I guess I coulda included the "Steroid" tag too...

Brian Giles should have signed a one-day contract with the Pirates to announce his retirement.

He wanted to keep his career OBP line at .400.

Not a bad career for a guy who was interchangeable with Ricardo Rincon.

Not a bad career for a guy who was interchangeable with Ricardo Rincon.

Not at all -- but I guess there are some "what ifs."

He never became BRIAN GILES until he turned 28. For four years, he was a legitimate Hall of Fame-level talent. Unfortunately, those four years were spent in Pittsburgh, and the rest of his career didn't pad his numbers enough.

Not much with the glove, but I always hated seeing him come to bat against the Brewers.

For four years, he was a legitimate Hall of Fame-level talent.

Only four? Six season with an OPS+ above 140...

You may now safely let your womenfolk out of the root cellar.

The greatest moment of Brian Giles's career

He's obviously not a Hall of Famer.

How might he do in the Hall of Merit? Does he get any bonus points for being stuck in Cleveland so long?

man, mike jackson didn't have it that day did he? 8-2 lead going into the 9th and he loses on 2 homers (giles with the grand slam to win the game) and a 2-run single. and he started with 2 outs. i'm betting those were loud outs.

what do his numbers in SD look like if you translate them back to pit? might he be HOF worthy if he had just stayed there?

How crazy is it that Brian Giles was a 17th-round pick, and his brother a 53rd-rounder? The odds of any pick making the majors outside the first few rounds is very, very low - astronomically so by the time you get to the 53rd certainly. And yet, two guys from the same family both beat the ridiculous long odds and put together legitimate major league careers (And a very good one in Brian's case; Marcus was great for one year.

...of course I realize after writing this, that people will probably answer with 'they shared their 'roids!' or some such thing. Maybe, who knows.

i'm betting those were loud outs.

I was at that game. Ramirez fly ball was pretty deep left, at or near the warning track. I don't recall the Vander Wal FO to CF. I did turn to the people I was there with after the Meares HR and comment that wasn't it just like him to hit a HR when it couldn't possibly help.

Also, just as a reminder of the way players from small-market teams routinely get ###### in awards voting:

Brian Giles-
Years in top 10 in OPS+: 6
All-Star games: 2 (both as a reserve)
Top 10 MVP finishes: 1 (9th place, 2005)

Paul O'Neill-
Years in top 10 in OPS+: 1
All-Star games: 5 (1 start, 4 reserve)
Top 10 MVP finishes: 1 (5th place, 1994)

And yet, two guys from the same family both beat the ridiculous long odds and put together legitimate major league careers (And a very good one in Brian's case; Marcus was great for one year.

I wonder if there wasn't an advantage to Marcus due to Brian coming first. They knew his name and could make some assumptions, warranted or otherwise, about his bloodlines, thereby giving him a longer rope than a 53rd rounder may otherwise have received. In that case, he would have had better odds at reaching the bigs for a man of his draft position.

Which doesn't even really get into the depth of his all-around snub in 2002. He hit .298/.450/.622, good for a 177 OPS+ that was second in the league (behind only Bonds). He played in 153 games, hit 38 home runs, drove in 103 runs for a team that only scored 641 (second-lowest in the NL). He stole 15 bases at a 71% success rate, and was basically an average defender (-2).

The fans voted for three starting outfielders, and Giles wasn't one of them. Bob Brenly picked five more outfielders for the bench, and Giles wasn't one of them, either. And at the end of the year, he finished in 13th place in MVP voting: behind five other outfielders, sandwiched between Eric Gagne and Pat Burrell.

They knew his name and could make some assumptions, warranted or otherwise, about his bloodlines, thereby giving him a longer rope than a 53rd rounder may otherwise have received.

How much rope did he need? He put up a .993 OPS in rookie ball, then hit 37 HR in his first full minor league season. Be tough to justify keeping that out of the lineup.

#8 I was at that game. He also robbed Vinny Castilla of a HR and a 4-HR game.

They knew his name and could make some assumptions, warranted or otherwise, about his bloodlines, thereby giving him a longer rope than a 53rd rounder may otherwise have received. In that case, he would have had better odds at reaching the bigs for a man of his draft position.

You no doubt know this but Bobby Cox didn't really do him any favors, preferring to stick with Keith Lockhart until it just became embarrassing to do so.

