Year of change for SF Giants
Brandon Crawford high fiving his teammates
With the 2023 season underway, what can we expect from this year’s San Francisco Giants?
Success can’t necessarily be guaranteed, but there’s definitely an upside to this year’s lineup.
Besides the Giants three championships in 2010, 2012, and 2014, and their improbable 107-win season two years ago, Giants fans haven’t had much to look forward to.
From years of utter mediocrity in 2017 to 2019, barely missing the playoffs with a loss in the last game of the 2020 season, and this year’s offseason fiasco, which saw “Arson Judge” as a Giant for roughly 12 minutes and star shortstop Carlos Correa sign for about a week only to eventually return to the Minnesota Twins, saying it’s been a rough few years is a big understatement.
Of course, a title run, or let alone a playoff spot, can’t be guaranteed, but a step in the right direction for the future can certainly be in the cards for the Giants this season.
Despite the disappointment we endured in the offseason, we still were able to snag proven players in Micheal Conforto and Bay Area native Mitch Haniger.
Both Conforto and Haniger endured season-ending injuries that ended their season early last year, but both of them have homered north of 30 times at least once in recent years.
They’ll look to get back to their ways while adding some much-needed offensive firepower to this Giants lineup.
Other new faces have also shown flashes of potential late last season and this spring training, specifically former rule five draft pick Blake Sabol.
He’s batted for an average of .333 with three home runs over 15 spring training games and will look to give Joey Bart some competition at the catcher position this year.
Add in intriguing left-handed pitching prospect Kyle Harrison, sophomore hopeful third baseman David Villar, and returning utility men in J.D. Davis and Wilmer Flores, and this team has more potential than it may seem on paper.
Speaking of returning players, popular names such as Joc Pederson, Brandon Crawford, and LaMonte Wade Jr. will run it back with the Giants this year, looking to improve on the numbers they posted last season.
The pitching rotation and bullpen will also look to improve, with familiar faces such as Logan Webb and Alex Cobb leading the way. New additions such as Ross Stripling and Sean Manaea will look to bolster this season’s rotation.
Stripling has a career ERA of 3.78, compared to Manaea’s 4.06 career ERA.
When put together, the Giants may seem like a mess, but it’s a mess that can turn out to be beautiful. We witnessed what happened in 2021, so anything really can be possible.
Bob Prichard • Apr 7, 2023 at 8:07 pm
The Giants had a .500 season last year. They will be lucky to have a .500 season this year. Their fundamental, underlying problem is that they are the slowest team in MLB. Not only are they the slowest team, they continue to sign slow players like Conforto (ranked 297th in sprint speed) and Haniger (360th). They are also ranked 23rd out of 30 teams in Batting Average. Finally, they are ranked 13th in ERA out of 30 teams. If you think ERA is not important, the Dodgers ranked 1st and the Astros 2nd. So–why are the Giants mediocre in batting and pitching and dead last in running? What do these three stats have in common? The Giants rank low because their pitchers, batters and runners are all very stiff. And they are stiff because they overdo weights. The front office puts a premium on muscle. They praise a player who adds muscle during the off season. Their manager likes players who look like linebackers–not fast linebackers but muscular linebackers. When you measure the flexibility of the best hitters, pitchers and runners they are all way more flexible than the Giants.