Winning a major baseball award is typically a big step towards fame, riches and potentially a place in the MLB Hall of Fame. But not every MVP, ROY, Cy Young or Rolaids Relief award winner is destined for greatness. Some of them simply become trade bait.
With the baseball off-season wrapping up and Spring Training just around the corner, here’s a look at 10 major award winners who could be changing teams this year.
When pitchers and catchers report next month, the San Francisco Giants will still be world champions. And they will still be the defending champs for at least the next 11 months, which is comforting for all of us Giants fans.
The front office has done their part to try and keep it that way in 2011, and with the exception of the heart-wrenching, bile-inducing, loyalty-destroying defection of Juan Uribe to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the roster that got the Giants to the playoffs will look very much the same as it did in 2010.
One part (the main part) of the team that got the Giants to the pinnacle of the baseball world was another outstanding year from the starting rotation. Granted, there were no brilliant standout performances like those Tim Lincecum produced when he garnered back-to-back Cy Young awards,but the consistency and quality up and down the rotation was remarkable.
The lowest ERA on the staff belonged to the rookie, Madison Bumgarner (3.00). The highest, to the oldest member of the staff, Barry Zito (4.15). The average ERA of that starting rotation was a highly respectable 3.35, and the fact that everyone was fairly consistent in this case meant that the Giants were always within reach of winning the game.
However, not one of the Giants’ front four starters missed a start due to injury. Each one of them pitched an identical 33 games. Madison Bumgarner took over for Todd Wellemeyer after his injury, but didn’t miss any games for the rest of the season (or postseason, for that matter).
And even though San Francisco didn’t carry Barry Zito on any of the postseason rosters, his second-half collapse cannot be discounted. Basically, the Giants were very lucky, and to expect another season of injury-free starters isn’t exactly ridiculous, but careless.
Over the years, the Giants have had a bevy of pitching prospects waiting in the wings. More often than not, they were traded away in the Sabean days pre-dating the current prospect boom (more to come on that). Yet now it comes to pass that they’re all here in the majors, making up 80 percent of the starting rotation.
There were the dark days of the fifth starter, when the fifth day was split between Brad Hennessey, Dustin Hermanson, Chad Zerbe, Ryan Jensen, Pat Misch, Kevin Correia and others, and when every few days a win was an amazing feat, and was usually due to the bullpen and some late-inning heroics.
Those were not good times.
Remember when Jonathan Sanchez was a swingman/emergency starter out of the bullpen? He’s now the No. 4. And when Tim Lincecum was a rookie phenom? He’s the ace. And remember when we were all itching for the day that Bumgarner would have a chance to crack the already stacked rotation?Well, he did.
And remember when Barry Zito was under contract until 2035? Me too.
The truth is, there’s no longer anyone waiting in the wings in case something happens. That’s not to say that the Giants are without legitimate pitching prospects. Not at all. They’re just all down in the lower minors, and none of them have the kind of experience needed to hop into an emergency role.
Gone is Kevin Pucetas, who was competing with Wellemeyer during spring training last year. Gone is Eric Hacker, who has spent seven years in the minors but recently signed on with the Twins. Denny Bautista had experience as a starter but is also gone. Joe Martinez and Ryan Sadowski aren’t around anymore.
Dan Runzler has apparently been working on being a starter. With Javier Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt already presenting a southpaw-heavy bullpen, this might be his way to stick with the major league club.
There are still some free-agent starters out there, but I would prefer that the Giants find someone low risk, high reward, who is comfortable with a minor league deal but who can still perform against major league hitting.
The market for such a starter will clear up in the weeks leading up to spring training as clubs start making cuts.
Again, all five of the Giants starters have a pretty solid track record when it comes to injuries. But you never know, anything can happen. Just ask Stephen Strasburg.
And the Giants have to be prepared.
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In 2007, Bruce Bochy became the Giants’ manager. In that season, the team won 71 games and finished last in their division. In each season since then, the Giants have improved their win-loss record while finishing higher in the division.
Four years ago the Giants were a mess. They were old, they were brittle, and they were overshadowed by Barry Bonds’ tainted journey to a record nobody outside of the bay really wanted to see broken.
In 2007, the Giants extensively used Ryan Klesko, a then 36-year-old veteran. In 116 games, he hit only six home runs while batting .260. Also, at first was Rich Aurilia, who barely mustered an OBP over .300.
