Infield: Kaz Matsui (2004-10) has played mostly second base in the majors, but he can be stretched to play shortstop. We're stretching him in order to avoid planting Kevin Mitchell at short. The infield defense is stretched enough as it is. Matsui was an unspectacular hitter but ran well, played decent defense and was a smart, hustling player. Kevin Millar (1998-2009) spent most of his career at first base and in the outfield, but he did play some third base, so we're going to stretch him to fill that hole. On the other hand, Millar was a pretty decent hitter with 170 career home runs, so he'll help put some runs on the board. First baseman Kevin Maas (1990-95) looked like the guy who would replace Don Mattingly when he joined the Yankees at midseason 1990 and blasted 23 home runs. He never hit like that again, though, and his decline was pretty rapid. He wasn't Donny Baseball with the glove, either, so it's going to be interesting watching him try to handle the throws across the diamond from Millar. Second baseman Keith Miller (1987-95) got moved to the outfield after a while because he was not very good in the infield, thus rounding out a defensive alignment that will scare the holy hell out of this pitching staff. Essentially, the infield consists of a first baseman at third, a second a baseman at short, an outfielder at second and a DH at first base. Fortunately, we have every reason to believe that our groundskeeper (the namesake of this team) will give them a pristine infield that won't provide too many bad hops.
Outfield: Kevin McReynolds (1983-94) played mostly left field but we'll stretch him to play center. He was a big fellow who didn't seem like a speed burner, but he played pretty good defense, was successful on almost 75% of his stolen base attempts, and once stole 21 bases in a season without getting thrown out. He was a consistent hitter who slugged 211 home runs. Right fielder Keith Moreland (1978-89) was built kind of like Kevin McReynolds, but he was no center fielder. In fact, he came up as a catcher but got moved to the outfield, and defensively, he played sort of like a catcher being wedged into the outfield. But he hit pretty well, .279 career with 121 home runs. Left fielder Kevin Mitchell (1984-98) came up as a third baseman and played some shortstop, but he found his niche as a big, bulked-up outfielder. He hit 234 home runs, including 47 with the Giants when he won the NL MVP in 1989. In short, we have a decent corner outfielder being stretched to play center in between two lummoxes. Lord, what a defense.
Outfield: Kevin McReynolds (1983-94) played mostly left field but we'll stretch him to play center. He was a big fellow who didn't seem like a speed burner, but he played pretty good defense, was successful on almost 75% of his stolen base attempts, and once stole 21 bases in a season without getting thrown out. He was a consistent hitter who slugged 211 home runs. Right fielder Keith Moreland (1978-89) was built kind of like Kevin McReynolds, but he was no center fielder. In fact, he came up as a catcher but got moved to the outfield, and defensively, he played sort of like a catcher being wedged into the outfield. But he hit pretty well, .279 career with 121 home runs. Left fielder Kevin Mitchell (1984-98) came up as a third baseman and played some shortstop, but he found his niche as a big, bulked-up outfielder. He hit 234 home runs, including 47 with the Giants when he won the NL MVP in 1989. In short, we have a decent corner outfielder being stretched to play center in between two lummoxes. Lord, what a defense.
Catcher: Kirt (What is That) Manwaring (1987-99) was never much of a hitter, but he was good enough with the glove to hang around a long time as a reserve and to plug a hole as a starter for a few years here and there.
Rotation: Kirk McCaskill (1985-96) was basically a .500 pitcher with a league-average ERA, but if you put him on a good team he'd win some ballgames. Career record of 106-108. Kent Mercker (1989-2008) was a lefty who came up as a reliver, moved into the rotation, then finished up as a reliever. He was a valuable role player for a long time. He pitched the first six innings of a combined no-hitter in 1991. It was really kind of a joke, because there really was a clean hit with two out in the ninth, but the official scorer called it an error on Gold Glove third baseman Terry Pendleton, who said later said he had no chance at the ball but worked hard to make it look like maybe he could have touched it a little bit so that the official scorer could call it an error and preserve the no-hitter. It was sort of an epidemic in 1991, when several pitchers were awarded (wink wink) no-hitters because of (wink wink) errors that were called on plays where the fielder had no chance. Anyways, perhaps to correct matters, Mercker went out and threw a complete game no-hitter in 1994. Ken McBride (1959-65) was a decent righty in the American League for a few years, but it's still kind of hard to grasp how a starting pitcher with 40 career victories could have been selected to three all-star games. Kid Madden (1887-91) had a career record of 54-50 back in the prehistoric days. Kevin Morton (1991) was a native New Englander who pitched a few games for the Red Sox at age 22 and didn't do half-bad, but he never went anywhere from that promising starting point.
Bullpen: Kyle McClellan (2008- ) grew up in St. Louis and came up with the Cardinals - first as a reliever, and now as a starter. He's a young kid with a live arm, and he'll get the first shot at the KM closer role. If he doesn't pan out, it could fall to Kevin McGlinchy (1999-2000), who had a really good season for Atlanta at age 22 but then got sidetracked and never got his career back on the rails. Ken Mackenzie (1960-65) was a lefty who spent a few years getting knocked around, but never so bad that someone wasn't willing to bring him back for another shot. Kris Medlen (2009- ) made it to the majors at age 23 and looks like he could be a good one. Between he and McClellan, they could radically reshape this bullpen in the next few years, along with 6-foot-9 fireballer Kam Mickolio (2008- ). Kurt Miller (1994-99) very rarely got anyone out. Kit McKenna (1898-99) sounds like someone who would be Nancy Drew's sidekick in some crime-solving adventure. That's about how he pitched, too.
Bench: Kendry Morales (2006- ) had a big year in 2009 and seemed poised to push Kevin Maas aside at first base. Then, in 2010, he broke his leg while celebrating a home run at home plate - he missed the final 100 games of 2010 and all of 2011. We'll see what he can do when he comes back. Kohly Miller (1892-97) was an infielder who threw left-handed. Mike was once involved with a very lengthy message board thread at whatifsports.com in which one young doofus tried very, very had to convince people that being left-handed was actually a benefit when it comes to turning the double play, suggesting all sorts of physical manuevers that would land you in traction for a month if you tried them. So we're looking forward to watching Kohly Miller to see if he does any of these moves. Outfielder Kevin Mench (2002- ) was nicknamed "Shrek" because his head is so massive. He hit 89 career home runs, and we needed another outfielder named Kevin. Keith Mitchell (1991-98) was an outfielder who bounced around the majors for a few years. Kelly Mann (1989-90) is a backup catcher of no real consequence.
Manager: Ken Macha did a great job with the Oakland A's for four years and was fired after taking his team to the ALCS.
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