Saturday, November 14, 2015

Giants have grown the best infield in baseball

When the Giants had Barry Bonds in the middle of their lineup, they had a habit of giving up on prospects for veterans. This win now approach led to some post-season success, but the Giants never won a World Series with that approach.

Fast forward to 2015, and the Giants have three world championships because of a change in philosophy, that began with building through the farm system. This led to the team sticking with young first rounder Matt Cain, instead of trading him away like they had with so many others. And after some down years at the end of the Bonds era, the Giants used those drafts to re-stock their system for the long term. Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey got the most headlines, but the Giants started looking for players who were worth investing in long term.

This led to the Giants taking Brandon Crawford in the 4th round in 2008, Brandon Belt in the 5th round in 2009, Joe Panik late in the 1st round in 2011 and Matt Duffy in the 18th round in 2012.

Crawford had built a reputation with his glove in college, but his bat was inconsistent to say the least heading into the draft. So despite a much higher grade, he fell to the 4th round. His bat wasn't great in the minors either, but his glove kept him in the conversation for a call-up. However, even when he joined the team in 2011, he struggled at the plate. To put his bat in perspective, look at the similarities between Crawford and Andrelton Simmons at age 25.
However, the Giants believed in two things after winning a championship in 2010: 1. Pitching and defense is more important than offense. 2. Building through the farm system will pay off. Crawford slowly started to show improvement at the plate over the next two seasons. In 2015, he put it all together, earning a trip to the Midsummer Classic, winning his 1st Gold Glove and winning the Silver Slugger award as the best hitting shortstop in the National League.



Belt has always been an interesting case for Giants fans. For fans who believe in traditional stats more, Belt has been a disappointment. He has never hit 20 home runs, let alone 30 like fans expect, and he has never driven in more than 68 runs in a season. For fans who have embraced Sabermetrics more, Belt has been a strong two way player his entire career. He also set career marks in 2015 for home runs, runs batted in and walks with a slashline of .280/.356/.478. Also in 2015, Belt was awarded with his 1st ever Gold Glove nomination. Belt has always been criticized by fans for what he has not yet done, but his defense at 1st base, willingness to share the position with Posey without controversy, and his career .803 OPS are clearly valuable.

Panik missed 62 games in 2015, but his slashline of .312/.378/.455 led to a Silver Slugger nomination. He also showed off power he hadn't shown before with 8 home runs in his shortened season. Despite being the only Giants infielder not to be nominated for a gold glove, it may be because his best play came in a rehab start in Sacramento.
If Panik can put together a full season in 2016, he could beat out Dee Gordon for both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards at 2nd base.



Duffy didn't even start at third base for the first five weeks of the season, as the team had signed Casey McGehee to start at 3rd. Duffy also had never played 3rd base in his professional career. Despite not starting until May, Duffy earned a nomination for both a Gold Glove as well as Rookie of the Year. And if it wasn't for the existence of generational talents Nolan Arenado and Kris Bryant, he'd have a chance at winning both. In his first Major League season, Duffy, had a slashline a .295/.334/.428 that included 12 home runs. While 12 is certainly a small number, it's important to note that Duffy did not hit a single home run in his entire college career and only hit 13 home runs in three minor league seasons.

 His development, along with Panik, Belt and Crawford show a patient approach Giants fans weren't used to. The team's patience with their homegrown talent has been paramount to their success in both 2012 and 2014. In the 2014 World Series, the Giants ended game 7 with an entirely homegrown infield and battery. Bumgarner was on the mound, with Posey catching, Belt at 1st, Panik at 2nd, Crawford at short, and Pablo Sandoval at third.

