Giants Acquire Josh Banks, Remind Me of Pat Misch’s Existence

Published by on January 31, 2011 | 13 Responses
The Giants have signed Josh Banks to minor league contract. He is, like most guys signed to minor league contracts, not very good. Which is to say that he was capable of doing  this:
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA BF Pit Str Ctct StS StL GB FB LD Unk GSc WPA aLI RE24
Josh Banks, W (2-0) 9 6 1 0 0 5 0 0.00 32 101 69 46 7 16 10 17 5 0 78 0.286 0.55 3.7
Team Totals 9 6 1 0 0 5 0 0.00 32 101 69 46 7 16 10 17 5 0 78 0.286 0.45 3.7
to this:
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO BA OPS Pit Str WPA aLI WPA+ WPA- RE24 PO A
Fred Lewis LF 4 0 0 0 0 3 .270 .805 19 12 -0.087 0.69 0.000 -0.087 -1.4 1 0
Jose Castillo 3B 4 1 1 0 0 0 .257 .750 13 8 -0.051 0.56 0.006 -0.056 -0.4 0 2
Randy Winn RF 4 0 1 0 0 0 .298 .795 18 10 -0.004 0.37 0.022 -0.026 -0.4 5 0
Aaron Rowand CF 4 0 1 1 0 0 .335 .932 10 7 -0.066 0.53 0.003 -0.069 -0.1 2 0 GDP
John Bowker 1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 .248 .673 8 8 -0.042 0.41 0.000 -0.042 -0.8 13 0
Travis Denker 2B 3 0 0 0 0 0 .200 .500 9 6 -0.030 0.39 0.000 -0.030 -0.5 1 1
Steve Holm C 3 0 1 0 0 0 .260 .767 7 5 -0.015 0.41 0.012 -0.027 0.1 5 0 2B
Emmanuel Burriss SS 3 0 2 0 0 0 .266 .636 9 7 0.058 0.77 0.070 -0.012 0.5 0 8 SB
Pat Misch P 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 .347 3 3 -0.043 1.12 0.000 -0.043 -0.4 0 0 2·SH
Vinnie Chulk P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.00 0.000 0.000 0.0 0 0
Ray Durham PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 .277 .760 5 3 -0.007 0.21 0.000 -0.007 -0.3
Alex Hinshaw P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.00 0.000 0.000 0.0 0 0
Team Totals 30 1 6 1 0 5 .200 .433 101 69 -0.287 0.55 0.113 -0.399 -3.7 27 11
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/31/2011.

It certainly didn’t feel like a World Series was two years away back in those days.

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13 comments
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baseball4life
baseball4life

I love when all you couch potatoes sit there and say a guy just isn't good based on some statistics. Have you ever seen him pitch? I'mpulling for him, like keenanc704. He's a great pitcher, knowledgeable and deserves a break. Making it to that next level is often being at the right place at the right time. Hopefully this will be the year for Banks. He's got a big fan base that is pulling for him.

keenanc704
keenanc704

Im glad to see Josh Banks hard work paying off! I think he's going to have a great year! He is young and due for a great year! I will have my Giants hat on when he is proving the critics wrong, from the mound! Shoot straight Banks!! We are pulling for you!!

Purple Monkey
Purple Monkey

Wow. Nostalgic for Fred Lewis? Really? All I remember from Fred Lewis 2009 is a guy who struggled, then became publicly indignant at losing playing time. Oh, yeah. Then he did the EXACT SAME THING IN TORONTO in 2010. He's a decent 4th outfielder who thinks he's an All-Star. And won't shut up about how everyone is a hater and is trying to hold him down. Good with him Dusty. He's a class act too. From "22 Gigantes" June 20, 2010: Former San Francisco Giant Fred Lewis took time out from his very busy father's day weekend to thank the Lord for his father and then tell his haters to "get the **** off his Facebook page." He then promptly went out and dropped a fly ball and misjudged another as the Giants beat up on Lewis' Blue Jays 9-6... (He) went on to say on his Facebook page,"If I find you, lord knows what will happen."

elliotjorgensen
elliotjorgensen

I still feel that Fred Lewis got a bum deal. Maybe it's because Joe Sheehan was a Lewis fan-boy, or maybe it was because he seemed to really control the strike zone when guys like Castillo were ruining my day... either way, I always like it when he gets an opportunity. Plus, he's got style.

obsessivegiantscompu
obsessivegiantscompu

There was a conceivable way back then towards a World Series championship and it is the same as now: pitching, pitching, and more pitching. The pitching was good enough then that 2009 was clearly a season where they would be competitive for the title and 2010 should be a season where they battle for a division title. And once you are in the playoffs, you have a chance to win the World Series, and those chances are improved by having some of the best pitching around. It may not have been likely, but it was surely conceivable.

Daniel T
Daniel T

Our C hits cleanup now, but....

tedfordfan
tedfordfan

Well, at least our C wasn't hitting clean up. Of course, he WAS hitting behind Travis Denker and in front of Emmanuel Burriss. Who was the best hitter in that lineup? Aaron Rowand? Randy Winn? Fred Lewis? or PH Ray Durham? Wow. Just... wow.

Otis Anderson
Otis Anderson

Winn had the best season, but I think that "honor" goes to Ray-ray.

Roger
Roger

Clearly, there is no conceivable way that team is 2 seasons away from a World Series championship. Somebody hid some kind of wormhole in 2009 somewhere.

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

Click 'Banks' complete-game win' http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=4574... I'm pretty sure Fred Lewis struck out 7 times in that game. Also, JOSE CASTILLO!

Otis Anderson
Otis Anderson

And Travis Denker! I thought I remembered watching this game, but it turns out that's impossible. I think the explanation is that the entire season felt like this game.

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

I thought of you when I saw Denker playing. Is that weird?

Otis Anderson
Otis Anderson

I have no reasonable grounds to complain about that.