I eat more fiber in February just so I can spend more time reading baseball annuals. True story. Today's mail brought the Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook and Baseball Prospectus. The baseball books are the best part of this short, drab, and freakish month.
Here are ten players that PECOTA spit out for players who were with the Giants at the end of 2009, or who will be in camp with the Giants this season. Try to match them up with the Giants player of the present or recent past. Don't be a weenie and cheat. Put your answers in the comments section before reading anyone else's guess, then scroll back up and highlight the text for the correct answers.
1. Kirk Rueter
2. Wilson Alvarez
3. Mike Stanton
4. John Smoltz
5. Andre Ethier
6. Charlie Hayes and Russ Davis!
7. Jeffrey Hammonds
8. Shea Hillenbrand
9. Rikkert Faneyte
10. Dave Burba
1. Barry Zito. The PECOTA comp that was three years in the making! 2. Madison Bumgarner. I don't see why we need to wait six years to trade Bumgarner for Mike Caruso; let's just get it out of the way now. 3. Jeremy Affeldt. Without Mike Stanton (and the draft pick we got when he left), there wouldn't be Charlie Culberson. Never forget. Less than a round after Culberson was drafted, the Marlins selected Mike Stanton. Oh, if only the scouting department had a better sense of humor. 4. Matt Cain. The other comps were Carlos Zambrano, Andy Benes, and Scott Erickson. Good company, for the most part. 5. Nate Schierholtz. Ethier stuck out as being as one of the more randomly optimistic ones in the Giants chapter. Of course, the other comps were totally forgettable. 6. Juan Uribe. I would have liked to watch Russ Davis take a couple of starts at short, just for giggles. 7. Aaron Rowand. Remember when Hammonds's 3/$21M contract seemed shocking? Ugh. Three more years and $39M left for Rowand. 8. Ryan Garko. PECOTA has a little sense of humor coded into it, apparently. 9. Jesus Guzman. This one doesn't make sense, but it's definitely cool. Jesus and honkbal: in the same sentence at last! 10. Todd Wellemeyer. Did anyone remember that Burba was a Giant for six innings in 2004? Me neither.