San Francisco Giants: 5 Playoff Heroes of 2010 Doomed to Disappoint in 2011
The San Francisco Giants had a magical ride in the 2010 season to win their first World Series title since moving to San Francisco in 1958.
Team owner Bill Neukom looked splendid in his bow ties. General manager Brian Sabean made some excellent moves throughout the season to bolster the team. Manager Bruce Bochy guided the team down the stretch flawlessly, and the players performed.
2010 was indeed a magical season and will live on in my memory forever. As a lifelong Giant fan, I have now been able to cross this item off my sports fan bucket list.
Looking ahead to 2011, the Giants still have their vaunted pitching staff and have retained nearly all of the primary contributors from 2010. Nevertheless, they will be hard pressed to duplicate their World Series victory.
No National League team has won consecutive world championships since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76. In the American League, the New York Yankees outspent everyone and were the last team to accomplish this feat, doing so from 1998-2000.
The road will be tough, and new challenges will arise for the Giants. In addition, there were several Giants who came through big time in the postseason. The odds are that will not happen again.
Let's take a closer look at five members of the 2010 Giants who are doomed to disappoint in 2011.
No. 5: Manager Bruce Bochy
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Bruce Bochy has a long history as a solid field manager who gets along well with his players. He managed the San Diego Padres for 12 years and led them to four division titles and one World Series appearance, losing to the Yankees.
Bochy joined the Giants in 2007 and had a fairly undistinguished first three-and-a-half seasons. Then, midway through the 2010 campaign, something magical began to take shape. Coincidentally, a lot of the magic began when Buster Posey became the everyday catcher in late June.
Over the final two months of the season and through the postseason, Bochy juggled his starting lineup almost every day. He was forced to play matchups and make some tough decisions, which included the benching of Pablo Sandoval and Aaron Rowand and leaving Barry Zito off the postseason roster.
There were also the in-game decisions about who to use as a pinch hitter, what reliever would come in, do we bunt or swing away and a myriad of other game-defining decisions. In an amazing string of good fortune, virtually every decision Bochy made down the stretch seemed to pan out for the Giants.
Even more amazing is that with every move Bochy made, the players had to deliver. Even the best tactical moves do not look good when the players fail to come through. In addition to Bochy, the players deserve a great deal of credit. They came through with the clutch performances to make the manager look like he had a crystal ball.
To the fans and media alike, Bochy went from being the guy with the gravelly voice and extra-large cap size to a veritable genius. No longer the nondescript guy with the boring postgame interviews, Bochy became the most revered manager in San Francisco Giants history.
Rightfully so—Bruce Bochy brought a world championship to San Francisco!
Realistically, there is no way anyone could expect the endless string of great decisions to occur again. The Giants could win it all again in 2011, but it would be unfair to expect Bochy to make all the right moves, as he did in 2010.
No. 4: Juan Uribe
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Juan Uribe was a mainstay in the Giants infield over the past two years. In 2010, he played in 148 regular season games and hit 24 home runs with 85 RBI, both career-high totals. Uribe also had many clutch hits and RBI for the Giants.
The flip side was Uribe's batting average was only .248, and he also had a low on-base percentage at only .310. He was the classic "swing hard in case you hit it" type of player.
In the 2010 postseason, Uribe hit only .150, but he had two clutch home runs and a total of nine RBI to help the Giants win games. Uribe's clutch hitting and great clubhouse presence will be missed, but one cannot expect him to have the kind of year in Los Angeles that he did in San Francisco.
Juan Uribe signed a three-year contract with Los Angeles for $21 million. I believe the Dodgers overpaid him and also gave him too many years. Uribe will be 32 years old during the 2011 season and also has a very thick body type. At only 6'0" tall, he also carries too much weight, somewhere in the 230-pound range.
Uribe has had injury troubles in the past, especially with muscle pulls or strains. The excess weight, coupled with his advancing age, makes this a real concern for the Dodgers.
Uribe was extremely popular with his Giants teammates and the fans. However, as tough as AT&T Park is to hit in, Los Angeles may be even tougher. The stale, heavy air around Chavez Ravine is not conducive to home runs, which have become a staple of Uribe's swing-for-the-fences approach.
