San Francisco Giants

Madison Bumgarner is a hyped pitching prospect who fantasy owners have been waiting on since the day he was drafted tenth overall in 2007.  With a 27-5 record to go along with a 1.65 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 273 minor league innings, who can blame them?

The Giants seemed reluctant to push the 19-year-old to the major leagues in 2009, but when the opportunity presented itself, it was hard to resist.  He made four appearances (one start), showing just what all the hype was about.  He posted a 1.80 ERA and 1.10 WHIP, striking out ten batters while walking just three.

After spending his first seven seasons in the league across the bay with the Oakland Athletics, Barry Zito hit the jack pot with a seven-year $126 million contract with the San Francisco Giants.

When Zito signed what was then the richest contract of any starting pitcher in MLB history back in 2006, Giants fans were expecting to receive pitching worthy of top money. Unfortunately, they have yet to witness any long term consistency from Zito over the first three years.

When one thinks of the Giants' top prospects, he or she typically thinks of the promise of Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, and Thomas Neal, or perhaps the horrific downfall of Angel Villalona.

But the team's sixth-round pick in 2008, left-handed pitcher Eric Surkamp, deserves to be discussed as well.

Surkamp is a tall lefty out of NC State, standing 6'5". He was 21 years old during the 2009 season.

Surkamp isn't the hardest thrower out there, but he isn't Jamie Moyer either. His fastball ranges from 86-91 mph, and he has excellent command of the pitch.

Pending Monday's physical, Juan Uribe will rejoin his Giant pals in what one can only hope to be an encore as the super utility man that he was last year.  With Juan back in the mix, as well as recent acquisition Mark DeRosa, the Giants have two quality ballplayers known to be great locker room presences for a very young team. 

The question remains, however, if they have done enough to build a lineup to support Pablo Sandoval and one of the strongest staffs in the majors.

There were 69 starting pitchers from the 1960s who pitched in at least 200 games.

If a player does not appear on the list of the 69 eligible players list, then they either didn’t reach 200 games or I consider them a pitcher from the 1950s or the 1970s.

The San Francisco Giants have had one of the strongest traditions of pitching in all of baseball throughout their franchise history. They have had countless Hall of Famers, league leaders and two Cy Young award winners.
When they were the New York Giants, they boasted such names as Carl Hubbell, Christy Mathewson, Red Ames, Joe McGinnity, and Rube Marquard. Since the Giants relocated to San Francisco in 1958, Juan Marichal, Vida Blue, Gaylord Perry, Rod Beck, and Mike Krukow have all taken the mound.

With Juan Uribe on the verge of getting a new contract from the San Francisco Giants, the pressure is on for one current Giants player.

Edgar Renteria.

For a long time everyone looked at the Giants’ Matt Cain as a pitcher with all the potential in the world, though he was blessed with the worst luck in baseball.  How else could you explain win totals of seven in 2007 and eight in 2008 despite ERAs under 4.00? 

All that changed in 2009, when Cain seemingly put it all together to post the following line:

14 Wins
217.2 Innings
2.89 ERA
1.18 WHIP
171 Strikeouts (7.07 K/9)
73 Walks (3.02 BB/9)
.268 BABIP

The San Francisco Giants' eternal search for a masher to pair with slugger Pablo Sandoval would end if they landed Russell Branyan, who is one of the best free agent first basemen on the market. 

Branyan has played on six teams over the last four years, bouncing from San Diego to Tampa Bay to Philly to St. Louis, back to San Diego, to Milwaukee, and then to Seattle. 

The San Francisco Giants wound up making the mistake. But if they hadn't, someone else would have.

For some reason unbeknownst to me, baseball execs throughout MLB thought Mark DeRosa was worth several million dollars a year. DeRosa wound up getting six million dollars for two years: a two-year, $12 million deal.

This is the sort of move that, as an analyst, drives me up the wall.

Mark DeRosa doesn't do anything particularly well. He hit a mediocre .250/.319/.433 in 2009, a .752 OPS. Third basemen as a whole hit .265/.335/.421, a .757 OPS.