Wilson Pushing to Close

Back before the season starter, early on in spring training, Brian Wilson was a guy who got a lot of talk regarding the Giants and their late inning relief situation. A lot of baseball experts and Giants fans thought that Wilson would battle Benitez for the closers role and ultimately take the closers job once the season got started. Wilson battled control issues all spring and didn't even make the Giants opening day roster. In fact, he hadn't seen any big league time this year before being recalled on August 11th. All Wilson has done since that time is prove to the Giants that they should have given him a call earlier. Wilson hasn't given up any runs on 2 hits in 6 innings pitched while striking out 5 and collecting a save. Bruce Bochy seems to have bought into Wilson as he's trotted him out for the ninth inning in the last 2 games. Brad Hennessey had been closing ever since Armondo Benitez was dealt to Florida back in June and has done and admirable job, but I think the Giants view Hennessey as more of a setup/late inning reliever rather than a closer. Wilson has the closer mentality and certainly posses the weapons to be a successful closer at this level. He was lights out in his 4 months doing the job in Fresno and it has carried over into the major leagues. His cutter, when controlled, can be a premier pitch and his mid-90's fastball and hard slider are both plus pitches. I don't see any reason not to keep Wilson in the closers role the rest of the way.

Barry Zito has looked the best I've seen him since he joined the Giants. Zito has turned in 3 consecutive good starts and in the last 2, he showed shades of why the Giants gave him the huge

contract that they did over the winter. He has looked like the staff ace that he's supposed to be and the reason why is his control. When looking at Zito's starts over the season, there is a trend. Every time he walks 2 or less batters in a game, he turns in a good start. When he walks more than 2, things can get ugly and they normally do. The same thing applies for Matt Cain and the person I question for this is Dave Righetti. I think it's time the Giants explore other options as far as their pitching coach goes. I've never been too impressed with Righetti or with the lack of progress Cain has made this year as well as the decline of Zito. Even Noah Lowry walks too many batters, though it doesn't effect him the way it does Cain and Zito. I'm ready for a new teacher.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Yeah, I'm not sold on Hennessey as a closer either, but I don't think Wilson is the answer. They need to make a trade in the winter.

7:08 PM

WORLD SERIES: Giants Move Up 2-0 on Texas

PreGame After taking game one in a surprising slug-fest , the Giants look to go up 2-0 on the Rangers in the World Series on Thursday night. The Giants are sending out Matt Cain, a guy who I'm sure every Giants' fan is pretty confident in. He'll be a opposed by C.J. Wilson, who's in his first year as a full-time starter, but has been brilliant in the role. He did struggle his last time out though, so hopefully the Giants can get to him early and get into his head a bit. I'm going to do something I've never done here on this unique occasion, and sort of do an in-game post. updating this post every time I feel I have something to add. So go Giants, and be sure to check back throughout the game, and after, to vent or whatever! As long as Matt Cain keeps rolling, and the Giants keep coming up with those clutch 2-out hits, we should be OK. Texas has that high-powered offense that can score in a hurry, as we saw last night, so the Giants cannot let down and have to t

Giants Still Need Infield Help

On Saturday, the Giants finalized a 2 year contract extension with Freddy Sanchez, who they acquired in July for Tim Alderson. The new deal for Sanchez will pay him 12 million over the next 2 seasons instead of 8.5 million for just 2010, which was his option for 2010. I've voiced my disappointment in Sanchez a few times here since the Giants dealt for him over the summer. He wasn't able to stay on the field full time to help this club with their run at the NL Wild Card, and even when he was in there, he didn't seem to make much of an impact in th e lineup. Now, I wasn't necessarily hoping the Giants would cut ties with Sanchez (they probably would have had to pay 4 million or so to buy him out), just didn't think he was worth upwards of 10 million dollars, and would have liked to see the Giants pursue someone like Orlando Hudson with that money. The Giants already have an infielder who's being paid about 3-4 times what his play over the last 2 seasons would indi

Giants Notes: Lincecum Signs, Ross to Boston

Well, even though I touched on it a little bit in our last post, I haven't really had a chance to get my thoughts out on the new Lincecum deal since he and the Giants agreed earlier in the week. Also, on the other end of things, the Giants missed out on shoring up their outfield by letting Cody Ross sign in Boston for only $3 million in 2012. First off, obviously, wanted to talk a bit about Lincecum. I've already said here that I didn't expect him to sign a long-term deal that takes him through free agency, but it doesn't mean he wants to leave San Francisco like everyone is suspecting. I mean, if I were Lincecum, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I planned on eventually signing with the Giants long-term. Why take a chance at mitigating your value to just sign a deal? Granted, a 5 year, $100 million deal isn't anything to sneeze at, in this market, if he were a free agent, Lincecum could probably easily command a 8 year, $200 million deal. If he could get

The Giants Baseball Blog

Search This Blog