When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

10.06.2008
Giant Awards

We won’t see the major-league post season awards until after the World Series, but I can’t wait to hand out some hardware of my own fashioning.

We can skip Giant Cy Young. It’s unanimous. Does anyone out there think Tim Lincecum was not the team Cy? And if you, do you have the cojones to say so in the comments below? Amuse us.

Let’s get to the others.

MVG: I vote for Lincecum again. No position player comes close to what Lincecum did for this team. Pitcher-as-most valulable is not a concept to be trifled with; like the finest truffles over pasta or bottled scent on your private places, use it only on exceptional occasions. Now is the time.

The Upsidiest: That is, the young guy with the most upside. Before you blurt out “Pablo Sandoval,” let me raise a note of caution. The guy didn’t even get 150 at-bats. He rarely took a walk; hell, he rarely took a pitch. Brian Sabean might want to “pencil him in” at first base next year, but it’s unclear he’ll provide the power the team desperately needs from its corner infielders. Acknowledging that the Kung Fu Panda is a ton of fun to watch, a big ball of energy and had a ridiculously hot year at the plate no matter what uniform he donned, I will pick Brian Wilson. Anyone who can throw as hard as he can has upside. Imagine if he gets a little more control, throws his fastball to both sides of the plate instead of outside corner 90% of the time, and throws his off-speed stuff with more confidence, and the guy could be lights-out. He was already pretty good. Outsiders scoffed at his bad peripheral numbers, but watching him day in, day out, we know he can be one of the best.

Most Disappointing: I’d pick Zito, but he was already working around the soft bigotry of low expectations. I choose instead Aaron Rowand. He had a great first couple of months, especially considering his ribcage injury, but his bat grew verrrrry quiet in the second half. That’s not what most disappoints me. He seemed to let the pressure affect his defense, too, uncorking wild, inaccurate throws more often than not, it seemed. (BP’s Rate 2 metric puts him at 101, a tick above average, and The Hardball Times puts him third among regulars in “revised zone rating,” or how well he gets to balls in his zone.)

Non-Sandoval Rookie of the Year: Let’s give props to someone who spent more than six weeks on the roster. I’m tempted to vote for Emmanuel Burriss, who jumped from single-A and showed he was no Bocock. He also compiled an impressive .360 OBP, a great sign when he’s got legs and knows how to use them. But my vote goes to Sergio Romo, who pitched in 29 games, roughly half a season for a middle reliever, and was quietly unhittable. Only 24 baserunners in 34 innings, nearly a strikeout an inning, and equally good in short and long relief. He only had one horrid outing out of 29.

The Anti-Cynic: Also known as the Golly Gee Willikers Award, this one goes to the player who even in this jaded age makes us feel young again. Parents not ballplayers should be role models, but at least there are guys like Omar Vizquel and Bengie Molina around for the kids to emulate. With his renaissance talents and passion for life, Omar’s a role model for adults, too.

Got your own awards for the 2008 Giants? Let’s hear about them.   
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[October 7, 2008 1:08 AM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive said

Nice overall, but I have to disagree about Wilson over Sandoval. First, he hit 23 homers across three different teams this year. He probably won't reach 20-25 homers in 2009, but he was only 21 in 2008, so I would say that he has the potential to reach that level of power, which would be good for us at 1B.

Second, he might not have taken walks in the majors, but he did take some in the minors, significant relative to his low strikeout totals, and when you are hitting .345, I think it behooves you to swing away until the pitchers prove that they can get you out. His strikeout rate was excellent in 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008, and it was excellent in the majors as well, so as long as he's hitting, then walks are nice but not necessary as long as he's not striking out too much. If he were swinging away and Custing out left and right, yeah, I would worry more about his lack of walks, but since he doesn't strike out that much, I'm not too bothered.

I especially want to agree with you on Rowand as most disappointing. I'm hoping that he had some sort of injury that he was hiding, because he was superlative his first two months, but then was horrible the rest of the season, particularly in September. Hopefully he'll heal over the winter and come back more motivated to show what he's capable of over a full season.

I also love the choice of Romo as well. He has continued to do well up the ladder, despite talk of less than dominating stuff, but he can just plain get people out, he gave the bullpen a boost when it really needed it.

But I would also put Hinshaw up there with him, but just behind. He pitched in 48 games, had 47 K's in 39.2 IP, and while he was wild with 49 BB, only allowed 31 hits.

[October 7, 2008 8:38 PM]  |  link  |  reply
AndOnTheDrums said

*cough* Fred Lewis *cough*

[October 7, 2008 10:04 PM]  |  link  |  reply
PM said

Nate Schierholtz also performed very well, even though in limited opportunity.

[October 8, 2008 11:37 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Ben said

Nice post.

I want to give FreddieLoo a little recognition and make up a most improved award. When Freddie started to shorten his swing, use the whole field, and take some pitches he became a very very much improved hitter. Before this season I didn't feel he had what it took to be a regular outfielder in the majors, but I think Carney Lansford worked with him on the things I mentioned before, and made him a real asset. Now if he could work on improving that sketchy defense just a little bit....