According to Henry Schulman in the Chron today, Sergio Romo has signed a two year contract for $9 million ($3.5/$5.5). Mr. Romo was headed for arbitration, and is the last Giant that is unsigned. That's a good thing. With the addition of Ramon Ramirez, we have a lot of bullpen arms, and it looks like a re-visitation of the closer-by-committee approach. The question is not whether we have a great bullpen, because after all, 2012 World Champions, but is it sufficient going into 2013? My take is that more arms wouldn't hurt. Sergio established himself as an elite reliever this year, but he still has a slight frame and is successful because of a pitch that puts a lot of torque on his elbow. It suggests that Sergio might not be the go-to-closer-guy for the entire season. If Santiago Castilla or some other pitcher can fill in, great, but given the style of team management these days, an every day closer seems preferable. An affordable but incentive laden contract for Brian Wilson would be great, and I'm betting that Brian Sabean has not ruled out bringing in someone else. I want to see Sergio Romo, including all of his fashion sense, his eloquent spokesmanship, and his debris scattering, around for a long time. If that means he doesn't close every day to stay healthy, I'm all for it.
I'm kind of thinking about hitting, too. We obviously had enough hitting last year, and Brandon Belt should be a greater contributor. Pablo Sandoval, too, assuming (hoping) he has a healthy year, should give the Giants more rbi. Buster (the God) Posey should add with a full year. Hopefully, Hunter Pence, also. But our addition this year has been Andres Torres. I like out outfield, and Torres should make a great fourth outfielder, but do we have enough punch? With our pitching staff, maybe so. I hope so. We couldn't stand a 2011-style drop off. Just thinking.
5 comments:
The Giants had the best road offense in baseball in the 2nd half. That was with Hunter Pence hitting .037 or so. Oh yeah, he got a lot of RBI. I think there were some guys ahead of him who got on base A LOT. I expect Pence will bounce back and hit closer to his career average. I could see Pagan and certainly Scutaro having dropoffs, but a healthy Panda-Posey combo is as good as any one-two punch in the game. Belt, as you say, is likely to improve, and could really be a big contributor. The other Brandon will also be better. I think the offense will be more than adequate.
It's a pitching--and as we saw last year, fielding--team. OF defense looks very good, BCraw is world-class at SS, and a guy like Arias can fill in admirably at 2B and 3B. I have no issue with closer-by-committee. The depth is there, we saw Jeremy Affeldt pitch like a closer, for example. Rotate the job, keep everyone fresh, settle in at the end for the big push.
To me the only real question on the entire ballclub is which Tim Lincecum will show up? The rest of the startes are "no worries, mate." They are who they are and will deliver what they deliver. But The Freak is, well, freaking me out. He's got too much talent not to expect big things from him, and he has a knack for dramatic performances on the big stage. But will he give us 200 IP and 20+ quality starts? Last season was the first time he did neither of those things. And he led the NL in earned runs allowed! He's the ONLY concern I have going into 2013. At the same time, I think he will also have a "bounce back" season.
Look out, MLB. The Champs are still the best team.
I admit that I still would like to add one more bench bat. Not a star, but a guy who has a little more punch as a PH/DH (inter-league games) than Torres. Not sure who fits that bill...
And, yes, Please Timmeh, please be the good Timmeh we know and love.
If Tim Lincecum is about to re-define pitching by becoming baseball's first MFRHGWCWUIFPOL*, who will end up as our 5th starter? By the way, it's about time someone re-defined a pitching role (LOOGY's are sooooo 'yesterday'), & why not Tim Lincecum?
(Multi-Faceted Right-Handed Guy Who Can Warm Up In Fifteen Pitches Or Less)
And speaking of Tim Lincecum:
https://twitter.com/annkillion/status/299954908709408769
That photo was obviously taken about 15 years ago. Look how young Bob Brenly looks in that photo.
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