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NL West Preview
2009-03-31 22:47:00
Finally, we end up in NL West , where the top 3 teams all believe that they have a shot at winning the division. Manny Ramirez's return to LA likely pits the Dodgers as the favorite, but they have a few teams (Giants and D-Backs) right on their heels that are looking to improve on what they did in 2008.1st Place, Los Angeles DodgersLineup:SS Rafael Furcal2B Orlando HudsonCF Matt KempLF Manny RamirezC Russel MartinRF Andre Ethier1B James Looney3B Casey BlakePitching:RHP Hiroki KurodaLHP Randy WolfRHP Chad BillingsleyLHP Clayton KershawRHP James McDonaldSU: Hong-Chih KuoCL: Jonathon BroxtonDL- RHP Jason Schmidt (May)Position-by-position, the Dodgers are the best team in the division, hands down. The re-signing of Manny Ramirez puts them right back into the drivers seat in the NL West and unless Manny gets hurt, that's where they should stay all season. They have speed, they play good defense and they'll score runs, but the only question surrounds their starting rotation. Chad Billin...
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NL Central Preview
2009-03-29 22:56:00
The NL Central is one of the more evenly matched divisions in baseball. The top three teams in the division have a legit shot at reaching the playoffs, which should make for an exciting regular season.1st Place, Chicago CubsLineup:LF Alfonso SorianoSS Ryan Theriot1B Derek LeeRF Milton Bradley3B Aramis RamirezC Geovany SotoCF Kosuke Fukudome2B Mike FontenotPitching:RHP Carlos ZambranoRHP Rich HardenLHP Ted LillyRHP Ryan DempsterLHP Sean MarshallSU: Carlos MarmolCL: Kevin GreggThe Cubs are once again loaded with talent, top to bottom. The problem they've had over the last couple of years though is keeping everybody healthy, especially their starting pitching. Zambrano and Harden are a potentially great 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation, but it's really anyones guess as to whether or not these guys will last the whole season. Their bullpen should be a strength as they have two guys who can close in Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg. Pinella has hinted that Gregg could open the year in...
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NL East Division Preview
2009-03-27 21:00:00
The National League East is going to be one of the best divisions in baseball in 2009, much like their American League counterpart. There is a ton of talent in the division, including the reigning world champs, so whoever comes out of the NL East will likely be the team to beat in NL playoffs.1st Place, New York MetsLineup:SS Jose ReyesLF Daniel Murphy3B David WrightCF Carlos Beltran1B Carlos DelgadoRF Ryan ChurchC Brian Schnieder2B Luis CastilloPitching:LHP Johan SantanaRHP Mike PelfreyLHP Oliver PerezRHP John MaineRHP Livan HernandezSU: J.J. PutzCL: Francisco RodriguezDL: RHP Tim Redding (late-April/early-May)The Mets are bringing back the exact same lineup that ended the season for them last year and are hoping they all can stay healthy. If they do so, they should have one of the better offenses in the league. I'm still waiting for David Wright to become a worthy MVP candidate after predicting him as the NL's MVP last season. He and Jose Reyes are still going to get even better...
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AL West Division Preview
2009-03-25 23:24:00
The AL West seems like one of the easier divisions in baseball to predict this season. There's the class of the division, the LA Angels, then the rest of the division could basically finish in any order behind them. Here's how I think it will go:1st Place, Los Angeles AngelsLineup:3b Chone Figgins2B Howie KendrickRF Vladimer GuerreroLF Bobby AbreuCF Torri Hunter1B Kendry MoralesDH Gary Matthews Jr.C Mike NapoliSS Erick AybarPitching:RHP John LackeyRHP Ervin SantanaLHP Joe SaundersRHP Jered WeaverRHP Dustin MoseleySU: Scott ShieldsCL: Brian FuentesDL: RHP Kelvin Escobar (late-April)The Angels move to attain Bob Abreu went way under the radar, but that move really completed their offense if you ask me. Their lineup has everything; speed, power, average and clutch hitters all the way down the order. Their starting rotation has some question marks as both Escobar and Santana may not open the year on the 25-man roster, although Santana should be back within the first couple of weeks o...
