2009 Giants: August PQS

This post has the Giants Pure Quality Start scores for the month of August 2009, PQS as defined in Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster annual book and they published the details here. I wrote on this first in 2006 and have compiled their stats on a regular basis, so I'm continuing it this season for continuity and historical comparison (there is the "PQS" label that you can click to see the old posts on this). Regular readers can skip to the next section.

This is the Quality Start with a sabermetric DIPS twist, and it gets really easy to calculate once you get used to it. I don't think it's the end all or be all, but then nothing really is that. It is, as I like to say, another piece of the puzzle. A dominating start is scored a 4 or 5 and a disaster start is scored a 0 or 1. DOM% is the percentage of starts that are dominating, DIS% is the percentage of starts that are disasters (any start under 5.0 IP is automatically a 0, or disaster).

Basically, you want to see a pitcher's DOM% to be over 40% and ideally over 50%, and you want their DIS to be under 20% and ideally under 10%. For example, Johan Santana has a 76% DOM and 3% DIS in 2006 (2.77 ERA), whereas Orlando Hernandez had a 52% DOM and 28% DIS (4.66 ERA), and Adam Eaton had a 31% DOM and 31% DIS (5.12 ERA). See my explanation down below on methodology plus read the link, there's a nice chart there showing the combination of high DOM% and low DIS%, and particularly how low DIS% is so important.

I wholeheartedly recommend buying Baseball Forecaster and learning more about their methods of analyzing baseball. It has been greatly illuminating for me, and if you want to get a taste for it without paying full price, they used to sell their old editions of their annuals on their website for half price or less (plus shipping); but that was before he sold the company off, and I haven't checked recently.

Giants Starters' PQS for 2009 Season

Matt Cain - (65% DOM, 4% DIS; 17:1/26): 5, 2, 4, 4, 1, 4, 3, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 5, 5, 5, 3, 5, INJ, 5, 4, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3

Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson- (31% DOM, 31% DIS; 5:5/16): 3, 0, 5, 0, 5, 0, 2, 0, 3, 5, 3, 2, 4, 3, 5, 1, INJ

Tim "The Kid" Lincecum - (82% DOM, 4% DIS; 23:1/28): 0, 2, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 3, 4, 5

Joe Martinez - (0% DOM, 40% DIS; 0:2/5): 3, 0, 2, 2, 0

Ryan Sadowski - (17% DOM, 50% DIS; 1:3/6): 3, 4, 3, 0, 0, 0

Jonathan Sanchez - (45% DOM, 23% DIS; 10:5/22): 0, 3, 3, 0, 2, 2, 4, 4, 0, 0, 3, 0, 2, 5, 4, 3, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 5

Barry Zito - (52% DOM, 15% DIS; 14:4/27): 0, 3, 5, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 0, 5, 2, 0, 4, 0, 4, 4, 3, 5, 5, 4, 5, 4, 5

Giants season overall - 54% DOM, 16% DIS out of 130 games counted (70:21/130)

Giants Month of April - 40% DOM, 25% DIS out of 20 games counted (8:5/20)

Giants Month of May - 52% DOM, 17% DIS out of 29 games counted (15:5/29)

Giants Month of June - 44% DOM, 15% DIS out of 27 games counted (12:4/27)

Giants Month of July - 62% DOM, 19% DIS out of 26 games counted (16:5/26)

Giants Month of August - 68% DOM, 7% DIS out of 28 games counted (19:2/28)

Lincecum kept rolling into July and yet had another 5 DOM starts. But he did not lead the team in August, as, surprise, surprise, Barry Zito had 6 DOM starts out of 6. In addition, Lincecum was not even 2nd in DOM% for the month because Jonathan Sanchez had 5 DOM starts out of 5 for 100% DOM, just like Zito. Cain added only 3 DOM himself, as he struggled a bit, which is unusual because in years past, August was when he dominated. And Martinez had no DOM starts, leading to the acquisition of Brad Perry.

The staff altogether now have a 54% DOM overall: remember, only the best pitchers can achieve a 50% DOM in a season, but our staff is so good that as a group it has 54%. And if Sanchez hadn't decided to take on some of Johan Santana's mechanics, who knows how good he could have been this season. Since he has returned to the rotation, he has a 89% DOM, no disaster starts, in 9 starts.