Then you had Dave Roberts, then 35, in centerfield. Like Klesko, he managed to hit .260 while making $5 million that year. In addition, Omar Vizquel was the starting shortstop, but even at age 40, it’s hard to throw him aside. Though his offense was well below average, his defense was strong enough that he could have been an asset had there been solid hitters surrounding him in the lineup. There weren’t.
The Giants’ average age was 33.1 in 2007, and no starting position player was under the age of 32. Fast forward to 2010, and the Giants’ average age fell to 29.6 with no starting position player over the age of 33.
In those three years, the Giants became younger and stronger.
Their homerun total rose from 131 to 162 with a 21 point increase in OPS. In 2007, the Giants were last in the National League in slugging percentage and OPS. They were sixth and eighth this past season, respectively.
Even though the Giants’ offense was not intimidating even this last year, upgrades were made to be competitive. Then their pitching, the strength of the 2007 team, took an even bigger step forward in the three years after.
Back in Tim Lincecum’s rookie year, the Giants had three starters with an ERA of 4.00 or below (Matt Cain, Noah Lowry, Lincecum), and only Cain threw more than 200 innings. The team ERA of 4.19 was good enough for fifth in the NL, yet the offense held the Giants to their 71 wins.
This past season, the Giants jumped to the league lead in ERA at 3.36, and four of the Giant starters not only had an ERA below 4.00, but also below 3.50.
Since Bruce Bochy arrived in San Francisco, the Giants have literally gone from worst in the division to first. This cannot be attributed solely to Bochy, or GM Brian Sabean, but to a new movement in the organization.
Since the start of the 2007 season, the Giants have drafted Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey, two key pieces of last October’s memorable run. Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez improved in that same time span, though Zito has more or less remained stagnant in his San Francisco career.
You won’t see Ryan Klesko hogging up a spot in the middle of the order or Dave Roberts at the top of the lineup. The Giants have learned to avoid bloated contracts that handcuff the organization. The only exception is the deal to sign Barry Zito, which, surprise, occurred before the 2007 season.
Since that Barry Zito deal, the only truly awful contract has been given to Aaron Rowand, but even his $60 million deal appears cheap compared to other regrettable contracts (think Alfonso Soriano).
If anything, the Giants have found a way to play around the contracts of Zito and Rowand. Rowand’s contract lasts for only two more years, with Zito lasting three more. Once that money is taken off the books, the Giants will be able to lock in their younger, more reliable players including Buster Posey, Lincecum, Cain, and other young studs.
The starting lineup is now built around young stars in Posey, and yes, Pablo Sandoval too. Brandon Belt is projected to arrive in San Francisco next summer, and the rest of the lineup complements the growth of these young hitters.
Still, the biggest upgrade has been in the pitching department. Much has been made of the Giants’ homegrown success on the mound, and it cannot be understated.
With a stronger farm system and the foresight not to get locked into unreasonable free agent contracts, the Giants have discovered their own little way to win. It’s that simple.
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I thought I’d take a look at which players had the best decade in several key areas of the game. I don’t really care who hit the most homers or had the highest batting average.
While those statistics are useful, they are talked about a bit too much at the expense of some others. So let’s take a look at some other things.
Note: my decade doesn’t include 2000.
We all know about the saga of the fifth wheel: the unnecessary adjunct that comes along for the ride without contributing much, if anything. When talking about the San Francisco Giants, two prominent and obvious fifth wheels come immediately to mind—Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand.
Both players have struggled mightily during their years wearing the orange and black, and neither has made contributions even remotely close to what was expected given their hefty contracts. Combined, the two will draw salaries of well over $30 million in 2011—meaning that more than a quarter of the Giants‘ payroll is devoted to just two players.
That might fly in the case of players that management can count on for All-Star performances, but given the woeful statistics of both Zito and Rowand over the past few seasons, everyone would have to agree that they’re currently two of the most overpaid players in Major League Baseball today.
So much for the negatives. Because, in fact, once people get over the huge contracts—not an easy thing to do, admittedly—there remains a substantial amount of value that Zito and Rowand bring to the party.
Zito first. During his tenure with the Giants, Barry has been a mere shadow of the Cy Young award-winning pitcher who was so effective for the Oakland A’s. Only the second half of the 2009 season and the first half of 2010 can be pointed to as reasonable returns on investment, and Zito slumped considerably during the latter half of last year, making minimal contributions to the team’s stretch run and World Series victory.
