The Giants season has ended. So, now its time to incorporate the results into the historical record.
Welcome to history - the 2011 San Francisco Giants!
I've ranked every SF Giants team in history by pythagorean record here. The 2011 Giants went 80-82, making it the 35th best San Francisco team ever, right between the other two 80-82 teams, 1997 and 1983.
I've compiled a list of every SF Giants season by WARP(now using Clay Davenport version, which should correspond more accurately with the previous work) and WAR (Baseball reference). You can get to all of that here.
Here's the 2011 team
C Posey 1.6/1.3
1B Huff 1/-.6
2B Sanchez .5/.7
SS Fontenot .6/.3
3B Sandoval 5.9/5.9
LF Ross 1.7/-.1
CF Torres .5/.7
RF Schierholtz 1.3/.8
OF Beltran 2.1/1
P Lincecum 5.6/3.6
Cain 4.8/3.6
Bumgarner 4/2.3
Vogelsong 4.8/3.4
Cl Wilson 2/.5
Casilla 1.5/1.3
Romo 1.8/1.8
Lopez 1.6/1.1
If you add the numbers together and divide by two, that's a pretty good snapshot of for how many wins above a readily available replacementeach player is responsible. Sandoval was easily the Giants best position player in '11 - in fact, he was the best third baseman in baseball in 2011. The Giants top 4 starters all had good seasons; they were the next 4 most valuable Giants after Sandoval in 2011.
Sandoval's season was the best for a Giants third baseman since Matt Williams in 1993.
I'd like to say Huff's season, giving us virtually nothing was historically bad - but it's not. Since Will Clark left after the 1993 season, the Giants have gotten nothing from first base in the following years:
1994 - Benzinger
1996 - Carreon
1998 - Snow
2001 - Snow
2002 - Snow
2005 - Snow (JT Snow was not a good baseball player.)
2006 - Hillenbrand
2007 - Klesko
2008 - Bowker
2009 - Ishikawa
Huff lost all of his value from a year ago, when he had the best season for a Giants first baseman since '89.
Except for third base and right field, we got a production decline at every position in 2011.
Cain and Lincecum both continue to climb up the All Time San Francisco Giants list - which you can find here. Cain is the 14th and Lincecum the 15th most valuable San Francisco Giant ever, they are the 4th and 5th most valuable SFG pitchers ever. Cain has one more year and Lincecum two more years remaining on their deals, I think. My longstanding assumption is we're able to keep one of them.
2 comments
Better to blow it in August/early-September, or like the Sox and Braves?
Depends.
1. Better for the team to blow it now, it means they're better. Boston and Atlanta are better than the Giants. You'd rather be in their position, they're closer to winning than we are. You'd rather be better. Boston's one of the best teams in baseball and the Giants are not.
2. Worse emotionally. This is a pretty forgettable season as a Giants fan, but losing a large lead and then losing on the last day to be eliminated, as the Giants did in 1993, just rips you apart. I'd feel terrible today to be either a Braves or Sox fan, particularly Boston, as you could have seen them winning the entire thing for a good chunk of the season. And yesterday, with the Yankees blowing that 7 run lead, has to be really challenging to deal with.
Post a Comment