ESPN: Keri: The midseason review … ‘84 Cubs style

Rich, bordi-line zaniness from Jonah Keri…

Welcome to Page 2’s third annual midseason review mega-nostalgia jubilee. For those of you new to the concept, here’s how it works: We review the year-to-date performances of all 30 MLB teams and look ahead to their future prospects. Instead of assigning a letter grade to each team, every club gets a player from a past big winner to illustrate how they’ve done.

...San Francisco Giants (39-53): Warren Brusstar

Check out Brusstar’s 1978 Topps card, from his days with the Phillies. Why don’t baseball players look like this anymore? Five-inch perm, adult film star ‘stache, wad of chaw the size of a grapefruit (OK, maybe Big League Chew now)—those were the days.

Likewise, the Giants are just a shadow of their former selves, whether compared to the big Bonds years, or even back to the days of Mays and McCovey. They haven’t been as bad as some of the doomsday predictions suggested, but that’s setting the bar pretty low. They have the most compelling young pitcher in the game in Tim Lincecum, great tag-team partners in Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez … and almost nothing else. The farm system’s slowly improving, but it’s going to take time to reverse years of punting the draft and any semblance of building from within before the Giants become relevant again. If I were Brian Sabean, I’d get my resume ready.