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25 Man Roster Thoughts

After a bit of a hiatus from BAB, Opening Day was just too good to pass up writing a little something about. I feel like throughout my years as a Giants fan, this 25-man roster announcement was one of the more anticipated ones. Plenty of unknowns, hopes, and surprises.

Starting Pitchers (4):
Tim Lincecum – Even though Cain got the big contract, Timmy’s still the ace. He had the worst run support I think I’ve ever seen last season with 0 or 1 runs in 16 of 32 starts. A 2.74 ERA and a sub-.500 record just doesn’t add up. Just 3 runs of offense a game could have made Timmy a 20 game winner last year.

Madison Bumgarner – I’m going into this season calling my shot that MadBum will have the best season of any Giants starter. Pavlovic is going even more all-in predicting a Cy Young. I won’t go taht far, but the kid is legit. His K/BB ratio is absurd for his age. Coming back from an 0-6 start to finish 13-13 was very, very impressive.

Matt Cain – $20mil+ per season may seem a bit absurd for a sub-.500 career pitcher. But any Giants fan knows that Cain is the real deal and well worth the money. You ask me to choose between Cain and Timmy long term, I pick Cain 10 out of 10 times. Something about that whole “not giving up any postseason runs ever” thing feels really good.

Barry Zito – Ugh. With Zito, it definitely feels like more of a “when” as opposed to an “if” he loses his spot in the rotation, whether it be due to injury or ineffectiveness. If the Giants cut him during the season, there won’t be a whole lot of shock here at BAB. The fans’ patience with him ran out about 2 years ago.

Ryan Vogelsong (DL) –  He’ll apparently only miss one start, so no big deal. He seems like last year was no fluke, which is why Jonathan Sanchez was expendable.

My main concern with the G’s starting pitching depth is not all that great (see: Wheeler, Zack). If (*when) Zito plays himself off the team or into a fake DL stint, or if one of the other starters gets hurt, there’s not a whole lot left behind them. One would think that Eric Surkamp would be the the next in line, but with his spring elbow issues that’s just more area for concern. If that’s the case, any injury to the starting pitching staff would leave us with….uhm….Roy Oswalt?
Relief Pitchers (8):

Jeremy Affeldt – Came back to form last year after having a bit of a rough time in 2010. It seems a bit crazy to spend almost $10mil on 2 left handed relievers,  but teams with strong bullpens always seem to go far. Like special teams in football, middle relief is such and important yet overlooked aspect of a quality team.

Javier Lopez – The other half of the $10mil lefties. Lopez is nasty and can take down any left handed hitter in the game….just ask Ryan Howard.

Santiago Casilla – He’s got closer stuff, but tends to balk in huge pressure situations. Still, that 1.8ish ERA as a giant ain’t too shabby. Hopefully he can keep those walks down.

Clay Hensley – Bochy’s old flame from SD. He has a weird career line, but hopefully he can regain his old form under his old skipper. The Giants felt comfortable enough to trade away Ramirez, thinking Hensley can fill that gap.

Guillermo Mota – He’s back again, and he is what he is. For whatever reason I feel like this is Mota’s 6th season with the Giants, but it’s only #3. He’s basically the 6th starter for when one of the starters (see: Zito, Barry) can’t make it past 2 innings.

Sergio Romo – He’s been a bit off this spring, but I’m sure he’ll pull it together. One of my favorite Giants who really only tends to have issues when he’s injured. Otherwise, he’s flat out filthy.

Brian Wilson – Wilson’s elbow concerns could still linger, but any one of the aforementioned guys would be fairly solid at closer. I would also not be too surprised if we see the up-and-coming Heath Hembree in a Giant’s uni sooner rather than later. Wilson’s beard and personality can only carry him so far…

Dan Otero – The big surprise of the spring, but he’ll probably be shipped back down to AAA once Voggy comes off the DL.

Pretty similar to last year’s great bullpen, basically subbing in Hensley for RR. Wilson’s elbow is the biggest wild card here, but he’s hitting mid-to-high 90’s this spring and assures everyone it’s a non-issue. Fact. As a whole I’d put the Giants bullpen up against any in baseball.
Outfielders (4):
Gregor Blanco – Andres Torres 2.0? Blanco was easily the biggest surprise of the spring. If he can keep up the pace he was on in spring with a high OB% and tons of stolen bases, the leadoff spot will be his in no time.

Melky Cabrera – I for one was glad to see Jonathan Sanchez go. It was exhausting watching the dude pitch. The fact that they got a player of Melky Cabrera’s value in return was a huge bonus. A .305 avg, .339 OB%, 201 hits, and 18 HR for a headcase pitcher who walks 5+ batters every time he’s on the mound? thankyouverymuch. Melky’s had a great spring as well showing that last season was no fluke.

Angel Pagan – This trade confused me at first. Andres Torres was a fan favorite but seemed to be losing his magic. Pagain is ok….but coming off a down year. Looking at his 2010 stats, if he can approach that I’d be more than pleased. High OB%, 37 steals. I’d take that from the leadoff hitter. He’s had a real crapburger of a spring, and with Blanco on fire it seems Pagan may already be on the hotseat.

