The Collective Fall of the Hero’s 2010 Team
Last night’s *great* debate prompted me to notice just how many players from the 2010 team fell from the peak they reached on November 1st, 201o. The collective fall is shocking, really.
Let’s take a look at what happened to the main hero’s from the World Series team:
Posey: suffered a horrific ankle injury, gone for most of the year.
Freddy Sanchez: Was plugging along with his passable season until he broke down again and wasn’t seen after June 10th.
Edgar Renteria: outside of one glorious swing that will cement him in SF glory for eternity, he didn’t have a very good 2010. He managed to have a worse 2011 for the Reds. His ba dipped from .276 to .251 and his OPS dropped from .707 to .654.
Aubry Huff: his OPS was .891 in 2010. Last year it dropped to an unbelievable .691. Even that seems a little high from what I remember about his 2011.
Cody Ross: He got hurt in Spring Training and then went on to have a similar season to the rest of his seasons. But was still a far cry from his explosive 2 months he spent with us when he first arrived.
Juan Uribe: Just a horrible, horrible year for the Dodgers. He got hurt and only played in 77 games but his HR total dropped from 24 to 4. His batting average was .204 for the year. Total break down.
Pat Burrell: He only played in 92 games hardly mattering in any of them. His career is now over with a terminal foot problem.
Andres Torres: his 2011 vs 2010 season has already been discussed. He’s looking to re-start his career in New York.
In fact, the ONLY position player from the 2010 team who didn’t tank in 2011 was Pablo Sandoval who took his game to a new level this year. However, I don’t count Pablo as an integral piece of the World Series title. He just wasn’t…….
And I think the pitchers had a BETTER 2011, especially in terms of consistency. They were immune to the fall that hit the batters……
So that is 8 position players who were the MOST responsible (not counting pitchers) for the 2010 season. And all 8 took gynormous, epic steps backwards the following year. Who knows what the reasons could be that all 8 fell back in such collective, horrendous fashion. Some of it might have been within their control. Some of them didn’t do what they needed to do in the off season to prepare. Some of them might have gotten to *big* for themselves and that might have led to some false hubris. Then there were the things that they couldn’t control: injuries, teams gunning for them, pressure. Or in Torres’ case, struggles with appropriate levels of medication…..
Years from now there will be a better frame of reference for the place these men have in Giants lore. Time passes and you tend to get more nostalgic about the things and the people that have made up the experiences in your life. It would be difficult for me to put any of them on a list that includes McCovey and Mays, at least until their careers are complete. And to me, they don’t go on a list of *great* or *good* Giants. They transcend either, in my opinion. Just as I don’t feel that Torres or Huff could ever go on a list that includes McCovey or Mays, I wouldn’t ever put McCovey or Mays on a list that includes Torres or Huff.
As I said after they won the World Series: that team is a supernova that will never burn out. It’s just flying a little far away from us right now–the burn is more of a distant glow. But it’ll come back as time passes. No matter how many titles we win there is nothing like your *first*…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Maybe they belong in another category, such as most memorable or endearing.
It’s amazing how things worked out in 2010 and in 2011.
Demonstrated that the truly great ones do it consistently yr after yr. Lincecum, Pablo, Posey, maybe Cain, and Bumgarner, have a shot to be in that pantheon of All-Time great Giants. Longevity should play a role, imo. Certainly character as well. I think I would have to leave Bonds off my team.
Hacman was one of my favorites, a memorable (he’d probably punch me if I called him endearing) but not a great one.
Not to crank it up again, but I think you can only judge these guys as ballplayers, because that is all you really know. You may or may not ever find out who beat his wife, molested children, drove drunk, used drugs and so on. Interesting choice for POTD there, Flav.
When everything else equal or uninspiring, I always turn to you Loo for some POTD action…
Agreed, character is a tricky thing to factor in. FP once said that 80% of baseball players cheat on their wives– whether true or not, there’s a lot we don’t know about these guys that would change our opinion of them if it came out.
POTD was a good one, tho boz had a couple good ones too about personal favs and “bests.”
Who is the next “cancer” Alderson dumps?
The NY guys who are affiliated with the same Co. where I work are all solid Yanks fans except for one Mets guy…how do they look at current Mets situation? Anyone gonna still go there and watch them play the kids?
That Alderson! You’d think he’d built winners before!
A person can use any criteria they choose in determining who they consider great. I ruled out Will because he was a known racist, some may think him great *because* he was a racist. But do you people really want to revive this?