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Giants Notes
2009-03-24 00:08:00
I wanted to break away from the divisional previews for a post because there has been a lot going on in Giants camp recently, including a game Monday which included appearances from both Randy Johnson and Tim Lincecum vs. the Mariners. Johnson didn't throw quite the way he wanted to, throwing only 3 innings, giving up 2 earned runs on 3 hits. Lincecum threw a little better as he was the second Giants starter to go 6 innings in an outing this spring, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits while striking out a batter. Bruce Bochy said that from here on out, starters are going to start getting into the 5th and 6th innings with more regularity as there is only about a week left on the Cactus League schedule. Another positive to come from Monday's game in Scottsdale was the play of Pablo Sandoval. The Giants 22 year-old third basemen hit his 3rd home run of the spring while going 3-4 Monday, raising his spring average to .442. Again, nobody is going to expect Sandoval to carry this into the regula...
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'09 AL Central Preview
2009-03-20 22:07:00
The AL Central , in my mind, is going to be one of the tougher divisions to pick this season. They're really isn't a clear-cut favorite, but here's my take:1st Place, Minnesota TwinsLineup-CF Denard Span2B Alexi CasillaC Joe Mauer1B Justin MorneauRF Michael CuddyerDH Jason Kubel3B Joe CredeLF Delmon Young/Carlos GomezSS Nick PuntoPitching-RHP Scott BakerLHP Francisco LirianoRHP Kevin SloweyLHP Glen PerkinsRHP Nick BlackburnSU: Jesse CrainCL: Joe NathanI think the Twins will stay the most consistent in this division because of their starting pitching. Scott Baker is vastly underrated and Francisco Liriano looks like he's fully healthy and ready to rock after finishing strong in '08. If he stays healthy all year, he should be amongst the AL Cy Young candidates. Their lineup is also young and has the potential to be very good. I think Joe Mauer (if he gets healthy sooner than later) and Justin Morneau are ready to take another step and become even better ballplayers than they've b...
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2009 AL East Preview
2009-03-16 22:12:00
Like we've done here at The Giants Baseball Blog over the last few springs, it's time to take a closer look at baseball in general as I will be spending most of the final 2 weeks in March breaking down each team and division in baseball and predicting how I see things turning out this season. So here we go, as always, starting with the AL East and eventually finishing in our very own NL West:1st Place, Tampa Bay RaysLineup-2B Akinori IwamuraCF B.J. UptonLF Carl Crawford3B Evan Longoria1B Carlos PenaDH Pat BurrellC Dioner NavarroRF Matt Joyce/Gabe KaplarSS Jason BarlettPitching-RHP James ShieldsLHP Scott KazmirRHP Matt GarzaRHP Andy SonnanstineLHP David PriceSU: Grant BalfourCL: Troy PercivalThe "wonder team" from last year was no joke and they should be even better equipped to take on the tough AL East this season. They made all that noise last season despite getting full years out of arguably their two best players, Evan Longoria(122 games) and Carl Crawford (109 games). Not to m...
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Cain Impressive, Then Wild
2009-03-14 21:45:00
Matt Cain has been somewhat of an enigma the last couple of seasons and Saturday was no different. Cain has looked both dominant and horrible at times this spring, but I think that when the Opening Day comes around, the kid is going to be ready to thrive.Cain's most recent outing was Saturday vs. the Padres in a split squad match-up. In that outing, Cain went 3 innings, allowing a walk and a hit along with 5 punch-outs on 40 pitches and was cruising until hitting slipping a bit in the fourth and fifth innings. The pitch count is going to be key this season for the 24 year-old. If he can limit his innings to an average of 15 pitches or less, he's going to be a lot more effective and be able to get into the 8th and 9th innings more often. He's a horse already, and is used to throwing 100+ pitches a start, but he has to start using those pitches more economically if he's going to shake the "above average" sticker and start becoming a really good starting pitcher like he's capable ...
