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Kiss tha rings, it’s time for the San Francisco Giants preview! The Giants have become one of the most hated teams in baseball, and it’s easy to see why. They’ve won three championships since 2010, their roster is loaded with homegrown talent despite having a relatively unheralded farm system, they’ve used a top-five payroll to supplement these homegrown players with free-agent talent, they carry the legacy of baseball’s surly home run king and face of the steroid era Barry Bonds, they’ve got one of the best broadcast teams in all of sports, tthey play in AT&T Park the most gorgeous stadium in baseball, and some people even say their fans are arrogant. Unfortunately the Giants hit on hard times last year: not winning the World Series. This was despite the fact that it was an even year, which usually portends the Giants winning the Word Series. Before your eyes get too filled with tears to read, let me go into more detail. At the All-Star break the Giants had the best record in baseball, but a series of bullpen implosions sent them into a tailspin they wouldn’t come out of until they were only a Wild Card team. A typical Madison Bumgarner performance and the expected late-game heroics by a journeyman (Conor Gillaspie) gave the Giants a win over the Mets in the WCG. However, they fell to the Cubs in the NLDS in the most unexpected fashion: the bullpen that imploded in the regular season imploded in the postseason. This was the first time a Bruce Bochy led Giants team made it to the postseason and didn’t win the World Series. That’s weird, right? The World Series winning core of the Giants is only getting older. Will our plucky large-market team get to hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy once again? Or will they have to slum it like one of those piteous expansion teams? There’s always room on the bandwagon, so hop aboard and find out! The Warriors only play until June, after all.  2016 Record: 87-75, 2nd place in NL West (Pythagorean: 90-72) Key Departures: (No one really significant) RP Santiago Casilla (A’s) RP Sergio Romo (Dodgers) RP Javier Lopez (Retired) SP Jake Peavy (unsigned) OF Angel Pagan (unsigned) OF Gregor Blanco (Diamondbacks) 3B Matt Duffy (  ) (Traded to Rays)Key Additions: CL Mark Melancon (FA) C Nick Hundley (FA) That’s it? In fairness, they spent big on starting pitchers last offseason Okay, so who are we rooting for? The Front Office  The Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations - Brian Sabean Previously the longest tenured GM in baseball, the architect of three World Series champions was promoted to Double Super GM so that he could focus on scouting.  The GM - Bobby Evans Previously the assistant GM under Sabean, Evans is now the GM under Sabean. Unsurprisingly, the Giants’ organizational strategy hasn’t changed much.  The Manager - Bruce Bochy Complain about pitching changes all you want, this guy’s going in the Hall of Fame. The Players  C - Buster Posey 2010 Rookie of the Year, 2012 MVP, 3x World Series Champion, 2017 WBC champion, 4x AS, 3x SS, 1x GG. Handsome every year. Best pitch framer in baseball. Finally beat out Yadier Molina for a long deserved Gold Glove. Had a down year offensively last year, hitting only .288/.362/.434 (compared to his career .307/.373./.476 line). Was still the best catcher in baseball. Will continue to be the best catcher in baseball again.  1B - Brandon Belt Under appreciated due to his high strikeout/home run ratio (justifiable due to AT&T Park’s effects), Belt produced over 4 bWAR of value least season due in part to his excellent defense and high walk rate. He dominated the first half of 2016 with a .302/.407/.521 line before falling to .241/.378/.414 in the second half. Have I mentioned how much people complain about about Belt’s consistency, as well as Belt’s everything else? Yet as a whole Belt is one of the best First Basemen in MLB. Best of all though he hit Splash Hit #69.  2B - Joe Panik In last year’s Meet the Teams thread I talked about how Panik was an excellent defender/OBP threat when healthy, and hoped he would finally get to play a full year. Of course, he got injured again. A concussion sustained from a HBP by Rays starter Matt Moore sidelined Panik for a good chunk of the season. He never fully recovered from it, posting a .215 BA over the second half- but with a .308 OBP. For the full season he led the MLB in AB/SO and was second in BB/SO. He remained a solid defender at second and won his first Gold Glove award. He’ll be a significant two-way threat if he can remain healthy for a full season, FOR REAL THIS TIME.  SS - Brandon Crawford The handsomest shortstop picked up his second Gold Glove last season, and has been a cornerstone of the team’s immaculate infield defense for years. Helped the U.S. to the WBC championship with his glove and timely hitting. Popular for being a hometown hero, and also handsome and good.  3B - Eduardo Nuñez The Giants sent fan favorite Matt Duffy to Tampa Bay for starting pitching help and picked up All-Star(!) Eduardo Nuñez from the Twins to hold down 3B. While the fact that he was an AS says more about the Twins than Nuñez, he rebounded from a rough start in SF to become a valuable player. He brings solid defense and is the best base stealer on the team. His helmet falls off a lot. It’s no giant cat, but it’ll have to do.  