This Dag Nabbit in History Posted: March 11, 2010 at 02:50 PM (#3477578)

The greatest moment of Brian Giles's career


- yeh, i remember that game because mike jackson (who i was NOT happy that the astros went and got) went in to mop up, got 2 outs. then i got distracted with something, came back in time to see billy wags giving up the game losing granny

but i really remember the second game more because tony mcknight was pitching. this was back when the astros farm system was teh awesome and i thought that tony would be one of our starters for years. and then he got traded and disappeared. and i can't find out what happened to him

and then he got traded and disappeared. and i can't find out what happened to him

He struggled after the trade, didn't get along with the coaches, and the Pirates DFA'ed him in late 2002. He signed a minor league deal with Las Vegas in 2003, injured himself early in the season (right before this game), and never pitched again. Don't know the nature of the injury, sorry.

Not at all -- but I guess there are some "what ifs."

He never became BRIAN GILES until he turned 28. For four years, he was a legitimate Hall of Fame-level talent. Unfortunately, those four years were spent in Pittsburgh, and the rest of his career didn't pad his numbers enough.

Also, what if he came up with a team that didn't already have an All-Star outfield. I think you could argue on just about any other team in the league Giles could have been playing everyday, ages 24-27.

Wow, I saw Brian Giles' very last game as a professional yesterday. Interesting.

In his first at bat he got a 3-0 fastball down the middle turned on it and flew out to medium deep right-center. Wonder if he thought "jeez if that's as far as I can hit it now, this is probably the end of the line."

Brian Giles was never, at any point, a Baseball America Top 100 prospect.

My favorite moment of Brian Giles' career came when he crashed into the rightfield fence at Coors Field, trying to flag down Matt Holliday's game-tying 13th-inning triple in Game No. 163. Giles probably doesn't remember it as fondly, though.

If you remove Jim Rice's last three years of below replacement performance, by CHONE WAR Rice's career was almost exactly the same length and value as Giles's, even on a season-by-season basis. If you toss Giles's terrible 2009 as well, Giles ends up a little better.

Brian Giles took one of the most amazing swings I've ever seen. I don't know which season, but it was Robb Nen v Giles, bottom of the 9th. Nen had great stuff. It seemed like the Pirates didn't have a hope in the world, but there they go, getting bloop hits, working the count. Giles faced Nen with the game on the line, Kendal and Wilson manage to weasel their way on base. Nen unleashes a series of murderous fastballs and devastating sliders (hopefully we all remember and appreciated that amazing Nen slider). Somehow Giles isn't hopelessly swinging over that pitch, but the setup is done, and Nen prepares to hurls a high fastball. I've never seen someone throw a ball harder. 100 MPH, chin height to Giles, and he manages to foul it back. You don't foul that pitch off. No one fouls that pitch off. That's a strike out pitch if you swing at it. Nevertheless, the AB goes on. Giles hits a double and the Pirates win on a walk off. I'll never forget that.

My favorite moment of Brian Giles' career came when he crashed into the rightfield fence at Coors Field, trying to flag down Matt Holliday's game-tying 13th-inning triple in Game No. 163. Giles probably doesn't remember it as fondly, though.

Ironically enough, it seemed like Brian Giles was going to be the hero of that game after he hit one over Holliday's head that he mis-played.
Also when Giles threw that ball home from rightfield on the last play, it looked like he air mailed it out of his hand.

All in all, one of the best baseball games I've ever seen.

Of the 20 left fielders currently in the Hall of Fame, Giles probably has a better case than four of them: Chick Hafey, Heine Manush, Lou Brock and Jim Rice. Depending on how you want to adjust for peak vs. career considerations, there are two more you could make a non-stupid argument that he's their equal: Billy Williams and Zack Wheat. Then there's Jim O'Rourke which is apples and oranges. That's 13 of the 20 who pretty indisputably have better cases than him. Fred Clarke is probably the closest of those, but then Clarke's managerial career then puts him way ahead.

As for the HOM, the HOMer he compares best to is probably Charlie Keller. He's the same sort of high peak, low career kind of choice Giles would have to be. Darryl (in the same ballpark) isn't in yet. Both Billy Williams and Zack Wheat are in the HOM but that's due to a higher emphasis on career than I usually put. Giles probably had a better peak than both.

Phew, thank god he retired before the adderall scandal hit....whaaa....oh, nevermind.

Trust me, Hugh Jorgan, Brian Giles has bigger problems than the adderall scandal.