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2009 Giants Preview and Predictions
2009-03-11 23:49:00
I wanted to break away from the spring training jargon for a bit and I wanted to go ahead and do more of an in-depth preview of what the Giants will look like come opening day. I also am going to predict some of the key stats for the players. With our annual MLB team/divisional preview just around the corner, and opening day less than a month away, now is as good a time as any to take a closer look at the San Francisco Giants. Some of the final roster moves aren't set yet (as there still is 3 weeks of Cactus league to go still) but I'm going to go with my best guess.Lineup:1. RF- Randy Winn ( .288 avg., 11 hr's, 57 RBI, 89 runs, 21 sb's, .776 OPS)2. SS- Edgar Renteria (.282, 12 hr, 64 RBI, 79 runs, 9 sb's, .759 OPS)3. LF- Fred Lewis (.301, 17 hr, 76 RBI, 84 runs, 26 sb's, .817 OPS)4. C- Bengie Molina (.280, 15 hr, 77 RBI, 43 runs, 0 sb, .756 OPS)5. 3B- Pablo Sandoval (.277, 15 hr, 70 RBI, 62 runs, 5 sb, .783 OPS)6. CF- Aaron Rowand (.281, 16 hr, 74 RBI, 64 runs, 9 sb, .792 OP...
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Giants' Varsity Handle A's
2009-03-09 01:47:00
The Giants had their first split-squad games of the spring on Sunday, and Bruce Bochy kind of divided the teams into A and B teams, or what I call the Varsity and JV squads.The Varsity, or the A team, shut down the Oakland Athletics as they were led by another Randy Johnson gem. The 6'10" lefty went 3 1/3 innings, allowing no runs on 2 hits and striking out 3, leading the Giants to a 10-1 victory of the A's. In that game, the Giants played most of the players who will be in the opening day line-up. Offensively, the Giants got solid outputs from Fred Lewis (2/3, 2b, 2 RBI and a run), Bengie Molina (1/2, hr, RBI) and Pablo Sandoval (1/3, RBI). They also got a nice game from Matt Downs, who started in right field while Randy Winn got the day off from the field and started at DH. Downs is another guy who has the versatility to play both the infield and outfield and should start the season in Fresno after hitting a combined .294 with 20 home runs and 82 RBI in 523 at-bats split between...
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Perdomo and Guzman Impressing
2009-03-07 04:20:00
We're only a week into March, but a few Giants' youngsters (and a few guys who have been getting a lot of pub at this particular blog) that are really making some noise so far are infielder Jesus Guzman and reliever Luis Perdomo.Heading into Saturday's game, Guzman is tied for the team lead in both home runs (2) and RBI (5) and leads the team in extra-base hits as well. The amazing thing about this, is that he's had only 12 at-bats compared to most of the other big leaguers who are at or around 20+ at-bats. Not only is he roping the baseball, Guzman has also played better defense at third than people thought he would coming in. He's still not flawless there, and has one error this spring to show, but he's definitely improving. I don't think there is any question that his bat is ready to be tested in the bigs, the only problem will be finding him a roster spot. With Dave Roberts' recent release (more at the bottom of the post), it does open up another potential bench spot, ...

Johnson, Sandoval Lead Giants
2009-03-04 00:42:00
The Giants battled back for their first comeback win of the exhibition season on Tuesday, as they were led by a couple of guys who the team is expecting big things out of in '09.Randy Johnson struck out 7 batters in 3 innings as he faced his former employer (D-Backs) for the very first time. The lefty has now gone 5 innings this spring, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 10 batters. Johnson made it very clear coming into spring training that he was feeling better than he had in years at that point and he was extremely excited to see how things were going to go because of it. I know it's only spring training, but the Unit has looked like the Unit of 5-10 years ago early on in spring. He had the place buzzing when he threw BP and bullpen sessions during spring practices, and apparently he isn't lying. Now I'm not expecting a full fountain of youth for Johnson here, and it's still kind of unclear how his back is going to take to pitching those cold nights on th...
