2010 San Francisco Giants Predictions


Written by

The San Francisco Giants produced their first winning season since 2004, going 88-74 in 2009. But it just so happened to be a very tough year in the NL West, as both the Dodgers and Rockies finished with better records than San Francisco. That meant no postseason appearance, and it sure as heck wasn’t because of their pitching staff. Tim Lincecum won the NL Cy Young for a second straight season, and Matt Cain emerged on the scene as one of the best in the league last season. But their line-up let them down. The Giants drew the fewest walks in the league last season, mainly because they also saw the fewest pitches per plate appearance. Pablo Sandoval made his at-bats count, hitting .330 in his first full season. Just an average offense would have put the Giants in the postseason, and Giants’ fans are still looking for their first World Series trophy since the team moved to California 52 years ago.

Pitching:

The Giants enter 2010 with two Cy Young candidates on their staff, with Tim Lincecum as their No. 1 starter and Matt Cain as their No. 2. Lincecum went 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA and a 10.42 K/9 ratio in 2009 on his way to winning the award for a second straight year. Matt Cain nearly matched him pitch for pitch, going 14-8 with a 2.89 ERA. Barry Zito delivered his most productive season as a Giant and he’s their No. 3 starter this season after going 10-13 with a 4.03 ERA in ‘09. No. 4 Jonathan Sanchez showed flashes of brilliance last season, going 8-12 with a 4.24 ERA and 9.75 K/9 ratio while also throwing a no-hitter, the first by a Giant in nearly 33 years. Todd Wellemeyer will likely be the No. 5 starter after coming over from St. Louis in the offseason, but don’t be surprised if you see young prospect Madison Bumgarner in there before too long. Brian Wilson anchors a solid bullpen, and he has a combined 79 saves the past two seasons. Jeremy Affeldt is the league’s best set-up man, posting a 1.73 ERA last season which was the lowest among NL relievers. Sergio Romo is also a solid reliever, and you should see rookie Dan Runzler in the middle of the action after making 11 strong appearances last year in his debut. This bullpen posted a 3.49 ERA as a whole in 2009, which was .51 points better than the league average.

Hitting:

Catcher Bengie Molina returns for another season, and he is one of the more underrated players at his position in the game. Molina has hit at least 15 HR’s for five straight seasons, and he’s surpassed the 80-RBI plateau for three straight. 3B Pablo Sandoval had a monster year last season, hitting .330 with 25 HR’s and 90 RBI’s in his first full season. 2B Freddy Sanchez is very adept at getting on base, and they acquired him midway through last season to do just that. He hit .293 in 2009. SS Edgar Renteria is certainly slowing down. He hit .332 with Atlanta in 2007, but he hit just .250 in ‘09 in his first full season in a Giants uniform. They desperately need him to improve. The addition of 1B Aubrey Huff from Baltimore will certainly add more pop to this line-up. Huff did suffer a drop last year, but they are hoping he can return to his 2008 form in which he hit .304 with 32 HR’s, 108 RBI’s and 96 Runs scored. The outfield does not stack up that well against the rest of the teams in this division. Mark DeRosa will start in right field, and though he did hit 23 HR’s last season, his average dipped to .250 after hitting .285 the previous year. Aaron Rowand in center hit .261 with 15 HR’s and 64 RBI’s during the 2009 season. Nate Schierholtz will start in right field after hitting .267 last season in 285 at-bats. So as you can see, the Giants cannot expect to get a whole lot of production out of their outfield this year.

Jack’s Prediction: 4th in the NL West and UNDER 82.5 Wins – The Giants’ pitching staff will at least keep them in contention, but I’m afraid that they did not do enough in the offseason to improve their line-up, thus their lack of run production will cost them a postseason appearance again this year. I like the addition of Huff at 1B, but there are too many weak links in this batting order to provide enough run support for their starters to win consistently. Lincecum and Cain could each be 20-game winners if they could get more run support, but after their 1-2 combo I’m not a big fan of the rest of their rotation with Sanchez, Zito and Wellemeyer all below-average starters. This team won 76 or fewer games form 2005-2008 before breaking through in ‘09, and I’m afraid they are going to have to settle with another losing season in 2010. If they can get better run support for their pitching staff, then San Francisco has as good of a chance as anyone to win this division. But I’m afraid that’s not likely to be the case. The Dodgers and Rockies remain the class of this division.

Archived Season Previews:

Individual MLB Team Previews:

American League
AL West
AL Central
AL East
Rangers Predictions Tigers Predictions Red Sox Predictions
A’s Predictions White Sox Predictions Yankees Predictions
Angels Predictions Twins Predictions Rays Predictions
Mariners Predictions Royals Predictions Blue Jays Predictions
Indians Predictions Orioles Predictions
National League
NL West NL Central NL East
Giants Predictions Brewers Predictions Phillies Predictions
Rockies Predictions Cardinals Predictions Braves Predictions
Dodgers Predictions Reds Predictions Marlins Predictions
Padres Predictions Cubs Predictions Mets Predictions
Diamondbacks Predictions Pirates Predictions Nationals Predictions
Astros Predictions
Subscribe to the BetFirms RSS Feed
Comments

2 Responses to “2010 San Francisco Giants Predictions”

  1. Ramiro on April 1st, 2010 7:24 PM

    Well, you guys are usually wrong about the giants so ill bank on them winning 92.

  2. Aquaria on September 10th, 2010 12:31 PM

    You got this one totally wrong, didn’t you?

    Why don’t we ever see the shame for getting something this wrong?

    Oh yeah–then you couldn’t get anymore suckers to give you money that will go nowhere but in your pockets.

    Sort of like preachers, aren’t you?

Got something to say?