Wright wins 5th Starters Job

It's been a while since I posted strictly about the Giants, partly because of my preview through the rest of baseball, and partly because there just hasn't been a whole lot of news out of Scottsdale. Barry Bonds is on fire, batting close to .700 with 4 jacks and a handfull of RBI's. He has had a little setback with an inflamed elbow, but the Giants don't believe it to be serious and he should be ready to roll April 3rd in San Diego when the curtin unveils on the '06 MLB season. Also, Jamey Wright has beaten out Kevin Corriea and Brad Hennessey to win the 5th starters job. Wright has allowed only 2 earned runs in 14+ innings and the 31 year-old has earned his way onto the staff, which is the way it should have been. People feared that Wright would be granted a roster spot over a younger, better player due to his experience, but so far this spring, he has showed that maybe things can be different for him outside of Coors Field. As i've said before, he can be no worse than Brett Tomko, and he was the Giants #2 last season. If Wright can stay healthy and effective all year, I can easily see him winning 13+ games with an era below 4.50, and that would be more than exceptable from the 5th guy. Todd Greene has also been named to the opening day roster, which was really no surprise. Elizeir Alfonzo has outhit Greene this spring, but Greene has the experience that the Giants tout so much, plus he really is the only right-handed bat off the bench that can change a game with one swing of the bat.

The Giants roster is starting to shape up the way I thought it would. There is still a small race for the final bullpen spot. So far Armondo Benitez, Tim Worrell, Steve Kline, Tyler Walker, Jeff Fassero and Scott Munter have assured themselves spots, leaving one spot left if the Giants choose to go with 12 pitchers out of the gate as expected. Jack Tacshner, Jeremy Accardo and

Kevin Corriea are all duking it out for that final pitching spot. Corriea looks to have the inside track as Accardo is slated to close in Fresno to begin with and Taschner will probably join him because the Giants are already carrying two lefties. However, the Giants may not be done with roster moves before the season begins. Todd Linden has long expressed his desire to play at the major league level consistantly. With Jason Ellison recently beating him out to win the 5th outfield spot, rumors have been flying that Brian Sabean is looking for takers on Linden. The only name I've heard mentioned are the Angels who are in the search for a left-handed outfielder. Linden wouldn't likely bring much, but there is a chance another major league reliever could be out there and the Angels have a surplus of relievers. Kevin Gregg, Estaben Yan or Brendan Donelly would all immensly help out the Giants Pen, but I would look for Linden to bring no more than a low-level prospect.

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Giants Notes: Lincecum Signs, Ross to Boston

Well, even though I touched on it a little bit in our last post, I haven't really had a chance to get my thoughts out on the new Lincecum deal since he and the Giants agreed earlier in the week. Also, on the other end of things, the Giants missed out on shoring up their outfield by letting Cody Ross sign in Boston for only $3 million in 2012. First off, obviously, wanted to talk a bit about Lincecum. I've already said here that I didn't expect him to sign a long-term deal that takes him through free agency, but it doesn't mean he wants to leave San Francisco like everyone is suspecting. I mean, if I were Lincecum, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I planned on eventually signing with the Giants long-term. Why take a chance at mitigating your value to just sign a deal? Granted, a 5 year, $100 million deal isn't anything to sneeze at, in this market, if he were a free agent, Lincecum could probably easily command a 8 year, $200 million deal. If he could get ...

SF Giants' 2024 season preview and predictions

We've reached the finish line of spring training and it's time for the games to start mattering. The Giants are a much different team than the one we saw report to camp six weeks ago. Did they add enough over the winter and spring to catapult them into playoff contention? What are some keys to success this season? We'll get into all that and more in the 2024 season preview. A winter that started out a little slow and concerning for Giants' fans, really came into form in the spring and was capped beautifully by a Blake Snell signing just over a week before opening day. The Giants are indeed a much improved team from the one we saw in 2023, just how much better they become will rely a lot on three big things. Three Keys to 2024 1. Health Of course, you can say this about every team in baseball and in any sport. In order for them to reach their end-season goals, they'll have to have had stayed relatively healthy throughout the summer. But for the Giants I've highl...

Giants Still Need Infield Help

On Saturday, the Giants finalized a 2 year contract extension with Freddy Sanchez, who they acquired in July for Tim Alderson. The new deal for Sanchez will pay him 12 million over the next 2 seasons instead of 8.5 million for just 2010, which was his option for 2010. I've voiced my disappointment in Sanchez a few times here since the Giants dealt for him over the summer. He wasn't able to stay on the field full time to help this club with their run at the NL Wild Card, and even when he was in there, he didn't seem to make much of an impact in th e lineup. Now, I wasn't necessarily hoping the Giants would cut ties with Sanchez (they probably would have had to pay 4 million or so to buy him out), just didn't think he was worth upwards of 10 million dollars, and would have liked to see the Giants pursue someone like Orlando Hudson with that money. The Giants already have an infielder who's being paid about 3-4 times what his play over the last 2 seasons would indi...

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