San Francisco Giants All-Time Team

Our final MLB roster might be the most stacked squad of all - at least among National League franchises. Here's the San Francisco Giants all-time team.

 

The Giants played more years at Candlestick Park (and the Polo Grounds), but all of their modern-day title teams played at Pac Bell/SBC/AT&T/Oracle Park.

John McGraw managed the Giants for 31 seasons, leading the team to ten National League titles and three World Series victories in  New York. He might have had a fourth World Series win if the team hadn't scoffed at playing the "inferior" American League champions in 1904.

Here's his all-time lineup.

This lineup is loaded with home run power, surrounded by high-average hitters including lead-off man George Davis, who batted .332 and stole 357 bases over ten Giants seasons. Again, shout-out to Gregory at Nine Pickets for the Davis custom.

While other NL West franchises like Arizona and Colorado have few backup first basemen to choose from, the Giants are overflowing with options.

	Giants stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Roger Connor	53.0	0.319	0.402	0.488	0.890	161
	*Orlando Cepeda	30.3	0.308	0.352	0.535	0.887	140
	Will Clark	35.8	0.299	0.373	0.499	0.872	145
	Brandon Belt	27.6	0.261	0.356	0.458	0.814	123

Will Clark was a Barnstormer in the original series; he'll try to hold on to his roster spot in an expanded competition. McGraw will find a place for Orlando Cepeda somewhere.

The other infield positions are more quantity over quality. San Fran has a lot of league-average options.

	Giants stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Larry Doyle	42.7	0.292	0.359	0.411	0.770	127
	Robby Thompson	33.8	0.257	0.329	0.403	0.733	105
	Brandon Crawford	29.9	0.251	0.320	0.399	0.719	98
	Travis Jackson	44.2	0.291	0.337	0.433	0.770	102
	Art Fletcher	42.3	0.275	0.318	0.356	0.674	100
	Art Devlin	34.0	0.268	0.365	0.337	0.702	111
	George Kelly	22.8	0.301	0.348	0.465	0.813	117

George "High Pockets" Kelly would give Larry Doyle a run for his money but his primary position is - you guessed it - first base. Doyle stays.


While Barry Bonds is locked into the starting left field spot, his dad Bobby has a bit of a battle for a bench role.

	Giants stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Bobby Bonds	38.1	0.273	0.356	0.478	0.834	131
	Mike Tiernan	42.3	0.311	0.392	0.463	0.855	138
	George Burns	36.4	0.290	0.368	0.391	0.759	124

McGraw would add underrated 19th-century star Tiernan as a fifth outfielder, but not at the expense of Cepeda.


If the Giants hitters aren't impressive enough, the starting pitching may just put them over the top.

The only non-Hall of Famer here is the still-active Madison Bumgarner, recently DFA'd by Arizona. It would be easy to assemble an all-Hall Giants rotation with any of these starters should McGraw choose to do what the Diamondbacks did and cut MadBum.

	Giants stats	WAR	ERA	ERA+	K/BB	WHIP	starts
	*Madison Bumgarner	32.9	3.13	120	4.19	1.111	286
	Amos Rusie	66.4	2.89	137	1.16	1.327	403
	Mickey Welch	53.1	2.69	119	1.46	1.225	412
	Tim Keefe	37.2	2.54	129	2.25	1.101	269
	Joe McGinnity	33.6	2.38	119	1.70	1.116	237

Bumgarner's big-game bona fides gave him the edge originally, and it's enough to stay in this rotation.


The Giants' relief group is also unchanged.

Greg Minton is third among Giants pitchers in appearances, but he walked more batters than he whiffed.

Looking ahead... this is going to be a tough roster to break through for any young Giant. Starting pitcher Logan Webb and closer Camilo Doval have been impressive at the big-league level, and lefty starter Kyle Harrison is knocking on the door. A middle infield role might be easier to earn than a middle relief role; Marco Luciano is a top tier shortstop prospect but he's at least a couple years away.

 

TL; DR: No changes from the original roster.




This completes the updated All-Time Teams roster for all 30 MLB franchises. But we're expanding this league to 32 teams this weekend with the Negro League All-Stars and the "best of the rest" Barnstormers. 

Thanks for reading!



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