“prompted me to notice”
“I don’t count”
“And I think”
“It would be difficult for me”
“in my opinion”
“Just as I don’t feel”
“I wouldn’t ever put”
“As I said after they”
Good post Flav. After last night’s “great debate,” I’m reminded of two quotes:
“It is not best that we should all think alike; it is a difference of opinion that makes horse races.”
Mark Twain
and . . .
“My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you’re ugly too.”
Rodney Dangerfield
Any player from the 2010 team is automatically a “good” Giant for the rest of his life. I didn’t think the “great” discussion would be revived, oh well. Just get this clear- a player is a great Giant if he was that to you…
The Giants finished 4 games out of the playoffs- so it’s also obvious that the overload of injuries cost them the postseason. And with the fact that Beltran hit his stride, and the team was finally hitting- they had as a good chance to win it all as anybody. But that’s over, Posey and Sanchez will be back, there will be new starters in the outfield and SS from last year, and we should win the division, just as we would with no moves. And with the pitching, they’ll once again be a danger to go all the way. The key to being a juggernaut? Pablo, Posey, Belt coming of age, and Huff having that “up” year…
Ah, but every fifth day? Pray for rain or locusts..
“Good health is the most important thing. More than success, more than money, more than power.”
-Hyman Roth
Some guys quote Shakespeare, some the bible……LOO quotes “The Godfather!”
“As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot. ”
John Lennon
In his case, that’s backwards.
I was sitting in the back seat of this Limo waiting for my husband and all of a sudden another woman came in and sat beside me!
…….Lennon’s first wife
Twin….I just cant go with Wellenmeyer as.a good Giant.Every start was agony to watch.Most Flappers would feel the same Imo.
So now there’s to be a “good” Giant argument? Whatever. Look at it this way- if he didn’t suck maybe MadBum wouldn’t have come up and help us to the title. So maybe “Welly” was a GREAT Giant..
Yeah Twin I will say he was a Great Giant the moment they dumped his sorry ass made it GREAT.
He was very good at home: 3-1, 2.97 in 5 starts.
Invite him to ST. He could be next year’s Vogelsong. What’s his wife look like?
She was not a great baseball wife
Hysterical!!!
what Alderson is doing is dumping off his high salaried best players, tho he is still stuck with Jason Bay. Other than david Wright, it’s mostly a team of kids. I’m wondering how that will play out in NY, and how much pass will be given to the mgr. Collins. Yanks will be usual competitve selves, while Mets seem destined for last.
Alderson got wheeler for Beltran, and had other teams interested at the deadline. Their pitching is dreadful and the kid is cheap, and might be productive tho still only a prospect Yet, if he determined Reyes was such a cancer, why not make a deal for him when he had the chance all of last year, esp since he was having his best year ever? And if he was intent on trying to re-sign him and made him an offer, then it kind of disputes the “cancer” theory.
bottom line, beltran and reyes are gone, and he got a pitching prospect and draft choices in return, which doesn’t sound like much immediate help. I guess that’s the old theory, “If we can lose with you we can just as well lose without you.” I wondered if Loo has an inkling how NY fans feel about that line of reasoning.
What it means to me Willie is great seats for half price on StubHub next season when the Jints come to town…
. . . and maybe we meet, in person, wearing disguises!
I never said Reyes was a cancer. And I posted a long time ago that they wouldn’t be good this year. Being good right away is hardly the benchmark in rebuilding a team. But maybe you didn’t notice that they sucked already. It’s not like he’s tearing down a juggernaut.
Twin….I just cant go with Wellenmeyer as.a good Giant.Every start was agony to watch.Most Flappers would feel the same Imo.Fact is if they gave him even a few more starts we wouldnt even be basking in World Series glory cause we would not of made the postseason.
“Great.” “Good.” “Memorable.” Words. Words. Words. “Either/Or.” “Both/And.” Words, more words. By way of Wikipedia, I share an anecdote about Alfred Korzybski, the father of General Semantics (which differs from Semantics):
“One day, Korzybski was giving a lecture to a group of students, and he interrupted the lesson suddenly in order to retrieve a packet of biscuits, wrapped in white paper, from his briefcase. He muttered that he just had to eat something, and he asked the students on the seats in the front row if they would also like a biscuit. A few students took a biscuit. ‘Nice biscuit, don’t you think,’ said Korzybski, while he took a second one. The students were chewing vigorously. Then he tore the white paper from the biscuits, in order to reveal the original packaging. On it was a big picture of a dog’s head and the words ‘Dog Cookies.’ The students looked at the package, and were shocked. Two of them wanted to vomit, put their hands in front of their mouths, and ran out of the lecture hall to the toilet. ‘You see,’ Korzybski remarked, ‘I have just demonstrated that people don’t just eat food, but also words, and that the taste of the former is often outdone by the taste of the latter.’ ”
So, let me pontificate — all high and mighty — and issue this nonpapal bull: Words, words, words, words, biscuits, words, words, words, great, words, words, words, good, words, words, words, words. Amen. Period. Full stop.
