll have a weak lineup around him,b) no longer will play 81 games a year in Philly, and c) is coming off a career year. Simply put, this team won't score very many runs. If they score at all, folks at AT&T should toss their garlic fries in the air with a hearty "huzzah!"
Shame too, since there's some talent in the starting staff:
Barry Zito (L)
Matt Cain (R)
Tim Lincecum (R)
Noah Lowry (L), injured, hopefully back by May
Kevin Correia (R)
That's a pretty good batch of hurlers, especially if Zito can regain even half the form that made him a Cy Young winner. Cain and Lincecum are both strong young pitchers, and Correia is a sleeper who threw extremely well down the stretch last season. In the pen, the Giants have turned the closer gig over to righty Brian Wilson, pushing Brad Hennessey back to a setup role. Overall, the Giants pen isn't great, but it doesn't really matter since there won't be many leads to preserve.
FINAL VERDICT: The Giants won 71 games in '07, and without Bonds, a healthy Lowry, an ordinary bullpen, an infield in flux, or any realistic ability to score runs with regularity (really, I could keep going), there's a very good chance they could be worse in '08. In fact, I'll say they will. 68-94.
BK
Subscribe to this Blog | What is RSS?
Anyone know what the pitching rotation is shaping up like for this weekend's spring training series against the Red Sox?
Posted by: Mickey | March 25, 2008 at 04:13 PM
The whole "People's Sexiest Man Alive" list is all political. I haven't been willing to cowtow and play the game, thus my obvious and dubious exclusion.
AK
Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | March 25, 2008 at 04:18 PM
Mickey -
As far as I know:
Friday: Billingsley
Saturday: Kuroda
Sunday: Park & Loiaza
Posted by: Brian | March 25, 2008 at 06:17 PM
As a Dodger fan living in the Bay Area it does my heart good to see the Giants field such a weak team. I think BK is being too generous- the Giants should compete for 100 losses this year. Barry Bonds carried the Giants for many years, and without his bat in the clean up spot their lineup is just pathetic. There won't be too many times this year when their lineup scores more than 3 runs. The good news is that we can look forward to the Giants being a bad team for at least the next 2-3 years since they are very old, and lack the young talent the Dodgers have. Go Dodgers!
Posted by: Santa Rosa Dodger | March 25, 2008 at 09:37 PM
I have to say I am going to miss booing Barry in left. But as much as i utterly hate the guy, the game is bigger than even his fat head. I hate the Giants equally as much as I hate Barry so while it will be a new kind of rivalry this year, I can not WAIT for the season to begin and a whole new batch of "GIANTS SUCK" when it is really going to be very true!
Posted by: DK TRUEBLUE | March 25, 2008 at 10:27 PM
Hey guys,
With Rudy getting cut from the pitching staff tonight, do you think that opens up the possibility of the Dodgers keeping both Loaiza and Park and stashing one of those guys away in the 'pen?
Chris
Posted by: Chris | March 26, 2008 at 12:11 AM
Despite their solid starting pitching rotation, I see the Giants losing 100 games this year. They are going to be murdered by the other NL West teams, and their lineup is abysmal. San Fran will be in the competition with Florida and Pittsburgh for the worst team in the NL.
Posted by: VaDodger | March 26, 2008 at 04:44 AM
I don't think the Giants are going to be as bad as everyont thinks. Getting Barry out of that clubhouse is going to do wonders for the young players, who will grdualy supplant the fossils holding down jobs (Roberts, Vizquel, Molina, Aurilia, et al). Their young pitchers will round into shape as a unit, andI expect they will be competitive toward the end of the year and a force to be recokned with in 2009. Plus they always play the Dodgers tough no matter what the records. I seem to recall a fateful series last season when the
Dodgers got swept or lost 3 out of 4 in a key moment of the pennant race.
Posted by: SaMo | March 26, 2008 at 12:50 PM
Satan is huge, muscular and terrifying and the one entity you love to defeat. Satan in all his glory was Marichal and Bobby Bonds and Barry Bonds. His legions were stocked with warriors like Mays and McCovey... lesser known Candlestickion demons like Jeff Leonard and even Matt Kemp. We had series to deal with pure evil.
Satan is not this 98 pound weakling I see up north. I will gladly take all the wins we can plunder--we will need all the victories we can get to keep up with the major league teams in our division. It is sad to see our traditional rival stumbling around like this... you really need a good enemy to root against.
Posted by: Michael | March 26, 2008 at 07:47 PM
I'm a big Giants fan and even I must admit I think you're being generous by saying we'll win 68 games. I haven't been this depressed about a Giants team going into a season since I've been following them (I was seven when they went to the Series in '89, so that's my first real strong memory of Giants baseball, which obviously is clouded by the damn earthquake and getting swept). I like our pitching to an extent, but if Zito keeps getting drilled and Cain keeps getting frustrated because the team can't score, our 1-2 punch could be not much more than a 1-2 slap and tickle. And Lincecum is still pretty young. Ugh, maybe they'll surprise me. In fact, they better cause I just bought tickets to go watch them back in Wrigley.
Posted by: Jimmy | March 28, 2008 at 08:41 AM
Jimmy-
I'm an optimist by nature (haha).
BK
Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | March 28, 2008 at 09:07 AM