Baseball Experts Really Don’t Like the Giants

In the Worldwide Leader’s annual act of making-so-many-predictions-you’re-probably-going-to-get-at-least-one-right, the panel of so-called experts made their picks for MLB division winners and World Series champions for the 2014 season. The Dodgers and the Nationals were the big winners, snagging eleven and twelve votes to win the World Series, respectively. The Giants…not so much.

Thirty-eight of the 44 total experts on the site picked the Dodgers to win the NL West, with three votes going to the Giants, two to the Diamondbacks, and ESPN.com’s Michael Knisley alone sticking his head out for the Padres. The Giants won a surprising 20 votes to win one of the wild card spots. In an unrelated-but-let’s-find-the-silver-lining connection, Pedro Gomez knows Barry Bonds pretty well, and picked the Giants after watching Bonds as a hitting coach this spring.  That’s basically a guarantee.

Just for laughs though, let’s look at how the experts did last year!  Continue reading →

Episode 113: Bonds is Such a Lohan

Episode 113: Bonds is Such a Lohan
In the hundred-and-thirteenth episode, Thomas and Danny discuss the 25-man roster, Panda’s impeding free agency, and the Fountainhead.

Click on the image below to find it on iTunes: 

You can also find it on the RSS feed, or by clicking on the play button below. We look forward to your feedback, either by commenting here on the blog, emailing us at giantspod@gmail.com, or our Twitter feed. Go Giants!

Giants and Brandon Belt avoid arbitration with one-year deal

The Joaquin Arias of first base. Photo by Bill Zarchy.

Photo by Bill Zarchy.

Giants first basemen Brandon Belt has an official 2014 salary, settling with the club for $2.9 million in his first year of arbitration. It took the 25-year-old flying down to Florida for his hearing before a deal was reached late Tuesday night.

The deal was expected, as the Giants haven’t had an arbitration case since 2004. The contract figure is slightly more than the midpoint of $2.82 million, as Belt asked for $3.6 million and the Giants offered $2.05 million.

Belt is a Super Two, having enough service time to jump his way into the arbitration process without playing a full three seasons. This cost the Giants a little over $2 million in the grand scheme of things, but Belt’s production has been more than enough to justify him being on the big-league roster for quite some time.

It still might behoove the Giants to seek a multi-year deal for Belt, who isn’t a free-agent until 2018. Last season was a coming-out party for the young first baseman, who clubbed 17 home runs and finished with a 142 OPS+. FanGraphs lists Belt’s 2013 season as the sixth best for any Major League first baseman, accruing 4.0 fWAAR.

The Braves’ Freddie Freeman — though eighteen months younger than Belt — is on a similar career path. Freeman’s 2013 OPS+ of 144 garnered him an All-Star spot and some MVP votes, and one of the larger contracts handed out to a pre-free agent player this off-season. Atlanta signed him to an eight-year, $135 million contract earlier this month.

Belt’s value — though not his park-adjusted OPS+ — may be hidden by the vastness of AT&T Park. The greatest stadium of all-time is playing as more of a pitcher’s park every season, depressing offensive totals in its confines. But even if park adjustments were completely mitigated, Belt would still a valuable commodity as the days of thumping first baseman creep farther into the distance.

The Giants would be smart to lock Belt up on a much cheaper deal than Freeman’s, giving a bit of cost certainty to what could be a perennial top-flight first baseman.