The Giants Baseball Blog

While letting Bochy figure out which is going to be his most effective nightly lineup is crucial, we all know the real focus around this club to start the spring is the starting pitching. I know we re-emphasize it nearly every post, but now there's actual results we get to talk about instead of just speculation, and the results look pretty good. Thanks to some sketchy defense out there coupled with him elevating his pitches up in the strike zone consistently, it wasn't the way Yusmeiro Petit wanted to begin his spring audition. Petit got charged with 4 runs in the inning which can't all be blamed on him, but most of it can. However, on Friday's 2nd day of Exhibition baseball, the Giants split their squads to play two games, and had both starters throw up identical, impressive lines that has to have Bruce Bochy feeling pretty good. Not to mention, Ryan Vogelsong, the Giants projected 5th guy, came in after Madison Bumgarner's uneventful two innings and threw two sc...

Last season, the Giants lack of depth ended up costing them big time, as many of their key players hit the DL at various points in the season and they weren't able to sufficiently overcome it. While adding Michael Morse brings some depth to the outfield by enabling Gregor Blanco to carry the fourtt outfield role, they still have very little depth outside of their starting 3, with Blanco the only one with legit ML experience there. Juan Perez looked decent at times, but for the most part, looked like a AAAA'er and not a guy who should have a prominent role on a team with championship aspirations. They did take step towards adding some more depth earlier this week however, bringing in Tyler Colvin on a minor league deal, a player I mentioned a few times this winter as a potential low-risk/high-reward type. He basically fell off the face of the earth last season, thanks in part to some back issues that kept him sidelined or down in AAA for most of the year, but he was once a ...

Although many players arrived before the official reporting date, all Giants position players have now joined pitchers and catchers in Scottsdale with the first full-squad workout scheduled for Wednesday. There's been a ton of talk about the new offseason workout of Tim Lincecum, Tim Hudson's ankle and of course, the abundant weight loss from Pablo Sandoval. While all three subjects will be watched closely over the next few weeks, I'm most curious to see how this new offseason throwing program will work out for Lincecum. Up until this winter, Timmy had never thrown off a mound during an offseason, but hopes the work he put in prior to spring training will help him get on track quicker in the Cactus League and lead to a much better start to 2014 than he had to '13. As for the other Tim in the rotation, all signs have been pointing towards him being a full-go with no special restrictions (other than your normal pitch count watch for starters in early April) for his...

The date we've all been waiting for since the 2013 season ended is finally upon us. Giants' pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training Friday with the positional players following shortly after as they try and get back on track after a disappointing display last year. There will be a couple of new faces playing prominent roles for the 2014 club that weren't here in 2013, but for the most part the Giants will be relying on much of the same recipe that landed them a World Championship in 2012, then saw them finish 10 games below .500 a season ago. Regardless of how good of additions Michael Morse and Tim Hudson end up being, in order for the Giants to get back to the success they saw in 2012 they'll need their core players to rebound from sub-par showings in 2013. First and foremost, that responsibility lies with the pitching staff, particularly the starting rotation. The only guy that should be satisfied by their personal performance last summer is Madi...

In Saturday's post , we listed the Giants top-20 prospects, numbers 11-20, as we see them entering the 2014 season. Today, we'll finish off the list with numbers 1-10. 10) Martin Agosta, RHP: When the Giants drafted him, Agosta reminded me a bit of Tim Lincecum. He's slender with incredible stuff and the only reason he's not ranked higher is because his best role is still a bit undetermined. Right now, he looks like he's going to be solid in whatever role the Giants decide on using him in, starter or reliever. He had his way with Low-A hitters last season, allowing just 57 hits in 91 innings, but he'll be 23 in April and still has some command issues to work out. Should start off in San Jose though could be in Fresno before season's end. Just curious to see whether it's as a starter or reliever. 2013: 18 G, 91 IP, 9-3, 2.06 ERA, 57 H, 43 BB, 109 K, 1.09 WHIP (Low-A Augusta) 9) Andrew Sussac, C: Sussac is one of the rare Giants' hitters who ha...