Giants Causeway
New York / San Francisco Giants
Giants Causeway is a geological formation consisting of basalt columns (often vaguely hexagonal) that rise out of the ground along the coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. There are similar formations across the water in Scotland, which gave birth to the legend from which it derives its name. The legend, as I recall being told on my visit there: There was once an Irish giant named Finn MacCool, who had a beef with some Scottish giant whose name escapes me. Finn MacCool decided to build a bridge between Antrim and Scotland so he could go and beat up the Scottish giant. All of that bridge building was hard work, so after the bridge’s completion but before picking the fight he decided to go home and take a nap. Meanwhile, the Scottish giant saw that the bridge had been built, figured out who did it and why, and decided to steal a march on Finn MacCool and catch him figuratively (or literally) napping. The Scottish giant crossed the bridge and burst into Finn MacCool’s house, where he was sleeping and his wife was awake. The Scottish giant yelled “Is that the giant Finn MacCool?!?!?!” Thinking quickly, Mrs. MacCool replied “Oh no, that’s just my wee baby.” Well, the Scottish dude thought to himself “if that’s the baby, I’m not sticking around to fight the father” and ran back to Scotland, wrecking the bridge as he went.
1908 New York Giants
When I was researching which two teams I would choose first, all of the best Barry Bonds years had already been taken so I decided that 1904 would be the best Giants team remaining. However, they were guaranteed to have the last pick in the draft, so I decided to go in a different direction and wait to see if they were still available 24 hours hence. They were not, so I went with the 1908 version, which also had good pitching and which I hoped would yield a mid-range draft slot. Unfortunately 10
th is not mid-range. Oh well.
Christy Mathewson (411 IP, 1.74 ERC#) should help ease the pain of that.
Hooks Wiltse (348, 2.58) isn’t a bad addition to a pitching staff, and this team also yielded a starting catcher,
Roger Bresnahan (.296/.418/.397, B/B+/B-), and two nice bench pieces in poor fielding utility man / pinch hitter extraordinaire
Buck Herzog (.313/.465/.401) and OF
Mike Donlin (.348/.380/.493).
1927 New York Giants
It turns out that 10 picks is a long time to wait. In the interim, two additional really good Bonds seasons were taken, as were most of the other good pitchers. With 759 IP already on the staff, I decided to focus on offense here. The biggest prize was obviously the one season when
Rogers Hornsby (.350/.443/.584, B-/B-) played for the Giants. However, this team also has a nice SS
Travis Jackson (544 PA, .307/.357/.484, C+/A+), OF
George Harper (.320/.430/.493, B-/C), who frankly I don’t know is better than Donlin but I’ll give them equal time until I figure it out. I’ll also start 1B
Bill Terry (.315/.372/ .527, B+/A+), which is a bit of a disappointment as I was hoping that I’d end up with a better 1B later in the draft but that never happened. Finally,
Doc Farrell (.376/.437/.533) gives me another scintillating utility man / pinch hitter, but this time one who can actually kinda sorta field.
2009 San Francisco Giants
Another round, another good Bonds off the board. Having eschewed pitching with my previous pick, I felt I needed to add some here. I also needed a starting third baseman. Enter the 2009 Giants to fill both needs with
Tim Lincecum (225, 2.05) and
Kung Fu Panda (.332/.386/.542, B/D). This team also contributed the only useful relievers I’d end up drafting on this entire team in
Brad Penny (42, 2.14 but 0.88 HR/9#),
Bob Howry (64, 2.46), and Mr. Beach Boy himself
Brian Wilson (72, 2.51).
1936 New York Giants
So now what? I needed another 250 good innings and 1 or 2 more outfielders, with room for improvement elsewhere such as 1B. I was extremely surprised and delighted to find the 1936 Giants still available. I’m pretty sure I seriously considered them as early as two picks prior to this, thanks to the inclusion of
Carl Hubbell (320, 2.19) and OF
Mel Ott (.319/.444/.586, B+/D+). They also provide useful bench pieces in OF
Jimmy Ripple (.297/.361/.438, B/A-), SS
Dick Bartell (B-/A+) and backup C
Gus Mancuso (.292/.347/.403, C/C/A-).
1958 San Francisco Giants
By the time I made my previous pick I pretty much knew that there would be a bunch of really good Willie Mays seasons available with my final pick. I was hoping that one would come with a significant upgrade for me at 1B, but none of them did. So, instead of choosing the “best” or most expensive Mays, I went with the one that best fit my team. My lineup needed a leadoff hitter, so I chose 1958
Willie Mays (721 PA, .347/.419/.572, C+/A+, 31/37 SB). The Say Hey Kid combines with “Daddy Wags”
Leon Wagner (.317/.371/.522) to form a truly potent nickname duo.
Stu Miller (192, 2.80) will be my Long A, while
Gordon Jones and
Johnny Antonelli will hopefully only appear in the lowest leverage of innings.
Summary (Projected top-used 5450 PA, 1400 IP)
Offense: .326/.410/.526
Pitching: 2.14 ERC#
Defense: Solid. A+ range for CF, SS, 1B; fielding all C+ or higher.
I don’t know quite how to feel about this team. My gut feeling is that I really like it, but the lack of quantity or quality in the bullpen could very well be a problem. It’s kind of a shame, because this team will always have 4 guys on the bench who can absolutely rake, but I’ll probably be conservative about pinch-hitting for my primary pitchers because they’re so much better than my relievers. Furthermore, my lefty-righty platoon busting tandem concept won’t work here because in terms of IP it makes more sense to pair the two righties together and the two lefties together. If I can make it to the postseason and drop Wiltse from the rotation this team could be formidable, but given the amount of talent that exists throughout Giants history I have no idea whether that’s a realistic goal.