Indeed, he didn’t even make the postseason roster.
But is there a more effective fifth starter in the game today? The fact remains that Zito is an inning-eater who has never been hurt nor missed a start in his major league career. I’ve never been a big fan of so-called “inning eaters” who nonetheless sport shabby won-lost records at the top of the rotation.
But for a fifth starter? Most teams are challenged to throw out a warm body in that position, and can only hope for a win if that starter goes against another team’s fifth pitcher or benefits from an offensive explosion. Even as a sub-.500 pitcher, Zito gives the Giants a chance to win every time he pitches.
More important, the team can count on him to pitch enough innings to really make a difference in terms of a rested bullpen as the season wears on. If you’re forced to go to the pen early and often in the fifth spot throughout the year, that usually spells trouble in September, when the pen has to be rested and ready for the stretch run.
One other factor matters here. It’s not impossible to expect Zito to bounce back and regain some, if not all, of his form, and that’s because of the kind of pitcher he is. Power pitchers tend to lose their effectiveness as they age, but Zito has never been even close to a power pitcher. Even at his best, he couldn’t break a pane of glass with his fastball.
We’ve all seen lefties with good breaking pitches and control who have lasted a long time and gotten a second wind late in their careers. Perhaps this will happen to Zito: With his contract, he’ll certainly get the chance.
Now on to Rowand, another fifth wheel/fifth outfielder. It would appear that his best days are behind him, and any fan cringes at the thought of his waving fruitlessly at another low and outside slider in the dirt. We offer no defense for that. But it should be noted that Rowand is an excellent center fielder with fine range, good instincts and an accurate arm.
The defense gives away nothing with him in center, and it must be assumed that he would be more than capable filling in at any of the other two outfield spots. Add to that the fact that he does have some power—more than is usually found in a reserve outfielder—has the ability to get hot for spurts, and does indeed contribute at times, as he did in the postseason when called upon.
Most fifth outfielders are distinct role players who bring either speed or defense to a team, but little else. And while Rowand may not be capable of putting up the numbers ideally associated with an everyday player, those numbers and capabilities look attractive in a bench player, giving the team added depth and flexibility.
It should also be noted that both Zito and Rowand are generally considered to be strong clubhouse presences and all-around “team” guys. Zito took his postseason demotion with class and closed lips, while Rowand never once hung his head, despite being relegated to the bench for long periods of time during the season.
Chemistry really mattered to the 2010 Giants, and these two players contributed to that dynamic—instead of being the whining distractions so many other players would have become had they fallen on similar fates.
Yes, the contract numbers don’t add up, and the on-the-field numbers don’t look like much for both Zito and Rowand when compared to everyday players and stars. But when you’re talking about two valuable fifth wheels, Giant fans should count their blessings to have two such capable spare tires in the team’s trunk.
Expensive rubber, you may say? No doubt. But who wouldn’t pay extra for another parade down Market Street—especially when it’s not your money.
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In 2010, the San Francisco Giants won the World Series with a top-of-the-line rotation featuring four great starting pitchers, including two-time Cy Young-winner “big time Timmy Jim” Lincecum and his 231 strikeouts.
Each member of the Giants fab four have an ERA in the threes with Lincecum and Sanchez recording over 200 strikeouts.
Madison Bumgarner has emerged as the Cole Hamels of their staff with a 3.00 ERA in 18 starts.
Speaking of Cole Hamels, the Philadelphia Phillies have become a force in the National League with their version of the fab four, just with bigger names: Roy Halladay vs. Tim Lincecum, Cliff Lee vs. Matt Cain, Roy Oswalt vs. Jonathan Sanchez and Cole Hamels vs. Madison Bumgarner.
That leaves former ace Barry Zito.
Zito’s move to the National League hasn’t been good for him lately and he hasn’t matched his 16-win total that he had in his last year in the American League with the Oakland Athletics. He did, however, post a decent first half which had many believe that he was back to his old self.
But sadly, things went completely south in the second half, in which he won one start after the All-Star break.
But there is still hope for Zito. Being in the fifth spot will only benefit him. And he will have to be somewhat close to his old ace self if the Giants are to have an advantage over the Philadelphia Phillies.
