The Giants Baseball Blog

Well, what looked like a temporary set-back for the Giants right-hander has turned into an injury that's nagged him all spring long and kept him out of Cactus League play. Vogelsong threw a 45-pitch bullpen session Wednesday though, and all reports were positive coming out of it. Vogey apparently threw two sets of about 20 pitches and really impressed Giants brass that were looking on during the workout. It looks like he's close to making his return to rotation, and could start as early as this weekend or early next week, baring any set -backs. That's some positive news for the Giants, who just gave Vogey a two-year contract extension before spring. It looks like he's right back on track to be ready by opening day, I just hope this isn't an injury that becomes a season-long issue. Backs, especially for starting pitchers, can be tricky, and Vogey, while he hasn't accumulated a lot of innings at the big league level, is 34 years old and doesn't have the recove...

Well, over the last few days, the Giants have seen the return of all of their key figures that were either battling injury, or recovering from injury coming into the spring. Closer Brian Wilson, who battled elbow problems towards the end of last season and was eased along this spring, made his spring debut Sunday and did so in typical B-Weezy fashion. The game is still going on as I type this, but it's been such a positive weekend in Giants camp, that I couldn't wait any longer to talk about some of it. Wilson's return Sunday put the icing on the cake, and his outing was nearly flawless, as he got a strike em out, throw em out double play to end the 4th inning on Sunday. Oh yeah, the catcher to gun down Seattle's runner was Buster Posey, as he caught his longest game of the spring yet, going 4 innings before yielding to Chris Stewart. Before Brian Wilson came on and threw his scoreless 4th, the Giants got a very strong outing from Eric Surkamp, who really looks like a ...

A lot of things are going on in Giants camp right now, and there will be a lot of eyes on today's game with the return of not only Buster Posey , but Freddy Sanchez as well. Posey will catch, though it's not yet certain how long he'll stay in the squat, my guess would be about half the game. It will be both players first competitive play since each went down in late May and early June with 2011 season ending injuries, so although it appears the wait is finally over, they do still have some hurdles to jump. Like, for instance, Sanchez's injury was to his throwing shoulder, and he's DH'ing today, so it's still any ones guess as to what kind of zip he'll have on a ball trying to turn two or from deep up the middle trying to throw out a runner at first. Never the less, the return to the lineup is a great sign, and something I didn't expect to happen until later on in the spring. Unfortunately, the game isn't televised on MLB . tv and of course, t...

The day every Giant fan has been waiting for since the kid went down last May is finally coming. Bruce Bochy declared Thursday that he expects Buster Posey to start behind the plate in Friday's game, though how long the catcher will play is not certain. Outside of that piece of news, the Spring is just speeding through, it seems like, as Lincecum made his 2nd spring start already on Wednesday, though it was one to forget. Timmy allowed 5 earned in 2 innings of work and was all over the place. Now, the Giants were still able to win the game though because they've gotten something in their first 5 spring games that they really had a hard time getting last season and that is some offense. The guy who's been on an absolute tear, and is really starting to make an impact in the Giants lineup is the newcomer they're banking on really helping turn that offense around, Melky Cabrera. Not to put the players on the same stage or in the same category, but Cabrera essentially has to...

After not getting a whole lot going in Saturday's Cactus League opener, the Giants' bats got on track Sunday in a split-squad scrimmage vs. Arizona, and to script, the pitching wasn't too shabby either. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch this one on MLB TV or listen to much of it, but I've read the game reports just like everyone else, and the first thing I noticed when reading it, was the fact that Hector Sanchez is a force to be reckoned with! Remember last year, how strongly he started, then only slowed a bit after the Giants started bouncing him around their system. Now, like Brandon Belt, he appears a lot more comfortable going up against major league pitching and this is exactly what I was hoping would happen. I want Sanchez on the opening day roster, for one simple reason, the Giants need hitters and Sanchez can rake. The doubters will say "well, he can't handle the staff like Whiteside." Well, my counter to that would be that the Giants pitc...

Now, I'm typing this in the top of the first inning, just as the Giants are taking the field for the first time, and will try and do sort of an in-game/post game post for the Spring opener. We'll bring detailed account of the first inning or two but then just summarize towards the end as the starters exit! Well, the Cactus League is officially underway for San Francisco, as Timmy struck out Ryan Roberts to start the game, looking, but it hasn't been easy skating since that for the ace. Tim Lincecum then surrendered three consecutive hits, one of which Angel Pagan over-ran and allowed each player an extra base, then an RBI single. However, Melky Cabrera limited the damage by gunning down Upton at the plate! Luckily, Lincecum escaped without allowing anyone else to cross the plate, and got through his inning allowing a run on 3 hits and a strikeout. As for the Giants hitting, the two newcomers were atop the lineup today, and started off the game in Giants fashion with 2 quic...

With the Cactus League opener just two days away, the Giants took part in their first Intrasquad scrimmage of the spring. However, the lineups mostly consisted of minor leaguers and guys unlikely to make the big league club, though there were a few big names in there. A lot of the Giants top prospects got put on display as Joe Panik, Ehire Adrianza, Nick Noonan, Tommy Joseph, Andrew Sussac and the Giants number one prospect, center fielder Gary Brown. Now, I haven't yet gotten all the ins and outs of the game, but The Extra Baggs blog had the team lineups and Team Dunston (coached by Shawon Dunston) beat Team Snow (headed by J.T), 7-2. Unfortunately, I'm not in Scottsdale and haven't came across a game report quite yet, so I have no idea who did what, but Team Dunston featured more major league experienced players, in Belt, Burris, Crawford and Gregor Blanco, whereas Snow's team had just Brett Pill and Connor Gillaspie as the only MLB experienced ballplayers. Nonethele...