Zito led the way to their amazing August where they had a 68% DOM: remember, only the elite pitchers of the league can get their DOM% to 70% and our pitching rotation did that together as a group. Zito has been amazing this month, leading the rotation and winning some tough games against the D-Rox.

Cain was disappointing because he has been up and down in August. I'm not sure why he is struggling, there is no sign that anything is wrong, for now, but he had been a horse previously, piling up the innings, so I'm worried about his health for the 2010 season, hopefully this is not a sign that he's starting to break down.

Johnson is not returning to the rotation and might not even return to the team. Sounds like he wants to return and do some relief pitching, which would be exciting to have. If he can be productive in that role, he would be a valuable addition to the bullpen.

With Penny joining the rotation, it should only get better for DOM. In his last 10 starts, he has 4 DOMs and 3 DISs starts. That would add to DOM while having the same DIS as Sadowski or Martinez.

Overall, the rotation performed pretty much like it did in July, only better. As I noted, with a 54% DOM overall and 68% DOM for the month, the staff has been great, and should only get better as long as all the starters continue to churn out the DOMs.

What's Good and What's Not

A DOM at or above the 40% mark is indicative of good pitching; above 50% is great; above 70% is elite. A low DIS is also indicative of good pitching, just look at the table in the link above showing DOM% and DIS% on the axes.

If you had to chose a high DOM% or a low DIS%, pitchers tend to have a lower ERA when you have a low DIS% vs. a high DOM% (obviously if you combine both, you have a much better chance of having an elite pitcher).

August 2009 Comments

With their stirring sweep of the D-Rox, the Giants have climbed back to the lead spot for the wild card, tied with Colorado. With how well the pitching staff pitched in August, the offense (and bullpen) really let them down by not doing more with what the starters accomplished in August. Still, the team ended the month 16-12.

And the offense did do better, despite both Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko not doing much for the team, the former because he wasn't around as he did help when he was in and the latter because he didn't hit as well as he had previously. The team averaged 4.39 runs per game in August, a nice jump in offensive production.

However, a lot of that was from playing in Colorado, where they scored 23 runs in 4 games. That means the Giants scored 4.17 runs per game in the other games. They also benefited from playing in Houston, scoring 21 runs in 3 games. That drops them to roughly 4 runs per game, which is how badly they scored in previous months.

And, despite the good outings by our starting rotation, the Giants still allowed 4.18 runs per game. As contrast, it was 3.48 in July, 3.30 in June, 4.00 in May, and 4.00 in April, the worse in the season.

And that was entirely due to the bullpen, as the ERA for starters in August was 3.35 while the relievers had a 4.46 ERA in August. It was the worse month for the relievers which had a 3.36 ERA in July, 2.57 in June, 3.43 in May, and 4.16 in April. So, while the starters have taken things up a notch in the second half (3.63 ERA first half; 3.33 ERA second half), the relievers have took things down a notch (3.29 ERA in first half; 4.25 ERA second half). It would have been nice if the Giants could have picked up Trevor Hoffman from the Brewers to bolster the bullpen, or even Aaron Heilman. Hopefully Waldis Joaquin can add to the mix but that is a lot to ask for from a rookie.

Going forward, taking into account both the Giants and D-Rox records home/away, good/bad teams, and the number of games left for each, the Giants and D-Rox should end up tied at the end of the season. However, with the Giants playing them for 3 at home, that would tip things in favor for the Giants to end up one game ahead at the end. So things should be pretty close between the two teams the rest of the way.

But, of course, things will not work out exactly as those prior records did. The remaining games will be a different mix than what had happened before. Plus both teams have been playing much better than they were earlier.

In particular, the thing is that the next 13 days will be huge because the Giants will be playing tough teams like the Phillies, Brewers and D-gers, while Colorado will be playing easy teams like the Mets, D-backs, Cincinnati and San Diego. In addition, Colorado will be playing most of those games at home, while the Giants will be on the road for the most part. All this will happen before Colorado show up in SF to play 3. They could be up on the Giants again by 3-5 games depending on how well they beat up on their patsies at home and how well the Giants hold up against tough teams on the road.

Then the shoe is on the other foot. Colorado will be playing St. Louis, Milwaukee, and LAD in their last 10 games of the season. The Giants would be playing in their last 13 games the D-backs, Cubs, D-backs again, and lastly the 'Dres. If the Giants could hold their ground and stay relatively close during the next roughly 2 weeks, then they should be able to pull ahead of them in the last two weeks of the season. And should they be behind by a good number of games, this stretch of lesser teams to play is the silver lining that might help them back on top.

And, of course, the fulcrum for all these games is the 3 game series we have with the D-Rox in mid-September. It could be another situation like the last series where the Giants are behind the D-Rox by a number of games but could pull themselves back close to, or even ahead of, the D-Rox by sweeping them again. But that is a lot to ask of the team to do again.

The Giants will need to hold their own. If they can split the road games and keep winning 2 of 3 at home, they can go 7-5 in the games before the series with Colorado. Judging by how well they have played before, the D-Rox could go 8-5 or 9-4, meaning the Giants would be only 0.5 or 1.5 games behind, or perhaps 2.5 games back. Beating them 2 of 3 would roughly return us to equal to them in record and leave us with the soft part of the schedule, while they face the tougher teams.

The caveat there is that by then the Cards and D-gers might be preparing for the playoffs and resting their better players, while the Brewers would be just finishing off the season. That would make it easier on the D-Rox to beat them, as they don't have to face the other team's best lineup on a daily basis. We will see how that goes when we cross that bridge.

The 2009 Giants are 72-59: Pheeling the Phillies

With the Giants pulling off what we needed - a wondrous sweep of the wild card leading D-Rox - pulling even with them after falling 4 games behind in that awful series in Colorado, they have come up big in their biggest series and homestand (going 5-1) in years. With a new offensive hero almost every night, and clutch performances by players who have gotten the boobirds at home, such as Zito and Renteria, it is a whole new ballgame as the calendar turns to September. And all that without much contribution from the two big trade acquisitions - Sanchez and Garko - nor our usual cleanup hitter, Bengie Molina.

As I am sure they are learning, each series is taking on the title of "biggest series in years," each one more so than the last. That is glorious life you lead when you are battling for a playoff spot. And this is good experience for all our young players that should pay off for us in future years.

Heck, it is paying off for us now. How many of us weren't worried that the Giants might collapse last week after blowing those games in Colorado? And especially losing in the horrible fashion as they did. Only the most extreme Pollyanna-ish of us could ignore that. I know I waited with bated breath, I hoped that the strength they had shown during the season would continue, but those games in Colorado was a pretty good punch in the gut, hard to get up from those.

But not only did they not collapse, they took 2 of 3 from the Reds before sweeping the D-Rox (and could have swept the Reds). And the D-Rox should remember all this the next time they face the Giants again (in September) that if it were not for their big rallies, the Giants could ahve taken 6 of 7 instead of just 4 of the 7, they could be 4 games behind the Giants right now.

The Giants closed August 16-12 for the month, only the second month that they finished above 1 game over .500, with June being the other month. The Giants were around .500 in April, May, and July, but 7 games over in June and 4 games over in July. They are now 13 games over .500, the first time this season.

The Next Mountain

Now they are off on a 6 game road trip to Philly and Milwaukee. WIth Joe Martinez optioned to AAA, the Giants will need to add a 5th starter. Rumor is that the Giants are trying to pick up Brad Perry. I would be happy with calling up Pucetas and letting him start and get some experience in the majors, though I understsand why they might not, as that would be throwing him in to face the current World Series champs in a playoff pressured situation. But, we ARE still rebuilding this season, so it would be good to let young prospects get some experience now.

The matchups are lined up like this:

• Sanchez vs. Cole Hamels


• Fifth starter vs. JA Happ


• Lincecum vs. Pedro Martinez

The Giants will have a hard time winning the series, though it is not impossible. As poorly (relatively) as he has pitched, particularly against SF in SF this season, it is still Cole Hamels, the Phillies ace lefty. With an overall 4.52 ERA, but a good 4.13 ERA at home, he is down from his prior performance levels, but he has a 3.83 ERA since the All-Star game, though only 4.91 ERA in August.

Still, Sanchez hasn't been that bad either, in fact, he has been pretty good, with a 4.27 ERA overall, 3.59 ERA since the All-Star game, though a much worse 4.81 ERA on the road overall, which I'm sure has been much better since the ASG.

Then Happ has been a revelation for the Phillies this season, so no matter who we throw up against him in the rotation, we are probably looking at a loss in that game.

Lastly, normally with Lincecum on the mound, you have to feel that our chances are pretty good, but Pedro Martinez has been pretty good overall thus far in his return to the majors, so that game is probably going to be tough too.

So this is going to be a tough series, and we most probably are going to lose, though I should note that the Phillies have been winning on the road, not at home (34-30 at home this season), but we have some pretty tough matchups. It is probably going to be a tough to win, but there are small silver linings that might help us pull out a series win, including momentum.

September Call-Ups

According to Chris Haft, the Giants probably wouldn't call up many people because of the large number of vets coming off the DL once the rosters expand in September. Freddy Sanchez, Rich Aurilia, and Andres Torres are expected back on the team soon.

Still, the Giants are probably doing to call up many of the prospects who came up this season to help out: John Bowker, Jesus Guzman, Kevin Frandsen, Ryan Sadowski, Waldis Joaquin, and Osirus Matos. Others who should get a call up include: Matt Downs, Conor Gillaspie, maybe Brian Bocock, and certainly Ryan Rohlinger (probably still high from his big time hit to drive in two runs yesterday in helping the Giants win 9-5.

Giants Minors Great 2009 Season

As noted by Matt, many of the Giants minor league affiliates have done well this season, so I thought I would note some of their accomplishments here, as I give them hearty congratulations on their achieivements.

Arizona Rookie League Giants

First off, the Giants Arizona Rookie League team advanced to the Championship game, as they posted the league's best overall record during the regular season. They are seeking to win their second straight title. They were forced into a one-game playoff by the Angels, who were the East Division second-half co-champions by beating the Giants in the last game of the season.

The team ranked second with a 3.39 ERA and third with 321 runs scored (5.7 runs scored per game). RHP Cameron Lamb led the staff, as the Giants' lone All-Star. Former Giant Mike Caldwell was the pitching coach; I always wondered why the Giants traded him away, he went on to win 22 games in a season for the Brewers the next season.

Offense was this team's forte, though. C Hector Sanchez and SS Julio Izturis led the team with high batting averages, and high OPS. There were no big HR hitter, though Chris Dominguez, our 3rd round pick in this year's draft, was one of the hitters who did well here, playing only briefly for the team but blasting 2 HR in 36 AB while there; he was tied for second on the team, and the leader only had 3 HR in 148 AB, Sundrendy Windster (what a name!). Top international signee Rafael Rodriguez did OK in his first action as a professional. He played LF (RF was his position when he signed) and he hit .299/.392/.362/.754 in 127 AB with 19 RBI. He had 16 walks and 23 strikeouts.

Short Season Class A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes

The Volcanoes clinched another West Division title over the weekend. This is their 4th straight appearance in the Finals, having won two in a round before losing last season. If they can win this season, it would be their 3rd in 4 years. There is still about a week's worth of games left and they are 43-26.

Lots of contributors. 3B Drew Biery was one of the offensive leaders on the team, second in HR (6) , first in RBI (44), hitting .333/.409/.505/.914 in 192 AB. SS Ryan Cavan was also a big contributor, hitting .259/.388/.443/.830 with 5 HR in 174 AB, 34 walks and 33 strikeouts. There were some nice contributors in less than season's worth of games too. RF Francisco Peguero hit .394/.421/.465/.886 in 71 AB with 12 RBI. 3B Chris Dominguez continued his hot hitting in AZ, hitting .260/.310/.474/.784 with 9 HR in 154 AB and 27 RBI. His 9 HR led the team. Ryan Mantle, Mickey's relative, was also on the team, but he didn't do that well in RF.

The pitching staff was led by Jorge Bucardo, 2.70 ERA, 62 K/20 BB in 76.2 IP and Jeremy Toole, 2.74 ERA, 41 K/20 BB in 46.0 IP. In the bullpen Jose Casilla had 11 saves in 23 appearances, 1.08 ERA, 28 K/8 BB in 25.0 IP. David Quinowski also did well with 1.75 ERA, 46 K/15 BB in 36.0 IP. Craig Westcott came in this year's draft and did nicely too, 6 starts, 2.73 ERA, 37 K/8 BB in 26.1 IP. Former Giant Brian Cooper is their pitching coach.