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MLB free agency is here, and every season, teams shell out millions upon millions of dollars in an attempt to bolster their rosters for the upcoming season.
However, many times the players do not pan out, and from time to time, a signing goes so terribly wrong that years later, a simple mention of the players name will no doubt evoke groans from the team’s fan base.
What follows are the 50 worst signings in the history of baseball, although I only included players who joined new teams when signing their deals, so there will be no Darren Dreifort or Vernon Wells on this list.
Without further ado, here are the 50 worst signings in the history of baseball.
The San Diego Padres have been a thorn in the Giants side all year.
With the exception of the Giants winning three out of four against the Padres in San Diego last month, the Padres have an 8-2 record against the Giants in the other 10 games.
That’s why it’s not enough to just win the division and sit back while Atlanta drops three straight to the Phillies; letting the Padres sneak in as a wild card against a resting Giants.
The Giants must bring their A-game the last two games even if the division is already theirs.
Bay Area sports fans can all remember that one year this century that the Golden State Warriors made the playoffs.
That was a miracle in its own right and the magic continued when the Warriors won a six-game series against the heavily-favored No. 1 seed Dallas Mavericks who were coming off an NBA Finals loss to the Miami Heat a year earlier with the mantra, “Unfinished Business.”
Where the Mavericks went wrong and where the San Francisco Giants must go right is that with three or so games left in the regular season, the Mavericks faced the Warriors who were fighting for the last playoff spot with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Dallas rested their top players pretty much the whole game, and the Warriors won the game and the last playoff spot by one game over a furious Los Angeles Clippers club who owned the tiebreaker against the Warriors in the standings.
A couple weeks later the Warriors are sending the Mavericks home packing early from the playoffs.
Unfinished business indeed.
The Padres are currently a game behind the Braves with two games to play.
The Braves are playing the Phillies who would like nothing more than to see their division rival Atlanta Braves miss the playoffs by their own hands in the most disheartening of fashions.
The beautiful thing about this is that if the Giants are going to eliminate the San Diego Padres on their own, then it’s going to come down to the last game of the season where Jonathan Sanchez closes out the regular season for the G-Men.
Sanchez, for some reason, opened up his big mouth after he lost a game earlier this year just before a three game series with the Padres predicting a sweep and never looking back.
Well here we are with two games left to play and the Giants still don’t own the division and the ball will be in Sanchez’s as he either pitches Sunday to either win the West for the Giants or send the Padres home for some October surfing.
Barry Zito pitches Saturday in a game which will determine which one of those two things Sanchez will be pitching for—assuming a Braves loss.
The beautiful thing is, either we get to see the Giants eliminate a team that has owned them this year or we get to see a trash-talking Sanchez get a big slice of humble pie.
Either way, this will be an exciting weekend.
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Don’t ask. It’s a bad idea.
The only reason the suggestion even need be entertained is because it’s already been put forward. People who over-analyze everything and think they know which of the final six games of the season will be most important are calling for the Giants to pull Barry Zito from the starting rotation and get Tim Lincecum two starts this week.
Some folks want manager Bruce Bochy to start the final week of the season by virtually announcing that Sunday’s regular season finale against the Padres will be for all of the playoff marbles—thus, he absolutely needs Lincecum to pitch it.
Thank heavens panic-driven keyboard jockeys or armchair pitching coaches aren’t calling the shots for San Francisco.
The Giants shouldn’t alter their starting rotation in the final week of the season in order to get Lincecum two starts, including one on Sunday.
Monday’s off day gives the Giants the opportunity to rejigger the rotation to pitch Lincecum on regular rest Wednesday against the Diamondbacks, then again on Sunday against the Padres to end the season. It also allows them to keep Zito from starting even one of the regular season’s final six games.
The Giants have a young pitching staff that has bounced back from a horrible August. Fans insisting that Lincecum pitch Wednesday so that he can pitch again on short rest Sunday are assuming they know that the NL West race will come down to the last day of the regular season. They’re also forgetting how poorly an apparently worn-out Lincecum pitched in August.
Lincecum’s on track and he’s pitching as well as he ever has. So, fans who believe that a sure-thing exists in the final week of the season are better off agreeing that Lincecum should pitch Wednesday against the Diamondbacks when his regular spot in the rotation comes around.
