We have the Top 5 San Francisco Giants next in the NL West Top 5 Series. The Giants are loaded with starting pitching from two time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum to Jonathan Sanchez. Their hitters are well.....terrible, with the exception of Pablo Sandoval.
Let's take a look at the Giant top 5 for 2010:
1. Tim Lincecum-The Freak won his second consecutive Cy Young award last year, and is probably the number 1 fantasy pitcher to leave draft boards in your 2010 fantasy drafts. There is not much to say about Lincecum except that he will give you 4 categories of exceptional stats. Bill James projects him to go 18-7 with a 2.80 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 3.26 K/BB AND A 2.62 FIP.
2. Pablo Sandoval-Kung Fu Panda sure can hit a baseball. He doesn't look like a baseball player, but his 2009 stats tell you he is-25-90-79-.330-.387-.556. He will play 3B again, and probably be drafted in the 4th-5th rounds of your fantasy drafts. James has him going 24-97-86-.327-.382-.552 in 2010. I can see him approaching 30-100 in the next year or two, as he will turn some of his 44 doubles into HRs soon enough.
3. Matt Cain-Cain had the best season of his career in 2009 going 14-8 with a 2,89 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP, and a career high K/BB of 2.34, as his BB/9 dropped from 3.76 to 3.02. Cain's ERA benefitted from an extreme LOB% OF 81.6% which is not repeatable, as evidenced by his 3.89 FIP-a full run hgher than his ERA. James projects Cain to go 14-11-3.36-1.22 in 2010.
4. Brian Wilson-Wilson is one of the more reliable closers in baseball as he saved 38 games with a 2.74 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Wilson's ERA dropped by almost two runs from 4.62 to 2,74 in 2009, and he increased his K/BB from 2.39 to 3.07. James has him saving 41 games in 2010, but sees his BB/9 increasing 3.36/9 to 4.20/9.
5. Mark DeRosa-DeRosa had a quietly productive 2009 season going 23-78-78 but his .250-.319-.433 slash line leaves alot room for improvement, but at the age of 35 and hitting in AT&T Park certainly won't help him. He is the Giants second best hitter until catching prospect Buster Posey gets a call up in June. James projects DeRosa to go 17-71-76-.260-.335-.418 oin 2010.
Sleeper Alert: Jonathan Sanchez-Sanchez had an up and down season in 2009, as he was sent to the minors, and upon his return pitched a no-hitter where he dominated the Padres, and almost had a perfect game if it wasn;t for an error. He was 3-8 with a 4.69 ERA AND 1.50 WHIP in the first half of the season. He followed that up by going 5-4 with a 3.83 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. James projects him to go 10-10 with a 3.91 ERA and 1.39 WHIP in 2010