Monday, October 19, 2020

The Greatest San Francisco Giants in the Last 50 Years

I am continuing my list for the greatest players at each position in the last 50 years for every MLB team. Today’s team is the San Francisco Giants

The criteria are as follows:

- Player must have played a full 5 seasons for the team.

-1 player will be selected for each position, 1 righthanded starting pitcher, 1 lefthanded starting pitcher, and 1 relief pitcher. I will include a DH for both leagues (considering interleague play now).

 Below is my list of greatest players by position for the Giants in the last 50 years (since the 1970 season).  

 First Base- Will Clark

Second Base- Jeff Kent

Shortstop- Brandon Crawford

Third Base- Matt Williams

Left Field- Barry Bonds

Centerfield-Chili Davis

Right Field- Bobby Bonds

Catcher- Buster Posey

Designated Hitter- Kevin Mitchell

Right-Handed starting pitcher- Tim Lincecum

Left-Handed starting pitcher- Madison Bumgarner

Relief pitcher- Rob Nenn

 A couple of notes. Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Willie McCovey didn’t play long enough in the 70s for the Giants to make the list. Mays got traded to the Mets in late 1972, and McCovey played for the Padres and A’s for 4 years in the mid-70s.  Most of this team was straight forward to pick. A couple of positions in question were right field and third base. I considered some recent players from the championship teams in the 2010s. At third base, I picked Williams over WS hero Pablo Sandoval. A tough decision since Sandoval won the WS MVP. But Williams was much more consistent, including finishing in the top 6 MVP voting 3 times. I picked Bobby Bonds in right field over Hunter Pence. Bonds had a couple of terrific years early in his career.

This is the last of all 30 teams. The first Covid 19 baseball project is complete. Stay tuned for my next list, which will consist of the greatest position players in the last 50 years).


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