 Despite the Giants missing the post-season in 2015, the infield was historically good. Posey, Belt, Panik, Crawford and Duffy became just the 7th full infield in baseball history where each player had a Wins Above Replacement of at least 3.3.
The only other teams to accomplish this were the 2002 New York Yankees, 1983 Milwaukee Brewers, 1977 Texas Rangers, 1950 New York Giants, 1914 Philadelphia A's and 1906 Chicago Cubs. While the '02 Yankees infield consisted of homegrown talents as well like Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Alfonso Soriano, they also included a huge free agent signing in Jason Giambi and a trade for Robin Ventura. The Brewers team in '83 happened to include two members of the Baseball Hall of Fame with Paul Molitor and Robin Yount.

 If you include Madison Bumgarner with the five infielders, they had a collective WAR of 29.7 in 2015. By comparison, the 2002 Yankees infield, along with Hall of Fame candidate Mike Mussina, had a combined WAR of 27.8. There are two things Giants fans can conclude from these numbers: 1. The Giants homegrown infield was great in 2015. 2. The Giants homegrown infield could be even better in 2016.
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Thursday, November 5, 2015

The San Francisco Giants will sign...


Ah, the off-season. That time of year where we play musical chairs with free agents and put all of our favorite free agents in our favorite team's uniforms. Just imagine your team with Zach Greinke, or David Price or Jason Heyward or Yoenis Cespedes. Instant World Series contender. It's what we do as fans in November when our favorite sport ends in October. We have five months to speculate on how good our favorite team will be and it won't be until April before we get to see if any of our thoughts are actually accurate. The Giants have two significant needs: Starting pitcher and Left field. The off-season has two loaded positions: Starting pitching and the outfield. It's almost like next year is an even year or something. Yes, despite Vegas having the Giants as 20-1 favorites for the 2016 World Series, Giants fans know it's more like 2-1. Giants fans have become a little delusional in recent years. Winning the World Series is immensely difficult and the proof is not only in the Giants missing the playoffs entirely in three of the last six years, but also in 100 win teams like the Cardinals not even making the NLCS this season. The Dodgers won the National League West three straight years, something that franchise has never done, and came up short every time. The Pirates have made the playoffs three straight years as well, but haven't got past the 1 game playoff in two of them. Baseball is hard. So how will the Giants get back to the parade route that they have grown so accustomed to in recent seasons? Buying expensive free agents of course. But who do you sign? Who will they sign? And will those players want to sign with them?
1. Zach Greinke
The prize of the 2015 free agency class is coming off a Cy Young season. Even if Jake Arrieta or Clayton Kershaw win the award, Greinke's 2015 numbers were otherworldly. He put in one of the great seasons of all-time. He will be paid a mint to sign with whoever offers him the most mints. The Giants just declined options on Nori Aoki and Marlon Byrd. Play-by-play announcer Duane Kuiper suggested that the main reason for the options being declined was to put all their chips into the middle of the table for Greinke. Bobby Evans, the Giants general manager, said he wanted the most flexibility the team could have heading into free agency. Is Greinke worth the risk? Signing him would mean two things immediately. The top pitcher available is added to a rotation that features Madison Bumgarner and creates a similar 1-2 punch that the Dodgers had in Kershaw & Greinke. It also takes Greinke away from the rival Dodgers, which makes them instantly worse. That doesn't mean another top tier free agent couldn't sign with the Dodgers, but just that it could be a strong rationale to go after the top prize.

2. David Price

Price has been an outstanding pitcher his entire professional career. He has been nearly as good when it comes to Wins Above Replacement as Max Scherzer since his rookie year of 2008. His 29.2 WAR is only slightly less than Scherzer's 31 WAR in the same seasons. Considering what Scherzer was paid by the Nationals, expect Price to seek out similar money. Again, the question "is he worth it?" is thrown out there, and based on his sub par post-season starts with Tampa Bay, Detroit and Toronto, there are red flags when it comes to what Price will do when the light shines brightest. Of course, those were all American League teams, so obviously signing with the Giants will be just the change of scenery Price need come October. Right? In the absolutely loaded National League...maybe not.

3. Jordan Zimmermann

 October 4, 2014. Jordan Zimmermann pitched 8 and 2/3 innings of 1 run ball, allowing 3 hits vs the Giants and when Matt Williams came to get him and pull him from the game, the Giants road to the World Series became possible. The Nationals are loaded. Dusty Baker has been brought in to lead the troops and that is scary because Giants fans know first hand how much better the Nationals will be now with Dusty running the team. But the team will more than likely not re-sign Zimmermann with so many other pitchers on their staff making big money. Every Giants fan remembers how dominant Zimmermann looked that night in October, and every fan should be hoping that the free agent market thinks as little of Zimmermann as Williams did that night. Hopefully he falls into the laps of the Giants and he becomes the one who gets paired with Bumgarner. So by the power vested in me by the state of the internet, I proudly pronounce Jordan Zimmermann signed by the San Francisco Giants.

4. Jason Heyward

So now that we've solved starting pitching, let's find the Giants their outfielder. Heyward is an interesting case because to some, he is one of the best two way players the game has ever seen to start a career. On the other hand, he doesn't hit for enough power or have enough of the traditional numbers to warrant a middle-of-the-order payday. Heyward would be a perfect Giant, and there were reports that the Giants were trying to trade for Heyward last off-season before the Cardinals swooped in. So, we can expect the Giants to be interested. However, is his price tag going to scare away most teams? Will he be worth every penny, or will he be a guy who looks more like Jayson Werth than Manny Ramirez.

5. Yoenis Cespedes

Cespedes has played for the Oakland A's, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets in the last calendar year. How can a player still be looked at as a prize in the free agent market when so many teams let him go elsewhere? Because baseball is weird and so is Cespedes' career so far. He has all the tools that scouts drool over. His arm is as legendary as his bat flips. However, he also takes terrible routes to the ball sometimes and even his greatest throw vs the Angels came after the ball was kicked. He became a non factor in the World Series this year, and yet the Mets wouldn't have made the playoffs in the first place without him. Will someone offer him an obscene amount of money and will that team play their home games at AT&T Park?

6. Alex Gordon

Gordon is a gold glove left fielder who may have hit the biggest home run in Royals history this October. He declined his player option this week, so he is now a free agent, and his age may be the only red flag heading into the winter. Will he remain productive in years four and five of a long term deal? Will he be worth the money he gets offered to still be an elite left fielder and to still be productive at the plate? As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, Free Agents aren't worth it. Does that mean that teams will stop overpaying for free agents? No. Will it mean that teams will be more careful about who they offer big money to? Probably not. But when it comes to this free agent class, Gordon seems like a more reasonable answer in left field at a much more reasonable price than Heyward or Cespedes. So that answers that one. The Giants will be signing Jordan Zimmermann and Alex Gordon and winning the World Series in 2016. I know we will all still watch the games next season, even though we know the results already because we love baseball, but it's nice to have some piece of mind. So the only real question now is: Who wins in 2017? It's an odd year. I'm no good with odd year predictions.
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Thursday, October 29, 2015

We need to revisit what a fan is

My name is Michael Saltzman and I am a San Francisco Giants fan. Like all fans, I have died hard with my team. I have survived the torture of 2003, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1997, 1993, 1989, 1987, etc... I  have also enjoyed the highest of highs with the championships of 2010, 2012, and 2014. That's what fans do. They figuratively live and die with their team. Through the good times, through the bad times, and through Scott Speizio.

As a fan growing up in the late 1980's, I fell in love with Bay Area baseball. Both the Giants and A's were outstanding teams. Guys like Will Clark, Robby Thompson and Matt Williams were coming up through the minor league system at the time for the Giants, and they became the foundation of many successful seasons in San Francisco. Meanwhile, the A's had a great team of their own with some Hall of Fame talent like Rickey Henderson and Dennis Eckersley, along with the Bash Brothers, Dave Henderson, Dave Parker and Terry Steinbach.

However, during the 1989 World Series, I came to a crossroads in the rule of fandom.

1. 1st rule of Fandom: You can only have 1 team.
2. 2nd rule of Fandom: YOU CAN ONLY HAVE 1 TEAM!!

You weren't allowed to root for both teams. Those hats they came out with that had the A's on one half and the Giants on the other were disgusting, not creative. At least that's how I was brainwashed to think. I had a problem. I was nine years old, and I had favorites on both. I loved Kevin Mitchell. He was my absolute favorite player. His 1989 season led to an MVP award and his 47 home runs and 125 runs batted in led the way for the Giants that season. Rickey and Dave Henderson were also great for the A's and I loved watching Rickey run the bases and loved watching the swagger of Hendu in centerfield.

But, you can only have 1 favorite team. You can only have 1 team you die hard for. So, I had to make a decision, and like the first paragraph explained, I am still a proud Giants fan.

But let's go back to those favorite players for a minute. Mitchell was my favorite as a 9 year old boy in 1989, and his posters were on my wall and his baseball cards were in my school binders. In 1992, the Giants betrayed me and traded Mitchell to the Seattle Mariners. How could they do that? That was my favorite player. Other favorites would be gone soon after as Will Clark and Matt Williams were both gone during the next few seasons. So, even if I had picked Clark or Williams to be my favorite player, or even my new favorite player, I would have suddenly had to start watching Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians games respectively. Despite my favorite player being shipped to Seattle, I stayed with the Giants. It wasn't easy, and I did "root" for Mitchell, Clark, Williams, and other former Giants when I watched them play elsewhere.

This brings me to the main reason I am writing this article and why I gave you my personal back story as well. We basically become fans for 1 of two reasons.

A. We were born near the team we root for.
B. We have a favorite player

There rarely is a third reason. My brother-in-law was born in Australia and the only games broadcast there when he was growing up were Yankees games, so he became a die hard Yankees fan and a die hard Don Mattingly fan as well. I still include that into the A category because when you aren't near a team, the team that gets broadcast the most where you live will often become your honorary team. This is one of the very reasons the Cubs and Braves have had such a great national following, because of their games being shown nationally on basic cable television for so many years.

I was born in San Jose, California, and went to many games at Candlestick Park and the Oakland Coliseum. It wasn't an accident that those two teams were my favorite teams, or that my favorite players were on those teams.

So let's talk about B for a minute then. Sometimes, we have a favorite player. That player usually is on the local team, but not always. There are certainly fans of Derek Jeter who never spent time in New York and there are certainly Giants fans because of Buster Posey who have never been to California.

So let's take a player who is great, and who has been traded and look at the dynamics of the fandom surrounding that player. Unfortunately, the Oakland A's have traded away many players in recent years and those players have gone to perform well in their new homes. Meanwhile, friends of mine are stuck rooting for the constantly changing roster in Oakland. Josh Donaldson, one of the best players in the game and an MVP candidate in 2015 for the Toronto Blue Jays, was an Oakland A's third baseman in 2014.

Very few fans of Josh Donaldson became Blue Jays fans. Most Josh Donaldson fans stayed Oakland A's fans.

WHY!!!!

This is the part of fandom that I never understood and even as an adult and victim to the rationale we give for why this always happens.

I understand that loyalty to your hometown is similar to loyalty to your family for many people and when you are a fan of a team from the place you are from, there is a bond that feels just as strong as the bond with your family. However, many fans of Josh Donaldson and the A's became fans of Donaldson because of his abilities on the field. The playoff success the A's have had in recent seasons gave them many more casual fans and those fans loved the way that Donaldson played the game.

So when Billy Beane traded Donaldson, why aren't fans allowed to root for the Blue Jays? Why do they have to root for Brett Lawrie, the A's new third baseman, more than Donaldson.

Imagine your emotions in the following scenario: You and your best friend are die hard A's fans. You sat on the couch and watched the 2014 post-season and were crushed when the Royals stormed back to defeat your favorite team. In the off-season, you hear the news that Beane has traded Donaldson to the Blue Jays for Lawrie and prospects. You go to see your friend a few days later and they are sitting on that same couch wearing a Blue Jays jersey.

