Conquering The Cards

Published by on July 1, 2009 | 6 Responses

Two games into a four game series, the Giants have already won two against the St. Louis Pujolses. I mean the Cardinals. Calling them the St. Louis Pujolses isn’t meant to be an insult, but being a Cardinals fan and getting to watch Albert Pujols for an entire season has got to be a lot of fun. Just like how Giants’ fans used to marvel at Bonds and his feats on the diamond, I’m sure Cardinal fans are doing the same right now.

In last night’s game, Pujols went deep twice against Randy Johnson. The first HR was on a 92 mph fastball that caught way too much of the plate and the other HR was on a 84 mph slider. Not that anyone needs to be reminded of just-how-good Pujols is right now, but check out a few of his numbers. He’s hitting a .411 ISO right now. Four hundred and eleven. Any way you slice it (1.197 OPS, +41.1 batting runs above average, +4.5 wins added as a player) his numbers are amazing.

And yet, to bring this back to a Giants-context, he still hasn’t reached some of the seasons that Bonds has had in the past.

bondspujols

It’s unfair to compare anyone to Barry Bonds, but as amazing as Pujols has been, he still hasn’t eclipsed some of the single seasons that Bonds produced. He’s come quite close but he hasn’t surpassed him, yet.  The above graph doesn’t include Pujols’ 2009 season. He’s on pace for something like a +9-10 win season this year.

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A few other quick thoughts about the series thus far.

  • Don’t read too much into two games, but Renteria has looked better at the plate vs. the Cardinals. I’m still concerned about Renteria’s dropping power over the last couple of seasons (his ISO is currently at .075, a career ISO of .114) but he’s still hitting line drives 20%+ of the time. The glove hasn’t been a problem, either. By UZR Renteria is playing average defense at the shortstop position. His range is slightly below average, but he’s sure handed and doesn’t make many errors. The Giants need Renteria to hit around league average if they want to make noise in the Wild Card.

  • Hats off to Jeremy Affeldt and his relief work last night. The southpaw threw 2 innings of scoreless baseball that included a bases-loaded double play off the bat of Tyler Greene in the 6th. Affedlt’s WPA of %21.5 led all Giants players in the game.

  • How would you like to face Cardinals reliever Jason Motte? Check out this pitch sequence to Pablo Sandoval. 90 mph slider (foul), 97 mph fastball (ball), 96 mph fastball (swinging strike), 91 mph fastball (foul), 98 mph fastball (ball), 96 mph fastball (foul), 97 mph fastball (in play, out).

  • And, in unrelated news, please don’t trade for Jermaine Dye. The latest rumor du jour is that the Giants have been targeting Jermaine Dye to supplement their hitting. He would supplement team hitting (he’s added +13.6 runs by his bat this year) but at the expense of team defense. Remember, run prevention is just as important as run creation and Jermaine Dye is one of the worst defenders in baseball. Check out his last four years in the OF by Ultimate Zone Rating: -22.5 runs, -21.6 runs, -19.4 runs, and -6.9 runs. The last number (-6.9 runs) is from this year and if you prorated it to 150 games, he’s on pace for a -11.9 run season in the OF. Even with Randy Winn’s decline at the plate, there isn’t much of a difference between the two players. Can you say, lateral move?

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Giantsfan4life
Giantsfan4life

Not only did the Cards beat us the last two games of the series, they also beat us out for the services of Dominican CF Wagner Mateo. That one hurts; at least the Cards had to go over 3 mill. to outbid us. Oh, well. At least Ryan Sadowski is, apparently, the next Tom Seaver. Or, you know, Ryan Jensen.

Giantsfan4life
Giantsfan4life

Hey, Steve. Yeah, not a great game for Panda; if he takes ball four in the 8th, we'd have gone ahead on Molina's SF. The dropped popup was a tough chance; I thought the ump blew strike three as well. But that's baseball--you still have to get the guy out.

steveintulsa
steveintulsa

As a Bay Area boy and long-time Giants fan now living in "The Heartland" (Tulsa, OK) I don't get a chance to see many Giants games. But we do get the Cards, so this week has been a treat for me. It was classy the other night when Cards fans (the very best in baseball in my view) stood and gave Johnson a hand as he left the game. They know it may be the last time they see him. OK, about Pablo. Yes, he's great but would somebody please tell him to swing at balls in the strike zone. By my count last night he went down swinging at what would have been ball six and ball five in last two at-bats. Imagine how good this guy will be if he ever learns the strike zone.

Giantsfan4life
Giantsfan4life

I hear a lot of grousing about Renteria, but even if he's slowed a little, he's a competent major league shortstop. League average defensively, and that's a good thing, that has value, and his bat's coming around a little. As for Teahen, not sure we need him. He's had his defensive problems; not sure how much of an upgrade he is. Thing is, we have two positions, 2B and LF, each with multiple solutions. 2B, Burriss was struggling, but could get his act together in AAA, and should still be considered in the picture. Plus, they've said they're committed to Downs, but Uribe's played a lot at 2B lately, and there's still Frandsen. Lots of solutions, none perfect, but you almost think just committing to one would be best. Same in LF: Lewis, Schierholtz/Winn, Bowker. Somewhere in that mix is a solution, or maybe we get creative, do some complex platooning. The trade talk seems like an effort to say 'enough: we want that one guy who'll be The Guy.' Which is fine, if we could trade for someone appreciatively better than our current options. But I don't think Jason Bay and Chase Utley are available.

Chris
Chris

@GF4L Thanks for the JoePo article. One of my favorite writers! I agree, the Renteria deal gets slammed a lot by fans and the media, but it's a fine deal. It's short-term and he's not grossly overpaid. I still hope he's got a little life in his bat left, but you never know. Also, I totally agree with your 2nd point. Might as well just play Bowker in LF than trade away talent to get Dye. Dye is a good hitter, but his defense kills his value. A lot of people hated to watch Barry play the OF, but Dye is worse. And has historically been worse for the past 4 seasons. I'm not sure how Teahen would work out at 2B. He's been a bad defender at 3B, and in theory, a 3B should be able to handle 2B just as well.

Giantsfan4life
Giantsfan4life

Pujols is a pretty fair ballplayer. Maybe we should trade for him. Offer 'em Brian Bocock, see what they say. Did you see Joe Posnanski/Bill James on players turning 33? They reference Edgar Renteria specifically. It's at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe... What we're seeing with Renteria might just be all he has left. At the same time, I think signing Renteria made sense. We didn't have a major league ready shortstop in our system, except for maybe Frandsen, who was coming off a major injury. And you pretty much do have to have a shortstop--otherwise, you see an awful lot of ground singles to left center. I just can't see how adding Jermaine Dye would give us anything we don't already have with Bowker. That's assuming we can't just live with our current LF tandem. And Bowker's way cheaper, and better defensively--not a lot, but some. There's surely pressure on Sabean to make a move, but none of the deals people are talking about really make much sense. Mark Teahen's one possible exception, if we can get him, and if he really can still play second.