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Starting Pitching Looks Good Early
2009-03-01 00:48:00
After Saturday's game, the Giants have now had all five of their projected starting pitchers throw in a Cactus League game, and Bruce Bochy, Dave Righetti and Co. have to be happy with what they've seen thus far.The Giants top young arms, Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum (fresh off his newly signed 1 year, $650,000 deal; more at bottom of post), threw well in their first starts of the spring and in the most recent outing, the Giants got 2 hit-less innings from Barry Zito on Saturday. Zito allowed no base runners and struck out a batter in those two innings and hopefully it means the 30 year-old lefty is on the right track. Over the previous two springs, Zito hasn't really had many outings to feel good about, but this was certainly one of them. Jonathan Sanchez is another guy who opened some eyes in his appearance as well. Sanchez didn't start his game, but came in after Randy Johnson's 2 inning, 1 hit start and dominated the Royals. Sanchez went 3 innings and stuck out 4 while allowi...
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Bats Show Up In Spring Opener
2009-02-25 23:52:00
The big question coming into the spring was whether or not the Giants were going to score enough runs to match-up with their brilliant starting pitching. They certainly displayed enough in Wednesday's Cactus League opener against the Indians.Travis Ishikawa headlined the day as he hit two impressive home runs and went 3-3 overall with 4 RBI. Ishikawa's first shot was a majestic home run that bounced on top of the roofing in right-field then out of the complex. His second jack was more of a line drive shot and left the yard in about 3.5 seconds. Oh yeah, he all also added an RBI single in there as well. With the Giants recently passing on Joe Crede, it means that Ishikawa will get a real look at first base this spring and the 25 year-old looks ready. The Indian's broadcasting crew was mentioning just how sweet Ishikawa's swing looked and I absolutely concur. The kid looked really balanced today and swung at pitches in the strike zone. If he keeps that up, not only will he win the...
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Giants Spring Training Notes
2009-02-24 00:29:00
What has been a relatively quiet spring training in Scottsdale so far is about to start picking up. The Giants have a scheduled intresquad scrimmage planned for Tuesday, followed by Wednesday's Cactus league opener against the Indians.The only Giant who is leaving the team and heading off to the World Baseball Classic is Jonathan Sanchez. The Giants' 26 year-old lefty has been penciled in to start the Puerto Rican squad's third game of the tournament. The interesting thing here is that Sanchez is also battling the recovering Noah Lowry for the fifth starters spot in the Giants' rotation. Now, Sanchez had a leg up on Lowry before pitchers and catchers reported and absolutely nothing has changed. Sanchez's delivery has apparently been toned down and smoothed out a little bit which is hopefully going to keep him in the strike zone more often and he's looked in control in his first 2 sessions throwing to hitters. Lowry on the other hand, is still trying to work his way back to the...
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Spring Battles To Watch
2009-02-20 23:29:00
With spring training now in full swing, and cactus league games less than a week away, I thought now would be a good time to take a closer look at the top five battles that will be going on in Giants camp over the next 6 weeks. The battle for the 5th starters job, the starting second basemen spot, the final bench and bullpen spots as well as the fight for the lions share of the at-bats at first base will all be under the microscope as the Giants try and field their first winning team since 2004.The 5th Starters Spot: The most publicized battle this spring has been and will continue to be the battle for the fifth starters spot. There are only 2 contestants in this one so it's pretty cut and dry: Either Jonathan Sanchez or Noah Lowry will be in rotation come April, but not both (unless an unforeseen injury takes place). Noah Lowry has led the Giants in wins over the last 4 years, even after missing all of '08, so he's been very important to the pitching staff, when healthy. Jonatha...