RF - Hunter Pence It’s Hunter Pence! We all love Hunter Pence. Who cares about his recent injury history? Cheer for Hunter Pence.  CF - Denard Span After losing most of 2015 to injury, Span bounced back to… put up mediocre numbers. He had a .331 OBP and questionable defense in Center. He was much better in the second half than the first half however, and the Giants are hoping he can still become the leadoff hitter they signed him to be. Worst of all though, he hit Splash Hit #70.  LF - ????? (Positional Battle!) Well I say positional battle, but it’s been more or less decided already…. LF - Jarrett Parker Parker can’t really be called a prospect, being a 28-year old career minor leaguer. His extremely high strikeout rate and difficulty hitting lefties has always limited his utility, despite his massive power. However he has impressed in spring training and is out of options, making this an easy decision for the front office. Hopefully he becomes the first homegrown starting outfielder since Marvin Benard. Also he kind of owns and his girlfriend studies chimpanzees with Jane Goodall? Parker is beating out: OF - Mac Williamson At 26 Mac Williamson is slightly more prospecty than Parker, but not much. He lost quite a bit of time to Tommy John surgery in 2014, but he’s had good offensive numbers throughout his minor league career and wouldn’t need to be platooned. However a quad injury has sidelined him for most of spring training, so he’ll almost certainly start the season in AAA. The Rotation  LHP - MADISON BUMGARNER he’s good  RHP - Johnny Cueto Cueto absolutely rules. He’s one of the most fun baseball players you can watch. He’ll probably opt out of his contract at the end of the year, so get in while you can. I hope you too can find the kind of joy at something Cueto shows when… doing pretty much anything.  RHP - Jeff Samardzija People are always confused at what kind of pitcher Shark is. Some people think he’ll suddenly explode into an ace, while others see him as a bust that once led the American League in runs allowed. However Samardzija has always been just Samardzija, and will likely continue to be Samardzija, which is a perfectly good thing to be! LHP - Matt Moore Oh God dammit. The Giants sent fan favorite Matt Duffy to Tampa Bay for starting pitching help, and that pitcher was Matt Moore, giver of concussions. Except, there’s no way the Giants even make the postseason without Moore. The former number one prospect struggled with consistency in his first full season after returning from Tommy John surgery, which carried over to SF. His first few starts here were an up and down affair, although he sprinkled some brilliant performances throughout- including a near no-hitter of the Dodgers and a dominate NLDS performance against the Cubs. He’s also under a very team-friendly contract for the next few years. It’s difficult to predict Moore, but hopefully another year removed from TJ will allow him to finally harness his potent stuff.  Fifth Starter - ????? (Positional Battle!) Oh who am I kidding it’ll be Matt Cain.  RHP - Matt Cain Matt Cain is the Giants’ longest tenured player, a bridge from the Bonds Era to the current franchise, the first homegrown star produced by San Francisco in a long time, had to put up with countless gems wasted by a lack of run support, an integral part of two World Series, the owner of the only perfect game in Giants history, and the bringer of many other happy memories to Giants fans. He’s also bad now, and hasn’t been good since 2012. He hasn’t even thrown 100 innings since 2013. However he’s owed $21 Million this year, so the Giants are going to at least try to get as many serviceable innings out of him as they can. Unfortunately, so far during spring training he hasn’t looked like he’s improved over last years’ dismal performance, which may force the front office’s hand. If the Giants do the unthinkable and can Cain, the next guy up is:  LHP - Ty Blach Blach has had good success throughout his minor league career, though that’s somewhat belied by his splits: he dominates lefties while remaining hittable versus righties. In 2016 in AAA he gave up a .677 OPS vs. RHH, but held LHH to a .480 OPS. That said, he blanked the Dodgers for eight innings opposite Clayton Kershaw in a must win game 161 last year, with a pair of hits off his opposite number for good measure. He’s a good pitcher that deserves to be on the roster, thouhgh the Giants will likely start the season with Blach in the bullpen. He’ll be used as a longman or a lefty specialist, especially now that lefty reliever Will Smith is unavailable. The Bullpen Last year I predicted that, although the Giants didn’t have any superstar relievers, their overall quality and depth would make the bullpen an asset, and at worse not a liability. I was wrong. The 2016 Giants bullpen was worse than a garbage fire in shitland and everyone connected with it has been “disappeared” into the Oakland Coliseum’s concrete walls. Except Derek Law, he was good. The Giants went ahead and spent a ton of money making the bullpen mostly the same. Besides Ty Blach, the bullpen consists of: RHP - Mark Melancon - Closer. The last guy blew a quarter of his saves including a walk-off balk, so the Giants