Ten Question Marks for the Giants Entering the 2012 Season
Below are 10 question marks going into the 2012 season. Until I wrote them all down I didn’t realize how horribly wrong this upcoming season could go if some or all of these don’t happen. Since at least a few (and maybe several) of these things aren’t going to happen, I know this is am impossibly difficult poll to take but give it a shot anyway……
1) Buster Posey catching at least 100 games in 2012
2) Ryan Vogelsong pitching as good (or close to it) as he did in 2011
3) Brandon Crawford hitting well enough to keep SS job
4) Melky Cabrera repeating (or coming close to) 2011
5) Angel Pagan bouncing back to his 2010 season
6) Huff bouncing back to his 2010 season
7) Barry Zito holding on to the #5 spot all year
8) Nate Schierholtz retaining the RF job and remaining injury free all year
9) Brandon Belt having a break through season
10) Freddy Sanchez staying healthy all year
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I just don’t see Melky coming close to those numbers. I still think he is going to be hitting further down in the lineup. I will be happy if he is at .270 and can drive in 80-90 runs…I fear he may be closer to .250 and 70 rbis.
Many keys in my mind, but Posey is probably the most important piece in all of this. Just need him healthy, but what I most want to see is Belt coming out of the gate strong and claiming and maintaing a starting hold at 1B. If he is going to be the future there, we need him to claim it now.
If #s 6,7 and 10 don’t happen I think the club will still be alright. So 7 out of 10?
Anything happens to Lincecum, Cain or Bumgarner and it will be tough to recover.
I picked Nate. I just don’t see him having the starting RF job coming out of ST unless somebody gets hurt. I also don’t see Zit holding onto the #5 (unless he develops a knuckle ball or something) and Freddy staying healthy the whole year but at least coming out of ST I see them having the role/health.
I’d say vogs (not an all star year, certainly) melk and huff (who might be done in the NL) top the list , followed by pagan nate and belt. If belt can have break out year and the team winds up scoring runs with pop from the middle, you can hang onto crawford. While I highly doubt huff pagan and melk put up numbers like they did in their best seasons, if they can add enough to the mix SF should be able to withstand sanchez missing some time and nate being nate. The #5 is going to suck anyway, so I’m giving that one a rest, but again even if that’s surkamp, you score runs he won’t hurt you.
And maybe sabes is able to make a deal to replace whomever isn’t working out, if needed.
This club needs Posey and Belt to come on strong. Of course the free agents staying healthy and productive will be critical. Injuries to a minimum, please. Hope Pablo has a big year.
Pretty controversial thoughts there, Nipper. You ready to go out on a limb like that? 😉
The problem with the poll is that there is very little middle grround. I expect Belt and Huff to have productive
years, Zito to suck, Theriot to become the SS, and pretty much everybody else to be “OK”, good enough to reclaim the West..Buster probably won’t be as he was in 2010 but he’ll on the road back, poised for a huge 2013.
I’m off for my pre-op appointments, see ya..
hope things go well for you.
I’d add a 10a—-wilson.
I coulda come up with more but just wanted to go with the even 10.
WillieD– How long can Lin keep this going?
AK, whre ever you are, don’t forget Robert Parish, who the Warriors stupidly traded (with the Kevin McHale pick) to Boston for Joe Barry Couchpotato.
I’m surprised I don’t remember the Cliff Ray deal. I followed the team back then, and I was never too fond of Cliff Ray.
FWIW, I found the box scores for the last 4 games of the 1981-82 season. Ray didn’t play in the last 2, and in his last game he scored 4 points on 2 FGs. The game before that, he scored 6 points on 2 FGs and 2 FTs. Looked like he was losing his minutes to Joe Barry Couchpotato.
can you send me the link that shows he didn’t play in the last 2 games of that season? Or just post it here. I couldn’t find the box scores for that year.
Agree with Bozo on Zito. He needs to get his head squared away AND add an out pitch. Huff may be running on fumes, but will give it his best. Fingers crossed on Buster catching 120. Nate should be okay. Pagan will be a nice addition. Free Agency ahead. He will strive. Ditto somewhat with Melky. He faces NL West pitching half the season rather than AL Central, so his totals will drop off somewhat but not drastically. See Pagan’s walk year. Vogelsong will not be in the top ten ERA’s this go-round, but may win an extra game or two due to better run support. Fingers crossed on Freddy not trying to get too acrobatic out there ~ unless its in another World Series. If not fkkked with Belt should belt. Crawford will hit something like .235 with an OBP around .309 and provide crisp defense.
I’ll send ’em to you.
My question is if Zito does a Zito (and yes…oh yes…he will) who else is in the wings?
They are on their way, Flav . . .
Thanks I’ll check it when I get back into work
Surkamp is about all we got now.
