Spring Preview: Angel Pagan, Freddy Sanchez

With Spring Training quickly approaching, and with actual baseball activity to talk about just days away, I figured I'd kill some time between now and full squad reporting dates by doing some player previews. Now, I haven't even looked at Zips 2012 projections for the Giants players or any other preview sites, so this is all us. I figured we'd start at the top of the lineup and work down, now we won't have time to do a full post for each and every player so we'll be multiple players per post, and just one for each the bench and bullpen.

We'll start from the projected top of the lineup and work down:

Angel Pagan, CF- Out goes Andres Torres and in comes Angel Pagan into center field and the Giants' leadoff spot. Pagan has been two different players the last two seasons, with his more favorable year being 2010, but he was still surprisingly effective in 2011. He stole 32 bases, hit .265 (40 points better than Torres) and drove in over 50 runs while missing some time to injury. The Giants are hoping they get the 2010 version of Pagan (.290 Avg/11 HR) though and I think they will. With this his walk year, he'll have all the incentive he needs to perform and even though I didn't love the trade, I expect a big year out of the 30 year-old. It's tough to do statistical projections in early February, having not even seen this guy or what kind of shape he's in during spring games yet, but I will take an early guess as to what I expect from Pagan, as with each player as we go through our previews. Basically, the Giants just need him to tighten up on defense, where it will be very crucial that he cover ground in that huge outfield. That's what I'd be working him on the most in spring, just going after every ball even hit remotely in the center field area, cause he's got the speed and the ability to be a plus defender. Last year's off-year at the plate and injuries likely lead to decrease in his fielding as well (11 errors), but like his offense, I expect that to return to normal, and he's a good outfielder. He sounds determined to show up the Mets for dealing him and that's fine as long as it inspires him vs. the rest of the NL. I think he'll also fit tremendously with the large Latin influence in this clubhouse.

'12 Projection: 127 G, .272 Avg, 9 HR, 51 RBI, 29 SB, 10 3B, 77 R, .331 OBP%, .417 SLG% (.748 OPS)

Freddy Sanchez, 2B: Every Giants' fan on the planet is pulling for Freddy to make a full comeback, but the problem with Sanchez is that if it's not the shoulder, something else is surely to rise up and bite him at some point during the season. All signs are pointing towards him being ready by the start of Cactus League play, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the Giants keep him out (maybe DH him) until around mid-March, just to further rest that throwing shoulder. So, I do expect Freddy to play more than 50 games this season, but he's not going to be that guy who plays 150+ like Pablo and Pagan and Cabrera and those guys. Still, I think the Giants would be perfectly happy with 125 quality games out of their 2nd basemen, and they have the Cajun combo (Fontenot and Theriot) backing him in case he does need a breather. What's going to be really interesting to see too this year, is how Boch uses the hit-and-run with Freddy and Angel. For some reason, Andres Torres wasn't a great base runner or stealer, despite blazing speed, so having Angel at the top, a premium base-runner should really open up the hit-and-run, something that Sanchez thrives at. As long as he can keep that shoulder healthy, and at the same time, limit the other day-to-day beatings a ballplayer takes, he'll produce.

'12 Prediction: 115 G, .278 Avg, 5 HR, 37 RBI, 28 2B, 2 3B, 3 SB, 45 R, .335 OBP, .392 SLG (.727 OPS)