2008 San Francisco Giants Awards

With the 2008 San Francisco Giants' season coming to an end this past weekend, it made sense to look back at what was and give out some awards to those who did well and a few who didn’t really do so hot.

Yeah, the team had one of the worst offenses around and finished 20 games under .500, but there were some things to smile about.

Tim Lincecum is a lot of people’s, including Bleacher Report's, choice to win the National League Cy Young. Emmanuel Burriss and Pablo Sandoval have locked up starting jobs for the 2009 season, and Fred Lewis finally got consistent playing time and showed what he could do.


MVP – Bengie Molina

He had never hit cleanup consistently in his career, and he proved he could do it with ease. Molina drove in 95 runs, 25 more than Aaron Rowand. His 95 RBI accounted for 15 percent of the Giants’ runs this season.

More importantly, he did a great job handling a young starting staff and is also a class person, winning the WillieMac Award two-straight years.

Best Rookie – Pablo Sandoval

He may swing at a pitch three feet above his head, but the kid can flat rake. San Francisco Chronicle's Giants beat writer Henry Schulman threw out this stat a few weeks back: “Sandoval is on pace to walk 18 times over 500 at-bats, which is terrible, but at the same time, his strikeout pace is 45, which is fantastic.”

He hit .345 with three home runs and 24 RBI in 41 games this season, after his Aug. 14 debut. He can pick it clean at third or first and is more-than capable behind the plate. With Buster Posey on the fast-track next season, Sandoval will more than likely find himself somewhere other than at catcher when Posey hits the bigs.

Best Single-Game Performance – Tim Lincecum, Sept. 13 vs. San Diego

It seemed as though Lincecum could have won this with about 75 percent of his starts, but his performance against the Padres in the middle of September put him at the top of many people’s Cy Young list (if he wasn’t already). "The Franchise" threw 138 pitches and struck out 12, en route to his first complete-game shutout.

Mr. Consistent - Randy Winn

After June 1, Winn's average never dipped below .274, finishing the year hitting .310, with 10 HR and 64 RBI. He led the Giants with 25 SB and runs with 84. His intelligent outfield play and accurate arm made covering right field at AT&T not a problem.

Biggest Letdown – Aaron Rowand

For five years and $60 million, you thought that there would a lot more than .271, 13 HR, and 70 RBI. Yeah, he’s great in the clubhouse, but that doesn’t explain his horrendous second half of the season. His average fell 20 points, and he drove in exactly one run during the final month of the season.

Career Achievement Award – Peter Magowan

The man credited with keeping the Giants in San Francisco when he purchased the club in Jan. 1993, Magowan retired Oct. 1 and handed the reigns of the operation to new managing general partner, Bill Neukom.

A Giants fan his entire life, Magowan brought the Giants back from mediocrity after the 1989 World Series and was the driving force behind the "Measure B" initiative to build then-Pacific Bell Park.

Mr. Back Luck Himself – Matt Cain

For the second-straight year, Cain was absolutely screwed by the Giants’ offense. Cain is now the poster boy for no run support, and it is evident that it has hurt his development as a pitcher.

However, at just 24, and with a nice group of hitting prospects with the big club or on their way through the system, there is still hope that they will score more than three runs in Cain's starts.

Minor League MVP – Madison Bumgarner

Really thought I would leave out a mention of a prospect? Mad Bum was insane in his first-full season in the Giants' organization.

Here’s his statline, in case you missed it: 15-3, 1.46 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, and 164 strikeouts against only 21 walks in 141.2 innings.

Bumgarner, 19, claimed the South Atlantic League pitching Triple Crown. Along with fellow uber-prospects Buster Posey and Tim Alderson, Bumgarner will be on the fast-track next season. However, the possibility of seeing him in the bigs is slim, so don't get your hopes up too high.