San Francisco Giants: The Hunt for Last and First

The San Francisco Giants are currently “competing” for last place in Major League Baseball and the first pick in the 2018 MLB Draft.

According to Wikipedia, the San Francisco Giants have never had a number one pick. The closest they came was back in 1985 when they selected Will Clark second overall.

That turned out to be a pretty good pick for the Giants as Clark went on to make six All Star appearances in 15 years. Five of those trips to the Mid-Summer classic were as a Giant.

The last time they had a top five pick was in 2008 when they selected Buster Posey fifth overall.

You never want your team to finish near the bottom of the standings, but when the Giants have they’ve made it worth it by making good picks early in the draft.

With just five games left, the Giants are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the worst record in baseball. I’m not sure how the tie-breaker works in that scenario, but at the very least the Giants are looking at a top three pick.

However, there are several other teams in the mix. The Detroit Tigers have been painfully awful lately and are just a half game ahead of the Giants and Phillies for the worst record in baseball.

The Chicago White Sox are in the mix as well, 2.5 games ahead of the Giants and Phillies with six games left.

The Giants have two games left with the Arizona Diamondbacks who are resting up for the postseason. And then they have three at home against the San Diego Padres to end the season.

If I had to guess, they go 3-2 in that stretch and finish the year 65-97.

The Phillies have two games left against the Washington Nationals who are resting for the playoffs, but get Bryce Harper back. They finish the year with three against the terrible New York Mets. I see them going 2-3 and finishing 64-98.

Detroit has lost seven in a row and has three with the Kansas City Royals and three with the Minnesota Twins to end the year. The Twins will be resting their starters in that series finale, so the Tigers could get a few wins there. I think they go 3-3 the rest of the way and finish 65-97.

At that point, the White Sox just need to win two of their last six games to not finish in the bottom three.

More from Around the Foghorn

• SF Giants: Reliever Reyes Moronta clears outright waivers
• SF Giants sign veteran 1B John Nogowski to minor league deal
• SF Giants call on veteran LHP Scott Kazmir for big start against Padres
• SF Giants: Update on Alex Dickerson’s rehab assignment
• Atlanta claims SF Giants C Chadwick Tromp off waivers

If things play out the way I think the Phillies would get the number one pick, while the Tigers and Giants would be two and three (not sure which order).

The number one pick in baseball isn’t as big as in other sports. You won’t see them for years, and the odds of them being a superstar are still pretty slim. The difference between the first and third pick in the MLB draft isn’t significant, and sometimes the best player doesn’t even get picked first because of slot money and signability issues.

If you’re a San Francisco Giants fan, you have to choose if you want to finish last or first this week. Would you rather see your team finish strong and not have the worst record in baseball, or do you really want that first overall pick?

Next: The San Francisco Giants must keep hold of Nick Hundley

For me, I’d like to see this team continue to play hard and develop. At this point, we know we’re getting a top three pick next year. There isn’t a standout number one in next year’s draft, so it really doesn’t matter. Let’s see this team finish strong and avoid being the worst team in baseball.