Nine Old Men
The 2005 San Francisco Giants suffered from two things. The first, and most critical, were injuries to Barry Bonds which caused him to miss all but 14 games. Losing the most dominant hitter of this era pretty much erased all hope of competing even in the pitiful NL West, and the bad situation was made worse by the second problem, that the Giants were an old, old team with no ready help available from the farm system.
The solution for 2006? Hope Bonds is healthy (he says he will be), and get even older. The Giants brought in fresh blood for the new year; but most of it is past the expiration date.
Projected 2006 Lineup (ages in parenthesis):
CF Randy Winn (32)
SS Omar Vizquel (39)
LF Barry Bonds (41)
RF Moises Alou (39)
2B Ray Durham (34)
3B Pedro Feliz (31)
1B Lance Niekro (27)
C Mike Matheny (35)
If you're going to have a club this old, you'd better have a a healthy bench. Taking the age and experience thing to the limit, the top three reserves for the Giants will be Steve Finley (41), Mike Sweeney (36), and Jose Vizcaino (38). If the Giants can't outhit or outrun their opponents, they should at least have a huge advantage in the ability to stand around and tell long, boring, pointless stories.
Projected 2006 Rotation and Bullpen:
SP Jason Schmidt
SP Matt Morris
SP Noah Lowrey
SP Matt Cain
SP Kevin Correia
CL Armando Benitez
RP Scott Munter
RP Steve Kline
RP Jeff Fassero
RP Tim Worrell
Carl Everett probably won't believe that the Giants even have a bullpen, since they have as big a collection of dinosaurs as the Field Museum. Benitez is 33, Fassero 43, Kline 33, and Worrell 38. None of them were anything all that special in 2005, and frankly I expect at least two and probably more to fall off the edge of the earth this year.
Schmidt was not 100% in 2005; if he is healthy he remains one of the league's better starters, but he's 33 and has a somewhat checkered injury history. Lowrey pitched well in first full season, and Cain is one of the best upper level pitching prospects in the game. Morris, like the relievers, carries a big risk of flammability; his hits/inning ratio is going up, and his strikeouts/inning is going down.
Anything is possible in this division, where there are no strong teams. A healthy Bonds, even 85% of the Bonds of 2001-2004, can carry a team a long ways. While it's easy to criticize GM Brian Sabean for overloading the team with aging players and ignoring youth, it's a simple fact that any remaining championship hopes that the franchise has for the near future remain only as long as Bonds can perform. If (and it's a big if) enough of the oldies have one good season left in the tank, there is no reason that the Giants can't reach the postseason one last time.
The solution for 2006? Hope Bonds is healthy (he says he will be), and get even older. The Giants brought in fresh blood for the new year; but most of it is past the expiration date.
Projected 2006 Lineup (ages in parenthesis):
CF Randy Winn (32)
SS Omar Vizquel (39)
LF Barry Bonds (41)
RF Moises Alou (39)
2B Ray Durham (34)
3B Pedro Feliz (31)
1B Lance Niekro (27)
C Mike Matheny (35)
If you're going to have a club this old, you'd better have a a healthy bench. Taking the age and experience thing to the limit, the top three reserves for the Giants will be Steve Finley (41), Mike Sweeney (36), and Jose Vizcaino (38). If the Giants can't outhit or outrun their opponents, they should at least have a huge advantage in the ability to stand around and tell long, boring, pointless stories.
Projected 2006 Rotation and Bullpen:
SP Jason Schmidt
SP Matt Morris
SP Noah Lowrey
SP Matt Cain
SP Kevin Correia
CL Armando Benitez
RP Scott Munter
RP Steve Kline
RP Jeff Fassero
RP Tim Worrell
Carl Everett probably won't believe that the Giants even have a bullpen, since they have as big a collection of dinosaurs as the Field Museum. Benitez is 33, Fassero 43, Kline 33, and Worrell 38. None of them were anything all that special in 2005, and frankly I expect at least two and probably more to fall off the edge of the earth this year.
Schmidt was not 100% in 2005; if he is healthy he remains one of the league's better starters, but he's 33 and has a somewhat checkered injury history. Lowrey pitched well in first full season, and Cain is one of the best upper level pitching prospects in the game. Morris, like the relievers, carries a big risk of flammability; his hits/inning ratio is going up, and his strikeouts/inning is going down.
Anything is possible in this division, where there are no strong teams. A healthy Bonds, even 85% of the Bonds of 2001-2004, can carry a team a long ways. While it's easy to criticize GM Brian Sabean for overloading the team with aging players and ignoring youth, it's a simple fact that any remaining championship hopes that the franchise has for the near future remain only as long as Bonds can perform. If (and it's a big if) enough of the oldies have one good season left in the tank, there is no reason that the Giants can't reach the postseason one last time.
posted by Jim at
7:42 PM
1 Comments:
"While it's easy to criticize GM Brian Sabean for overloading the team with aging players and ignoring youth..."
Buddy, you're waaaayyyyyy off script here. We all know the Giants are an old team (and have been for the last ten years) because Dusty Baker hates young players. Don't make me revoke your License to Blog...
By
Bob, at 1:01 PM
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