With Opening Day upon us, and what hopes to be the beginning of a trip back to the postseason for the Giants just hours away from starting, I wanted to take a look at the 25-man roster and post predictions for each player.
Lineup
1. CF Angel Pagan: 147 G, 540 AB, .285 avg, 10 HR, 52 RBI, 84 R, 20 SB, .732 OPS
2. *2B Marco Scutaro: 103 G, 414 AB, .289, 7 HR, 44 RBI, 52 R, 23 2B, .711 OPS
3. 1B Brandon Belt: 152 G, 550 AB, .292, 20 HR, 79 RBI, 67 R. 11 SB, .845 OPS
4. C Buster Posey: 146 G, 532 AB, .313, 23 HR, 91 RBI, 72 R, 90 BB, .922 OPS
5. RF Hunter Pence: 155 G, 602 AB, .275, 26 HR, 92 RBI, 85 R, 17 SB, .829 OPS
6. 3B Pablo Sandoval: 140 G, 515 AB, .305, 23 HR, 83 RBI, 66 R, 38 2B, .837 OPS
7. LF Michael Morse: 141 G, 498 AB, .269, 21 HR, 71 RBI, 52 R, 29 2B, .740 OPS
8. SS Brandon Crawford: 153 G, 504 AB, .260, 7 HR, 40 RBI, 52 BB, .691 OPS
Rotation
1. LHP Madison Bumgarner:: 34 GS, 18-7, 2.96 ERA, 215 IP, 205 K, 1.07 WHIP
2. RHP Matt Cain: 33 GS, 14-8, 3.55 ERA, 211 IP, 179 K, 1.15 WHIP
3. RHP Tim Hudson: 33 G, 13-11, 3.86 ERA, 198 IP, 145 K, 1.29 WHIP
4. RHP Tim Lincecum: 32 G, 15-10, 3.69 ERA, 202 IP, 198 K, 1.31 WHIP
5. RHP Ryan Vogelsong: 28 G, 8-11, 4.85 ERA, 151 IP, 114 K, 1.41 WHIP
Bullpen
RHP Sergio Romo
RHP Santiago Casilla
LHP Javier Lopez
*LHP Jeremy Affeldt
RHP Jean Machi
RHP Juan Gutierrez
RHP Yusmiero Petit
**LHP David Huff
Bench
C Hector Sanchez
**IF Ehire Adrianza
IF Brandon Hicks
OF Juan Perez
OF Gregor Blanco
IF Joaquin Arias
*Affledt and Scutaro start year on 15-day DL
**Adrianza and Guitierrez are injury replacements to start year
The Giants made two significant additions to last years squad that finished 10 games below .500. They're hoping Michael Morse brings power to the lineup and provides a solid presence in the bottom half of the order. As long as he stays healthy and can collect 500 or so plate appearances, the numbers will be there. The other new addition, Tim Hudson, takes the place of Barry Zito in what should be a huge upgrade as long
as he can stay on the field himself and give the Giants 30 starts. The rest of the cast is practically identical to the the 2013 squad and the 2012 second half squad. Obviously we saw what they could do at their best in 2012, but then we saw the bad side last year. They need to get more consistency in 2014 if they want to make it back to the postseason. They're going to need to keep that top of the order healthy, something they had trouble with last season, and Pablo Sandoval is going to have to step up and be the masher he was in the 2012 postseason if they wanna overtake the Dodgers. I think Pablo really holds the key to the offense. The Giants no pretty much what Posey and Pence can do. They'll expect slight improvements from the Brandons and Morse to provide power. But if Panda is that .325 hitting machine with power and purpose like he was in 2009 and 2011 (when healthy), the Giants offense will be stronger than it's been in a decade.