The team in San Francisco can be described as a loose, fun-loving assortment of personalities. They feed off each other and are a very close-knit group. Uribe thrived on that atmosphere, and he displayed a great joy in playing the game.
Los Angeles is the polar opposite. There seems to be a team chemistry problem in LA, as there are several players who can be described as aloof or at a minimum self-absorbed. Even the great Joe Torre was unable to get the Dodgers out of their funk in 2010.
The Giants moved quickly to replace Uribe when they signed Miguel Tejada to a $6 million deal for 2011. Tejada will not give the Giants the home run power of Uribe, but he should hit for a higher average. He is also a great clubhouse presence and should fit in nicely in San Francisco.
In acquiring Tejada and letting Uribe go, the Giants saved $15 million and did not lock themselves into a three-year deal. I believe that when we look back, this will have turned out far better for the Giants than it will for the Dodgers.
I do not see Juan Uribe having as much fun playing the game in Los Angeles, and that will affect his performance. In addition, his age and weight will start catching up to him, and I believe he is a player on the decline.
No. 3: Madison Bumgarner
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Madison Bumgarner burst onto the scene midway through the 2010 season. He impressed everyone with his poise and competitiveness on the mound.
Bumgarner was tabbed as the fourth starter for the Giants in the postseason, ahead of Barry Zito. It turned out to be the correct decision, as Bumgarner pitched very effectively and had a stellar postseason.
Bumgarner appeared in four postseason games, starting three of them. He threw a total of 20.2 innings with an ERA of 2.18 and was 2-0 in his only decisions. His 1.113 WHIP ratio was also outstanding.
So good was Bumgarner in the postseason that many fans and media members are projecting him to be another ace for the Giants in 2011. I have heard people calling for 15 to 16 wins from the kid out of Hickory, North Carolina.
At only 21 years of age, entering his first full season in the majors, that is simply unrealistic. While I do expect Bumgarner to be effective in 2011, I think somewhere between 11 and 13 wins is more feasible.
The Giants will also be careful with Bumgarner, as he threw 214 innings in 2010. His previous high was 142 innings in 2008. As manager Bruce Bochy and pitching coach Dave Righetti limit his innings, Bumgarner will also miss out on some wins by leaving in the sixth or seventh inning of tie ballgames or when the Giants are down by a run.
We also need to look at Bumgarner's season stats to get a more accurate view of what can be expected this coming year. During the regular season with the Giants, Mad Bum, as he is affectionately called, started 18 games and had a 7-6 record. His ERA was a solid 3.00.
In 111 innings with San Francisco, Bumgarner gave up 119 hits and 26 walks for a WHIP of 1.31. His strikeout numbers were also not overwhelming, with 86 in those 111 innings. These numbers are quite decent, especially for a rookie pitcher, but to expect him to go from this level to winning 15 or 16 games is not realistic.
In addition, opposing hitters will be seeing him over a full season, so expect them to make some adjustments. Bumgarner will need to counter and find other ways to get them out.
I do not necessarily expect a "sophomore slump," and I do think Bumgarner will be effective. However, I just don't see him meeting the spectacular expectations of many in 2011.
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No. 2: Edgar Renteria
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The San Francisco Giants paid Edgar Renteria $18 million over two injury-plagued seasons. In those two years, Renteria did not play in 128 out of a possible 324 games. The 2010 season was the worst, as Renteria only participated in 72 games.
In the first playoff series against Atlanta, third baseman Pablo Sandoval struggled mightily at the plate and in the field. His poor defense threatened to cost the Giants games and forced manager Bruce Bochy to sit him down.
Juan Uribe, who had been playing shortstop, moved to third, and the veteran Edgar Renteria found himself back in the lineup at short. Renteria did almost nothing in the second series, as he went 1-for-17 at the plate. He and Uribe did the job defensively, which shored up the left side of the Giant infield.
Then, in the World Series, the 34-year-old Renteria found the fountain of youth. He went 6-for-17 for a .412 batting average. Renteria also hit two home runs and drove in six runs. His homer in the clinching game against Texas ace Cliff Lee was the final blow to sink the Rangers and give the Giants the World Series championship.
