San Francisco Giants: Out With The New, In With The Old

It seems like a lifetime ago when the San Francisco Giants were one of the most feared hitting teams in the National League. Boasting the tandem of Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds in the middle of the order, they were one of the top offensive squads of the early 2000’s.

Many fans were relieved when Bonds retired—happy to forget about a past marred with performance-enhancing-drug allegations and eager to embrace the “new Giants”—a team built on excellent starting pitching and a solid bullpen.

Call me a sucker for the long ball or a product of the Steroid Era, but I miss the old Giants.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m in awe of the electric stuff of Tim Lincecum, and the understated greatness of Matt Cain, but can’t we have both?

I fell in love with the Giants during the late 1980’s, when they were rife with sluggers like Geoffrey Leonard, Kevin Mitchell, and Will Clark. In 1987, when the G-men won the old NL West, they were second in the league in home runs and fourth in runs batted in.

Two years later, second in the league in homers and RBI, they made their first trip to the World Series in 24 years. (We won’t talk about the outcome.)

The Giants’ top two starters at the time – Rick Reuschel and Don Robinson – weren’t on the level of Lincecum and Cain, but the teams of the late 80's were able to score runs and win games.

The Giants haven’t been in the top 10 in batting average in the NL since 2004, and haven’t won the division since 2003. Lincecum won the Cy Young last year, and the Giants didn’t even get a sniff of the playoffs due, in large part, to finishing dead last in home runs and RBI.

I know most old-timers will argue that this is the way baseball is supposed to be played. Rely on your starters to chew up innings, move the runners around the bases with situational hitting, and play solid defense (which the Giants have been struggling with lately).

I counter with this: As surprising as the Giants have been this year (nine games over .500 and one game out of the Wild Card as of today) with a little more pop, they could be the first team to bring a World Series title home to San Francisco.

True, Sandoval is emerging as one of the premier hitters in the National League this year, and Brian Sabean made some smart pickups in acquiring Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko. But Sanchez and Garko aren’t big-time run producers, and Sandoval is probably a few years away from becoming a real power hitter.

Why waste a stellar pitching staff by running out a mediocre lineup?

If the Giants want to get back to their recipe for success, they need power. Jermaine Dye, Prince Fielder, (can you imagine him launching homers into McCovey Cove?) and Adam Dunn are a just a few names that come to mind.

Many fans and baseball aficionados will say there’s no way the Giants can land these guys.

I say, “Why the hell not?”

The Cardinals were able to get Matt Holliday to back up Pujols. The Red Sox acquired Victor Martinez to cure their ailing lineup. Why can’t the Giants, one of the most storied franchises in American sports, get a big bopper to plug in the middle of a lineup which ranks second to last in the NL in home runs?

There are a number of possible answers.

Maybe the Giants’ brass aren't willing to part with some of the prospects they will no doubt have to give up to acquire a top-level slugger. Maybe they think Sandoval and minor-league prospects Buster Posey and Angel Villalona will form a “Murderers’ Row” in the near future.

Or maybe the front office wants to distance itself from the Bonds/Steroid Era.

In any case, call me impatient, but I want to see the home run return to San Francisco right now. Don't get me wrong, I love our dynamic pitching duo, and I don't want to see them go anywhere.

What I do want to see is another Kent-Bonds or Mitchell-Clark in San Francisco. I want to see splash hits.I want to see the AT&T Park crowd go nuts like it did in the early part of the decade.

But most of all, I want to see the Giants win.