San Francisco Giants: A Post Full of Unbridled Optimism for 2018

Baseball season is so close that you can almost hear the crack of the bat in air, so let’s be unabashedly optimistic about the San Francisco Giants in 2018.

The San Francisco Giants’ first Cactus League game is three weeks away, and it’s time to start getting excited about baseball again. If optimism is your thing, there’s plenty of reasons to believe that 2018 will be a much better year for San Francisco.

This is going to be a post full of unbridled optimism. There will be no holding back on this train of positivity. If that’s not your thing, please exit the train at your earliest convenience. If you’re here for it, let’s ride and realize the power of positivity.

The Giants’ front office went out this offseason, worked hard, and diligently acquired a number of pieces that will improve the Giants in 2018. Adding big time players like Evan Longoria and Andrew McCutchen, as well as a nice role player in Austin Jackson, makes the team so much better than the team that ended the 2017 team.

Longoria is coming off a subpar season by his standards, but compared to Giants’ third basemen last year, it looks like an MVP-caliber year. At the hot corner, the Giants were dead last in baseball in combined WAR (-1.8), dead last in wRC+ (64), and 27th in home runs (19). Longoria alone was worth 3.6 WAR, a 96 wRC+, and hit 20 home runs. If he can post similar numbers next year, or exceed them to get closer to his production from years prior, it’s a massive upgrade.

Just to continue the thought of how bad things were at third base last year, it wasn’t very good on the defensive side either. They finished 18th with -2 defensive runs saved and 19th with a -1.7 UZR. Longoria, on the other hand, finished with 11 DRS and a 3.2 UZR en route to winning his third Gold Glove. Longoria will combine with a Gold Glove-winning shortstop in Brandon Crawford, a Gold Glove-winning second baseman in Joe Panik, and a guy who deserves more Gold Glove consideration in Brandon Belt to form one of, if not the best defensive infield in baseball.

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McCutchen is coming off a strong year with the bat, bouncing back from an atypical season in 2016. He hit 30 doubles and 28 home runs while posting a 122 wRC+ and 3.7 oWAR. If we go on the logic that McCutchen is replacing left field production because that’s the position that’s being fully displaced with his addition, it’s another huge upgrade in the lineup. Giants’ left fielders were 30th in WAR (-1.5), 29th in wRC+ (68), and 29th in home runs (14).

(Even if McCutchen isn’t an All-Star, how cool is it going to be to watch him in a Giants’ uniform? One of baseball’s best players and greatest ‘good guys’ is a Giant!)

In the middle of the outfield, there will be a massive defensive upgrade no matter who plays the position. Denard Span was the worst defensive center fielder in baseball last season, and it will be better in 2018 whether it’s Jackson, Gorkys Hernandez, Gregor Blanco, Steven Duggar, or someone else out there.

And that upgrade on defense is going to help the pitching staff. Giants’ pitchers were hurt time and time again by the lack of range in center field, keeping innings alive and allowing opposing lineups to put up some crooked numbers. Guys like Mark Melancon (whose ERA was nearly 1.3 points higher than his FIP) and Jeff Samardzija (ERA nearly a full run higher than FIP) will certainly be grateful for a guy out there who can chase them down.

Getting Melancon back after having his arm issues cleared up, plus having Will Smith return from Tommy John surgery, will make the backend of the bullpen that much better. Melancon wasn’t great in his first year with the Giants, but still has an excellent track record. Smith was supposed to be one of the primary setup men in 2017, but never saw a regular season game. Having those two back to nail down the late innings will make life so much easier on Bruce Bochy.

And in that same vein, there’s absolutely no way the team’s luck can be as bad as it was last season. Madison Bumgarner won’t be riding dirt-bikes on an off-day. Johnny Cueto won’t have every conceivable issue pop up from the very beginning of Spring Training. Crawford won’t have so many off-field issues impacting his family away from the ballpark. Belt won’t get hit in the head YET AGAIN and will be allowed to finally reach his power potential over a full season.

Despite the consistently low rankings, there will be prospects who make an impact in 2018. Chris Shaw will be up, likely sooner rather than later, as will Duggar, and both will get a chance to prove themselves at the highest level. Maybe Duggar has a great Spring and is out there on Opening Day. Young pitchers like Tyler Beede and Andrew Suarez will compete for a spot in the backend of the rotation. Relievers like Reyes Moronta and D.J. Snelten will get the chance to earn their spots in the bullpen.

Even the bench doesn’t look as bad as it has in recent years. Within the many competitions for limited sports, there’s an interesting mixture of guys with power (Pablo Sandoval, Jarrett Parker), guys with speed (Alen Hanson, Hernandez, Blanco), and guys who provide defensive versatility (Hanson, Josh Rutledge). Having Nick Hundley back as a clubhouse leader and secondary catcher is another big positive.

Things don’t look half bad for the team coming off their worst season in a long time. They will definitely be a much better ballclub, and wildcard contention is certainly a realistic possibility.

Next: Giants Need Moronta to Step Up

I know how unlikely it is that all of these things will happen, and am not saying that they will. But sometimes, it’s nice to put doubts aside and think of best case scenarios. Therapeutic, even. Push all that negativity to the side and think of all the good things that can happen, instead of the bad. It felt pretty nice doing so.

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