Our FansEdge 30 Team MLB Preview continues with the San Francisco Giants. Look for another preview on Friday when James makes his first contribution.

Baseball by the Bay

The San Francisco Giants bask in the glow of Willie Mays and loom in the shadows of Barry Bonds and it stirs an odd feeling to see the two of them arm in arm. Mays is an iconic face, name, and the star of one of the most iconic highlights in baseball history. Bonds swept the gullible world up in a torrent of power and dominance at the plate that baseball had never seen. Then came the steroids investigations, scandals, hearings, reports, rumors, accusations, denials, etc, etc, etc and since his involuntary retirement from the game, he has been one of the most prominent faces to represent the steroid era. And so the two best players to wear a Giants uniform will go down in history with measurably different legacies.

Turning the Leaf Over

It has been two seasons since Barry Bonds last played baseball in the bay. In the last three seasons that Bonds played, the Giants were 222-273. They twice finished 3rd in the division and in his last year they finished dead last, losing 91 games.

In the two years since he left, the Giants have given themselves a face lift and emerged as a younger, more balanced, and better baseball team, finishing 88-74 in 2009, the fifth best record in the NL.

In 2007, the youngest starting position player was 32 years old. They did not have a single player under the age of 30 have more than 300 plate appearances. The top nine players with the most plate appearances had an average age of 35.67 years.

On the flip side, their pitching was young. Tim Lincecum (23) and Matt Cain (22) were locking down starting rotation spots. Noah Lowry and Barry Zito were both also under 30 and in the rotation.

After the 2007 season the Giants began a plan that they continued after the 2008 season and after last season. They let aging veteran players move on via free agency or trade and only replaced them with temporary fixes while they waited for their minor league prospects to become major league ready.

Pedro Feliz moved to the Phillies after 2007 and they replaced him with Jose Castillo who kept the seat warm for Pablo Sandoval, who had a monster breakthrough season as a 22 year old third baseman in 2009.

In 2009 they got younger at every infield position. They’ll get younger in the starting rotation in 2010. They featured three starters age 26 or under (Cain, Lincecum, and Jonathan Sanchez), Zito (31) and the now retired Randy Johnson last year in the rotation.

The Big Unit’s exit from the game possibly makes way for stud prospect Madison Bumgarner to step into the rotation. Bumgarner is 25 years or so younger then The Unit and probably about 7 years younger than Johnson’s mustache.

A Plan

In the past the Giants have been known for inking some huge contracts to players who have not delivered, most notably Barry Zito and his nine digit deal, but at least Zito pitched respectably last year.

They gave Aaron Rowand a large contract. He made $9.6 million dollars last season and hit just .261 with 15 HR and 61 RBI.

But this off season they have signed players to far less risky contracts. They signed Aubrey Huff to a one year deal for $3 million dollars. They signed Mark DeRosa to two years for $12 million. And they brought back Bengie Molina on a one year, $4.5 million deal to keep the catcher’s position warm for Buster Posey.

Key Departures for the Giants: Rich Aurilia, Randy Johnson, and Randy Winn – all 35 years old or older.

Key Arrivals for the Giants: Aubrey Huff, Mark De Rosa

What they’ll look like:
C – Bengie Molina
1B – Aubrey Huff
2B – Freddy Sanchez
SS – Edgar Renteria
3B – Pablo Sandoval
LF – Mark DeRosa
CF – Aaron Rowand
RF – Nate Schierholtz

Util – Juan Uribe
IF – Emmanuel Burriss
OF – Fred Lewis

Rotation: Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez, and Madison Bumgarner
Closer: Brian Wilson

This line-up isn’t going to score you 6-7 runs per game. But it doesn’t need to because they should get a ton of quality starts out of this rotation and late leads are in good hands with Brian Wilson in the 9th.

Predictions:

Team MVP: Pablo Sandoval. Sandoval hit .330 with 25 HR and 90 RBI in his first full season in the major as a 22 year old in 2009. Look for a .300+ average with increased power numbers this year.

X-Factor: X-Factor is a weird term. It could mean a lot of things. Here it means this: the thing you aren’t counting on to happen, but it could happen and if it does, really good things will follow. Jonathan Sanchez could be awesome. He could be 16-17 wins, 200+ K’s and be a third scary pitcher to face in this rotation. He needs to improve his consistency but he doesn’t walk a ton of guys and he strikes out more than one per inning so that’s a great place to start.

The Giants had the fifth best record in the NL last year and I expect them to improve on it this year. They are operating like an organization with a plan and that’s a good thing.

Prediction: 2nd place in the NL West and NL Wild Card winner.

WBC, World Baseball Champions

Just in case you wondered where Jeter, Rollins, Wright, Peavy and friends are this spring, they’re in Los Angeles playing for true World supremacy in baseball. Yes, I said that, “World Supremacy”, not World Series, or World Championship, the right to be the best in the World. Come on, do you think the American Baseball World Series identifies the “World Champion”? America can lay claim to just about anything we want, but can we claim “World Champion” in baseball without beating Japan, Cuba, Venezuela, or China? They have professional baseball like us, and their country champion is not declared “World Champion”. This weekend in LA, a true World Champion will be crowned. The sad thing, it seems few American sports fans care.

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Nothing brings us out of hibernation like an incredible, water cooler-type game. Last night, such a game took place and I can say that it feels good to be talking about sports again.

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Make no mistake, I’m here because of my friendship with Team USA manager Davey Johnson, and each day of this experience I’m more grateful.

Put away the perception that a Hall of Famer can’t be a fan or couldn’t be energized by the presence of a young player. Or even be a little in awe at times.

To understand what I mean, realize I retired in 1989 and was away from baseball for 10 years. Since 2000, I have spent at least a week in Phillies camp in what I call a coach-advisory role. Most of the summer, like you, I watch games on TV and listen to talk shows to formulate my opinions on today’s game and its stars.

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