Giants have to prove themselves all over again
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The San Francisco Giants aren’t taking it personally, but it’s amusing.
What in the world do they have to do prove they’re for real?
A year ago, they were projected by Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA calculations to go 75-87 and finish fourth in their own division.
They won a franchise-record 107 games, ending the Los Angeles’ Dodgers’ eight-year run atop the NL West.
You’d think all of the analytics, calculations, Las Vegas books and media prognosticators would learn their lesson, right?
Nope. The Giants are predicted by PECOTA to not even be a .500 team this year at 78-84, 29 fewer victories than the Giant won a year ago.
“It’s a little weird, isn’t it?” says veteran Giants reliever Jake McGee. “We win the most games in the major leagues last year, and we’re projected to win the same amount they projected us to win last year.
“I don’t know if we’re going to win 107 games again, but I feel like we’re going to compete with everyone every single day.”
There’s only one way to shut everyone up again: proving last year was no fluke.
“They can think what they want,” Giants starter Logan Webb said. “It’s our job to go out there and prove them wrong. All they’re doing it adding fuel to the fire.
“It’s unbelievable no one is even giving us a chance.”
Says Darin Ruf: “It’s like last year. No one believed in us all year. Everyone kept waiting for us to collapse.”
Sure, the Giants no longer have former MVP and All-Star catcher Buster Posey, who retired after having his greatest all-around season since 2012. There are questions about whether veteran infielders Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria can once again put up big numbers. They lost starter Kevin Gausman in free agency, but picked up Carlos Rodón. But if you think they’re going to have an epic drop-off, you don’t know these Giants.
“We’ve got such a quiet confidence in here,” says lefty Alex Wood, who returned to the team signing a two-year, $25 million contract. “It’s the most consistent team I’ve ever been on, and we have a lot of those pieces back.
“Obviously, we’re missing a big one with Buster, but the talent we got in here, and the culture we developed, is really great. It’s just a unique environment.”
The Giants became the first team since the 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers to have at least a .600 winning percentage each month of the season, sitting in first place in 121 of the season’s final 122 days.
They hit a franchise-record 241 home runs, the most by any National League team. They had a 3.24 ERA, second-best in baseball. They had a league-leading 2.99 bullpen ERA.
And, of course, there were those 107 victories.
So, at what juncture did the Giants actually make believers out of everyone?
“Probably not until the last day of the season,” Ruf said. “Not until we clinched that last day. When you win 107 games, you should be 10 or 15 games up in September, but we had to win just about every single day because of the Dodgers.”
The Dodgers won 106 games and of course, just got better with the freeagent signing of former MVP and AllStar first baseman Freddie Freeman.
“Getting Freddie over there, oh, man,” said Wood, Freeman’s former teammate in Atlanta. “Freddie’s a hell of a player. He’s probably one of the top three hitters I’ve ever played with or against. He’s just a special player, man and a great friend.”
Well, maybe not such a close friend considering he didn’t take Wood’s advice. Wood was on a January hunting trip with his buddies and their fathers in LaGrange, Georgia when they asked him where he thought Freeman was going. Wood, inspired by a couple of adult beverages, decided to text Freeman himself.
Wood: “Hey, you going to LA next year?”
Freeman: “I don’t know, we had a pretty good meeting before the lockout.” Wood: “Hey, just don’t go to LA.” Freeman still is laughing. “Look at that lineup with all of those MVPs and All-Stars,” Wood said, “I’ve got to keep telling myself he’s (Corey) Seager’s replacement. I’m so glad Seager’s not there with him.”
The Giants aren’t scared. The Dodgers had four MVPs on their team last year, too, with Albert Pujols on the roster. Their payroll dwarfed the Giants, just like this year, with the Dodgers sitting around $280 million and the Giants about $150 million.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall or something like that, the Giants tell themselves.
“It will be fun to compete against that,” Webb said. “If you want to face the best, why not do it in your division. Four MVPs. A lineup full of All-Stars. It’s pretty crazy. Let’s do it again.”