Aubrey Huff:
|
|
BA
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
R
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
|
2011 Projection
|
0.277
|
0.356
|
0.466
|
84
|
34
|
3
|
21
|
82
|
5
|
|
2011 Actual
|
0.246
|
0.306
|
0.370
|
45
|
27
|
1
|
12
|
59
|
5
|
Looking back at this projection makes me sad. I had such
high hopes for Huff, even my “Worst Case Scenario” ended up being too rosy with
a .249/ .320/ .419 triple slash line. Of all the disappointments on the 2011
Giants this one is probably the one that hurts the most.
First of all getting this tiny amount of production out a
first baseman is a travesty, getting this level of production on an already
offensively challenged team is a death sentence for an offense. Huff didn’t
have a single month where he was able to post an OPS above .800, of the 14 NL
first baseman that played at least 60 games only Lyle Overbay was worse.
To put the icing on the cake it came out that Huff was out
of shape to start the season but because he has veteran grit he wasn’t benched
and was allowed to be an anchor for the Giants offense. All this is certainly
making me look forward to next season…
Freddy Sanchez:
|
|
BA
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
R
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
|
2011 Projection
|
0.287
|
0.331
|
0.390
|
63
|
27
|
2
|
8
|
51
|
3
|
|
2011 Actual
|
0.289
|
0.332
|
0.397
|
21
|
15
|
1
|
3
|
24
|
0
|
Freddy Sanchez was having very nice season. It wasn’t
spectacular but at the time that he was injured he was arguably the Giants
second best hitter and with him gone the Giants went from a bad Major League
lineup to a bad AAA lineup. The drop off from Sanchez’s backups wasn’t as
severe as the one from Buster Posey to the Whiteside/Stewart duo but it still
meant a whole lot more Miguel Tejada which was no ones idea of a perfect
situation.
I have to say that I am pretty worried about Sanchez ability
to stay healthy for a full season next year. You have to go back to 2008 to
find the last time that he was able to play at least 145 games and each injury
that he has sustained over the last few years has a tendency to nag and flare
up especially now that he is coming into his mid-30’s.
Seeing as Sanchez is somewhat fragile I think it would be in
the Giants best interest to bring back a Mike Fontenot as a back up plan in
case there is a replay of the last few years.
Miguel Tejada:
|
|
BA
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
R
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
|
2011 Projection
|
0.269
|
0.315
|
0.399
|
77
|
30
|
1
|
14
|
77
|
3
|
|
2011 Actual
|
0.239
|
0.270
|
0.326
|
28
|
16
|
0
|
4
|
26
|
4
|
If Huff was the biggest disappointment of the 2011 team,
Miguel Tejada was probably a close second. Not that I had too high of
expectations for him but he was able to slip under even that very low bar. Here
is what I said at the time:
Here is what I expect; a free swinger who will avoid walks
at nearly all costs. He will play rickety defense that will make fans cover
their eyes at times and, baring catastrophic failure, should give the Giants
league average or better offense for a shortstop.
Man was I an idiot. I should have listened to the devil on
my shoulder that was trying to convince me that this was a bad idea. I was
right about the defense and I couldn’t have been more wrong about the offense,
his bat looked slow and his ability to drive the ball seemed to be all but gone
last year.
If next season the Giants sign a free agent short stop they
should send a fruit basket to Tejada because he set the bar so low for the next
guy that if he can play any sort of defense and hit even a little bit it will
be like adding Babe Ruth in comparison.
Pablo Sandoval:
|
|
BA
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
R
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
|
2011 Projection
|
0.294
|
0.346
|
0.466
|
70
|
38
|
3
|
18
|
77
|
3
|
|
2011 Actual
|
0.315
|
0.357
|
0.552
|
55
|
26
|
3
|
23
|
70
|
2
|
For all the hype surrounding Pablo Sandoval’s off season it
sure seemed to live up to things. Sandoval turned a very impressive season and
considering the down offensive year around the league and his hamate bone fracture
it was arguably better than his 2009 season that got us all excited about him.
