Well, we've been busy. We've updated all the pages over there in the right-hand column, adding players, removing players, re-evaluating players, trades, and free agents, and so forth.
In the ever-evolving list of "Greatest Players in San Francisco Giants History," we modified the Award, Black Ink, and All-Star categories to align them more closely with the values taken from Bill James' Hall of Fame Monitor. We meant to do this a couple of years ago, when we switched the statistical baselines from WAR to Win Shares, but never completed it. Now it's all done, and there are few surprises among the all-time greats.
Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, and Buster Posey remain the top five SF Giants of all time. Win Shares and league-leading achievements boosted the stock of Gaylord Perry past all Giants pitchers not named Marichal, with Madison Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum, and Matt Cain following in close order. Jim Ray Hart moved up past Kevin Mitchell but just missed the top twenty. Brandon Belt vaults all the way to 12th, which seems peculiar, but the numbers don't lie. Playing on two world champions and four playoff teams certainly helped, but he did most of it on the field; his 164 WS are more than Jeff Kent, J.T. Snow, or Matt Williams.
Tim Lincecum did more with fewer Win Shares than anybody; his 95 are the lowest among the top 20 and are less than Jim Barr, Rich Aurilia, or Chris Speier. But "The Freak" compiled 83 points by doing things like leading the league in strikeouts, winning two Cy Young Awards, pitching for three world champions, and so forth. All that accounts for 47% of his total, and he's 17th among all-time Giants. Subjectively, we'd rate him much higher.
Now, we'll have plenty to say about Tony Vitello leaving our beloved Tennessee Vols to manage our beloved Giants at another time. For now, page through whatever interests you, and pull for those Blue Jays to take down that Evil Empire!
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