Giant of the First Half (Charlie's Pick)

The Giants entered Spring Training in 2008 knowing that pitching would be the strength. They had two young studs in Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. They had Barry Zito, who was coming off a solid second half of 2007. They had Noah Lowry, who won 14 games in 2007. And they had Kevin Correia, who had excelled in a small number of starts. The odd man out seemed to be Jonathan Sanchez, who had bounced between Fresno and the major league club, and between the starting rotation and the bullpen, for the past couple years. His name frequently came up in trade rumors, with the Giants targeting players like Chicago's Joe Crede and New York's Hideki Matsui. At 25 years old, this was a make-or-break season for Sanchez to prove that he could stick in the big leagues.

Sanchez's big break didn't come without a bit of luck. Noah Lowry went down early in Spring Training, opening up a spot for Sanchez. When Kevin Correia was placed on the DL in April, Sanchez was in the rotation to stay. Since some inconsistency early, Sanchez has been arguably the Giants' second best pitcher, going 8-5 with a 3.97 ERA. The high point came in the month of June, when Sanchez went 5-1 with a 3.10 ERA. He is seventh in the league in strikeouts with 115 in just 111 innings. While much of the rotation has battled injury and inconsistency, Sanchez has been a lifesaver, and has shown that he deserves to be a part of this rotation for a long time to come. And that's why he gets my vote for the Giant of the first half.