25 for 16: The Scrubs

Every team's got 'em. Even World Champs have guys on the bench you'd rather not see out there. This post-season the Giants filled out their 25-man roster with three players who were really only placeholders. We'll start with Xavier Nady, former Cal star and late-season pickup. The X-Man has had a long career (11 years) and been reasonably productive over his 3199 plate appearances. B-R rates his career line (.270/.324/.432) at a 100 OPS+. The Salinas native has been mostly a platoon player these last few years and is likely, at 34, near the end. Nady played in four of the LDS games and went 0-6 with a walk and three strikeouts. He was on the field (in left) at the end of Games One, Two, Three, and Five. He had four putouts in his short stints, including two in the critical final innings of Game Three. I'm still amazed that the Giants won that game, and they closed it out with X in left instead of Gregor Blanco and Joaquin Arias at short instead of Brandon Crawford. They used five pitchers in that game and 12 position players (everyone except Hector Sanchez). The Reds used Xavier Paul as a pinch-hitter, and that might be the only time in MLB history with two Xaviers in one game! Like I said, I'm still amazed the Giants won that game. One has to wonder why Dusty Baker yanked Homer Bailey after seven innings (88 pitches, 1 hit, 10 K). Seems like that sort of thing happens with ol' Johnnie B in command. Makes you appreciate Bruce Bochy, who has a knack for pulling the right strings.

Next up is Aubrey Huff, 2010 hero. The Giants brought him back after his huge contributions to their first championship but he never regained his form. Like Nady, Huff is at that point in his career where it may not be worth continuing. Two rings in three years is not a bad way to go out, eh? Aubrey was strictly a pinch-hitter in the 2012 playoffs, making ten plate appearances and getting one hit, one walk, and striking out twice. His hit in Game Two of the LCS was a pop fly behind third base that Blanco would have caught but Matt Holliday could not get to. He scored on a hit by Ryan Theriot. I thought Bochy might use him at DH in Detroit, but Sanchez got the call in Game Three of the Series (0-3, 3K) and, of course, The Riot was the man in Game Four.

The last man is one of my favorites, Guillermo Mota, he of the Easter Island face. I love watching him pitch! WillyMo got in big trouble for PEDs after being a valuable mop-up man for the Giants since they acquired him in 2010. He turns 40 in July and has pitched in the big leagues (743 games, always in relief) since he was 25. He made three appearances in 2012, Games One and Two in the LDS and Game Four of the LCS. He was ineffective, yielding five runs and four hits in his 1-2/3 IP. It was a far cry from his 2-1/3 innings of shutout ball in the 2010 Series against Texas. I suppose it is the end of the line for the big Dominican, but he can go out, like the rest of the scrubs, with a shiny ring on his finger.

That's it! I've covered all 25 guys. Hope you enjoyed the look back at our team. Great news about Buster Posey getting the MVP. And I think signing Jeremy Affeldt for three years was a smart move. He's a valuable guy and the Giants know it. I will be sporting my brand new 2012 World Series Champions cap and T-shirt today at work. I get to look forward to a week off (after today) for Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday. Lots of much-needed relaxing and basking in the glow of our favorite team's great season.

Cheers, mates!

--M.C.

Pitching, pitching, pitching

Rory Paap (of Giants blog Paapfly) has an article today at The Hardball Times on pitching and championships. Yup, pitching does win championships. Check it out.

Here's a quote:

Returning to our question: Does great pitching win championships? The answer to that question is a resounding yes. History has shown that it’s not only preferred, but very nearly an absolute necessity to have, at the very minimum, a league-average pitching staff. Beyond that, a quality offense helps, but pitching is king.

With this in mind, I think the 2011 version of the Yankees is once again in trouble, the Phillies have one heck of a shot at winning it all, and the Giants absolutely have to be considered a threat to return to the Fall Classic. Those teams that can’t throw a team ERA+ of 100 out there are probably better off packing it in then heading to October.

Taking a look at the team stats for 2010, there were ten NL clubs with an ERA+ over 100. The Giants (121) were on top, followed by the Rockies (112), Braves (110), Phillies (110), Cardinals (110), Padres (108), Mets (105), Cubs (103), Marlins (103), and Reds (100). I think it is interesting that San Diego pitching doesn't rate that high in this metric. I suspect it is mostly because they played in run-suppressing Petco Park. I also think the Rockies will be the chief competition for the Giants in 2011 as they are a better pitching team than their 2010 ERA (4.14) suggested.

In the AL there were nine teams with an ERA+ over 100. The Athletics (116) led the way, followed by the Rangers (110), White Sox (107), Yankees (106), Twins (105), Red Sox (104), Rays (104), Angels (101), and Mariners (100). Paapfly says look out for Oakland in 2011--he may have a point.

Here's a little more from Mr. Paap (emphasis mine):

I also took the liberty of averaging each teams OPS+ and ERA+ to determine how much better than average they were overall. I then averaged all of those numbers, whereby I discovered the average World Series champion has graded out at 108.7, or about eight percent better than league average.

