Just 10 games into the MLB season, the defending World Series Champion, San Francisco Giants have some major problems. Defending a championship in any major sport is a difficult task as the Giants can surely attest to from the last five years, but it looks like it will be nearly impossible for the Giants even at this early juncture.
Giant Problems in 2015
Let’s start with injuries. The Giants have already seen Matt Cain and Hunter Pence hit the disabled list, but additionally Brandon Belt, Casey McGehee, and Jake Peavy have been dealing with injuries that have caused them to miss time as well. Coming into this season, depth was already a lingering issue for the Giants, particularly with the departures of Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse in the offseason. But with injuries to some of the team’s most important players in the opening week, the lack of depth has been exploited far earlier than perhaps initially anticipated.
For example, the Giants’ starting lineup last night featured the following players: Matt Duffy (3B), Justin Maxwell (RF), Hector Sanchez (C), and Joaquin Arias (SS). Giants fans for the most part dread seeing the names “Sanchez” and “Arias” in the starting lineup. They’ve been fixtures on the team’s bench for the past 2 seasons and have done little to help with the team’s success. While Duffy and Maxwell have somewhat promising futures as contributors to the team, they don’t have a place in the starting lineup of a team looking to compete quite yet.
But last night is just small sample, even in the early stages of this season. The pitching staff has been a mess too. Madison Bumgarner hasn’t been very ‘Bumgarner-esque’. Tim Hudson’s age has clearly caught up with him. Ryan Vogelsong is no longer a viable starter. Jake Peavy, while dealing with a back injury, had an awful first start and his skill set has worsened. And lastly, Tim Lincecum has been as sporadic as advertised.
But if all this isn’t enough to worry Giants’ fans, take a look at this harrowing stat: entering Wednesday’s series finale with the Rockies, the Giants were 3 for their last 40 with runners in scoring positions. 3-40 (Editor’s Note: They went 1-7 with RISP on Wednesday, upping that to a whopping 4-47!). Yep, you read that right. Much of that falls on Buster Posey whose lackluster start (.219 batting average and just two extra base hits so far), but he can’t be blamed for all 37 outs with runners in scoring position.
If there is any bright spot so far this season it has been Nori Aoki’s hot start and the surprising Chris Heston. Aoki’s OBP is at .478 through 10 games, while Chris Heston is sporting a 0.69 ERA and 1.08 WHIP through two starts (although he’s 1-1 thanks to a lack of offensive support). Sure Angel Pagan has had a nice start as well (.361/.425/.528), but it seems only a matter of time before he goes to the DL again as he always does. Aside from those three however, there hasn’t been much to talk about in San Francisco thus far.
The Giants’ current play doesn’t suggest they have any hope of competing in 2015. It would take a very strong return from Matt Cain and Hunter Pence for this team to make much noise in the NL West, on top of the current roster stepping up their play. It’s obviously still very early in the season, but for those who believe in the ‘odd-year/even-year’ Giants “curse” of sorts, 2015 seems to be following suit.
