The New Face of Torture

Giant Questions for 2013 and Beyond
by Justin Cheng 

Torture in 2010 looked a lot different than its current state. Following a three-game sweep at the hands of the Chicago Cubs, the feel-good memories of the 2012 playoffs and World Series are more than long gone. The world champions do not remotely look close to the team that swept the Detroit Tigers and face three huge questions for this season and beyond.


1)  Why are the Giants losing?

In the past three years, the Giants have masked their ineptitude on offense by playing stellar defense. In comparison, the 2013 Giants are 23rd in runs scored in all of baseball, and to boot, have made the most errors of any team in the National League. The Giants have had signature wins in each of their past three seasons and have had enormous amounts of momentum going into the stretch run. Brandon Belt's Bill Buckner impersonation on Friday night was just a summarization of how the Giants have been playing all year; earlier in the year when the Giants were scoring in bunches, the starting pitching did not play up to par, and now when the pitching has seen a glimmer of improvement, errors have absolutely destroyed any hope of putting together a series of wins.

2) What is up with the starting rotation?

The rise and fall of the Giants has been tied to their starting pitching. Aside from Madison Bumgarner and Chad Gaudin, the starting pitching has yet to find its groove and has not had a consistent bullpen to match. Coming off his first season in $127 million contract, staff ace, Matt Cain, has strung some good outings but will have the occasional six-run smashing, including a 0.2 inning performance against the Mets. Coming into this season, the Giants knew what to expect from Lincecum and Zito, but with Cain struggling and Vogelsong out since May, the Giants rotation has yet to fully recover, and they have a record that shows for it.

--Opinion--
The Giants' best Triple A arms, Mike Kickham and Eric Surkamp, have been blasted in their starts, and don't look ready to be reliable major league players. The Giants may have to look externally for some pitching help if they are going to salvage this season.    

3) Will Hunter Pence and Tim Lincecum be traded?

The Giants are in dire need of starting pitching with Zito, Lincecum, Gaudin, and Vogelsong ($6.5 million team option for 2014) not being under contract for next year. Pence and Lincecum both will become free agents and the end of the season, and their names have been thrown out in trade rumors for the better half of the last month. GM Brian Sabean has denied his willingness to trade either of these players, but these two are the biggest trade chips to potentially re-up for next season.

--Opinion--
Pence is the ultimate optimist and has said that he wants to stay with the club. It is not often that you find guys that can hit 20+ home runs with 100 RBIs, especially for the Giants. The farm system has not produced a good position player since Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval. I say that the Giants take a chance on his impending free-agency, banking that he stays true to his word. For goodness sake, he played on the Astros for four seasons. If anybody can stay with them for more than a week, I am going to bet my house that they are undyingly loyal.

Lincecum, on the other hand, may not have the same trade market value, seeing as he has struggled on his command for the past two seasons. However, there should be some teams that will fall in love with his résumé and attempt to convert him into a reliever. The Freak, albeit a very intricate part of the team, has not appeared to be able to live up to the expectations that he set for himself earlier in his career. If the Giants are able to get a big name prospect in return for Lincecum, it may be time to turn the page.

The Bayless Babbles is a sports blog is co-authored by UC Merced/ USC alumnus Justin Cheng and UC San Diego alumnus Brent Lee.

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