Record: 87-75, 2nd, NL West (10 GB)
Postseason: --
Ballpark: Candlestick Park (98 hits, 104 HR)
Runs scored: 649 (10th)
Runs allowed: 636 (2nd)
Pythag record: 82-80 (+5)
Recap: An anemic offensive attack stalled the Giants before they could even get started. They weren't really as close to contention as the final standings would indicate; they passed the Astros at the end of the year thanks in large part to a 19-8 September after they were more or less mathematically eliminated.
History: The Giants won 4 pennants in the first 5 years of the league but have been mostly knocking on the door ever since. Their last pennant also came in their last year in New York. They've come tantalizingly close since them - they lost the '66 race by half a game and were only 2 games behind the Dodgers in 1968. So there was hope that they'd be the first ever Western champs. The Braves had other ideas.
Outlook: It's easy to point at a couple of bad pitching performances as the cause of their 1969 setbacks, but truth be told, the issue here is their entire offense, and that doesn't look like it's going to be so easy a problem to fix.
Rotation
Code:
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| first_name | last_name | age | throws | w | l | Pct | Sv | era | g | gs | cg | sho | gf | ip | bfp | h | r | er | hr | sh | sf | hp | bb | ibb | so | wp | bk | Hper9 | HRper9 | BBer9 | Kper9 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| Mike | Stuckey | 29 | L | 13 | 15 | 0.464 | 0 | 3.04 | 38 | 35 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 269.1 | 1090 | 256 | 105 | 91 | 23 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 64 | 1 | 136 | 4 | 1 | 8.6 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 4.5 |
| Roy | Holm | 34 | R | 15 | 16 | 0.484 | 0 | 4.36 | 35 | 35 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 241.2 | 1039 | 225 | 129 | 117 | 32 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 127 | 0 | 199 | 4 | 3 | 8.4 | 1.2 | 4.7 | 7.4 |
| Robert | Rivera | 30 | R | 12 | 13 | 0.480 | 0 | 3.02 | 33 | 33 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 232.2 | 950 | 223 | 96 | 78 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 54 | 4 | 169 | 7 | 1 | 8.6 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 6.5 |
| David | Camacho | 28 | R | 10 | 7 | 0.588 | 0 | 3.59 | 29 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 158.0 | 653 | 150 | 72 | 63 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 46 | 0 | 94 | 7 | 1 | 8.5 | 1.1 | 2.6 | 5.4 |
| Jason | Sanders | 29 | L | 6 | 8 | 0.429 | 0 | 3.51 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 105.0 | 437 | 104 | 53 | 41 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 37 | 1 | 55 | 3 | 1 | 8.9 | 0.4 | 3.2 | 4.7 |
| Ricardo | Gomez | 28 | L | 7 | 2 | 0.778 | 0 | 2.30 | 14 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 97.2 | 397 | 87 | 31 | 25 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 25 | 1 | 46 | 1 | 2 | 8.0 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 4.2 |
| Justin | Jones | 35 | R | 5 | 1 | 0.833 | 0 | 3.04 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50.1 | 217 | 65 | 21 | 17 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 11.6 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 3.6 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
Mike Stuckey led the league in wins and ERA in 1968 (18-5, 1.83 ERA) but had a bad follow-up. He was to be fair still pretty good last season and the wins and losses mainly came down to run support. His 269.1 innings were 50 more than his next-highest total, so stamina could be an issue going forward. The Giants are hoping for a bounce-back season, too, from their #2 guy Roy Holm. Holm led the league in Ks last season but also saw his ERA blow up thanks to a sudden loss of control (his BB/9 rate went from 3.2 to 4.7) and a very, very bad HR rate. He's been in the top 10 in HRs allowed 8 times in his career so that aspect may not be going away and is probably the single biggest thing keeping this guy from having a career winning record (he's 140-151 for his career).
Robert Rivera won 31 games between 1966 and 1967 but has fallen into relatively hard times over the past 23 years. Looking past the wins and losses he's been pretty good the past 2 years, and had he given up just a couple fewer earned runs he'd be on a 4 year run of sub-3.00 ERAs. Jason Sanders somehow won the NL Cy Young with a 15-9 record (also he led the league in ERA with a 2.49 mark). He's struggled to stay healthy ever since and last season his 14 starts were a career low. He'll be challenged for the last slot in the rotation by Justin Jones, who showed he still had something left in the tank late last year after spending most of the year in AAA Phoenix.