There are no sure things in the National League playoff race, obviously, but one can reasonably expect a strong outing by Lincecum against Arizona on Wednesday.
Mess around with the rotation to get Lincecum an extra start and suddenly the Giants are taking a starting rotation that has carried them to first place with six games left and turning it into a panic-induced hodge podge.
Jonathan Sanchez starts on Tuesday against the Diamondbacks, followed by Madison Bumgarner on Wednesday. Lincecum is due to start on Thursday. That leaves Matt Cain to open the San Diego series, followed by Zito on Saturday and Sanchez on Sunday.
The case can be made for keeping Zito out of the rotation, sure. But, that would be to overlook that the veteran left-hander has come within one out of three quality starts in his last four outings.
Quality starts? Zito? Three in his last four games?
Yep. A quality start only requires that a starter pitch six innings and give up three runs or fewer.
Zito got hit around in Saturday’s loss to Colorado—that turned out to be a game the Giants should’ve won long after he was gone. Before that, though, Zito gave up two runs in six innings against the Brewers and just one unearned run in 5 2/3 in a 1-0 loss to the Dodgers. The lefty gave up two runs in six innings in a 3-1 loss to the Diamondbacks on Sept. 8. In fact, Zito struck out seven and walked just three versus Arizona.
Take a deep breath and admit that the Giants should’ve won Zito’s start against the Rockies. And, really, could’ve won with two measly runs when he faced the Dodgers. Wins in those games and, all of a sudden, nobody’s talking about re-working the rotation right now.
No one really wants the Giants’ playoff fate to come down to Lincecum pitching on three days rest on Sunday. At least, no one in their right mind wants it to come to that. The fear that Zito will pitch poorly on Wednesday and that Sanchez will wind up pitching with a playoff spot on the line Sunday is what drives the notion to move Lincecum up one game to start on Thursday.
Oh, fans are also hoping Bochy is planning to manage for seven shutout innings from just four starters in every game this week.
Insane.
The guy’s a big league manager and he’s going to manage under the assumption that the Giants will score runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday—enough, at least, that three well-pitched games will enable the club to sweep Arizona and keep the pressure on San Diego.
Then, Bochy will count on his team getting another strong performance from Cain against the Padres on Friday, followed by the club scoring enough runs Saturday and Sunday so that solid outings by Zito and Sanchez will vault the Giants into the playoffs. (It’ll be all hands on deck Sunday if the playoff spot is on the line, so Sanchez will have every starter waiting to work if he or the bullpen needs help.)
It wasn’t that long ago that some of the folks calling for Lincecum to pitch twice this week, once on three days rest, were saying he was done. Finished. Kaput.
They were even suggesting he rework his offseason conditioning program because, after that horrid August, it was clear that the two-time Cy Young winner needs to be stronger to pitch better down the stretch.
Now, those same people want Lincecum to pitch Wednesday, just so he can hump up and trot out again on Sunday in what they seem oddly certain will be a must-win game against San Diego?
When a pitcher is pitching as well as Lincecum is, the last thing he needs is to have his schedule changed. Can he pitch on regular rest Wednesday and, in theory, pitch well on short rest Sunday? Yeah, sure.
Can Bochy be certain that Lincecum won’t pitch eight shutout innings and lose 1-0 when the bullpen yields an unearned run on Wednesday? No. If that were to happen and the Padres were to win on Wednesday, it would only increase the chances that the Giants entire season will rest on what happens on Sunday.
Big league managers in Bochy‘s position plan to make the next game a must-win affair. There’s no more important game on the schedule than Tuesday’s against Arizona.
It’s foolish to think that the Giants can plan to earn a playoff spot by getting optimum performances from Sanchez, Bumgarner, Lincecum, and Cain in the final six games of the seasons. They might get six great starts from those four…or they might need six runs to even stay in the game on Thursday or Friday.
Build the rotation solely to get to a one-game season with Lincecum on three days rest on Sunday and the Giants are begging to find their season rest on the shoulders of Ramon Ramirez, Dan Runzler, or Santiago Casilla…on the season’s final day.
Do the Giants want Zito and, at some point, the bullpen on Wednesday against the Diamondbacks?
Or, do they want to risk the chance that the Giants’ fate will be determined on the last day of the season and rely on Lincecum, on short rest, and the bullpen against the Padres?
