The San Francisco Giants have had enough of BALCO and steroids and have understandably not brought back Barry Bonds. The problem? What's left of their offense is the shittiest in the league. The Giants are a collection of veterans on the downward side of their career. If they do not finish last in the NL in run production I will be surprised. If they do not finish amongst the last few teams in run production I will be shocked.
So let's take a look at their putrid starting lineup. All players ranked in order according to their VORP, which stands for Value Over Replacement Player. I'm not going to go over exactly how it's calculated, cause well I don't know.
Center Field Aaron Rowand (52.0): Aaron Rowand was a 'big' free agent acquisition. He will 'fill' Barry Bonds spot in the line up. He's also coming off a career season helped by the Phillies potent line up as well as their band box ball park. Surrounded by a miserable lineup in a much more pitcher friendly ball park, there's no way Rowand puts up the same numbers. Rowand is only 30 so he's not following apart.
Right Field Randy Winn (26.4): Randy Winn is a 33 year solid but unspectacular player. He hits decent, he has some power and he has some speed. He would be a good starter on almost every MLB team. But when he's your second best player, you are screwed.
Catcher Bengie Molina (14.4): Bengie is actually a better offensive player than defensive player at this point of his career. The problem is he is over weight and takes mroe games off than the typical upper echelon catcher. He's additionally 33 and not in great shape. So a downturn is probably on the way.
Left Field Dave Roberts (8.6): A 35 year old slap hitting out fielder. Really nothing will ever excite you about Dave Roberts.
First Base Dan Ortmeier (6.1): Dan Ortmeier is a 26 year old who will most likely be given his first opportunity as a Major League starter. Unfortunately he's not
Third Base Rich Aurilia (-4.7): The 36 year old had a few decent rejuvenating seasons with Reds, but last year he returned to his piss poor status hitting 5 home runs in 329 at bats.
Shortstop Omar Vizquel (-9.1): He's a 40 year old with absolutely no power any more and is now very limited as a hitter. The Giants can do better than having Omar continuing to man SS and perhaps fortunately for them Vizquel had surgery today and will be out the start of the year.
Second Base Ray Durham (-10.5): Ray Durham was often Barry Bonds protection. Well Baseball Prospectus ranks 1018 players from the 2007 season in VORP. Ray Durham finished 1000. That's bad.
The Giants are going to have a very very very bad offense this year. Good thing they got rid of that headache Barry Bonds.
So let's take a look at their putrid starting lineup. All players ranked in order according to their VORP, which stands for Value Over Replacement Player. I'm not going to go over exactly how it's calculated, cause well I don't know.
Center Field Aaron Rowand (52.0): Aaron Rowand was a 'big' free agent acquisition. He will 'fill' Barry Bonds spot in the line up. He's also coming off a career season helped by the Phillies potent line up as well as their band box ball park. Surrounded by a miserable lineup in a much more pitcher friendly ball park, there's no way Rowand puts up the same numbers. Rowand is only 30 so he's not following apart.Right Field Randy Winn (26.4): Randy Winn is a 33 year solid but unspectacular player. He hits decent, he has some power and he has some speed. He would be a good starter on almost every MLB team. But when he's your second best player, you are screwed.
Catcher Bengie Molina (14.4): Bengie is actually a better offensive player than defensive player at this point of his career. The problem is he is over weight and takes mroe games off than the typical upper echelon catcher. He's additionally 33 and not in great shape. So a downturn is probably on the way.
Left Field Dave Roberts (8.6): A 35 year old slap hitting out fielder. Really nothing will ever excite you about Dave Roberts.
First Base Dan Ortmeier (6.1): Dan Ortmeier is a 26 year old who will most likely be given his first opportunity as a Major League starter. Unfortunately he's not
Third Base Rich Aurilia (-4.7): The 36 year old had a few decent rejuvenating seasons with Reds, but last year he returned to his piss poor status hitting 5 home runs in 329 at bats.
Shortstop Omar Vizquel (-9.1): He's a 40 year old with absolutely no power any more and is now very limited as a hitter. The Giants can do better than having Omar continuing to man SS and perhaps fortunately for them Vizquel had surgery today and will be out the start of the year.
Second Base Ray Durham (-10.5): Ray Durham was often Barry Bonds protection. Well Baseball Prospectus ranks 1018 players from the 2007 season in VORP. Ray Durham finished 1000. That's bad.
The Giants are going to have a very very very bad offense this year. Good thing they got rid of that headache Barry Bonds.
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