Health Remains Key to Success in 2016

It’s just around 11 o’clock in San Francisco as the Giants and Marlins battling for a win at AT&T Park. Both teams are at 6, but now the Marlins are threatening.

With one out in the top of the 12th, Emilio Bonifacio comes up to bat to face Guillermo Mota, with Omar Infante on first and Scott Cousins on third.

On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Bonifacio hits a fly ball out to right center, between Andres Torres and Nate Schierholtz. Schierholtz has the better arm, so he calls off Torres and catches the ball.

The second the ball hits leather, Cousins starts digging home. Schierholtz quickly takes the ball out of his glove and fires the ball home towards his catcher, Buster Posey.

Posey quickly realizes that Cousins is going to collide with him. As both Cousins and the ball come closer and closer, Posey can’t decide whether to gear up for the hit or catch the ball. He doesn’t do either.

Boom.

“Posey can’t handle it, and Posey gets clobbered.”

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Little did Giants fans know it, but their playoff chances had gone down right with Posey.

Anyone who has followed the Giants in the past six years can say that one factor has been a quintessential part of the team’s successes and failures: its health. Sure, the Giants had the right combination of luck and skill, but no one can deny that health was the one of, if not the, most important factors in San Francisco’s World Series title runs.

In 2010, 2012, and 2014, health was on the Giants’ side. In 2010, 2012, and 2014, the Giants were champions. In 2011, 2013, and 2015, health was not on the Giants’ side. In 2011, 2013, and 2015, the Giants were not champions. Noticing a pattern?

It has been two weeks since pitchers and catchers reported to officially kick-off Spring Training and so far, Giants fans have not had any exciting news coming out of Scottsdale. On February 25th, Matt Cain had a cyst removed from his upper right arm, and on February 29th, Hunter Pence underwent an MRI. These injuries raise a question going into the season: can the Giants consistently stay 100% healthy?

In 2015, both Cain and Pence missed a significant amount of time due to injury. On top of these two, Brandon Belt, Jake Peavy, Joe Panik, and Angel Pagan all found themselves on the DL. Due to so many key players were missing time, the Giants missed the playoffs in another injury-riddled year.

The injuries to Cain and Pence are considered minor, and both of them expect to be ready come Opening Day, but fans are on high alert because they know what can happen when the injuries start piling up.

In 2011, Aaron Rowand, Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez, Pablo Sandoval, Freddy Sanchez, and Buster Posey missed time due to injury, and San Francisco finished 2nd place in the NL West with an 86-76 record. In 2013, Ryan Vogelsong, Angel Pagan and Matt Cain missed time due to injury, and San Francisco finished in 4th place with a 76-86 record.

In addition to the injuries, Pence, Cain, Peavy, Pagan, and newcomer Denard Span, all of whom are core pieces for the Giants, aren’t getting any younger. Injuries and age are a deadly combination, and it only takes one domino to fall for Giants World Series aspirations to crumble.

For the Giants to be successful down the stretch this year, and for years to come, they will need their veterans to conserve their bodies and survive the wear and tear of the season, even if means taking the San Antonio Spurs route of resting players. When the Giants are all healthy and get consistent appearances from their starters, they’re a force to be reckoned.

For example, when the San Francisco offense got consistent playing time from Freddy Sanchez, Marco Scutaro, and Angel Pagan, it ran like a well-oiled machine. Their ability to get on base and hit for contact was vital to setting up the Giants’ sluggers and generating runs. When they fell to injury, the offense suffered.

The idea of resting players, of course, is just a hypothetical. Whether or not Bruce Bochy decides to rest his starters, the fact remains that if the Giants are going to reach the playoffs in 2016, they’re going to have to stay healthy. Starting off the spring with a pair of injuries isn’t the storybook beginning that San Francisco wanted, but if these are the worst injuries the Giants face all year, then come October, anything can happen.

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