Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY J.A. SCHWARTZ
The Giants won a franchise record 107 games in 2021, baffling pundits all season long as they outplayed their bitter rivals to the south to the National League West division title. Though they unseated Los Angeles atop the division for the first time since 2013, the Dodgers bounced the Giants from the playoffs in five games, ending a historic season with a heart wrenching defeat.
Carlos Rondon was the Giants biggest free-agent in the off-season. The 29-year old lefty had a career year in 2021, finishing fifth in AL Cy Young Award voting while fashioning a 13-5 record with a 2.37 ERA and throwing a no-hitter.
As the 2022 season dawns, San Francisco wants to ensure that they do everything possible to avoid a similar fate. General Manager Scott Harris and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi have been active on both sides of the lockout, signing or retaining nearly a full rotation of pitchers: Alex Cobb, Alex Wood, Carlos Rodon and Matthew Boyd. That group will augment top returning starters Logan Webb and Anthony deSclafani to provide the Giants with a veteran mound corps, though they lost Kevin Gausman, their ace in 2021, to the Blue Jays in free agency. The bullpen will return its top three members in Camilo Doval, Jake McGee and Tyler Rogers and hopes to provide reliable relief work, rounding out a pitching staff that finished last season second in the National League in ERA.
Skipper Gabe Kapler won the National League Manager of the Year Award, just the second Giants helmsman to claim that honor. Kapler helped coax career best offensive productivity out of the veteran core of his lineup, with Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Evan Longoria and Buster Posey each hitting at least 25% better than league average. That kind of batting prowess isn’t typical of players on the wrong side of 33, but hitting instructor Donnie Ecker provided each hitter with new approaches at the plate. For his sage efforts with the Giants hitters, Ecker was named the 2021 Major League Baseball Coach of the Year. Though Ecker was snatched up by Texas, the Giants retain Justin Viele from last year’s staff, and it will fall to Viele to recapture the magic that inhabited San Francisco bats in 2021.
Free-Agent acquisition Joc Pedersen is in search of his third straight World Series title after winning it all the past two years with the Dodgers and the Braves. The Palo Alto native was the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year.
Viele will have an advantage that Ecker did not: he won’t have to watch Giants pitchers bat. As a result of the new collective bargaining agreement, for the first time in history, the National League will adopt the designated hitter, and the Giants figure to utilize that slot to help keep its veteran players fresh rather than employ a regular DH. Recently signed outfielder Joc Pedersen will feature in that role against righties, while Darin Ruf will be in the lineup against left handed starters.
The Giants will have to break in a catcher for the first time since 2010. Franchise icon Buster Posey retired at the end of 2021, leaving the duties behind the plate to top prospect Joey Bart, who will be supported by veteran Curt Casali. It will be impossible to replicate the offensive prowess, game calling and leadership Posey provided, and the catching position is arguably the biggest concern for the 2022 squad.
Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford set career highs in all three triple crown categories last season, slugging 24 homers with 90 RBI’s while batting .298 on the way to a fourth place finish in the NL MVP race.
The rest of the lineup will look very similar to the 2021 version, with Belt at first, Tommy LaStella and Wilmer Flores splitting time at second, and Crawford and Longoria at short and third respectively, on most nights. The outfield will see Steven Duggar in center, flanked by breakout star LaMonte Wade Jr. in left and Mike Yastrzemski in right. The 2021 Giants scored 804 runs, second only to the Dodgers 830, and they led the National League in home runs with 241 and in slugging percentage at .440.
The Giants spent $172 million on their 2021 NL West Champions, good for ninth highest in the majors, but nearly a full $100 million less than the Dodgers. As of this writing, the Giants 2022 payroll is projected to be $140 million, just north of the league average of $124 million, and $90 million shy of Los Angeles, who just signed superstar Freddie Freeman away from the Atlanta Braves on a six-year, $162 million deal. The Giants proved last year that money isn’t the only determining factor when it comes to success, and they’ll have to hope that the gains made by their veteran hitters are sustainable if they want to defend their NL West title.
