Manager: Bruce Bochy
Arrivals: OF Aaron Rowand, RP Scott Williamson
Departures: OF Barry Bonds*, 3B Pedro Feliz
Offseason grade: D
Starting Rotation
The Giants have a very good young core of starting pitchers, starting with Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum.
If you want a definition of a hard-luck pitcher, look no further than Cain, who had an ERA of 3.65 last year...
But went 7-16.
Cain will turn 24 on October 1 and could post one of the better ERAs of NL West pitchers—a group that, remember, includes Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, Jake Peavy, Chris Young, and Brad Penny.
Lincecum burst on to the scene last year, dominating opponents with an upper-90's fastball and a devastating curveball. His 150 strikeouts in just 146.1 innings are a testament to his stuff that can only be described as electric.
Lincecum will turn 24 on June 15 and, along with Cain, will give the Giants a nasty 1-2 punch that could rival Peavy/Young, Webb/Haren, or Penny/Lowe, or Billingsley in the not too distant future.
If Noah Lowry's arm is okay, he'll fit in as San Francisco's third-best starter. Lowry will be 28 on October 10 and is a crafty lefty who has turned in a nice career so far with the Giants.
A point of concern is Lowry's 1:1 walk/strikeout ratio (87 BB, 87 K) in 2007, but Lowry's career numbers indicate that was an aberration.
Or, maybe it wasn't.
As I wrote this article, Lowry threw less than an inning and walked seven—yes, seven—batters in one of the worst Spring Training outings you'll ever see. This was with a White Sox scout in attendance, too.
It makes you wonder if Lowry is actually healthy. If he isn't, look for the loser of the competition between Kevin Correia and Jonathan Sanchez (if he's with the team in April, too) to take over for Lowry.
Correia or Sanchez are two young starters who should round out the Giants rotation nicely.
Correia has pitched a lot out of the bullpen in the last few years, but has always been touted as a starter.
In his eight starts in 2007, Correia was good, going 3-1 with a 2.54 ERA. While that may only be a small sample to pull numbers from, Correia could find success with a secure spot in the Giants rotation.
Sanchez has shuffled between the bullpen and rotation ever since 2005, when he started 25 games for Class A Augusta. He'll be given a chance to win the fifth starter spot in Spring Training, but my money still is on Correia.
There's an elephant in the room. No, check that, a $126 million elephant, and his name is Barry Zito.
Last year, Zito performed like a guy who should be earning $1.8 million dollars a year, not $18 million. Zito went 11-13 with a 4.53 ERA for the Giants in 2007 and likely is on the downswing of his career.
Zito hasn't posted an ERA below 3.50 since 2003, which was one year after he went 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA en route to the AL Cy Young.
Those days are long gone for Zito. Hitters have learned to lay off his big curveball that he rarely throws for a strike and have sat on his mediocre fastball and changeup, thus leading to the ERA jump.
While I'd still take Zito as a fifth starter, he by no means is the ace he once was.
9 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete