Showing posts with label Willie McCovey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Willie McCovey. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

#SFGiantsMadness 2016 Thread

#SFGiantsMadness Championship




#SFGiantsMadness Final Four






"Stretch" Bracket: Elite 8



"Dominican Dandy" Bracket: Elite 8



"BARRY! BARRY!" Bracket: Elite 8



"Say Hey" Bracket: Elite 8



"Stretch" Bracket: Sweet 16





"Dominican Dandy" Bracket: Sweet 16








"BARRY! BARRY!" Bracket: Sweet Sixteen








"Say Hey" Bracket: Sweet Sixteen








"Stretch" Bracket: Round 2












"Dominican Dandy" Bracket: Round 2












"BARRY! BARRY!" Bracket: Round 2












"Say Hey" Bracket: Round 2












"Stretch" Bracket: Round 1




















"Dominican Dandy" Bracket: Round 1




















"BARRY! BARRY!" Bracket: Round 1




















"Say Hey" Bracket: Round 1




















Play in Games








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Monday, October 19, 2015

#SFGiantsMadness down to the Sweet 16

Jeremy Affeldt & Ryan Vogelsong are both still alive in #SFGiantsMadness


After a week of voting on Twitter, we are down to the Sweet 16, and this year we had some incredible upsets. Top seeds went down as fans clearly voted for this current group of Giants over past legends. Last year, the voting was pretty consistent and many top seeds advanced. There were some upsets last year as well, as fan favorites such as Mike Krukow and Hunter Pence made it to the sweet 16 last year. This year, they were joined by some other unlikely winners.







#16 seed Jeremy Affeldt and #2 seed Ryan Vogelsong took out Hall of Famers Juan Marichal and Orlando Cepeda respectively. Affeldt announced his retirement this season, and Vogelsong may have also thrown his last pitch in orange and black, so fans certainly wanted to show these men some love in the voting. However, it is still a shocker to see them dethrone legends like Marichal and Cepeda. Not only are they Hall of Famers, but they also are well known to the fan base as the Giants consistently have them be a part of every ceremony and championship parade and event. Current fans know who these legends are, even if they were too young to see them play. It just goes to show that voting is always going to be based on fan preference and sometimes that means upsets happen.

Also in the 2nd round, Sergio Romo defeated Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry in a #10 vs #2 matchup. Romo took an early lead and never relinquished it, despite a last ditch effort by fans to send more votes to Perry.


In 2014, Krukow and Pence won in the 1st round despite being #11 and #14 seeds. Only Pence made it to the 2nd round, however, because they just so happen to be in the same bracket.


This season, both were #11 seeds and both are cruising into the Sweet 16 with 2nd round victories. Krukow taking down former teammate Robby Thompson and Pence taking down Matt Williams.





Three #1 seeds remain, with Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Barry Bonds. Only two #2 seeds remain, with Will Clark and Buster Posey. Matt Cain is also the only #3 seed left standing, as #6 seed J.T. Snow took down Bobby Bonds, along with Krukow and Pence.

The champion may still end up being the defending champion Mays, and it's possible that 7 of the 8 winners in round 3 could be a top 3 seed. However, if the previous two rounds are any indication, this is going to be madness.
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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

#SFGiantsMadness is BACK and it's New and Improved!


Willie Mays won #SFGiantsMadness last season. Will he win it again in 2015?

Last off-season, thanks to Twitter follower @RedSox_Stuff, I began putting together a March Madness style bracket to celebrate all the great players in San Francisco Giants history. I decided to rank players based solely on their contributions to the Giants since their move from New York in 1958. This allowed fans to have much more knowledge of the players being seeded and also allowed for more current players to make the cut. Both of these factors made it a much more popular game.

The highlight from last year came when Giants legend Rich Aurilia chimed in on the bracket he was placed in, where he had to face off against Willie McCovey.



Ultimately, there were some close calls where some legendary players of yesteryear faced off against current World Series heroes. This 3rd round matchup was epic:



The seeding last year was also limited to Wins Above Replacement (WAR) rankings. This worked well for the most part, but short changed players who had tremendous individual seasons in short lived careers with the team and crippled relief pitchers the most.

However, at the end of the tournament last off-season, the Championship did come down to the two greatest Giants of all-time:


This year, I have added some factors that should make the rankings more true to where players fall in fans eyes.

1. Wins Above Replacement
2. World Series Rings
3. Playoff Seasons
4. Most Valuable Player Awards (2)
5. Rookie of the Year (2)
6. Cy Young Awards (2)
7. Willie Mac Award
8. All-Star Appearances
9. Gold Gloves
10. Player of the Month

Ryan Vogelsong has been with the team from 2011-2015 and has earned a 3.7 WAR in that time. He has also been to the playoffs twice, won two World Series rings, and has won the Willie Mac Award and made the All-Star team. That brings his total "value" to 9.7.

Ellis Burks, in his three seasons in San Francisco, earned a WAR of 8.8, with 1 post season appearance and winning the Willie Mac Award as well. His "value" was 10.8.

As fans look back on the careers of several key Giants, it's important to look at many factors, and because of the success of the recent teams, players on those teams are looked at more favorably. At the same time, there is so much value in what Sabermetrics has done for baseball in giving us a more true value of on field performance.

For whatever flaws may be in the new seeding format I created, one thing is certain. Whether people vote with their heart or their minds, fans get to decide for themselves.

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Friday, March 20, 2015

It's March Madness: Time to Re-Visit the #SFGiantsMadness

During the off-season, I decided to purchase a subscription to Baseball Reference and with that subscription, I found out so much more about why Matt Cain is one of the most underrated pitchers of the last 10 years. Their site allows you to organize career stats in many different ways very easily, such as how many games has Matt Cain pitched in his career where he went at least 7 innings and gave up 3 runs or less. (The number is 125 by the way.)

That gave me an idea. Who are the best San Francisco Giants of All-Time? Not in the history of the franchise, but just since 1958. Since WAR (Wins Above Replacement) has been widely viewed as a good barometer of who the best players are, I decided to make an NCAA style bracket of San Francisco Giants based on WAR.

Not surprisingly, the top four were obvious: Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal. These four would become the #1 seeds and the names of my brackets. The "Say Hey Kid" bracket, the "GOAT" bracket, the "Stretch" bracket, and the "Dominican Dandy" bracket.

It was great seeing that current players like Cain, Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, and Madison Bumgarner were already good enough to make the cut. It was also interesting to see some of the fans most popular former and current players right on the cusp of 64. This made it very easy to include the "Play in Games" just like the NCAA has recently. This included matchups like this:







As we approached the 1st round, their were some interesting match ups and one particular flaw with WAR. Closers. Two of the greatest closers in team history were also two of the fans most loved players. The late Rod Beck and Robb Nen. Both left a mark on the fanbase, yet, because WAR doesn't equate closers in the same way as other pitchers, they had a tough road in the tourney. That being said, the tournament had started and fans on Twitter were having a great time. Some of the highlights from the 1st round:



Hunter Pence's complete beatdown of Jeff Kent.



Pablo Sandoval losing to Ray Durham, mostly because fans were sad Pablo left for Boston. (Sidenote: This was done before Panda's comments about not missing the Giants at all)



An epic battle between Matt Cain and Mike Krukow.



And getting some love from Sports Illustrated photographer Brad Mangin for using his Ed Halicki photo.



As we approached the round of 32, matchups became even tougher and players were pitted against one another making it nearly impossible for Giants fans to decide. Some of highlights included:


Willie Mays barely beating World Series phenom Madison Bumgarner.



Kirk Rueter upsetting Gaylord Perry.



Having to put my childhood favorite, Kevin Mitchell, against my all-time favorite Cain.



Rich Aurilia being a great sport about an impossible battle.



The round of 16 had some matchups that really showed the age of Giants fans. Were they going to fight to keep current players like Cain, Lincecum, Posey and Bumgarner in the tournament? Were they going to fight for Bonds, Mays, McCovey and Marichal. Let's take a look at the two closest match ups:


Willie Mays and Buster Posey receiving 98 total votes, splitting right down the middle. However, at the time I cut off the voting, Mays had a 1 vote lead.


Tim Lincecum's mustache and ability to make baseballs float in mid air beating the greatest pitcher in San Francisco Giants history.




Now it was down to the Elite 8, and there would be no sugarcoating anymore. These were match ups fans were dreading. Time to rip off the band-aid and show you:


Willie Mays defeated Orlando Cepeda in the only blowout.



Tim Lincecum pulling away in the 2nd half to defeat Matt Cain.



J.T. Snow had fan support early, but ultimately was no match for Barry Bonds.



Willie McCovey defeating Will Clark.





So we had reached the Final Four and the #4 seed Tim Lincecum joined #1 seeds Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and Willie McCovey. Fans had spoken and it was clear that despite several upsets throughout the tournament, the greatest of all-time couldn't be denied.


Willie Mays defeated Tim Lincecum to reach the championship game.




Barry Bonds squeaked by Willie McCovey at the buzzer to reach the championship game.



I was happy to see that the two greatest Giants of all-time survived to the championship game. Despite the popularity of players such as Pence, Rueter, Snow, Lincecum and others, the Giants fans retweeted and favorited just enough to ensure the championship would be the two greatest living baseball players in team history and maybe baseball history.


And the Winner and STILL champion...The Greatest of All-Time, The Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays




Can't wait until next off-season to do this again and see who upsets who and to see if Willie can defend his title. A huge thank you to all who participated and voted on Twitter back in December.
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