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Full Squad Workouts Begin
2009-02-18 23:24:00
Wednesday marked the first day of full-squad workouts, but there was still plenty of buzz about the pitchers, and even gold 'ol Joe Crede was back in Giants news.One of the newest Giants showed up and looked good, according to our good friend over at Giants Jottings. I reported a few weeks back that Edgar Renteria showed up for the fanfest looking about 15-20 pounds lighter than he ended the season at with Detroit. Renteria looked lighter on the field as well as he supposedly put together a strong fielding session followed with a solid batting practice. The Giants, once again, have a lineup built around contact hitters, so Renteria will have to rebound and carry his share this year if the Giants are going to improve on last years league's worst offense. The 33 year-old shortstop is still being significantly overpaid in this market ($18.5 million over the next 2 seasons when he should have gotten $10 over 2 years max) but as I said when he signed, if he reverts to the way he played...
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Posey Impresses in Opening Workouts
2009-02-16 23:51:00
Finally, instead of contemplating on Joe Crede and discussing the ongoing Manny Ramirez saga, we have some real baseball to talk about as Spring Training 2009 has officially begun.Most of the buzz from the first few days has been surrounding Buster Posey. The Giants number one pick (and fifth overall) from 2008's amateur draft showed up to spring training and looked like a top five pick is supposed to. Posey hit a shot over the left-field fence on his first swing in his first spring batting session and he didn't stop there. According to those in attendance for the workout, Posey was ripping the ball all over the yard and was the only Giant hitter to hit a ball out of the park on each of the first two days of workouts. Just by looking at some of the photos taken from the batting sessions, and what limited at-bats I saw him take for Florida State last year, you can tell this kid has a special swing that's balanced and finishes high, a lot like Will Clark's classic stroke used to l...
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Pitchers and Catchers Report
2009-02-15 01:16:00
Spring Training 2009 has officially begun for the Giants as pitchers, catchers and various other position players reported to camp on Saturday. There wasn't much going on as today was just the reporting date and the first official workout isn't scheduled until Sunday, but there were a enough tidbits to come up with a small post on reporting day.Apparently Noah Lowry isn't 100 percent healthy after all as he has reported some shoulder stiffness upon arriving in Scottsdale. The lefty was supposed to be on schedule to take part fully in pitchers workouts on Sunday, but his recent set-back will likely limit any throwing he may do. However, Lowry thinks he'll be fine in due time and also adressed the the questions regarding the starting rotation. He hinted that he would expect a move of some kind if everyone is healthy come April, even a possible trade. There have been whispers of Lowry possibly starting the year off in Fresno as he still has a minor league option left, but I wouldn...
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Free Agency Picks Up
2009-02-12 23:05:00
Over the last 48 hours, a few of the top remaining free agents have found homes. It looks like Adam Dunn will be playing in D.C. for the next 2 seasons as he signed a two-year $20 million deal with the Nationals. Bobby Abreu also found a home, signing a bargain basement one-year, $5 million deal with the Angels. With those two back-up options off of the market, it would seem that the Dodgers need Manny Ramirez now more than ever. If they loose out on ManRam, they won't have a shot at legitimately replacing him. Whatever small percentage chance the Giants had at signing Manny Ramirez has likely gone out the window now under the current circumstances. The Dodgers are going to go all out for Manny and the Giants aren't going to be ready to compete with what they'll eventually offer. My guess is that Manny returns to LA for 3 years and $65 million within the next week or so. The Giants aren't likely to guarantee Manny anymore than one year, two years tops, but would probably be open...
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Giants Re-Sign Richie
2009-02-10 00:41:00
It took the weekend for Rich Aurilia to finally except, but the man who debuted for the Giants all the way back in 1995 will be back with the team this season. Now, Aurilia officially signed a minor league deal so he won't count against the 40-man roster during spring training, but unless he absolutely tanks, and others blossom, Rich will be back in the utility role for the Giants once again in 2009.I am not surprised by this move at all since it was well publicized that the Giants had a deal on the table for Richie. He can play first and third in a pinch and those are two places the Giants will likely be going young at in 2009 with Pablo Sandoval and Travis Ishikawa. The only question I have about this deal is that it is exactly like the deal the Giants signed Juan Uribe to back in late January and I don't think the Giants will end up having room for the both of them. Since Bruce Bochy is planning to carry a 5-man bench, that would likely lead to the team carrying 2 infielders, 2...
