Last game of the year wishlist

Published by on September 28, 2011 | 21 Responses

Today the Giants will face the Colorado Rockies for the last game of the 2011 regular season. Here is a brief list of things I’d like to see happen in game 162.

* A strong start from Eric Surkamp. The Giants have decided to sit Matt Cain and start Eric Surkamp instead. I’m a big fan of Surkamp, but his time in the majors hasn’t been flawless. After posting a K/9 of 10.43 in Double-A Richmond this year, Surkamp’s K/9 has plummeted to 4.09 in the majors. That also coincides with a spike in his BB/9 – rising from 2.78 in Double-A to 6.14 in the majors. I think Surkamp can be better than what we’ve seen, but it’s entirely possible that he might need a little time in AAA Fresno before the 2012 season. Let’s hope today he can miss bats and throw strikes.

* Another strong game from Brandon Belt. Belt has started 15 games this month (the most of any month this season) and the results haven’t been terrific. Coming into last night’s game Belt was hitting .200/.254/.418 in September. Small sample sizes are still in play when discussing Belt, but it would be great to see if he can have another strong game like last night to end his year on a high note.

* I’ll take two more of these from Conor Gillaspie:

Oof.

Comment Starter: Anything you’d like to see?

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Skeet
Skeet

Surkamp has the stuff to the fifth starter. He had to be exhausted at the end of the season both physically and mentally. He had never thrown that many innings before. He will come back next spring stronger and with better command than he showed in his final two starts this year.

xoot
xoot

Belt's inconsistency may not go away. That HR the other night was impressive. But there's a lot of ungainly movement in that long-armed swing. Huff, when he's right, has a quick, flat short-armed swing just made for China Basin. But, of course, he has to be right.

Curtis
Curtis

He'd have to be "right" and he'd have to be Benjamin Button, cause he's getting older, not younger. Also, even though Belt had a "bad" year, which I'm admitting was not good. This "bad" year he had is still more valuable than the year Huff had just cause of his ability to take pitches, walk and hit extra base hits. And most likely, he's gonna improve, can't say the same for Huff. And having said all that... I'd still take Huff over Pill. Yikes, but reality hurts.

Doc
Doc

Slightly off topic, but here's a "perfect world" roster next year IMO... SS - Jimmy Rollins - 3 year deal, home town guy, not Reyes but probably cheaper. 2B - Freddy Sanchez - Please, please be healthy. 3B - Panda - Duh LF - Michael Cuddyer - Living here in the Twin Cities I will tell you that Cuddy is the perfect fit for the Giants. Can play LF, RF, 1B, 3B, 2B and apparently can pitch in a pinch. One of the best "clubhouse guys" around and still a potent RH power bat. C - Posey - see Sanchez, Freddy 1B - Baby Giraffe - This has to happen and if the comments by Bochy and Sabean about Huff are anything to go by, it could happen. RF - Schierholtz - Proved he can be a solid regular and no one they have or can get plays a better RF at AT&T. CF - Torres - Yeah, I know, he was crap this year. But he can still go get it and perhaps not having to hit at the top of the lineup will take a little pressure off and he can revert even slightly back to 2010 form. If not, Gary Brown has to be on the radar. Bench - Crawford, Fontenot, Huff, Pill, Stewart - This assumes Huff and Pill can play the OF a bit and reflects on the versatility and every-day-ness of Cuddyer. SPs - Timmy, Cain, Bumgarner, Vogey and Sanchez - Sanchez is obviously the wild card, but they can't start Zito or Surkamp at this point. RPs - Wilson, Romo, Lopez, Affeldt, Casilla, Mota - You could slide Edlefsen into Mota's spot and any number of guys into Casilla's spot (Hembree, Ramirez, Joaquin, etc.) I think this team is affordable and effective and would be a massive improvement over even the 2010 team. Get this lineup and keep them healthy and the Giants would be serious title contenders in 2012 IMO. Thoughts?

lasttraintoyuma
lasttraintoyuma

They have to address the outfield, for sure. OPS by Giants' left fielders: .684 (20th); center fielders: .646 (third worst); right fielders: .803 (tied for 13th, thanks in large part to Beltran's .920). Left and center were just unacceptable. I'd be okay with Cuddyer. Willingham would be nice, too - he's really consistent. I think Schierholtz should be in the mix, also. They don't actually have far to go to get back in a good position. I really feel that losing Posey probably doomed their chances of making the playoffs. Getting him back definitely makes them a contender.

lasttraintoyuma
lasttraintoyuma

I don't know how in love I am with the idea of Rollins but I definitely like him more than the idea of overpaying for Reyes. For the past 4 years, he's been posting an OPS in the .700's with away splits in the high .600's to low .700's, last year's aberrant .801 notwithstanding. Take him away from the friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park and I don't see him being much of a force in SF. I don't see Crawford as the answer - at least not yet. In the long term, I see him as a very capable defensive backup. Adrianza had a very good year between August / San Jose. What about picking up someone like Scutaro to fill in for a year or two until Adrianza is (I hope) ready to take the job over?

