Giants Destined For Mediocrity (My Giants Preview!)

It is a combination of youth and age that will be on display for the city by the bay. The San Francisco Giants enter the season hoping to mesh their talent into a National League West championship. The Giants will need good health, better luck and Tim Lincecum to make that happen!

I have blogged on the Giants pitching before. It is said to be their strength this year. While I agree it is the strongest part of the team, I still see trouble out there. Lincecum is the ace, I have no problem there. As long as he stays healthy, I see no reason for him not to win 20 games and challenge for a second straight Cy Young.

After Lincecum is where your questions pop up. Matt Cain is all potential and no run support. But at some point he needs to find a way to win close games on his own. Jonathan Sanchez I like a lot, but can he bring it for a full season? Then there is the age and experience of Randy Johnson. It is unbelievable how good he is at 45 but can his back last the whole year? And Barry Zito is still bad until proven otherwise. His fastball looks like mine. If he gets 12 wins the Giants should be very thankful! Still a lot of question marks on a starting five that is supposed to lead the team!

The bullpen is not much different. Brian Wilson established himself as the closer last year. He put up good saves numbers but for anyone who watched the games, it is not like they were 1-2-3 innings every time out. So in his second year does he settle down in the 9th and get better? Or does the league catch up to him and knock him around? Setting up will be the greatness of Bob Howry, Alex Hinshaw, Jeremy Affeldt. There is a lot of youth in the bullpen and that could be a great thing, or not.

The offense should be better than last year, but not significantly. It is all about Pablo Sandoval for the G-men. Sandoval has looked great since being called up last year. The Giants need him to be huge this year. Travis Ishikawa has had a nice spring and has won the first base job. If he can supply some key hits and a few homers that will be a huge plus. Edgar Renteria at shortstop is just fine although he is way over paid. I am not such a fan of Emmanual Burris at second base but he is young and maybe he can show us something this year.

The outfield is mediocre at best. Fred Lewis in left certainly is the hope and dream of Giants fans. Anohter needed commodity for any Giants success. But he has had injury troubles in his first few years. Aaron Rowand looks like he is done. He did not do much last year and followed up with a horrible spring training. He could find himself on the bench by May if he does not pick up his game. Randy Winn keeps on chugging in right.

Bengie Molina is the power hitter behind the plate. Who would have thought 5 years ago that Molina would be a clean up hitter? Yet he is the true star for the Giants lineup. With not much depth behind him, the Giants will need him to stay healthy and catch a lot of games this year.

If Molina is healthy and hits home runs, Sandoval slams the ball around, Lewis takes a big step up and Ishikawa impresses, the Giants are going to make things interesting in the west. If Lincecum is even better than last year, Cain gets offensive support, Sanchez continues to improve and the Big Unit stays healthy, watch out west!

But if any of the above does not fall into place, I see the Giants as an improved team from last year, but not quite ready to play with the big boys. The Giants could easily make things fun in April and May before running out of gas in the summer. Either way they should build on the 72 wins of last year. But I don’t think they are going to reach that 500 plateau. Let’s go with 79 wins for the Giants and a third place finish in a down NL West.

UPDATE:  Count me as one of the many who think it is absolutely silly to keep Sandoval as the backup catcher to Molina. Let the kid learn his trade at third and don’t bog him down with having to worry about catch. Meanwhile they need depth behind Molina to not wear him out. I realize this experiment is likely only for a few weeks, but it can be so limiting during games not having that extra catcher, I am quite sure it will backfire.

Sanchez Burns Finger

Here is one you just don’t hear every day. Jonathan Sanchez is in danger of missing the start of the season for the San Francisco Giants because he burned his finger while cooking!  Here is the story from Andrew Baggarly.

It seems baseball has always been filled with bizarre injuries, from slips in the shower, scares from spiders and then of course every Giants fans favorite, the washing of the truck!

But burning the finger while cooking? I suppose it happens but having it happen a week before the regular season to your #3 starter is just bad luck. Doesn’t he make enough money to go out to dinner? Maybe the Giants should hire a cook for him?

Fortunately it does not sound serious, I am guess the worst of it could be a missed start and a lot of lip from his fellow teammates! Burning his finger while cooking? Let’s hope he was cooking more than pop tarts out of a toaster!

Do The Giants Have Pitching?

The Giants have three pitchers with Cy Young Awards, they have a combination of youth and experience, and they have the potential to rank as a top 3 rotation in the Major Leagues this year. All the talk surrounding the Giants tends to revolve around the lineup and who will drive in the runs. It is almost a given that the Giants rotation will be good. But will it? It certainly could, but I see a lot of potential land mines along the way. Let’s break it down by pitcher:

Tim Lincecum: Defending Cy Young champ. Sky is the limit for this guy. The only long term question seems to be will his small body take the beating of pitching over the years. Their is a potential for a Cy Young hangover, but Lincecum is the one guy I don’t question on this staff.

Matt Cain: He has been snake bit by lack of run support throughout his career. He has a great arm, but if he does not put it together this year he may just need a change of scenery. We can make excuses all we want but at some point Cain has to win games, whether he gets the run support or not. Last year he seemed to be dominant in 1-0 losses and then not so good in 8-6 losses. Either way he would get the loss! Is he that good?

Jonathan Sanchez: I actually like Sanchez’s potential. But last year was his first as a starter. He showed promise but was very inconsistent over the course of the year. If he improves he could easily slide in behind Lincecum as a great #2 pitcher. But if he can not master the game, he will drive Giants fans crazy with his inconsistency.

Randy Johnson: Old, old, old. Johnson was a nice pickup. He has some arm left. But at 45-years old how many starts do the Giants really expect to get out of him? And how successful will he be? Johnson has the feel of a 10-10 pitcher or thereabouts. And again, that is if his back can survive.

Barry Zito: Then there is the always fun Zito. I still like him from his A’s years, but the reality is that his fastball is clocking out about as fast as a Tim Wakefield knuckleball. I would love to see the return of the old Zito, but until proven otherwise, Zito will try to cling to a spot in the rotation.

Noah Lowry: How will he be when he returns from injury? You can certainly imagine him being in the rotation for an injured Johnson or bad Zito when he does return, but what will his game look like coming off a major surgery?

On paper the Giants have a great spring rotation. Lots of hope and potential, but when they start throwing for real in April, I wonder if the Giants problems will just be limited to their lineup. If the rotation struggles, the team is toast! Let’s hope for Giants fans that this is all about nothing, Lincecum is just like last year, Cain gets over the hump, Sanchez dominates, Johnson stays healthy, and Zito finds his rhythm. The Giants will win a lot of games that way! But I just wonder if all five of those things can really happen!