Bullpen
Code:
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| first_name | last_name | age | throws | w | l | Pct | Sv | era | g | gs | cg | sho | gf | ip | bfp | h | r | er | hr | sh | sf | hp | bb | ibb | so | wp | bk | Hper9 | HRper9 | BBer9 | Kper9 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| Erik | Schnipke | 27 | L | 3 | 5 | 0.375 | 15 | 3.67 | 54 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 68.2 | 308 | 69 | 32 | 28 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 40 | 1 | 56 | 3 | 0 | 9.0 | 1.0 | 5.2 | 7.3 |
| John | Booth | 33 | R | 5 | 2 | 0.714 | 15 | 2.53 | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 64.0 | 266 | 61 | 21 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 5 | 44 | 3 | 0 | 8.6 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 6.2 |
| Jordan | Sandoval | 29 | L | 3 | 1 | 0.750 | 2 | 2.41 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 41.0 | 167 | 38 | 12 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 27 | 2 | 1 | 8.3 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 5.9 |
| Bill | Wilson | 34 | R | 3 | 1 | 0.750 | 0 | 2.50 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 39.2 | 167 | 36 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 8.2 | 0.0 | 2.7 | 5.0 |
| Mike | Goltry | 28 | L | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 4.73 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 26.2 | 115 | 33 | 15 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 11.1 | 0.7 | 3.7 | 3.4 |
| Jon | Vaughn | 28 | L | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0 | 6.60 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 15.0 | 64 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 9.6 | 1.2 | 4.8 | 7.2 |
| Lamar | Boyce | 27 | R | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 0 | 1.80 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10.0 | 40 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3.6 | 0.9 | 4.5 | 9.0 |
| Carlos | Tablada | 35 | L | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 7.59 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10.2 | 55 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 11.8 | 1.7 | 7.6 | 3.4 |
| Cesar | Paucar | 35 | L | 2 | 2 | 0.500 | 0 | 6.48 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8.1 | 37 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9.7 | 0.0 | 4.3 | 3.2 |
| Steve | Twitty | 25 | L | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 6.35 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.2 | 23 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9.5 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 4.8 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
The big change in the Giants' bullpen is moving Erik Schnipke to San Diego for Henry Roman. Roman is pretty young and does not have the issues with consistency that plagued Schnipke last season. Joining him in the 'pen for 1970 will be The Assassin John Booth. Booth missed the final month of the season with a strained biceps in his pitching arm. Booth has traveled through 3 teams in his career but seems like he's found a home in San Francisco. They also figure to see a lot of bullpen help from Cesar Paucar and Jordan Sandoval again in 1970. Sandoval was effective last season in roughly 30 appearances, Paucar was not.
Catcher
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+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | bats | age | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| C | Ian | Singleton | L | 35 | 97 | 267 | 32 | 51 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 27 | 49 | 8 | 86 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.191 | 0.314 | 0.333 |
| C | Juan | Rosales | L | 34 | 49 | 110 | 5 | 22 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 11 | 1 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.200 | 0.276 | 0.327 |
| C | Xiu-tou | Shen | R | 26 | 29 | 91 | 10 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.242 | 0.324 | 0.418 |
| C | Edwin | Adame | S | 35 | 20 | 47 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.191 | 0.240 | 0.277 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Juan Rosales was the incumbent going into the 1969 season but he crossed the threshold into unacceptable hitting. That said, Ian Singleton, who took over for him, was not particularly good last year either. With the trade of Xiu-tou Shen the Giants have nobody else who can step in - Edwin Adame is also pretty bad and also has a minus arm - so Singleton's back by default.
Infield
Code:
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | bats | age | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| 1B | Ignacio | Castillo | R | 38 | 102 | 357 | 49 | 98 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 38 | 38 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0.275 | 0.346 | 0.364 |
| 1B | Chris | Seek | L | 25 | 55 | 168 | 24 | 52 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 22 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.310 | 0.348 | 0.470 |
| 1B | Marty | Wolcott | L | 31 | 100 | 138 | 22 | 38 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 15 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0.275 | 0.342 | 0.420 |
| 1B | Bobby | Berg | L | 29 | 51 | 69 | 9 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.159 | 0.250 | 0.362 |
| 2B | Bill | Heyen | L | 26 | 150 | 611 | 80 | 175 | 18 | 12 | 3 | 44 | 31 | 1 | 46 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 15 | 0.286 | 0.322 | 0.370 |
| 2B | Jimmy | Luper | L | 27 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 0.250 |
| 3B | Nick | Hawkinson | L | 41 | 123 | 443 | 47 | 111 | 17 | 4 | 8 | 45 | 55 | 1 | 24 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 0.251 | 0.334 | 0.361 |
| 3B | Ryan | Jersey | L | 25 | 53 | 172 | 23 | 42 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 33 | 18 | 1 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.244 | 0.314 | 0.453 |
| SS | Mario | Guevara | L | 38 | 119 | 431 | 38 | 100 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 42 | 15 | 0 | 38 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 0.232 | 0.265 | 0.325 |
| SS | Masayuki | Kojima | R | 31 | 52 | 173 | 17 | 39 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 22 | 18 | 2 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0.225 | 0.294 | 0.341 |
| SS | Jake | Gray | L | 28 | 14 | 25 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.200 | 0.355 | 0.400 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
It's a ruthless league, but it is what it is. Ignacio Castillo had been a great hitter for the Giants ever since 1954 but he slipped a bit last year and at age 37 he may be out of a job. The thing is, sentimentality can only take you so far, and Castillo hit a soft .275 that was a far cry from the years where you could count on him for a .300+ average and at least the hope of 25 homer power. Castillo has 2147 hits and could get to 2500 if he were to get his job back here or somewhere else. For now it looks like the Giants will be moving another longtime Giants vet John Everhart down from LF to 1B to fill this position. Everhart finished second on the team in homers last year with 16 but took something of a step back himself last year. Chris Seek is also around as an interesting prospect who lacks power but hit .379 in Phoenix last year.
