2008 San Francisco Giants Outlook
2007: (71-91), 5th place
Manager: Bruce Bochy (2nd season)
Key Additions -
OF - Aaron Rowand
IF - Jose Castillo
Key Losses -
OF - Barry Bonds (released)
3B - Pedro Feliz (to PHI)
P - Russ Ortiz (released)
1B - Ryan Klesko (released)
Projected Starting Lineup -
C - Bengie Molina
1B - Daniel Ortmeier
2B - Ray Durham
SS - Omar Vizquel
3B - Jose Castillo
LF - Dave Roberts
CF - Aaron Rowand
RF - Randy Winn
Projected Rotation -
1 - Barry Zito (L)
2 - Matt Cain (R)
3 - Tim Lincecum (R)
4 - Kevin Correia (R)
5 - Jonathan Sanchez (L)
CL: Brian Wilson (R)
SU: Tyler Walker (R), Brad Hennessey (R)
2008 Outlook:
Unfortunately for the Giants, they can’t seem to get rid of Barry. No, not that Barry. The one they signed to a $126 million contract. Barry Zito went 11-13 with a 4.53 ERA last season, and now there have been reports this spring that his velocity is down 4-5 mph as he continues to try to tinker with his mechanics.In his first four spring starts, his ERA was in the teens!
When your supposed ace is on the decline, the offense better be able to pick you up the slack if the team wants to compete. And with that being the case…the Giants don’t appear interested in competition. They’re just in it to have a little fun and make a little money (or a lot in Zito’s case).
The Giants’ problems stem from management perpetually being stuck in limbo, being in denial, or them just not getting the memo that when you are trying to rebuild with young players, you don’t go make big free agent signings. It’s like they don’t know what they are trying to do. When you want to rebuild, you don’t keep all of the declining veterans around. Instead, the Giants have 7 guys that were born before 1975 (and that’s after they got rid of three more in Bonds, Ryan Klesko, and Russ Ortiz).
Part of the problem for San Francisco is how atrocious they have drafted over the last 10-15 years. In Sports Illustrated’s baseball preview, they claim the last everyday impact player the Giants selected in the draft was Bill Mueller — 15 years ago. If they had some impact guys in the minors, this would be the year to give them a chance, but they don’t have those impact players.
Amazingly, though, instead of giving guys like Fred Lewis and Rajai Davis, who aren’t exactly the youngest of prospects at the age of 27, Dave Roberts and Randy Winn are both still playing the corner outfield positions.
This team isn’t going anywhere this season. They will permanently reside in the cellar of the division and maybe even the league (depending on how bad Florida is). They have two bright spots: Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. The two young righties will be co-aces at the front of the Giants’ rotation for years to come, and with only Zito in front of them, might as well be considered co-aces right now.
The only problem for Cain and Lincecum is they will have no support offensively and probably not defensively either. Bengie Molina is going to be the clean up hitter. Yea, the same Molina who has never hit 20 home runs in the season is the big bopper of this lineup, but at least he is good defensively.
Other than Molina, many of the Opening Day names will be unrecognizable. If Jose Castillo breaks into the lineup, he may be the most prominent name…and that’s not saying much. Daniel Ortmeier, Eugenio Velez, and Brian Bocock?? Rich Aurilia may sneak in but only because Omar Vizquel, Kevin Frandesen, and Ray Durham are all injured.
It’s going to be a long season in San Francisco, and unfortunately, it’s not going to be much prettier across the bay for the Oakland Athletics, so Bay Area fans won’t be able to root for a local team.
Fantasy Impact:
Plain and simple…outside of Cain and Lincecum, there isn’t much fantasy value on this team. Rowand is moving from the little league ballpark in Philly to an actual major league park, so expect his offensive stats to decline. Molina could be worth a late round pick as he will pick up RBIs hitting in the clean up spot.
If Roberts or Davis were going to be in the outfield for the entire season, either would be useful in the stolent base category, but we think it’ll take San Fran until the middle of the season before they finally come to the epiphany that they should trade Roberts, Winn, and anyone else some other team is willing to give them a prospect or two for. Then they’ll finally make the switch to Davis and Lewis and Roberts will likely only be a role player on whatever team he is traded to.
Brian Wilson is worth picking up as long as he holds onto the closer’s position. Even closers on bad teams get 30 saves. In most drafts, he is still available in the last rounds with some setup pitchers going prior to him.
2008 projection: (63-99), 5th place
Team MVP: Tim Lincecum
Also, check out our NL West preview with links to our team outlooks for each of San Francisco’s division foes.
Shotgun Spratling
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