In yesterday’s post we projected the Giants positional players for 2009 using Wins Above Replacement or WAR. Today we’ll be finishing the team by projecting the pitchers. If you’re new to the concept of WAR, scroll down to yesterday’s post for some introductory links. I’ve assumed that you’ve already read them and I won’t go into much details in this post.Some assumptions before we get started:

Today, I’ll be starting my 2009 Wins Above Replacement projection for the Giants. I’ve done some WAR-related stuff on this website before, but if you’re new to the idea, check out this link. It’s a good place to get started. Also, FanGraphs just posted a two-part article on Win Values. It’s also a very good read and I suggest that you check it out.

The Giants have signed Randy Johnson to a 1-year, $8M contract. What a nice surprise to find waiting for me and other Giants fans after coming back from the holiday weekend. In 2008, the 44-year-old Johnson (he’ll be 45-years-old in ‘09) showed the world that he had plenty of gas left in the tank. Last season Johnson threw a total of 184 innings and struck out 173 hitters. He had a FIP of 3.76, a tRA of 3.32, and an ERA+ of 117.

I wanted to do a quick Wins Above Replacement post on Joe Crede and Pablo Sandoval. I’ve been pro Crede this offseason for a couple of reasons. He’s essentially a league average hitter with plus-defense that’s battled injuries over the past two seasons. Because he’s been stuck in the trainers room so much lately, he might sign a short-term — maybe even a 1-year — deal. I like Crede for a number of reasons but before we get started let’s check out my assumptions that I used to compare Joe and Pablo.Assumptions:

Aussie Golfer and TYIG bring you the final wrapup for the year in the shape of the European Tour.This week Aussie Golfer has done an excellent summary.

I thought I’d mention that I’ve joined the staff off Beyond the Boxscore to occasionally post on baseball. BTB is a member of the SportsBlog Nation network. They do really good work and they’ve got some great people writing for BTB. I’m thrilled to be a part of the team.

I’m a pretty big fan of baseball uniforms. The variation, the re-designs, the failures and successes, each is interesting in it’s own way. Today, I wanted to post some of my favorite Giants uniforms. It’s a departure from the usual stat-work but I think we can all agree that the uniforms are a huge part of the thing that makes baseball fun.

As far as golf is concerned, 2008 belongs to one man, Padraig Harrington.After winning two of the last five major titles, the PGA Championship and retaining the British Open, winning the European PGA Player of the Year and the Golf Writers Trophy, yesterday Harrington was voted the PGA Tour Player of the Year.

This week The Year In Golf and Aussie Golfer have a look at the PGA Tour.It was fair to say that after 2008, big things were expected from the Aussies in 2009. Unfortunately they failed to materialise, with only two wins being put on the board in 2009.

A quick post this morning on the defense from 2002-2008. Thanks to FanGraphs for making bUZR publicly available. I’ve really had a lot of fun looking through the data.

This past week the Houston Astros decided to non-tender Ty Wigginton rather than extend a contract to him and increase his salary through arbitration. The Chron article that I just linked to suggests that after arbitration, Wigginton would have been looking at a salary around $6M. He made $4.35M last year. Because the Astros did not tender Wigginton a contract, he’s now a free agent that can sign with any team, including the Astros.

This year just keeps getting better and better for Padraig Harrington. The Irish golfer has added to his growing list of silverware for 2008 by winning the Golf Writer’s Trophy for the second year in a row.It is only the third time a golfer has won the trophy two years in succession and the first time since 1974 when Peter Oosterhuis completed the honour to follow in Tony Jacklin’s (1969-70) footsteps.

Quick Update: You may have seen this post sometime last week but I had to take it down after some of my numbers didn’t jive. I’d like to thank McCovey Chronicles for helping me correct some of the finer points of the data and getting it back online.

You should probably like them a good bit more now:The Royals are closing in on a two-year deal to sign right-hander Kyle Farnsworth as a setup reliever, MLB.com has learned. Also, the Royals announced on Thursday they signed right-hander Doug Waechter as a middle reliever and left-hander Horacio Ramirez as a starter, both to one-year contracts. The Ramirez deal was reported earlier.

Baseball America has just posted the results for the Rule 5 Draft.Players Acquired: RHP Luis Perdomo (MLB Phase, drafted from Cardinals), LHP Matt Yourkin (AAA Phase, drafted from Marlins)