I hate to say it, but I think it’s going to be Arizona again. They didn’t do anything this offseason but improve their staff. We need too many if’s to happen to make a run. IF Aubrey Huff corrects his rectal-cranial inversion, IF Belt, Pagan, and Cabrera can hit, IF Vogelsong can have a decent season, IF Bum doesn’t fade into oblivion, IF Posey doesn’t have confidence issues on the field that translate into severely decreased production, IF Crawford can hit anything over .250, IF IF IF IF…..If IF was a fifth we’d all be drunk.
Sarge called it. It’s time for an adult beverage or two. If my wife says something when she gets home, I’m saying it’s all your fault Sarge. Cheers.
Fuck you Bozo! I’m gonna go have a drink myself.
Cheers.
Cheers Dennis.
Cheers Bozo
Great great poll. I went with Huff. I certainly hope the on/off year thing holds true with him, but he looked so bad for much of last year that it’s real hard for me to imagine that happening. I think Crawford is gonna pull through. I agree with Twin on this being a transitional year for Buster and expectations should be tempered. Zito and Freddie are longer shots than Huff in my book, but I wanted to travel the road not taken on the poll. I think Voggy will be solid this year and Belt will too—though “break out” year might be a reach. I wouldn’t bet the farm on Nate either. Melky I would guess will be more of a .280 guy with year and I never knew Angel Pagan existed before we traded for him, so I got nothing on him. Damn—now I’m getting worried about the season too.
Chuck…how could you not like Clifford Ray aka Yohan? Especially after he pulled that beach ball out of the killer whale’s windpipe at Marine World.
It was a screw that the dolphin swallowed, but yeah that was pretty damn funny. back when Marine World was in Redwood Shores/Belmont. I thought Thurmand was the bomb, and I hated to see him go. The Warriors did do well in that trade though. Probably the LAST time they made a good trade.
.
Still and all, after that 1st year with the Dubs, I got sick of watching Cliff dribble the ball off those emormous feet of his. Then they traded Silk, and the crumbling started . . . from which they still haven’t really recovered.
Chuck…I knew about Parrish,just forgot to mention that classic fuck up!
So while were at here’s some more.
96…Todd Fuller!!! pick 11….2picks later,some guy named Kobe Bryant
97…..Adonal Foyle pick 8…..1pick later Tracy McGrady
05….Ike Diougi enough said
06….Patrick O’Brien see above
Let’s throw in Joe Smith as well
They’re just making mincemeat out of Pebble, Spyglass and Monterey Peninsula. 63’s and 64’s are popping up everywhere. I think of all the sports I watch in HD, golf comes through the best. The colors are so vibrant and the clarity is exquisite. It doesn’t hurt to have the Pacific Ocean as your backdrop on a beautiful afternoon.
Flav, this is great as an analytical tool. I chose Freddie in a literal sense because I think it’s nigh impossible he won’t miss at least some time. But he could still play a strong 140 games.
Maybe one way to flip the poll would be to rank the 10 in terms of what must happen happen for the Giants to make the playoffs. In that sense, I’d say Voglesong has to pitch close to his 2011 because I think you can then ignore Zito/#5, and Nate has to be healthy and produce in RF because I think one of Belt or Huff will have a decent enough year.
Twin, sorry I misunderstood your post of a couple days ago–thought you had test today, surgery Friday. Best to you.
I saw Huff, Posey and Sanchez on some highlights from fan fest last night.
Huff seemed ambivalent, Posey hungry to prove himself. Sanchez? Let’s just say that the dude wasn’t exactly convincing. He said something like “well, I’m not sure. we’ll see what I can do.”
Theriot and/or Fontenot
Will be manning he middle infield soon enough.
Middling infield is more like it.
What I wouldn’t give for the 2010 Uribe…
Thanks, I’m glad some of you liked the poll. I wrote this thread in about 2 minutes. I started with Buster and Voggy (wondering about their question marks). Then I just started going around the diamond and the outfield. So many of the 10 are big risks it was hard for me to come up with the LEAST likely to happen. I narrowed it down to Freddy and Zito and then went with Zito by a hair.
It’s interesting to look at who has the least votes—Melky (1) and Pagan (0), the two guys who weren’t here last year. So are they the 2 who we most likely see succeeding on that list? If they aren’t garnering any votes that must be considered confidence in them.
my bad, Buster got 0 votes. Hey, there is NO guarantee that guy is going to catch 100 games, in my opinion. In fact, I started the thread with the thought of being MOST worried about that. Then the rest sort of followed…….
flav, I dunno know about Lin. maybe it’s just a good fit, and he has figured out how to make his game work in a given situation. He’s not very quick compared to others at his position, but seems to be doing other important things like hitting open shots and setting up others without making bad decisions (turnovers).
I liked his HS coach D a lot. I used to watch him run his practices and games when I was coaching girls there. and ask him about stuff. Real basic, structured, well organized, team first guy.
thx, I actually have wondered several times what you thought of the Lin-thing. You are here, you know bball, I value your opinion….