Curtis
Curtis

I actually like it. Would prefer Reyes over Rollins though just cause I think he's that much better. Remember, Rollins played in a very HR friendly park... He's more likely to hit 6 HRs than the 16 he hit this year if playing in AT & T (Think Rowand, kinda the same thing). Plus, I'd love to see a player actually challenge the modern day triple record like Reyes would if he played here. I know he'd be more expensive, but put the bulk of the money on the tail end of the contract when Zito, Rowand, Huff and Wilson are off the books. Let's face it... The Giants' window is closing. There's gonna be about 8-10 players in the next 2-4 years that are due MASSIVE pay raises. Couple that with a below average farm system, and well, you get the point. Next year is probably their best chance before players start leaving. As much as I LOVE Lincecum, I'll be happy for him when he finally wins 20-25 games as the Yankees' ace. But I like Cuddyer and I like not keeping Keppinger... The most empty .275 hitter since Duane Kuiper... sorry Duane (at least you could hit righties).

Sadyear
Sadyear

Should go over stats to show that had the giants pitchers been on any other team outside of the astro's, they'd probably all have averaged 15 or more wins

rog61
rog61

Wow, you'll pretty much get nothing and like it. How do we feel about Surkamp going into 2012? Good enough to jettison Sanchez, or should we keep Jonathan around as #5 and have Surkamp in Fresno for depth?

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

I think keeping Sanchez is a pretty good idea, but he'll be expensive. Not sure if the Giants will do it. I still have faith in Surkamp even if his brief MLB time hasn't been very good. I dunno. He was never a scouting beast and finesse guys might take a little longer to "figure things out" in the majors as opposed to guys that just throw heat. Surkamp starting in AAA might not be a bad thing for him, actually.

lasttraintoyuma
lasttraintoyuma

I just don't see how the Giants get rid of Sanchez next year unless they add #5 pitcher to their growing list of needs in free agency. There's no way at this time that they can think that Surkamp would make an adequate #5, based on his performance in his short time up with the team. How much would Sanchez cost as opposed to going out and taking a chance on a rebound by Dempster, Harden or something like that? I suppose the top 3 are as good as any in baseball and allows the team to take a few chances. Gee, the more I type, the more I think maybe they should get rid of Sanchez...

Robert Haymond
Robert Haymond

Would think it's worthwhile mentioning Brett Pill at first base next year; no more Aubrey Huff. Too sensible to suggest, however.

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

As terrible as Huff was this year, I'd rather have him on the 2012 team than Pill. That's a sad indictment in numerous ways.

Aldo
Aldo

Re: Brandon Belt, you indicate his .200 September batting average not counting last night. Why not count last night, If so, Belt's September batting average would be in the .240 area. Sounds a lot better, doesn't it? Also, Belt's 9 homers, if extrapolated for a full year, would amount to roughly 24 homers. This is in spite of a player who was badly mishandled with his back-and-forth to Fresno.

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

"Why not count last night" Simple enough: at the time of posting this, BB-Ref hadn't updated their stats.

Curtis
Curtis

I loved seeing Omar Infante extended yesterday. Today I want to see Carlos Lee, Alex Rios, Coco Crisp and Yuni Betancourt extended as well, before the Giants sign them in December.

Robert Haymond
Robert Haymond

I'd like to see a new manager and a new general manager.

LeviDavis
LeviDavis

I would like to see enough out of Brandon Crawford to convince the Giants not to pursue Jimmy Rollins in the offseason (whether that be broken-bat singles or veteran moxie, he just needs to show it).

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

That's a good one and I agree. Though, I think non-tendering him could be one of the dumbest things that team could do.

oldjacket
oldjacket

I'd like a good game from Torres. He's not a sure thing to get tendered a contract, and he's forever going to be one of my favorite players.