For his exploits, Edgar Renteria was named the MVP of the series. The $18 million the Giants had given him for two very lackluster seasons had finally paid off.
No true Giant fan will ever begrudge Renteria that money, as he earned every penny in that one series against Texas. However, when the Giants offered him $1 million to play in 2011, Renteria went public with his disgust, stating that he was being disrespected.
His comments irked me, as he just made $18 million for basically one amazing week of play. San Francisco GM Brian Sabean was miffed but wisely did not up the offer to the aging shortstop.
Renteria ultimately signed a $2.1 million deal with the Reds. I wish Renteria well, but the realist in me says that there is no way Renteria comes anywhere close to the performance he displayed in the World Series. It would have been the perfect way for Edgar Renteria to retire and ride off into the sunset.
If recent history is any guide, the oft-injured Renteria will have trouble playing for even a month without having some sort of injury. The Reds brought him in to challenge young infielder Paul Janish and also to tutor him on the fine art of playing shortstop.
I don't think Renteria will rebound to have a strong season where he plays in at least 120 to 130 games. His body is wearing down, and he will not stay healthy enough to do it. The Giants will be better off with Miguel Tejada at shortstop.
No. 1: Cody Ross
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Cody Ross was acquired from the Florida Marlins in a waiver claim by the Giants in late August. The claim did two things for the Giants: It gave them a solid outfielder that could play all three positions, and it blocked the San Diego Padres from picking him up.
Little did the Giants know just how valuable Cody Ross would turn out to be.
Ross split time in a crowded outfield and only had 73 at-bats for the Giants. He hit .288 with three home runs and seven RBI. The normally solid defensive player also badly misplayed a ball in right field against Colorado that cost the Giants a game.
Heading into the playoffs, nobody could predict what was on the horizon for Ross and the Giants. It was the NLCS against the Phillies where Cody Ross made his biggest impact. He suddenly got red-hot, and the Phillies had no answer for him.
Ross was named MVP of the NLCS, as he hit .350 with three home runs, three doubles, five RBI and a slugging percentage of .950. Ross carried the San Francisco offense and, along with stellar pitching, led the Giants to the World Series.
Over the entire postseason, Ross had five home runs and 10 RBI. There are many over-exuberant fans who now expect Ross to hit 30 home runs and drive in 100 runs. Although it would be nice to see him continue the torrid pace he was on, history suggests otherwise.
Cody Ross has a career batting average of .265 over his seven major league seasons. He has never hit more than 24 home runs in a season, and his high was 90 RBI in 2009.
At age 30, it's unrealistic to expect Ross to suddenly explode and do something he has never accomplished in seven prior years. Ross has always been a very streaky hitter, and his postseason heroics were a matter of him getting hot at just the right time for the Giants.
You simply cannot expect Cody Ross to maintain that level of performance over the course of an entire season. Realistically, one should expect a batting average of between .270 and 275 with 20 home runs and 70 to 80 RBI. I think the Giants would be happy with those kind of numbers from Ross.
The Outstanding Giant Pitching Staff Will Give Them a Chance to Win in 2011
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Although there will be hurdles to clear and obstacles to overcome in 2011, the San Francisco Giants have a good chance to make the playoffs again. Once in the playoffs, anything can happen.
The Giants' starting pitching staff is most probably the second-best staff in the National League, behind the Phillies. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain give the Giants two aces, and lefties Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner are also very good. Sanchez seems ready to take the next step to being an elite pitcher.
The fifth starter, Barry Zito, should also have a better year than he did in 2010, as he was bitterly disappointed at being left off the postseason roster. I expect him to pitch at a higher level than in his prior years with the Giants. Zito has also proven to be durable and as a No. 5 starter fits in just fine.
The Giants also have one of the best bullpens in baseball. Closer Brian Wilson is the best in the National League, and the rest of the bullpen is also very good. This is an area where the Giants have a distinct advantage over their opponents.
Offensively, the Giants should be better than in 2010. Couple that with their strong pitching staff and the Giants are poised to make another strong run in 2011.
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