The five guys in the starting rotation have gotten this team to the brink of a playoff spot. Bochy‘s done a pretty nice job ignoring the media and fans who keep insisting he’s a bonehead who just happens to have his club in first place.
Bochy should expect the Padres to open play Tuesday tied with his club for the NL West lead. Then, he should manage to win on Tuesday and Wednesday—while, maybe, the Padres are losing two straight. That would put the Giants up by two games with four to play.
There’s as much chance that the Giants, or Padres, will enter the final series three games behind with three games to play as there is that the season will come down to Sunday, right?
Thursday’s game against Arizona is a thousand miles away. Only someone who doesn’t pay close attention to how the unexpected is the norm in a baseball playoff race can even see Sunday from here.
Stay with the rotation that’s gotten the Giants to this point—and count on the offense and the bullpen that’s done enough to put the Giants on the brink of a playoff spot.
Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com.
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The saying goes good pitching beats good hitting. It’s actually more than a saying. It’s a reality. If you have a dominant pitcher on his game, there is not a hitter on the planet that can hit him.
Painting the black. Hitting your spots. Changing speeds.
It is something the Giants pitching staff has done very well for the past 18 games. They have not allowed more than three runs in a game since September 4.
No pitching staff in the modern age has put together a better stretch. In fact only two other teams since 1900 have put together such a stretch, the 1916 New York Giants (19) and the 1917 Chicago White Sox (20).
This means every man from the ace of the staff to the last bullpen guy is getting the job done. Every last pitcher is hitting on all cylinders.
In September, the Giants have a team ERA of 1.44 with a WHIP of 0.82. The starting staff has a combined ERA of 1.85, and the bullpen has given up two runs in 51 innings. That comes out to a 0.35 ERA.
With all of this recent September success, a question remains: Can this continue into the postseason? Can the Giants pitching staff ride this momentum into October and make an impact?
October baseball has always been about strong pitching and clutch hitting. Let’s focus on the pitching.
The type of guys that usually flourish in the postseason are hard-throwing control pitchers. It so happens the Giants have those. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez provide that in the rotation.
All these guys can get the strikeout if needed and have proven so. Sanchez and Lincecum will have over 200 strikeouts this season. Cain is currently at 165, but as Giants fans have seen, when he needs one, he can get one.
Santiago Casilla, Dan Runzler, and Brian Wilson provide that out of the bullpen. Hard to argue with guys who throw in the mid-to-high 90s.
In fact, if you were to go back through the Giants’ history and look at past pitching staffs, this could be the best pitching staff the San Francisco Giants have ever had.
Are there individual exceptions? Yes, but there has not been an entire staff that has dealt in the team’s history.
Think about any of the pitching staffs of the 90s and early 2000s…pitching wasn’t that trustworthy.
Think back to the 1989 team. Why did they lose the World Series to the Athletics?
Oh, right. Steroids…I mean lack of pitching.
From beginning to end, it is tough to find a weakness in the pitching staff. In the playoffs, though, it is about matchups.
If the playoffs were to start today, San Francisco would be hosting the Cincinnati Reds.
Playoff experience will be a wash in the series. The Reds have not been to the playoffs since the 1990s, and the Giants not since 2003.
There are key guys who have been there before (i.e. Scott Rolen, Barry Zito, Juan Uribe) but the teams as a whole will be in for a new experience.
The Giants are 4-3 against the Reds this season. They split their first series in Cincinnati and took two out of three in San Francisco.
The series in San Francisco was the worst the pitching staff had looked all season. It was the middle of August and the starting pitching was falling apart. Lincecum could not buy a win. Zito looked like the 2007 version of himself. Hitting off Madison Bumgarner was like hitting off of a tee.
But there was one guy who the Reds could not figure out. That person was Cain. In his two starts, he allowed two runs in 17 innings (two wins).
Tim Lincecum did not face the Reds this season.
In a short series, the Giants arms could neutralize the Reds bats. The difference could be the type of player Joey Votto turns into come October.
Cain might be the person you start twice in this series (if necessary). Recent success should have much to do with that decision.
A four-man rotation seems to make the most sense at this point. Roll with Lincecum, Sanchez, Cain, Zito. They have varying styles and having lefties in the rotation for teams like Philadelphia and Cincinnati is always helpful.
If the Giants pitching can keep up the torrid pace, they will be a team no offense will want to face.
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