Bill Heyen captured his first Gold Glove last season although - and this will probably be a common refrain for this team - he didn't really improve along with the rest of the league in terms of offense. Heyen is nothing super great offensively but is by no means bad and, well, there are other positions on this team where you *can* say that they are by some means bad, so let's leave Bill Heyen alone, okay?
Trading away Nick Hawkinson was a deeply unpopular move in San Francisco but taking a bird's eye view of it, we think the Giants might have gotten the better end of that deal. Hawkinson, 41, is now 3 years removed from his last All-Star nod and... wait for it... his offense seemed to stall out last season. The guy they got back, Tim Mock, was pretty bad last year but he's more than a decade younger than Hawkinson and looked very, very good in 1968.
Mario Guevara has the reputation of being a solid defender who hits well enough to push the team forward. Well, he's 38 now, is probably not even average anymore in the field, and as a hitter... well, okay, there are some very weak hitting shortstops out there right now but he doesn't really help a whole lot there anymore. He'll be pushed in spring training by Masayuki Kojima, an independent leaguer from Japan (note: I actually have the Nippon Baseball League running but accidentally included Japan as a source of foreign talent until last year) who is himself only okay in the field but did hit .345 in Phoenix last season.
Outfield
Code:
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | bats | age | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| LF | John | Everhart | L | 35 | 130 | 443 | 62 | 111 | 20 | 3 | 16 | 63 | 67 | 1 | 48 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0.251 | 0.344 | 0.418 |
| LF | Will | Hartmann | L | 24 | 29 | 101 | 13 | 30 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 0.297 | 0.357 | 0.455 |
| CF | Barry | Cooper | R | 26 | 128 | 525 | 65 | 173 | 30 | 9 | 2 | 60 | 30 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 21 | 9 | 5 | 0.330 | 0.364 | 0.432 |
| CF | Danny | Seligman | L | 28 | 85 | 350 | 49 | 101 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 28 | 11 | 0 | 55 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 0.289 | 0.312 | 0.386 |
| CF | Anton | Mendoza | L | 24 | 35 | 73 | 7 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0.288 | 0.307 | 0.452 |
| CF | Andre | Shaw | S | 35 | 9 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.267 | 0.313 | 0.333 |
| RF | Scott | Lammers | S | 28 | 114 | 401 | 57 | 107 | 11 | 3 | 22 | 74 | 74 | 3 | 68 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 0.267 | 0.380 | 0.474 |
| RF | Karl | Northam | L | 31 | 20 | 46 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.261 | 0.255 | 0.500 |
| RF | Jose | Maldonado | L | 26 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.000 | 0.083 | 0.000 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Moving Everhart down to first base opens up left field for Barry "The Ritz" Cooper, who came up as a center fielder but who was unable to translate his top-class speed into good play there. His biggest issue is his arm; in left, he should be one of the best fielders in the league at that position (which is like being the best songwriter in Wyoming, granted). He's a gifted hitter who has the talent to lead the league in average in any season.
Danny Seligman is another one of those two-way players but as a position player he has some real talent. He's a potential Gold Glove quality center fielder who had a ZR of +11 in just 68 games at that position last season, so he doesn't necessarily have to hit to stay in the lineup. He hit pretty well, all told, although the Giants would love it if he was able to unleash his speed on the basepaths by walking more. His backup is Chae-Hwi Park, who went from All-Star in 1967 to also-ran in 1968 and then AAAA player for the Mets last year.
Scott Lammers led the team in homeruns last year. Yes, he only hit 22 of them but the Giants are starved for HRs. It was his missing the final month with an elbow sprain that led the Giants to giving Seligman an extended look and eventually a starting job, so they can thank him for that, I guess.