MLB Dirt

The reigning World Series winning San Francisco Giants team currently sits just half a game out of first place in the National League West. This is a team that won the World Series and only sent two representatives to the All-Star game last year. The Giants very well could make the playoffs again this year and they will, again, be lucky to even send two players to this year’s Mid-Summer Classic.

The offense has been, well, atrocious. They are dead last in the NL in wRC+ at 81 and second-to-last in wOBA at a ridiculously low .294. There is not a single player on the offensive side of the ball that could argue for a spot on the NL All-Star roster other than the injured Buster Posey who, in 185 plate appearances, still leads the team’s position players in fWAR at 1.6. But, he is injured and cannot play in the game anyway. By the way, please stop blaming Cody Ross.

Pablo Sandoval, who missed all of June due to injury, ranks second on the offensive side of the ball with 1.5 fWAR in only 126 PAs. With a weak and shallow third base in the NL this year I could see how one could try and make a case for Panda but he does not belong.

The best option, which has become the norm for this team, is to select someone from the starting rotation and Tim Lincecum is not only the star and face of the franchise but he has had the best season of any Giant so far. He currently leads the entire team in fWAR with 2.2 which is tied for the 9th best mark in the NL. He is closely followed by Matt Cain who has a 2.1 fWAR but does not beat Lincecum in any categories other than BB/9 and innings pitched and it’s by only a single inning. One could make an argument for Ryan Vogelsong and his 1.73 ERA but he only has 72.2 innings pitched and has been aided by luck with a low BABIP of .256  and an 85.6% Left-On-Base rate which is the second highest in the league. He has been worth 1.7 fWAR.

If I believed there was more room for relievers on the All-Star roster then the argument for adding Sergio Romo would be warranted. He has only pitched 23 innings but he has been lights out in those 23 innings and his 0.9 fWAR leads all team relievers. He has a ridiculous 14.09 K/9 and 9.00 K/BB ratio to go with his 2.35 ERA, 1.48 FIP, and 1.49 xFIP. But, I do not value relievers as high as others and three is enough for my All-Star roster.

So far, Lincecum has a 3.39 ERA but an even more impressive 3.02 FIP and 3.07 xFIP on the season. His K/9 of 9.24 is 4th best in the entire Major Leagues. He has the same HR/9 as Cain but a much higher groundball rate and Cain has had more luck on his side. So, for my roster, I will gladly take The Freak and know that there is a chance someone else may sneak onto the roster in the next week or so.

-Jonathan C. Mitchell can be found writing about the Tampa Bay Rays at DRaysBay and you can follow him on twitter at @FigureFilbert and follow MLBdirt at @MLBdirt

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis Tagged: | All-Star Game, Buster Posey, Cody Ross, Matt Cain, Pablo Sandoval, Ryan Vogelsong, San Francisco Giants, Sergio Romo, Tim Lincecum