Take a look at The Baseball Analysts NL West SWOT (Patrick Sullivan, 15 Dec). You got S, W, O and T: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Highlights (quotes):
S--Any hope the Giants have for 2008 rests with these two. (The Franchise and M.C.)
W--Their offense was the weakest in the division and help does not appear to be imminent.
O--If Aaron Rowand can return to form . . . the outfield offense might not be too bad. ("Might not be too bad" is quite a compliment, eh?)
T--If Lincecum or Cain falter at all, San Francisco's season is finished.
If we were playing poker with this hand, would you bet, check or fold? Mr. Sullivan concludes with the observation that we "hung in there" for much of 2008, but he credits that to the teams W-L record with you-know-who on the mound. I've been saying the same thing--we were a 100 loss team "saved" from that ignominy by the +10 performance of The Studly One. We had the best pitcher in baseball and only managed 72 wins. Think about it like that. Here's another take, from Mr. Sullivan: Starters not named Cain or Lincecum took to the hill 95 times for the Giants in 2008 and posted a 5.32 ERA while playing home games in one of the most pitcher-friendly parks around.
I'm going to paste a smile on my face and "check."
Your turn.
(btw here's the link http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2008/12/nl_west_swot.php)
3 comments:
I love the way you continue to assume Cain will actually WIN games.
I assume he will pitch well. The TEAM will win or lose the game.
You can't fold. Unless you're the Padres. So your choices are bet and check. Considering that check becomes the new fold + check, you have a wide range of marginal success, lack of success and failure to deal with. Check.
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