were forced to drive a truckload of money up to one of the big three closers on the market. Melancon was the “cheapest” option, also the option least convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. Hopefully his calming presence will stabilize the rest of the bullpen. Still has yet to give up a run in spring training. WBC champion alongside Posey and Crawford. RHP - Derek Law - Setup. Law was fantastic last year as a rookie, and would have easily wrestled away control of the closer’s job if not for an ill-timed injury late in the season. If Law can come close to replicating his 2016 dominance the Giants could have one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball to close out games. RHP - Hunter Strickland - Setup. Hard-throwing righty, used the most out of any other reliever in the Giants’ bullpen last year. RHP - Cody Gearrin - Setup. Was actually really good in the first half of last year, before getting injured and losing most of his effectiveness. LHP - Steven Okert - Not Josh Osich. Had a decent year last year, and has been good in Spring Training. LHP - Josh Osich - Not Steven Okert. Had a poor year last year, and has been bad in Spring Training. RHP - George Kontos - Always dependable, with an rear end from the gods. Can’t ask for more from a reliever. The Bench Somehow, the Giants seem to have put together an intriguing collection of bench candidates this year, and hot spring training performances all around have fueled the battle for the final five roster spots. In order from most likely to make the team: C - Nick Hundley - Although rookie Trevor Brown has been a fantastic defensive catcher and game caller, his bat has (almost) always been an issue. Hundley has had a much more reliable bat for a backup catcher, allowing the Giants to give Posey a rest day or play him at First more often. INF - Conor Gillaspie - Originally drafted in 2008 by the Giants, the once promising young prospect stalled in the minors, was sent to the White Sox, and became a journeyman bench piece before finding his way back to San Francisco last year. Obviously, it should go without saying that he came up huge in the postseason. He hit the game winning home run against the Mets in the WCG and had several big hits versus the Cubs. He’ll likely be used as lefty power off the bench, but he can start at Third if needed. INF - Aaron Hill - He’s looked good in Spring Training, even if his career Major League stats suggest he’s only good against the Giants. OF - Gorkys Hernandez - Did well as a backup Center Fielder last year, but has struggled in Spring. OF - Justin Ruggiano - He of the massive Lefty/Righty splits. Decent this Spring. INF - Jae-gyun Hwang - Slugger signed from the KBO. He owns a lot. However will almost certainly start the season in AAA to smooth out his overall game. INF - Kelby Tomlinson - Speedy slap hitter, Looks like a nerd. Has Minor League Options however. 1B - Chris Marrero - Flashed tons of righty power in Spring Training, but is something of a defensive liability. INF - Jimmy Rollins - ????? Never heard of him. Maybe Brown or Williamson IDK The Disabled List  LHP - Will Smith - The best lefty in the Giants bullpen has unfortunately sprained his UCL and will be out for the season (TJS). This means Bochy will use him about the same amount as he did last year. INF/OF - Michael Morse - The 2014 postseason hero and fan favorite came out of unofficial retirement to try and crack a roster one last time. He was tearing up Spring Training and was all but guaranteed a spot when he went down with a hamstring injury. Will likely miss the opening day roster, but is willing to rehab in the minor leagues. The Farm The Giants’ farm system still isn’t rated very highly but we’ve done very well with unheralded prospects like Duffy and Panik. However this year a few Minor Leaguers are close to making the Bigs: INF - Christian Arroyo - Giants top position player prospect. Did well in AA and will start the season in AAA. Probably won’t make the team until September callups. RHP - Tyler Beede - Giants top pitching prospect. Did well in AA and will start the season in AAA. Probably won’t make the team until September callups. RHP - Clayton Blackburn - Won the ERA title in the notoriously hitter friendly PCL in 2015, but struggled at the start of 2016 enough that the Giants didn’t want to bring him up to replace the abysmal Cain or Peavy. Still worth keeping an eye on. RP - Ray Black - Throws super hard, still needs to figure out where the ball’s going. OF - Austin Slater - Had a phenomenal 2016 between AA and AAA, though his tools and peripherals suggest he’s unlikely to repeat it. OF - Bryan Reynolds - A first round talent that fell to the Giants in the second round of last year’s draft. Still a long ways away. The Bottom Line 2017 Final Predictions - I predict the Giants to win around 90 games, but whether that will be enough to win the division or just a Wild Card spot honestly depends on how the Dodgers do. Should at least be a less frustrating season than last year thanks to Melancon presumably not making GBS threads the bed most ninth innings. In Conclusion Last year what I predicted: Last year what we got: 
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Mar 27, 2017 00:58
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