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Giants Notes: Lowry Healthy
2009-02-08 01:02:00
The annual Giants Fanfest took place this weekend at AT&T Park and some pretty good news came out of it. The Giants trainers and manager Bruce Bochy declared that Noah Lowry is healthy and is on track to report with fellow pitchers and catchers to participate fully in workouts when spring training begins in a week.This is great news for Noah who tweaked his forearm last spring and it ended up costing him the whole 2008 season. I think a lot of people have forgotten how important Lowry is to the Giants starting rotation. Even after missing all of 2008, he still leads the team in wins since 2005. And if Lowry is indeed ready to go and shows so early on in the spring, it would provide the Giants with 6 legit options for a 5-man starting rotation. It's still unclear how Lowry will react to the daily grind of getting back into game shape so if you wondering why the Giants don't go off and deal Jonathan Sanchez for a hitter, that's part of the reason. However, I really don't expec...
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Events And Tickets in San Francisco
2009-02-03 07:08:00
San Francisco is an amazing place to visit. There are tons of things for tourists to do in the city by the bay, from hanging out on the beach and eating at the famous fisherman's wharf to hitting the City at night for a Giants game and a good old fashion night on the town. I wanted to go ahead and write about some things to do in San Francisco for anyone planning on visiting who's never been, or for those that live in the bay area that are looking for something new to do.First off, this is a Giants Blog, so you know I need to mention the San Francisco Giants. My favorite thing to do in San Francisco during the spring, summer and fall is attend Giants games at the beautiful AT&T Park. Now the Giants don't get the Yankees or Red Sox Tickets coming to town for interleague play this season, but there still will be plenty exciting match-ups coming up in 2009 and plenty of cheap San Francisco Giants tickets available as the Giants write another chapter in their rivalry vs. the drea...
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Barry Zito Gearing Up For Rebound
2009-02-03 01:09:00
We have officially hit February and pitchers and catchers are starting to pack their bags as spring training reporting dates are only 2 weeks away.One Giant that could be reporting early is the newly determined Barry Zito . The 30 year-old lefty has gone through a new workout regime this winter, in effort to break out of the funk he's been in over the previous two seasons. The Giants' top earner has been working out with the teams' closer, Brian Wilson, and has put an extra emphasis on strengthening himself this winter through the use of weight training. Zito has seen his fastball drop in velocity over each of the last two seasons (all though he did get it back up into the 87-88 mph range toward the end of the year) and whether that's attributed to strength and conditioning isn't clear, but getting stronger won't hurt anything. 2009 is a very big year for Zito. It's still early enough in his contract where he can turn things around and start changing the minds of his doubters,...

Giants Sign Juan Uribe
2009-01-30 00:18:00
No, it's not earth-shattering news, in fact it's a move that doesn't really make much sense or significantly impact the team, but there is finally some movement on the Giants front to talk about. The Giants broke their month-long stretch of inactivity by signing infielder Juan Uribe to a minor league deal, according to SI.com. The Giants had been linked to Uribe earlier in the off-season as a possible fall-back option at shortstop, but after the signing of Edgar Renteria, it appeared the Uribe interest would go out the window. However, the Giants have been scouring the free-agent market for another utility player and apparently have settled on Uribe as an option. Now, Uribe isn't getting a major league deal, which means he's going to have to show up in Scottsdale and earn himself a roster spot. The 29 year-old brings the versatility to play 2nd and 3rd base in addition to shortstop. He's not a gold-glove caliber defender, but he's very serviceable at all three spots. He also...
