The Giants Need to Build Their Roster Around Their Farm System

Quick, who are the top two pitchers on the Giants’ staff who possess the lowest Earned Run Average and own the most victories? The answer to that question of course is Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, who arguably form the best 1-2 punch in the league.

Quick, name the pitcher who threw the first no-hitter in the major leagues this season. The answer to this question is surprisingly Jonathan Sanchez, who stood on top of the baseball world after his legendary performance on the night of July 10 against the San Diego Padres.

Quick, who has been far and away the most prolific hitter in the Giants’ lineup? Pablo Sandoval earns the title of this position, as he has provided a spark to an otherwise hapless, overmatched offense. Sandoval leads the team in all three of the triple crown categories, which consist of batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.

What do all four of these players have in common? They are all homegrown talent, whom the Giants have built through the draft and developed through their farm system. In addition, these four players COMBINED cost the Giants less than $ 5.5 million. To put that into perspective, Barry Zito makes over $18 million annually, which is over THREE times what Sandoval, Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez combine to make. Unbelievable! Thus, the primary reason that the Giants, even though they are a fairly big market team, have continuously failed to reach the postseason over the last five years is because of their desire to pursue several expensive, overrated players who are well past their prime.

Between 2004 and 2007, which were Barry Bonds’s final four years of his illustrious and controversial career, the Giants signed several aging veterans in a last grasp attempt to win a championship with Bonds on the team. However, the team had absolutely no consideration for the future as they surrendered a majority of their top draft picks to pick up veteran players. In fact, the Giants did not own a first round pick between 2003 and 2005 and when they finally were forced to keep their first round pick in 2006, they ended up with a pretty nice player in Tim Lincecum. Consider some of these veterans whom the Giants have signed this decade: Ray Durham, Dave Roberts, Steve Finley, Moises Alou, Rich Aurilia (in 2008), Mike Matheny. These were all failed experiments, as the Giants ratcheted out millions of dollars to each of these players, who spent a considerable amount of time on the disabled list during their tenures with the Giants.

This year, although they have made considerable strides, the homegrown players are clearly outperforming the free agent pickups on the team, yet the Giants continuous trot out the veterans on a regular basis. Eugenio Velez and Nate Schierholtz have been the two most complete outfielders during the second half of this season, both in terms of overall defense and hitting, yet Randy Winn, who is hitting a paltry .264 and is showing limited range defensively, is taking some meaningful at-bats away from either Velez or Schierholtz on a regular basis. As for the pitching staff, including the bullpen, Lincecum, Cain, and Brian Wilson have been the team’s strength all season while Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner are quickly developing into premier and elite pitchers. It’s unfortunate that these FIVE guys combined make even less money than Randy Johnson, who will not even pitch for this team for the remainder of the year. On the infield, both Sandoval and Travis Ishikawa are defensive stalwarts, and while Sandoval has already established himself as an offensive juggernaut, Ishikawa is quietly developing into a productive hitter. They only problem is that the middle infield cannot find a way to stay healthy and productive, as Freddy Sanchez has been injured throughout his brief tenure with the Giants while Edgar Renteria has simply been unbearable to watch, both at the plate and on the field. To add insult to injury, Renteria, with his $ 8 million salary, makes more than Ishikawa, Sandoval, and Sanchez combined.

The Giants are simply overspending on players who simply are not as effective as they used to be. In fact, if you look at the seven most expensive players on the Giants roster, who are Zito, Aaron Rowand, Winn, Randy Johnson, Renteria, Bengie Molina, and Noah Lowry, all of these players are either on the downsides of their careers or are out for the remainder of the season with an injury, as with the case for Lowry and Johnson. Consider this, the Giants are paying SEVEN million dollars to Dave Roberts, who is not even currently with the team. The irony of all this is that the two most productive free agent acquisitions, Juan Uribe and Jeremy Affeldt, just happen to be two of the more inexpensive additions, with both of them combining to make $ 4.5 million. The bottom line is this; the Giants simply will continue to suffer if it maintains its philosophy of depending and acquiring free agents to help lead their team. It’s no accident that the Giants’ most productive and talented players are ones who they’ve drafted and developed over a period of time.