*good Giant* gets colossally overused and abused by Krukow–
It’s like Twin said, if he was great or good to you, that’s what he is. I doubt there is any blog on the internet having a debate like this………
No, there is no blog anywhere quite like this one, with its zesty soup of f*ckwads, greats, goods, heroes, heros, Flappers, SDGs, juggernauts, and jugs.
Alderson is no dummy. I think he’ll get the mess in NY cleaned up and have them competitive again. Reyes wasn’t going to fetch much during the season, with his impending FA. Getting Wheeler was not a bad haul considering the other teams interested in Beltran were not willing to give up a potential top of the rotation guy.
On one of the Mets blogs about the Pagan trade, it was said the Mets wanted to send Pagan last summer instead of Beltran-and wanted Gary Brown for him.. don’t know if it’s true or not..
How about “Alex Smith, great Niner?”
How about you remember to take your meds?
Ryan Braun no longer a great Brewer. Maybe it was some rogue yeast.
More “final words” on semantics: Gertrude Stein’s famous gloss on Shakespeare’s “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” was originally “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” and referred to a person in a poem; she later added “A” at the beginning. I even saw a version of her quote depicted as a carving that encircled a tree trunk, which makes it endless, as is the debate over “good” vs. “great” — as well as the endless but fruitless debates in American contemporary political discourse.
Go, Giants!
What is “go”? What are “Giants”?
Alex, Len Eshmont winner?
I see I’m a conversation killer here too, just like the bedroom and the dinner table.
lqtm
W’s making a 4 year/40 million dollar offer to Jordan. No way they get him, Sterling will match it. The Clippers were already offering him 5yrs/40mil, all they have to do is drop a year off the deal. Griffin runs that team, Jordan is his best bud, Sterling will match the offer………
Not only that, they have an outside chance of landing Paul if they retain Jordan.
General Semantics, and his subordinate Major Headache.
Paul to the Clips? Stirling gonna pay that?
He’s already out of his fucking gourd paying Jordan as much as everyone says he is going to pay him. But a big but (that Flav pointed out), Griffin is best buds with Jordan, so he will. Regarding Paul, read this from ESPN:
“But sources also say New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul’s interest in potentially being traded to the Clippers stems, in part, from the prospect of playing with Jordan, who is a younger, stronger version of Tyson Chandler, with whom Paul played for three seasons in New Orleans before Chandler was dealt in 2009 to the Charlotte Bobcats.”
Niners just got SCREWED by Refs and the bleeping replay booth.DAMM NOw the Freakin Cards scored Double Rheem job.
Sorry to use your site Flav can some Flapper givE me Unca Chuckys web site so I can spill some venom at the refs?.
I guess it’s NinersForever.com according to the Blogroll above right, Kat…
Thanks Loo…My smart phone or dumbphone or maybe just me cant see.the sidebars on BF,s site.I will try yours
Frank Gore scores! What a guy!
Chicago’s M. Barber equals idiot . . . dummy only had to stay in-bounds to run out the clock, giving his team the win and he runs for the sideline stopping the clock. Broncos win in overtime. Dumb fuck.
God-da love it!
The Tebow-God People will be beating off to him again but that beat-session is unwarranted. I watched the 4th Q. The Bronc’s finally scored a pt in the 4th Q> On their last drive, 3rd down and 8 or whatever: Tebow drops back and throws the ball at the ref. 4th down he fiddles around and then runs out of bounds, no + yards. Kicker kicks a 59 yard field goal to tie it. But I know, I know, Tebow is Jesus! Whatever the Hell that is supposed to mean………
Exactly . . . In “jesus speak,” a day of reckoning will be upon the Denver Broncos and Tebownites . . . The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
Right now, he be in giveth mode.
GO TEBOW! What a guy!
Making me *pine* for the days in ’08 or was it ’09 when Jesus was gonna turn around the Giants.
Jesus Guzman, that is.
“Jesus,” he said, “I served with Jesus. I knew Jesus. Jesus was a friend of mine. Jesus, you are no Jesus.” 😉
Unfuckingbelievable . . . Dallas kicker shanked the field goal. LMAO.