I watch a lot of kids, and as they mature the better ones make quicker and smarter decisions with experience and confidence as their skills improve based on all the practice (with team and solo). Maybe it’s same situation here as he reaches highest level; he’s not thinking about do I shoot pass or dribble, just doing it.
Yeah the dolphin’s name that swallowed the screw at
Marine World was “Mr. Spock”. Wonder if they asked Clifford Ray if he could try and sedate him first using the “Vulcan Mind Melt”?
“Damnit Jim, I’m an NBA center, not a Nephrologist!!!”
no one will get this especially totally out of context as POTD on the side of the blog. Ok maybe a few, but this is fucking gold, dude……
Gold
As to wilson, i admit i was surprised at the negative impact his injury had on pen at end of last season. Moving others up a notch did not work as well as I would have thought. Plus, this year there is no ramirez so bochy has one less reliable RHP to go to.
I saw a comment in an article I think from Shea to the affect wilson said he gave everthing he had in 2010 to get SF the ring; implication being what happened after that was price you had to pay. If this guy is not completely right, I’d say that’s a major concern.
I supposed that’s ;possible, Nen clearly gave everything his shoulder had in 2002. It ended his career. But I don’t know that I would assign the same *sacrifice* to Wilson. First of all, Wilson partied his way through the last off season. That’s not even debatable. If he was off or hurt after the 2010 season then he would have dealt with that instead of dressing up as a fucking sea captain on Lopez’ show and hanging out with Charlie Sheen.
I think he just fucked his elbow up last year, not enough to do surgery and now we are where we are. Assigning it some sort of *world series sacrifice* seems like a huge reach to me……..
WillieD, the pen’s overall performance was pretty much unaffected when Wilson was shut down last year.
Once again, the *Dubstitutes* are all in the plus and the starters are all negative. Biedrens checking in with his usual zero shots/zero pts for the first half……
WillieD (or anyone): do you guys know that stat that counts the total minutes of total nothingness? Zeros across the board? I can’t remember the name of it, I want to see if Biedrens is leading the league……
I think those stat lines are called “Chris Washburns”
It’s called a getting a trillion. A ‘minutes played’ number followed by nothing but zeros.
Biedrins *has* been awful but he did have 8 boards in 22 minutes.
Curry is going off right now…….
I voted for Freddy. I just don’t see him staying healthy all year, I mean the guy plays his ass off but his body disagrees with him more often than not. When the Giants picked up Theroit, the first thing that came to mind was that he’s a serviceable 2nd basemen if Freddy were to get injured. Can’t wait for baseball. Cheers fellas.
Fontenot is Fruckie’s insurance more than Theriot, Theriot is for Crawford, IMO
Oh- hi Chico, a pleasure to see you here.
Chico, welcome to the Flap! Great Giant fans here, so don’t be shy – you’re with “family.”
Yeah welcome Chico…..But like my golf club motto and the Flap is “We dont do nothing for nobody” So have a drink!!!Cheers!! Go Giants!!!
Have you secured the country or are you on the run??!?!?!??
I hear you re Freddie, Chico. #10 could have read “Freddie Sanchez will play at least 100 games at second base in 2012” and I would have still been skeptical about that one coming true.
I did hear something on Wilson ,a few weeks back,think it was Marty Lurie saying their is some concern about Wilson as they bascially shut him down,down the stretch and his velocity was down.He was not right and it showed in his ERA rising in the end.I sure don.t want Wilson on your breakdown list but it’s possible.Next in line to close could be Heath Hembree,throws gas with control but green.You figure he starts in Fresno, but if Wilson is dicey,Hembree could make team out of ST.
Wilson’s velocity was down out of the gate last year…it’s possible Hembree would take over but they have several guys they’d try first IMO. I think they’d use Hembree in middle relief first. Seriously doubt they use him to close right away.
Romo has the best closing numbers of all of them but he doesn’t have the personality to do it– by his own admission.
I didn’t think Romo would necessarily be the guy. But I’m not ready to worry about what might happen if Wilson fails, they’re in far better shape than most teams to handle it. IMO.
Be headed back down at 3:00 A.M. I’ll probably just stay up and cuddle the boys, then take a couple temazepam for the drive. I plan on coming home Monday with or without doctor’s approval.
Best of luck TF, My Mother in law just had her lumpectomy and her left lymph node taken out last week. Chemo is done, surgery is done, now its on to radiation. UCSF’s oncology dept is world class, we’re lucky to have access to them. I’m rootin for ya man.
My best to your Mother-in-Law…
I’ve just seen a little more of UCSF than I’d like 😉 Give me a shout, I’ll post my number as soon as I’m able. Welcome!
If everybody else goes to bed, I get to be the Hanger, cool. Well, actually soon I’ll be the first true dual-flapper.
Come on home, twin. We’re with you, chief