Do you feel?

A. Betrayed
B. Angry
C. Baffled
D. Confused
E. All of the Above

You're damn right ALL OF THE ABOVE. What a traitor! What kind of fan are you!?!? How could you leave our A's for the stupid Blue Jays? I guess the big money teams can buy your loyalty too.

Why does this happen? Why do you let ourselves fall in love with players on our favorite team, and then treat them like chess pieces when they move elsewhere? These are our favorite players. We should be allowed to root for those individual players no matter where they play. If you are a Josh Donaldson fan, you should be rooting for him in Toronto.  And yet, we don't. We stick with our team because the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back.

But how many of us fell in love with our favorite team because of a player. How many Yankees fans, are actually just Derek Jeter fans. How many of those Jeter fans are now sitting around their room with all of their Yankees memorabilia trying to convince themselves that they love the Yankees and not just Jeter. It's not hard and it's actually quite typical.

It's human nature. For those Jeter fans, they ended up watching many Yankees games over the years, and when Aaron Boone, or Scott Brosius or Hideki Matsui had a big moment, they cheered just as loud as if Jeter got that hit. They want Jeter to do well, and for him to win, the other 24 guys have to play well too. That's why we end up buying other replica jerseys and generic memorabilia that has nothing to do with our favorite player as the years go. We end up liking other guys too. And, we also know that when our favorite player retires, we will need a new favorite to keep the line moving.



Many fans of my Giants began because of Posey. However, since they started following the Giants in 2010, they also became fans of Madison Bumgarner, Hunter Pence and Matt Duffy. This is not surprising. It happens to every fan. We end up liking other players, but our reason for liking the "team" in the first place is only because of the one guy. When Posey retires, these fans will feel obligated by the rules of fandom to stay with the Giants. That is because of the infamous "Rule #3."

3. 3rd rule of fandom: You cannot change allegiances no matter what.
4. 4th rule of fandom: YOU CANNOT...I love Fight Club.

We vilify fans for changing teams. If the team they change to is good, regardless of the reason, we say they jumped on the bandwagon.  We again rip them for their lack of loyalty. We tell them that they are not worthy of calling themselves fans because they didn't stick with their team no matter what. We use the term die hard and we figuratively mean it. We "kill" fans for changing their loyalty.

We need to realize that this is entertainment and our entertainment should be best spent on the people who entertain us the most. When Jeter retires, fans don't owe the Yankees anything. They should be allowed to shift to a new favorite player, regardless of whether they are on the Yankees or not. Same with Posey. Same with Donaldson. Same with whoever your favorite player is.

The name on the back of the jersey means more than the name on the front. That's what a true fanatic really should be. They are crazy about the players that make them fall in love with the game every day. If you love your team, the way I love the Giants, feel free to stick to your team through thick and thin. I'm going to even after writing this story. Like I said in the beginning of this article: I am Michael Saltzman and I am a San Francisco Giants fan.



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Friday, October 23, 2015

Free Agents Aren't Worth It.

For the last several off-seasons, big money teams have thrown millions of dollars to high priced free agents. They have also signed players on their rosters to extensions and traded for high priced players. All of these moves were made with a simple idea in mind. These teams felt like the piece their team was missing was either a frontline starter or middle of the order bat. By spending large sums of their profits to bring in this All-Star caliber player, these teams have felt it was the missing piece to much future success.

That has to be the reason. It wouldn't make sense for it to be any other way. That's why the Texas Rangers gave Alex Rodriguez $252 million in 2001. That's the reason the Angels gave Albert Pujols $240 million in 2012 and why the Mariners gave Robinson Cano the same last off-season.

Of the 20 largest contracts ever given to free agents in baseball history to change teams, only four players have won rings with that team: Manny Ramirez, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Barry Zito.  The Red Sox handed Ramirez a $160 million deal in 2001, and three years later, he helped the Sox break "The Curse of the Bambino" to finally win the World Series and then won again in 2007. By the end of the contract, Manny was being Manny too often and he left Boston. Considering the recent history of large contacts, however, this was the clear winner as the most successful free agent signing in the last 15 years.