What was really exciting is that in the second half of the
season he was really, really good after he had a month or so to have his hand
recover. In the second half of the year he posted a .325/ .370/ .593 triple
slash line and was one of the best hitters in the league even while playing
with a pretty bad shoulder injury down the stretch that limited him from switch
hitting.
This season makes his down year in 2010 seem like a hazy
memory and if he shows dedication to coming into Spring Training in good shape
again I am thinking another big season is definitely a big possibility. He is
probably the only position player on the Giants that doesn’t have any big
question marks for next season, which is great for him but makes me nervous
about the rest of the team.
Jeff Keppinger:
|
|
BA
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
R
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
|
2011 Projection
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
|
2011 Actual
|
0.255
|
0.285
|
0.333
|
17
|
11
|
0
|
2
|
15
|
0
|
I had hopes that Keppinger could be a decent replacement for
Sanchez, but I turned out to be off the mark. I said that I expected Keppinger
to be a 0.7 to 1 win player over his time with the Giants and his actual
production was a dismal -0.3 fWAR. I was hopeful that the Giants would keep him
around for next season as Sanchez’s backup and now I am on the same page as
Brian Sabean thinking that he might be an expensive luxury who isn’t likely to
live up the salary that he will command in arbitration.
Just about everything about him took a nose dive when he put
on the Giants uniform. His power disappeared, his ability to make contact
dropped off and he certainly didn’t walk enough to make up for the lack of hits
that fell in and to top it off his range was rather abysmal at second base.
In a perfect world I wouldn’t mind giving Keppinger another
shot with the team as a back up infielder but with the Giants budget
constraints I think I would rather have Mike Fontenot in that role.
Mike Fontenot:
|
|
BA
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
R
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
|
2011 Projection
|
0.270
|
0.327
|
0.388
|
36
|
19
|
3
|
4
|
35
|
2
|
|
2011 Actual
|
0.227
|
0.304
|
0.377
|
22
|
15
|
3
|
4
|
21
|
5
|
Mike Fontenot put together a nice little season, sure his
batting average isn’t pretty but he made up for it with decent power numbers
and a respectable walk rate that kept his OBP above .300. When you compare him
to Keppinger who he will be competing for with next season for a roster spot he
looks even better. Each had similar amounts of plate appearances with the
Giants and Fontenot was significantly more valuable to the team in terms of
fWAR because of his better defense and ability to get on base even when he
didn’t get hits.
If we are looking at backups I think that Fontenot fits that
role nicely. He doesn’t have a huge amount of upside but he is a high floor guy
that can actually play a passable short stop in addition to third and second
base.
Orlando Cabrera:
|
|
BA
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
R
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
|
2011 Projection
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
|
2011 Actual
|
0.222
|
0.241
|
0.270
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
13
|
2
|
Orlando Cabrera was not a good player to get and I don’t
think anyone will miss him when he is not with the team next season. He had
pitiful offense and only slightly better than Miguel Tejada defense. This was a
classic Brian Sabean move and it didn’t quite work out.
The fact that Cabrera got any at bats let alone more than 50
in the first two spots of the lineup makes me depressed. The guy didn’t hit at
all but because he has some track record of hitting in the past he go the
benefit of the doubt despite what the results on the field were screaming out.
I don’t really want to think about this any more.
Brandon Crawford:
|
|
BA
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
R
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
|
2011 Projection
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
|
2011 Actual
|
0.204
|
0.288
|
0.296
|
22
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
21
|
1
|
Brandon Crawford was rushed up to the big leagues and I have
to say that even though his offensive numbers weren’t great I think that he did
fairly well. He more than anything else just was the victim of bad luck at the
major league level and his batted ball data suggests a hitter better than the
one in the above stat line.
The defense was as good as advertised and baring a big free
agent I think that he is probably a better option than most of the second tier
free agent short stops on the market this season (see Tejada, Miguel and
Cabrera, Orlando for an idea of what is out there). He is putting up some good
numbers in the AFL (although it is coming with a high BABIP that isn’t
sustainable) which is encouraging.
Crawford showed that he can play MLB caliber defense and
showed that he is no worse offensively than some of the other MLB short stops
out there, given his MLB minimum contract for team with a pretty tight budget
it could certainly be worse if the Giants can’t get a decent guy to play short
next season.
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