If you take the most recent champion, the San Francisco Giants, and add their OPS+ (95) and ERA+ (121) from 2010 together, you get a grade of 108. This goes to show their World Series title in 2010 shouldn’t be considered lucky or a fluke, rather, they were a perfectly average champion. What’s more, their excellent ERA+ fulfilled the pertinent requirement of at least adequate pitching.

Like I said, you should check it out.

I suppose the upshot is that all the Giants have to do to repeat is be perfectly average! For them, that is, which means pitch like hell and hope the offense is journeyman-esque.

--M.C.

Giants beat Rangers

Nothing new this week. The best part of the telecast tonight was when Kruk & Kuip talked to Dave Righetti in the 5th inning. He was both interesting and informative. Intriguing, as well. Did you know that Tim Lincecum's famous late-season slider is really "more like a shuuto" than a true slider? That's according to Rags. Intrigued? I was. He kept talking about how Tim got "on top of it" and that was what made it look like (and be mis-identified as) the change-up. The shuuto is like a screwball, like a split-finger, like a two-seamer, and like a change-up. It breaks down and in on right-handed batters when thrown by a right-handed pitcher. All this time we thought it was just another slider. Well, better than most, but still a slider. Little did we know it was the dreaded shuuto, the one Tom Selleck (Mr. Baseball) could never hit. Righetti also praised Jonathan Sanchez for his good outing (in the inning he gave up the run he also struck out three) and mentioned that Sergio Romo is looking good with his fastball-changeup combo. Sergio "Slider" Romo is now a fastball-changeup guy. Like I said, informative. And interesting.

--M.C.


p.s. Posey signs one-year deal with Giants (q.v. Henry Schulman, The Splash).

2011: defending a title

Two months ago today the San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series and were crowned as champions. For 2011 they will find themselves in a new role--that of defending champions. How have the World Series Champions fared in that task this past decade? Let's take a look:

2001: The three-time (1998, 1999, 2000) defending champion New York Yankees lost in the World Series to Randy Johnson and the Arizona Diamondbacks. It should be noted that the Yanks had the lead in the 9th inning of the 7th game with Mariano Rivera on the mound and yet the Bob Brenly-led Snakes won.

2002: The defending champion Diamondbacks won the NL West but lost in the LDS . The Anaheim Angels won--it had something to do with a blown lead, too.

2003: The defending champion Angels finished 77-85, 19 back of Oakland. Josh Beckett and the Florida Marlins beat the Yankees in the Series.

2004: The defending champion Marlins finished 83-79, 13 back of Atlanta. The Boston Red Sox ended their long drought by sweeping the Cardinals in the Series. It was a great moment for Sahx fans and was made particularly sweet by beating the Yanks in the ALCS after being down three games to none. I mention only because my mom was born and raised in Boston and saw Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, and Vincent and Dominic DiMaggio play at Fenway Park. She taught me how to be a fan. My earliest baseball memories are the 1967 "Impossible Dream" AL-pennant winners with Carl Yazstremski, Rico Petrocelli, and Jim Lonborg, as well as following the Giants with Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons, and Bill Thompson on KSFO-560 AM radio. Thanks, mom. Happy New Year!

2005: The defending champion Red Sox lost in the LDS to the eventual champion Chicago White Sox, another team with a monkey-on-the-back legacy. President Barack Obama is a fan of the South-siders. The White Sox swept the Astros in the Series. Each of their four starters (Jose Contreras, Mark Buerhle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garica) went at least 7 innings and gave up 4 or fewer runs per start (9 total in 28-1/3 IP). They beat a club with a rotation of Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Roy Oswalt!

2006: The defending champion White Sox finished 90-72, 6 back of Minnesota. The 83-78 St. Louis Cardinals avenged 1968 and beat the Tigers 4-1 in the Series.

2007: The defending champion Cardinals finished 78-84, 7 back of Chicago. The Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies in the Series.

2008: The defending champion Red Sox lost to the Tampa Bay Rays in the LCS. The Philadelphia Phillies rode Cole Hamels' arm to a 4-2 Series win over the AL upstarts.

2009: The defending champion Phillies lost in the World Series to the New York Yankees despite getting two wins from Cliff Lee.

2010: The defending champion Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. The San Francisco Giants won the World Series, thumping the Rangers 4-1!


The aughts were a tough decade for defending champs. Many of the clubs returned to the post-season but none of them could hang on to the Commissioner's Trophy. The Giants have a formidable task. Recent history is not on their side. What will it take for the Giants to defend their title in 2011?

--M.C.

MadBum buries 'em!

Spooky-good Madison Bumgarner scared up a whole pile of outs and ruined a Hallowe'en party in Texas. The rookie southpaw's great performance was one for the ages: 3 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, only one runner in scoring position, 21 first-pitch strikes to 27 batters, and a Game Score of 80. All this by a 21-year old who has yet to pitch 200 major-league innings! MadBum got some help from his rookie battery-mate Buster Posey, who threw out Josh Hamilton trying to steal in the 4th and then blasted a ball over the centerfield fence in the 8th for the final nail in the Rangers coffin. DH Aubrey Huff--the best free-agent signing of 2010--got the scoring started with a 2-run bomb down the rightfield line in the 3rd inning, scoring Andres Torres who had doubled. The Giants worked over-matched Tommy Hunter for long counts with lots of foul balls and turned the lineup over twice in the first four frames. Alexi Ogando sliced through the Giants in the 5th but hurt himself after two were out in the 6th. Darren Oliver gave up a run in the 7th on another Torres double (scoring the rejuvenated Edgar Renteria), and Darren O'Day gave up Posey's homer in the 8th. The four runs were more than enough for the brilliant Bumgarner, who showed nerves of steel and the ability to paint the corners in any situation. Brian Wilson got an easy three-out save. The Giants rapped out 8 hits, and despite the error, flashed some damn fine leather once again. A team effort, led by two exceptional rookies, has the Giants one win from glory.

