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San Francisco Giants: 2016 in Review

By Jason Evans

Oct 11, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Matt Moore (45) and catcher Buster Posey (28) talk on the mound during game four of the 2016 NLDS playoff baseball game against the Chicago Cubs at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 11, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Matt Moore (45) and catcher Buster Posey (28) talk on the mound during game four of the 2016 NLDS playoff baseball game against the Chicago Cubs at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 10, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) pitches against the Chicago Cubs in the fifth inning in game three of the 2016 NLDS playoff baseball series at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) pitches against the Chicago Cubs in the fifth inning in game three of the 2016 NLDS playoff baseball series at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

Starting Pitching

The strength of the San Francisco Giants continues to be their starting pitching and the same held true in 2016.

It was another excellent year for ace Madison Bumgarner. Mad Bum made his fourth straight All-Star team. He was seventh in WAR, fourth in ERA, fourth in WHIP, second in innings, third in strikeouts and tied for the lead in games started with 34. He continues to be among the best pitchers in the game today.

The Giants went out in free agency before last season and added Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija to make the rotation deeper. Cueto was an All-Star himself in 2016. He was second in WAR, fifth in ERA, third in wins and eighth in WHIP. Him and Bumgarner form one of the best 1-2 punches in the game.

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Samardzija improved over his sub-par 2015 with the Chicago White Sox. He cut his ERA by over a full run, while still throwing over 200 innings.

The Giants were counting on veterans Jake Peavy and Matt Cain to form the back end of the rotation, but both had ERAs over 5.00 this year. Peavy will be a free agent, but Cain will more than likely have either a starting spot or a long man role next year. He’s due $21 million in 2017 and in 2018 will either have a $21 million salary or a $7.5 million buyout.

Those two performances led to the Giants adding Matt Moore before the deadline. Moore went 6-5 with an ERA over 4.00, but did pitch two excellent games against the Dodgers including almost no-hitting them.

Ty Blach and Albert Suarez came up and contributed to the rotation and could be fifth starter options in 2017.

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