The Yankees gave Sabathia $161 million and Texieira $180 million in 2009 and it paid immediate dividends, as they led the Yankees to their 27th title that season. Sabathia was their ace for the next four years, but has struggled the last three seasons. Teixeira also had good seasons through 2012, and then struggled in 2013 and 2014 like Sabathia. In a tragic turn of events, Sabathia has checked himself into rehab for alcohol and his future is in doubt. Teixeira had a Comeback Player of the Year worthy season in 2015, and now heads into the final year of his contract with some hope.



The Giants gave Zito $126 million back in 2007. For the first four seasons, Zito was widely considered by fans in the Bay Area to be a terrible signing and when the team went to the post-season in 2010, he wasn't included on the playoff roster. Now as any Giants fan will tell you now, Zito's pitching performance in the 2012 post-season wiped all the bad thoughts and all the bad seasons.  However, this also shows just how unlikely it is for your team's big free agent signing being the missing link.

Max Scherzer and Zach Greinke, who signed with the Nationals and Dodgers, respectively, as free agents, just has Cy Young caliber seasons in 2015. Scherzer is in the first season of his mega deal. Greinke, who signed for $147 million in 2013, has an opt-out in the contract that allows him to become a free agent again this year. Scherzer certainly wasn't the problem in Washington, and his contract still has time to be "worth the price." Greinke helped the Dodgers win the National League West three straight seasons, something the Dodgers had never done before. However, by opting out this year, and because the Dodgers didn't win a World Series in that short time, was Greinke's signing worth it?

Prince Fielder helped lead the Detroit Tigers to the World Series in 2012, the same year he signed with the Tigers for $214 million. However, he is already an ex-Tiger, helping lead the Texas Rangers now.

Carl Crawford was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 2011 and quickly traded to the Dodgers along with Adrian Gonzalez and others. That trade helped shaped the 2013 Red Sox that won the World Series, but it was their much more affordable replacements that helped David Ortiz lead the Sox that year.

Alex Rodriguez signed his $275 million extension in 2008 and Derek Jeter signed his $189 million deal in 2001. Both were on the 2009 Yankees that won the World Series with Sabathia. A-Rod and Jeter were already Yankees at the time, but they are also the only players among the top 10 contracts to win a ring during their deal.

The Yankees 2009 team had a payroll of more than $220 million according to Baseball Prospectus. Adding Sabathia and Teixeira to a team that already had Jeter and Rodriguez is something that only the Yankees could have afforded at the time. The Dodgers, among others, are now willing to outspend the Yankees and it has led to bloated contracts being given out to players outside of the Bronx. Outside of that 2009 team the Yankees bought, there has been very little success from buying players in free agency.

Buster Posey signed a $167 million extension in 2013 and the Giants won a third World Series championship in 2014. That seems to be the smarter play for teams looking to shell out huge dollars for players. Matt Cain's extension came in 2012 for $127.5 million and he led the Giants staff that season. However, Cain's struggles since because of injuries and inconsistency show how fragile these signings can be.

For a team like the Giants, Yankees, Dodgers or Red Sox, the teams are able to withstand the blow more than others. With no salary cap in baseball, teams can spend whatever money they have, based on their profits and the revenue sharing rules that have been recently added. That revenue sharing has helped teams that don't have the same profits as some of the larger market teams, but it hasn't allowed them to overpay for multiple free agents. It also hasn't allowed them to re-sign their own for the price players can earn on the free agent market. We are seeing this now with International signings as well, as the Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, and others are battling for all of the top players.

Giancarlo Stanton will begin playing under his record setting $325 million contract next year. Will the Marlins win a third World Series during the 13 years of the contract? Will Stanton opt out the way Greinke has this off-season, and pursue a larger deal after the 2020 season. Or will Stanton be traded by 2018, when his contract bumps up to $25 million a season?
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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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