The Giants have a good squad overall, and one that should compete for at least a NL Wild Card spot. If they get strong rebound seasons from Cain, Lincecum, Sandoval and Morse, then they;ll certainly challenge LA for the division title. If they don't and they battle injury all year like they did last season, then they'll probably finish in the cellar. The NL West has improved a lot over the last year and the Giants will have to be on their game all year if they want to regain their swagger. Their bullpen doesn't have a bunch of depth, and their bench isn't the deepest, so it's hard to stress just how important it is for the Giants' core players to stay on the field. If things go as expected though, and everybody stays healthy for the most part, I think this team will be right around 88-92 wins and finish 2nd in the West but first in the Wild Card race.
Prediction: 88-74,2nd in NL West, 2nd NL Wild Card Spot
Lineup
1. CF Angel Pagan: 147 G, 540 AB, .285 avg, 10 HR, 52 RBI, 84 R, 20 SB, .732 OPS
2. *2B Marco Scutaro: 103 G, 414 AB, .289, 7 HR, 44 RBI, 52 R, 23 2B, .711 OPS
3. 1B Brandon Belt: 152 G, 550 AB, .292, 20 HR, 79 RBI, 67 R. 11 SB, .845 OPS
4. C Buster Posey: 146 G, 532 AB, .313, 23 HR, 91 RBI, 72 R, 90 BB, .922 OPS
5. RF Hunter Pence: 155 G, 602 AB, .275, 26 HR, 92 RBI, 85 R, 17 SB, .829 OPS
6. 3B Pablo Sandoval: 140 G, 515 AB, .305, 23 HR, 83 RBI, 66 R, 38 2B, .837 OPS
7. LF Michael Morse: 141 G, 498 AB, .269, 21 HR, 71 RBI, 52 R, 29 2B, .740 OPS
8. SS Brandon Crawford: 153 G, 504 AB, .260, 7 HR, 40 RBI, 52 BB, .691 OPS
Rotation
1. LHP Madison Bumgarner:: 34 GS, 18-7, 2.96 ERA, 215 IP, 205 K, 1.07 WHIP
2. RHP Matt Cain: 33 GS, 14-8, 3.55 ERA, 211 IP, 179 K, 1.15 WHIP
3. RHP Tim Hudson: 33 G, 13-11, 3.86 ERA, 198 IP, 145 K, 1.29 WHIP
4. RHP Tim Lincecum: 32 G, 15-10, 3.69 ERA, 202 IP, 198 K, 1.31 WHIP
5. RHP Ryan Vogelsong: 28 G, 8-11, 4.85 ERA, 151 IP, 114 K, 1.41 WHIP
Bullpen
RHP Sergio Romo
RHP Santiago Casilla
LHP Javier Lopez
*LHP Jeremy Affeldt
RHP Jean Machi
RHP Juan Gutierrez
RHP Yusmiero Petit
**LHP David Huff
Bench
C Hector Sanchez
**IF Ehire Adrianza
IF Brandon Hicks
OF Juan Perez
OF Gregor Blanco
IF Joaquin Arias
*Affledt and Scutaro start year on 15-day DL
**Adrianza and Guitierrez are injury replacements to start year
The Giants made two significant additions to last years squad that finished 10 games below .500. They're hoping Michael Morse brings power to the lineup and provides a solid presence in the bottom half of the order. As long as he stays healthy and can collect 500 or so plate appearances, the numbers will be there. The other new addition, Tim Hudson, takes the place of Barry Zito in what should be a huge upgrade as long
The Giants have a good squad overall, and one that should compete for at least a NL Wild Card spot. If they get strong rebound seasons from Cain, Lincecum, Sandoval and Morse, then they;ll certainly challenge LA for the division title. If they don't and they battle injury all year like they did last season, then they'll probably finish in the cellar. The NL West has improved a lot over the last year and the Giants will have to be on their game all year if they want to regain their swagger. Their bullpen doesn't have a bunch of depth, and their bench isn't the deepest, so it's hard to stress just how important it is for the Giants' core players to stay on the field. If things go as expected though, and everybody stays healthy for the most part, I think this team will be right around 88-92 wins and finish 2nd in the West but first in the Wild Card race.
Prediction: 88-74,2nd in NL West, 2nd NL Wild Card Spot
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