Player Evaluations

The season for the San Francisco Giants is now officially over as far as the playoffs go, the last series of the season is against the Colorado Rockies and the final games are meant more to maintain their dignity after a crushing series in Arizona against the Diamondbacks.  But now that the season is over, it's time for player evaluations and making the hard decisions of who to keep and who to dump.  This is the time where the GM is up all night, looking for ways to improve their team.  Here is an evaluation of the players that have played the biggest role for the Giants, as well as their contract position and what I think they should do with them.


Eli Whiteside (Catcher)
.204/.272/.320 with 4 HRs and 17 RBIs in 209 ABs
The slash line pretty much says it all, he is and will continue to be a backup catcher and when put into the spotlight of a starting catcher, he could not handle the workload.  Chris Stewart looks to be taking over Whiteside's job at catcher, having a very comparable offense and a much better at gunning out potential base stealers.
Verdict: Expendable (free agent)
Grade: C-


Aubrey Huff (1B)
.244/.304/.369 with 12 HRs and 59 RBIs in 520 ABs
There's no sugar-coating this one, Aubrey Huff had an awful season and did not come up to nearly the production one would be expecting from the first base position.  However, Huff has been know to have a pattern of one good season-one bad season and could have a bounce-back year next year.  But still, he looks to be losing his job to 27-year old prospect Brett Pill who has been performing admirably.
Verdict: Give him and a chance and if fails to produce bench him (10M for 2012)
Grade: F


Jeff Keppinger (2B)
.255/.286/.335 with 2 HR and 14 RBIs in 212 ABs
Jeff Keppinger, acquired near the trade deadline, has done a respectable job filling in for Freddy Sanchez and keeping the Giants afloat at the shortstop position as well as plugging in the gaping hole that was left at the 2-spot.
Verdict: Give him arbitration and assign his as a backup to Freddy Sanchez if anything was to happen to him or if Freddy can't make quite a quick recovery as he would like to.
Grade: B-


Brandon Crawford (SS)
.197/.279/.275 with 3 HRs and 20 RBIs in 193 ABs

Brandon Crawford, a midseason callup, is finishing the season as the starting shortstop and he is in there for one reason and one reason alone, defense.  Defensively, he is fantastic, absolutely capable of winning a Gold Glove someday.  But unfortunately, hitting hasn't come as easily to him, and he hits with little to no power.  
Verdict: Try to sign another SS during the offseason and develop Crawford behind him.
Grade: C-


Pablo Sandoval (3B)
.314/.357/.553 with 23 HRs and 70 RBIs in 423 ABs


 Ah, Pablo Sandoval, if there is any hope to be found within the Giants offense, it is present right here.  He has regained his incredible 2009 form and looks as if he's here to stay.  Sure, he's gained back much of the weight that he lost during the offense, but the quickness and strength seem to have remained and so as long as he keeps hitting, nobody's going to say a word.  He's due for arbitration and be sure that the Giants are going to give him a pretty penny.
Verdict: No-brainer, pay whatever you need to pay him in arbitration.
Grade: A+


Cody Ross (LF)

 .240/.325/.405 with 14 HRs and 52 RBIs in 405 ABs
Cody Ross, postseason hero and NLCS MVP, had an abysmal injury prone season.  It's really sad to see him perform this badly because obviously he is a really good person and a crowd favorite.  It's not rare to hear the crowd chanting "CODY CODY" at home games, heck, even at some away games.  But, it's hard to see the Giants resigning the 32 year-old free agent unless it's at least below 3 million.
Verdict: Resign him if you can get him for cheap, but other wise absolutely not.
Grade: D-


Andres Torres (OF)
.221/.312/.330 with 4 HRs and 19 RBIs in 348 ABs
It seems to be a reoccurring theme for the Giants, another player that had an awful season.  Andres Torres had a breakout season last year at the age of 33 and it looks like he was a flash in the pan as much as it hurts to say that.  Torres was the sparkplug leadoff guy with speed last season and this year he has been the exact opposite.  
Verdict: Time to cut ties with Torres.
Grade: D


Nate Schierholtz (OF)
.278/.326/.430 with 9 HRs and 41 RBIs in 335 ABs
Nate was one of the only Giants that had a season that was better than their career average, in fact it was somewhat of a breakout season.  Bochy has said that Nate Schierholtz has a starting spot in the outfield as of now, and it is well deserved after at first having a hard time getting at bats and then suffering from a major foot injury.  
Verdict: Keep him. Start him. Enjoy.
Grade: B+


Carlos Beltran (OF)
.323/.369/.551 with 7 HRs and 18 RBIs in 179 ABs.
The Giants traded their number one pitching prospect Zach Wheeler for Carlos Beltran, expecting him to do exactly what he ended up doing.  Unfortunately, the rest of the offense collapsed at it ended up being a two-man show between Sandoval and Beltran so they slipped out of the playoffs.  The bottom line is that Beltran can hit, both for power and average.  Although old, he's still a top-of-the-line free agent and a two-year contract would be good enough to milk him for what he has left in the tank at his age of 34.  
Verdict: There are going to be a lot of teams hunting for him, but the Giants should give him a reasonable offer and sure hope that he likes San Francisco.
Grade: A


Judging on these player evaluations, the Giants have a lot of holes to fill, including shortstop, centerfield, and either right or left field.  The vast majority of the Giants have had bad to terrible seasons and hopefully next year they will come out rejuvenated and at least get back to their career averages.  If the Giants are going to get to the playoffs next year, it will have to be on the back of the pitchers and the players that they have on the team right now because their payroll flexibility is not where they want it to be because they are tied up in huge contracts with players that are not helping the team at all or not even on the team.