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A Look At The Invitees
2009-01-27 01:33:00
Rather than beat the Manny Ramirez rumors to death and continue to speculate as to who else the Giants will add between now and the time pitchers and catchers report to spring training, which is now just 3 weeks away, I was going to take a closer look at a few of the roster hopefuls. The Giants are bringing 16 non-roster players to camp and a few of them actually have a legit shot at making the team. I'm not going to go through every single one of the 16, but I have composed a list of the top-5 most likely invitees to make the opening day roster with a little blurb on what they could bring to the team if they make it. Keep in mind that Buster Posey and Connor Gillaspie are among the group of 16 going to Scottsdale, but in all reality, they don't really have a chance at making the squad out of spring, so I have not included them in the list.3B Jesus Guzman: The 24 year-old has gotten a lot of attention from this blog over the winter as he is a pretty sound hitting prospect who is s...

Jesus Guzman Wins VWL MVP
2009-01-23 23:11:00
Ever since the Giants swooped up Jesus Guzman on a minor league deal at the beginning of the off-season, he's really been getting some attention. The 24 year-old third-basemen set records in the Venezuela Winter League this year and was just named the MVP of the 2008 VWL. This couldn't have come at a better time for Guzman who's employer is looking to find a long-term solution at third base. There are thoughts that Pablo Sandoval is best suited for third base and that's where he'll be come opening day, but the Giants have shown interest in guys like Joe Crede and Ty Wigginton which tells me they may have ideas for Sandoval at first. Guzman, however, is the dark horse in the situation and could make this all a non-issue if he shows up to camp and starts tearing the cover off of the ball like he did all winter long, and like he's done over his past 2 minor league campaigns. The youngster has really come into his own over the last couple of years and appears to have done all he c...
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3 Giants Headed For WBC
2009-01-20 22:52:00
Three Giants will have the honor of playing in the WBC for their respective countries. Both Bengie Molina and Jonathon Sanchez will be battery mates for the Puerto Rican squad, and young Pablo Sandoval will be behind the plate for the Venezuelan squad. NL Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum was asked to play for the USA, but apparently has declined and will train with the Giants all spring. The WBC has gotten a lot of mixed reactions, but I am actually looking forward to it this time around. I am anxious to see what kind of talent is surfacing around the world. The big prize that came out of the WBC in '06 was Japan's former ace, Daisuke Matsuzaka and every team in baseball has a glimmer of hope at finding the next international sensation. To me, I see the WBC as a chance for the different parts of the world to display their talents and for this reason I have no problem with the tourney. Sure, It would make some more sense if it were held later on in the spring, but I think it's b...

Giants Lineup Analysis
2009-01-16 23:04:00
Things have been extremely quiet for the Giants since the calender turned to 2009 and without anything excitingly new to talk about, I figured I would go ahead and project out how the Giants roster will look come opening day with a little bit of player analysis in there. Instead of continuing to beat the rumor mill and the things that might happen, I wanted to go ahead and show what the Giants realistically should look like to start 2009. I am not planning on anything too earth shattering happening between now and opening day, but I do expect the Giants to add at least one more infielder and maybe another reliever to the mix. They have shown interest in Joe Crede and with Rich Aurilia now focusing on the Cubs, Crede or someone like Ty Wigginton could be picked up at any moment now.Lineup 1. Randy Winn RF (Back to the leadoff role, the steady Winn could be in his final year in SF)2. Edgar Renteria SS (Giants hope he's got another couple of years like 2007 left in the tank)3. Pablo Sa...
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Still Plenty of Possibilities For SF
2009-01-12 21:53:00
We are roughly a month away from the start of spring training and normally at this time, every free agent that is worth anything has been signed by a team and is planning their trip for either Florida or Arizona for the spring.This winter has been different, due largely in part to the depressed economy. However, the Giants have been amongst the most active and discussed teams out there. The Manny Ramirez rumors refuse to die, as the latest one has the Giants offering him a 1 year deal with 3 option years that could ultimately end up being a 4 year, 100 million dollar deal. If they could swing a deal like that it would actually make a lot of sense. It would give Manny the incentive to go %100 year in and year out in order to pick up his 25 million dollar option while giving the team freedom to let him go at any time. That being said, I still don't see Manny in San Francisco, and unless it's the absolute perfect deal, and they are able to unload Aaron Rowand in the process, then it ...
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