Class A Augusta Greenjackets

Augusta Greenjackets was closing in for a second half title before losing three straight games. Still, they have put together a nice season, and some players have stepped to the fore. One player noted above was CF Francisco Peguero, and he let this team in OPS, hitting .348/.368/.444/.813 with 32 RBI in 207 AB, 31 strikeouts (pretty good) and 13 SB in 17 attempts. DH Andy D'Alessio, CF Ben Woodbury, 1B Josh Mazzola, and C Johnny Monell also did OK, around .800 OPS. Mazzola led the team with 15 HR in 460 AB, 93 RBI also led (but 118 K). Other notable names, but who didn't do that well, included Juan Carlos Perez, Wendell Fairley, Ehire Adrianza, and Charlie Culberson.

Pitchers of note include Dan Runzler, Trey Webb, Ryan Verdugo, Andrew Reichard, Ari Ronick, Kyle Nicholson, adn Eric Surkamp. Runzler didn't spend much time here but dominated as he got promoted repeatedly this season. Former Giant Steve Kline is their pitching coach.

Advanced A San Jose Giants

San Jose completed a season sweep of the Cal League's North Division, winning both the first-half and second-half championships for the second season in a row. They started the season with all of the Giants top prospects - Bumgarner, Posey, Alderson, Villalona - and good performances from other highly ranked prospects, like Brandon Crawford, Roger Kieschnick, Nick Noonan. This team had probably the most Giants top prospects on one team ever in the history of the Giants franchise (didn't check, gut call) but started out out of sync and losing a lot before turning things around.

The team was led offensively by Thomas Neal, Buster Posey, and Roger Kieschnick. Kieshnick and Neal were 1-2 in HR with 23 and 22 respectively, and Posey was no slouch either with 13. Neal hit .333/.425/.585/1.010 with 22 HR in 448 AB, 86 RBI, 59 walks and 94 strikeouts. Posey hit .326/.428/.540/.967 with 13 HR in 291 AB, 58 RBI, 45 walks and 45 strikeouts. Kieschnick hit .299/.348/.541/.890 with 23 hR in 495 AB, 106 RBI, 35 walks and 125 strikeouts. Darren Ford also did well and led the team with 31 SB, hitting .291/.381/.444/.825. Other name prospects who only did OK were Conor Gillaspie, Nick Noonan, and Angel Villalona. Tyler Graham did OK too. Brian Bocock, however, did poorly again.

Pitching was led by Scott Barnes (since traded), Craig Clark, and Clayton Tanner. They all had ERA's around 3.00 and put in a lot of innings. Of course, Bumgarner and Alderson led the way when they were there. Others who did well there included Dan Runzler, Steve Edlefsen, Dan Turpen, Wilmin Rodriquez, Garrett Broshius, and Kyle Nicholson.

Class AA Connecticut Defenders

The Connecticut Defenders, in their last season there, won the Northern Division title for the first time as a Giants affiliate. As usual, it is their pitching who led the way. Madison Bumgarner started 17 games and went 9-1 with a 1.91 ERA, with 68 K/29 BB in 99.0 IP and only 76 hits. Looks like he reached his level, as his strikeout rate dropped greatly. If he were still striking out over 9 K/9, I would think that the Giants would at least entertain the thought of bringing him up for a September call-up. For now, just let him enjoy the season and prepare for AAA next season.

There were other pitchers of note. Henry Sosa raised his prospect status with 14 starts, 2.36 ERA, but only 44 K in 72.1 IP (though only 25 BB). Dan Runzler also passed through here and again was dazzling in relief, 0.96 ERA, 11 K in 9.1 IP (5 hits and 7 walks, too high there but small samples). Dan Otero led the team with 19 saves, had a 1.15 ERA, 31 K/10 BB. Joe Paterson was second with 10 saves, had a 2.07 ERA, 66 K/24 BB in 65.1 IP. Matt Yourkin, Ben Synder, and Waldis Joaquin also did very well in relief.

Nothing much happening on offense, as expected. Leaders were 2B Brock Bond, RF Eddy Martinez-Esteve, 1B Brett Pill, 3B Brad Boyer, and CF Mike McBryde. There were all around .800 OPS. Pill led the team in HR with 15 in 493 AB and only 68 strikeouts vs. 34 walks. He also led with 100 RBI. EME was a far second with 8 HR and 63 RBI, hitting .300/.370/.440/.810 in 416 AB, 45 walks, 56 strikeouts. Bond hit .333/.430/.405/.835 with 64 walks, 51 strikeouts in 420 AB. Top prospects who did not do well included Brandon Crawford, Jackson Williams, Sharlon Schoop, Antoan Richardson, and Brian Bocock.

