The Giants Baseball Blog

Like we try and always do about this time of year, I wanted to get our version of the Giants top-20 prospect list out before spring training starts up. You'll find a lot of the names in pretty similar spots to last year, but with Gary Brown's off-year and the trade of Tommy Joseph, there has been some shuffling atop the list. 1. Kyle Crick, RHP: The toughest part of this list was picking between Blackburn and Crick for the number one spot, but I have to roll with Crick because of his off-the-charts potential. As far as pure stuff and 'strike you out' ability, the big right-hander is second to none. Giants scouts have compared him favorably to both Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, and both those guys were able to cruise through the minors quickly. Perhaps the most telling sign of his dominance though is his 1 HR allowed in 118 minor league innings thus far. The only knock on Crick is his knack for walking batters. 2. Clayton Blackburn, RHP: I seem to like th...

The Giants probably could have done with the offseason ending in mid-December, as they really haven't doen much since. However, with Spring Training just over 2 weeks out, and players still waiting for 2013 contracts, I expect things to start picking up in this final phase of the offseason. One thing I was curiously waiting for all offseason was to see what kind of money the Giants' top two arbitration eligibles would get, and we got the answer a few days ago when Buster Posey and Hunter Pence each inked their 2013 contracts. That leaves only Sergio Romo and Joaquin Arias as the last two guys without a deal for 2013 (though both are expected to avoid arbitration). For Buster to get that high of a figure with basically just one full major league season under his belt tells you plenty of how much the Giants value this kid and he's got to be grateful to SF for showing the willingness to go that high. The Giants goal is to get this guy signed to a long-term deal, and although...

Continuing the trend they've used throughout most the offseason, the Giants added a couple more players to minor league deals this week who will go to Scottsdale next month to compete for one of the final roster spaces. With just a month to go before the pitchers and catchers report to spring training, Brian Sabean and co. are putting the final touches onto the roster that will defend a World Series title in 2013. If you've read out last few posts here, you know where I stand as far as wanting this team to add another proven player or two to really round things out (right-handed outfield bat and proven late-inning reliever), but instead, they've been piling up guys on minor league deals. The latest of which, is a semi-intriguing infielder from Japan who should be very much in the mix for the open infield/utility role that Ryan Theriot filled in 2012. 31 year-old Kensuke Tanaka is a 13-year veteran in the Japanese Pacific League where he was a staple at 2nd base for the Ni...

Perhaps the biggest signature of the Giants' 2012 season was the team chemistry they had on their roster for that World Series run. So much so that Brian Sabean made it a priority to keep the status quo, and it's showed in the way they've approached this offseason. Aside from re-signing some of their own key components from 2012, the Giants have been as quiet as a mouse in terms of acquiring talent from outside sources. The only guy who projects to be on the 25 man roster who wasn't with the team in 2012 is Andres Torres, but other than that, they'll be relying on the same recipe for success to repeat itself in 2013. Now, on one hand, I'm extremely happy the team found a way to keep guys like Marco Scutaro, Angel Pagan and Jeremy Affeldt in San Francisco for the next few years, but on the other, I keep thinking of ways they could improve themselves for 2013. I know they didn't need to make a big splash for a Josh Hamilton or Zack Grienke, but this team did...