Nate Schierholtz – Oh Nate…..Nate, Nate, Nate. This guy can’t catch a break. For the 17th year in a row, he was named a starting outfielder at the end of the previous year, only to get passed up by someone else. I love his cannon arm, and I really do think he could be a pretty good player if he was given an every day role, but that doesn’t appear like it’ll ever happen with the Giants.

Listing the “outfielders” is tricky because there will be guys like Huff and Belt and possibly even Burriss and Pill playing the outfield at times, but as of now, the opening day starting 3 look like Huff LF, Pagan CF, Cabrera RF. However, I still see Blanco taking over CF and leadoff by June.

Infielders (7):
Brandon Belt – The opening day 1B for the second year in a row. Let’s see if Bochy gives him more than 2 weeks this time. My guess? He’ll probably continue to get jerked around for another year and finally get the 1B gig full time in 2013.

Brett Pill – Had some surprise success when called up last year. Following him in the minors, I never figured he’d be more than a AAAA player. He’s 27 and getting his first real shot. He seems willing to play 1B, 2B and 3B so that could help his playing time for sure, but he’ll most likely be a situational bat off the bench…..unless of course Bochy platoons him and Belt.

Ryan Theriot – It was between him and Fontenot for the backup middle infielder spot, and honestly I thought Mike “3rd Hole” Fontenot was gonna get it. Theriot is a bit suspect in the field and he’s a former Dodger. It’ll take a bit to win me over.

Emmanuel Burriss – As i’m writing this, I just saw John Shea announce that Theriot will start over Burriss at 2B today. Thank God.  I think it’s been pretty well established that Burriss is not a viable major league baseball player, but here he is. I’m hoping that Freddy can get healthy soon, and that Theriot can be a viable option at second base because I, along with most Giants fans, have zero confidence in Burriss.  My guess is that he’ll be the guy sent down to AAA once(if) Freddy is off the DL.

Brandon Crawford – If you hit a grand slam in your first major league game, you’re ok in my book.  It really seems like the Giants are giving Brandon Crawford every chance to play every single day. It’s nice to see them give a young guy a shot. He apparently tweaked his swing this offseason and it’s shown in the spring. With his defense, if he could provide any resemblance of offense, that would be fantastic. Hopefully, unlike Belt, Crawford get the time to take some lumps and work through any early season adjustments.

Aubrey Huff – Apparently he’s been laying off the smokes and Bud Lights this offseason and is back to 2010 shape. Let’s hope so, because 2011 was just brutal for Huff. Speaking of brutal, it looks like Huff will be playing most of his games in LF, at least for the forseeable future. With Belt and Pill around, and Bochy mentioning playing Posey at first every once in a while, Huff looks to essentially be the everyday LF.

Pablo Sandoval – Feels like the only sure thing in the lineup right now. Not recovering from a bad year, not coming off a surprise upswing, not returning from injury, not inexperienced. If Panda’s healthy, Panda’s good. If we get 150 or so games out of Sandoval, I see no reason why he won’t hit 30+ bombs and 90+ rbi while hitting over .300. I predict an all-star start and aeven a few MVP votes. All-in on Panda 2012.

Freddy Sanchez (DL) – Freddy Sanchez is on the DL. Shocker. Losing Sanchez was honestly almost as big of a blow as losing Posey. For one, the Giants really didn’t have a backup plan. Also, you lose a great defender who hits .300 in the 2-hole, you run scoring is going to go down significantly.

This infield could get interesting. We could very well see 4 to 5 different first basemen (Huff, Belt, Pill, Posey, Sandoval), and 4 second basemen (Theriot, Burriss, Pill, Sanchez), just leave Crawford alone for a while, ok Bochy? My ideal 4 would be Panda, Crawford, Sanchez and Belt, and I hope we see that combo more often than any other.

Catchers (2):
Buster Posey – Posey’s back. That is all.

Hector Sanchez – Otero was a surprise. Pill was a surprise. Sanchez was a HUGE surprise. I feel this is mostly a surprise because of Buster returning from injury. You’d think that Bochy would want an experienced catcher to backup in case he wanted to play Buster at first or give him an off day, but Sanchez’s bat was just too good to pass up. Dude can mash, and is a much more welcome sight at the plate thatn Whitey or Stewart, but we’ll have to see how well he does behind the plate. Hector seemed to be having a bit of trouble with passed balls in the spring and I highly doubt he’s up to Whitey’s level of calling games, but the added offense could help counteract that.

All in all, there were a few surprises, and this 25-man will change within a few weeks (Voggy and Freddy in, Otero and Burriss out), but all in all it’s a pretty solid team. There are quite a few injury recoveries and bounce back years that Sabean is banking on, but this team (when healthy) should be able to reach the 90 win mark.

Opening Day Lineup:          My Ideal Lineup:
Pagan CF                            Blanco CF
Cabrera RF                          Sanchez 2B
Sandoval 3B                         Sandoval 3B
Posey C                               Posey C
Huff LF                                 Huff LF
Belt 1B                                Cabrera RF
Theriot 2B                            Belt 1B
Crawford SS                         Crawford SS
Lincecum P                          Bumgarner P

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