If you go to FanGraphs and sort the Giants by weighted on-base average (wOBA), you’re sure to laugh (or cry).
1. Cody Ross (.361) Never thought I’d see you here.
2. Pablo Sandoval (.352) You’re back! (We wanted ’09, early ’11 Panda, though.)
3. Jeremy Affeldt (.348) Our first pitcher (and a reliever at that!)
4. Buster Posey (.341) Out for season. /Gets in fetal position
5. Andres Torres (.337) Where’d your power go? Sorry, you’re not to blame.
6. Pat Burrell (.336) …is not good enough to DH over Rowand. Huh?
7. Darren Ford (.325) On DL. Shouldn’t be anywhere near the top.
8. Bill Hall (.319) Released by the Triple-A Houston Astros.
9. Freddy Sanchez (.318) Out for the season.
10. Mike Fontenot (.313) On the DL, not close to returning.
11. Conor Gillaspie (.311) In Triple-A.
12. Nate Schierholtz (.307) We Giants fans tend to adore this fellow.
13. Aubrey Huff (.300) Our best hitter. At least that’s what we were told.
14. Brandon Belt (.296) On the DL. (Where else?)
15. Jonathan Sanchez (.282) Is hitting better than five “hitters” getting regular at-bats.
16. Aaron Rowand (.281) Designated Hitter?
17. Eli Whiteside (.260) We thought he could at least catch. I’d take that at this point.
18. Brandon Crawford (.246) Indeed, a great-glove no-hit shortstop.
19. Ryan Vogelsong (.243) Another pitcher, another pitcher hitting better than the regular two-hole hitters.
20. Madison Bumgarner (.238) See #19.
21. Emmanuel Burriss (.234) Bats second. Often.
22. Miguel Tejada (.232) There you are.
Well, ya. Anything with a pulse is an upgrade.
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Update:
The ESPN Week 12 Power Rankings are up. The Giants are a little higher than I (or anyone else) would have expected. They were swept by the Oakland A’s while scoring a total of five runs in a three-game weekend series; still, they managed to jump five spots to fourth in the rankings. (What?)
At this very moment there are 16 teams with a better run differential than the Giants’ (-6), including the Diamondbacks and Rockies who trail them in the NL West.
One team that doesn’t have a better differential than San Francisco is Minnesota; they head “back” to the Bay to face the Twins this week with a three-game set starting Tuesday. And the Giants get the Twinkies at the worst time possible considering the Twins have won nine of 10 and, just eight games out of first, are a team within striking distance in the AL Central compared to their left-for-dead status of just a few weeks ago.
After that they get Cleveland, a series that would’ve looked like an automatic win in March. Unfortunately, it’s June and that’s no longer remotely the case; regardless of the opponent, whether Houston or the Phillies, the Giants will have to earn each and every W from here on out.