Class AAA Fresno Grizzlies

Fresno as usual was far back in the pack. They were led on offense by John Bowker and Jesus Guzman, with ample support from Matt Downs, Ryan Rohlinger, Kevin Frandsen, Eugenio Velez, Joe Borchard, Brian Horwitz, and Eli Whiteside. Bowker hit .340/.449/.597/1.046 with 21 HR in 362 AB, 73 walks and 64 strikeouts. He even got 10 SB. Guzman hit .321/.379/.502/.881 with 15 HR in 448 AB, 36 walks and 80 strikeouts. Bowker led the team in HR and RBI, Guzman was 3rd in both, and Ryan Rohlinger was 2nd in both, at least currently, since he's in the majors and unable to add to his stats in the minors (which I'm sure he does not mind, particularly after that clutch double to drive in two runs over the weekend).

Buster Posey was also a big contributor, coming in mid-season. After a slow start, he hit well for an overall .310/.384/.508/.891 with 5 HR in 126 AB, 17 walks and 23 strikeouts. He also drove in 20 RBI and scored 20 runs. He is going to play in the Arizona Fall League and I have to assume that if he does well there as well, he would have to be seriously considered for the starting job in 2010. However, they could do the Wieters thing and start him in AAA in 2010 and bring him up later to start, but then that would take a starting catcher to hold the spot for him. Eli Whiteside has done well the past week, but I doubt they will go with him. And Molina wants a two year contract, claiming he wouldn't hold Posey back, though I don't see how that would work if Posey is ready sometime next season.

Not much to note on the pitching side, other than relievers. Steve Edlefsen had a 1.78 ERA in 19 appearances, 25.1 IP, 21 K, 15 walks, 17 hits. Joaquin has done well in limited (8) appearances, 10.0 IP, 16 strikeouts, only 5 hits and 2 walks. Ramon Ortiz has done well starting and relieving, so he is a candidate for the Giants to bring to take the 5th starter start next. 3.11 ERA, 34 appearances, 15 starts, 121.2 IP, 111 strikeouts, 34 walks, 1.25 WHIP.

Also, there were other pitchers of note. Osirus Matos has a 3.44 ERA in 42 appearances, 49.2 IP, 40 strikeouts, 11 walks. Geno Espinelli was the closer on the Fresno team, with 19 saves in 52 games, 59.1 IP, 31 strikeouts and 13 walks. Alex Hinshaw, Kevin Pucetas, Ryan Sadowski, and Billy Sadler (since released) were also on the pitching staff.

Minor League System

The minor league system of the Giants have been improving the past few years as they have gotten pretty good draft position by being a bad team. It has allowed us to draft players like Lincecum, Bumgarner, Posey, and now Wheeler. They have also begun to dive into the deep end of the international free agent pool and signed players like Angel Villalona and Rafael Rodriguez. Plus players like Julio Izturis and Ehire Adrianza. And, of course, Pablo Sandoval a few years past.

Overall, our prospects have not done well this season. Bumgarner's results in AA has to be considered a disappointment, even though he's pitching against players much older than he is. Alderson too, and now he's traded away. Villalona was doing OK for a couple of months then he got injured and was shut down the rest of the season. Only Posey has been all that has been advertised.

Surprises have included Bowker suddenly walking a lot more than before and Runzler climbing the entire system in one season. Neal and Kieschnick have been a nice surprise in Advanced A, as was Crawford before he fell under the spell of Dodd Stadium. Chris Dominguez has also been a nice surprise, signing quickly then quickly doing well for two different teams. Brett Pill did well for AA, despite the bad home, and he didn't strike out much, despite his power profile. Edlefson and Joaquin were highlights this season, and Henry Sosa had a nice comeback season but still need to do more.

Still, the farm system looks ready to contribute more players in the next year or two. Posey and Bumgarner are basically knocking on the door today, it is just a matter of time before they make the majors. A good number of pitchers look like they could be good relievers for us in upcoming years. And Wheeler sounds like he will be pretty good. We should be able to get a few more starting position players out of Bowker, Pill, Neal, Kieschnick, Villalona, Rodriquez, Izturis, Adrianza, and Dominguez. The future still looks pretty good.