Giants 2nd Half Questions

Pablo Sandoval puts on his sexy face for Melky Cabrera

           The fellas at Bay City Ball did this, but since I’m boring and unimaginative, I’m doing it also. Plus, it will be fun to look back at how wrong I was at the end of the season. In no particular order…

1) Will Tim Lincecum drag himself out of the crater sized toilet hole he is in?

If you are already in a miserable and depressing state, I don’t suggest reading this article about Tim Lincecum. It is not fun to read. It’s made me all sad and gloomy, and I like to think I’m a pretty cheerful guy. Basically, Tim Lincecum is having one of the worst seasons in MLB history. Literally. I’m sure you don’t need me to rehash what he’s done but here it is in a nutshell: He has the worst ERA in baseball, and he’s serving pitches on a tee out of the stretch. If he pitched in the All Star game, he might still be out there trying to record the first out. If it were any other pitcher struggling the way he has, Brad Penny would be jogging lumbering towards the mound instead in the second half. Yet, 2 Cy youngs and a championship ring deters anybody from pulling that trigger. Over the last 4 years he’s been one of the absolute best at his position, and I can’t believe that over the course of an offseason he’s all of the sudden become second coming of Brett Tomko. If Lincecum is even close to the 2010 or 2011 form, this team is perhaps the World Series favorite. The upcoming game at home against the Astros is the defacto judgement day. If he can’t get J.D. Martinez and friends out, the Giants will surely look towards Brad Penny, who in fact was the worst pitcher in baseball last year. So that's your other option. I prefer the one where Tim Lincecum is good.

2)   Will the Giants offense regress?

            One of the biggest surprises of the season has been the Giants offense, which has the 3^rd best OPS+ in baseball. Of course, surprise is the operative word. Melky Cabrera, turned into Ichiro with power, and Gregor Blanco has been a poor man’s Andres Torres. Also it’s pretty much been best case scenario with Buster Posey. A year after Posey’s ankle went through a paper shredder disguised as Scott Cousins, the question now arises of how worn down he’ll become? And will Melky continue his torrid pace? While Blanco and Pagan were nice surprises early in the season, they’ve both regressed to their career averages, a place they most likely will stay. If players like Posey and Melky slow down, Pablo Sandoval will have to regain the same form he showed when he still had hamate bones. A few slumps here or there by even one key player, and this offense is much worse.

Of course, the wild card is Brandon Crawford. Lol no I’m kidding, and no I wasn’t googling pictures of his hair... What, you didn’t ask?  Because I wasn’t doing it, in case you were wondering…. ya. No, the real wild card is Brandon Belt, although if Crawford wants to hit .330 that’d be just swell. Belt has performed well this year, given the circumstance, and by circumstance I mean his age. But if he can just tick his play up to a more consistent level, this offense will look that much better.

3)   What is the bullpen?

When Brian Wilson was ruled out for the season, I remained calm. I was going to miss ole’ Brian, but I knew his Sasquatch would be there so that comforted me. I also knew the Giants had capable pitchers in the rest of their pen. Except I forgot some of them weren’t capable. And by some I mean most. I’ve broken this down plenty, but in a nutshell the bullpen has turned into Sergio Romo and a bunch of question marks. Literally, the players are giant squiggly lines with dots underneath them. It’s fascinating. Trusted players like Javier Lopez, Jeremy Affeldt and Santiago Casilla have turned in less than stellar performances, leading to a bullpen in desperate needed of another arm, preferably one that is not Brad Penny, and we’re lucky because there is only one Brad Penny in the world, and the Giants have him.  All in all, the bullpen needs to be solidified, whether that means current players improving or help on the trade market. Yep, I’ve already started sewing my Matt Capps Giants jersey. Because I sew now.

4) Is Ryan Vogelsong this good?

This isn’t more of a concern as it is a cautionary question. It’s clear that Vogelsong was taken to the Toshi station by Luke Skywalker to be rewired, and has turned into a darn good starting pitcher. He’s got 15 quality starts which is tied for the major league lead. Yet it’s worth noting he has the highest strand rate in baseball at 84% and his BABIP is all the way down to .255. For a guy that doesn’t strike out a lot of players, he’s walked a tight rope as well as any top notch acrobat can. You just can’t help but wait for that time when he falls off. Hitters put too many balls in play against him for him not to regress. This puts even more of an emphasis on Tim Lincecum to cover up any struggles of the rest of the rotation. But seriously, no pressure Tim.

5) Will the Giants trade for Justin Upton?

              Emmanuel Burris has a .250 BABIP and Upton has a .340 BABIP. Yo D'backs, lemme tell you something 'bout regression, because I think we can make something happen.