The Rangers aren't done, but they are damn close. They send Cliff Lee out against Tim Lincecum tomorrow. It should be epic.

GO GIANTS!

WIN ONE MORE!

--M.C.

American League happenings

The Texas Rangers parted with Justin Smoak in order to get Cliff Lee*. They obviously think they are playoff-bound. Smoak, you may recall, was drafted at the same time as Buster Posey, though Posey was chosen fifth and Smoak eleventh. Parting with your 1st-round pick is big deal--imagine who we would expect to get in return if we parted with Buster? Cliff Lee is quite a prize, and just keeping him out of the Yankees hands is good enough for me. Texas is obviously confident that they can make a real run. They have the same record as the San Diego Padres (50-35), but have a 5-1/2 game lead over the 2nd-place LAnaheimers. When you trade away a prospect like Smoak**, you are going "all in" for 2010. This is a club that's being sold.

Speaking of Buster Posey, who I hope is the "other half" of a Dynastic Duo with Tim Lincecum that will bring years of glory to the San Francisco Giants, he will face 2009 Gold Spikes Winner Stephen Strasburg tonight. Buster, of course, is the 2008 winner. Can you name the 2006 winner? (2007 is Tampa Bay Ray David Price.)

The Giants pulled out an extra-large can o'whup-ass when they saw Ubaldo Jimenez. Perhaps they can ground another high-flyer tonight.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


*Deal still pending.
**The former South Carolina Gamecock has a line of .209/.316/.353 in 275 major-league PA (all in 2010).

Assorted Notes, Errata and Half-Baked Opinion

Just back from the very fine state of Texas. Thought I'd chime in with an assortment of things.

For some time now, I have had this imaginary conversation running through my head from sometime early to mid-last season:

Peter Macgowan: This team sucks.
Brian Sabean: No shit, sher..... er, I mean....yes, sir, and frankly, I'm rather worried about it.
PM: So what do you propose that I have my GM, whomever that may be, do about it?
BS: Well, I figure we will have to rebuild, but we probably can't do it all at once.
PM: Why not, pray tell?
BS: Because we have some good promising young talent that we don't yet know if we can rely on to be good, everyday full time players, and we are facing a fairly thin free-agent market. We need two years.
PM: OK, don't fuck it up.

So, we will not be competitive this year, nor could we be, really, because, barring some miracle, like Rajai Davis becoming a decent everyday player (and it would be a miracle), there is just no way we could have crafted a team with enough muscle to compete regardless of the money, unless the rumors about how much A-Rod liked SF were actually true (and apparently, they were not).

So that brings us to Joe Creede. I read somewhere that trading away young pitching talent for "a one year rental player" is just too steep a price. I think it depends on what you mean by "young pitching talent." The rumors persist, including in today's Chron (2/24), that the Giants are interested in him. It seems to me that a one-year rental is exactly what we need. If the guy can come back and hit like a Silver Slugger, enjoys his crab cakes, fog and late nights in the Castro, then we have the inside track to sign him. If not, we pursue Eric Chavez or realize Frandsen can play third and pursue someone else at second. Maybe a line-up of a decent Joe Creede, Rowland, Frandsen, Molina, and another good hitter all of a sudden doesn't make 2009 look so gloomy. Or maybe having a little vacation just improves my outlook.

So, here is a bit from today's Bruce Jenkins column, on Sean Casey: "People rave about his clubhouse presence, including forer teammate Aaron Boone, who said, 'He has this way of making everyone around him feel important.' In a sense, he's exactly what the Giants need as they try to forge their new identity." I love it. Chemistry, the sports writer's favorite crutch (and I'm not talking about drugs). This is, of course, a shot at Bonds, the man who carried the team on his back but destroyed clubhouse chemistry. Amazing though, how easy getting along with teammates is when you are winning, and how it doesn't seem to help when you suck (the team's thirty games below .500, but boy howdy, are they having fun!). The Giants need......hitters. Big, powerful hitters who can thrill crowds by sending fastballs into the water and turning games around. Hitters who seem to get on base every damn time they are up, and hitters who wear out opposing outfielders chasing out-of-reach line drives.

Brian Wilson goes to Ireland, trashes rental car! This raises Brian Wilson's standing in my eyes about 1500%. I think any young person with money (he certainly qualifies) should travel. It seems most of these guys sit around playing video games in their free time. What's up with that? Get out, see something and broaden your horizons.

Finally, italicizing is not the same as mixing fonts.