The Giants Baseball Blog

Here is my prediction for how the NL East will wind up come October: 1st Place, Philadelphia Phillies Lineup: SS Jimmy Rollins CF Shane Victorino 2B Chase Utley 1B Ryan Howard LF Raul Ibanez RF Jayson Werth 3B Placido Polanco C Carlos Ruiz Pitching: RHP Roy Halladay LHP Cole Hammels RHP Joe Blanton LHP Jamey Moyer RHP J.A. Happ SU: Ryan Madson CL: Brad Lidge The Phillies are really the most stocked team in the NL, but they do have a slight weakness, and that is in their bullpen. Brad Lidge is coming of a monumentally horrible season in which he went 0-8 with a 7.21 era, finishing with 21 saves in 67 games. If he continues to struggle to start 2010, look for Madson to take the 9th inning reigns with Dannys Baez getting consideration too. Other than that though, their lineup is ridiculously strong from 1-7, as all guys can hit 12+ home runs, and all but Ryan Howard can steal you a base if needed. Their rotation is also a huge strength, especially after they added Roy Halladay this winter...

With us trying to squeeze out the MLB divisional previews before the season starts next week, I haven't been able to do any Giants only posts over the last week. However, there was some big news to come out of camp on Tuesday. The Giants inked Matt Cain to a 3 year contract extension which will pay the 25 year-old right- hander $27.5 million over the next 3 seasons. Cain had his best season as a pro in 2009, and looks like he's taking that next step. He's threw more strikes in '09 and put himself in favorable counts more often than not. The Giants also extended closer Brian Wilson though the 2012 season, a deal that will pay him $6.5 million then $8.5 during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. They also locked Jeremy Affeldt up thorough 2012 as well. As far as on-field performance goes, Nate Schierholtz has really tanked over the second half of the spring. Nate is h itting .236 with a homer and 7 RBI. He hasn't exactly taken the bull by the horns like the Giants were ho...

With the MLB's opening day just 5 days away, I will be posting at least one post per day leading up to Monday's Giants' opener. So stay locked here cause we're going to have plenty of info over the next five days. Here's our AL West Preview: 1st Place, Los Angeles Angels Lineup: SS Erick Aybar RF Bobby Abreu CF Torii Hunter 1B Kendry Morales DH Hideki Matsui LF Juan Rivera 2B Howie Kendrick 3B Brandon Wood C Mike Napoli Pitching: RHP Jered Weaver LHP Scott Kazmir RHP Ervin Santana LHP Joe Saunders RHP Joel Pinero SU: Fernando Rodney CL: Brian Fuentes The Angels lost thier offensive centerpiece over the winter when Vladimir Guerrero signed with Texas, but the emergence of Kendry Morales (.306/34/108) and Juan Rivera (.287/25/88) should make Vlad's absence easier to overcome. The tougher loss for them in my mind was Chone Figgins, who anchored their leadoff spot over the last 5 years and could play all over the diamond. Their starting rotation is very experienced,...

Here is our projection for how the AL Central will look in 2010. Also, we have some Giants news at the bottom of the post with the recent trading of Kevin Frandsen: 1st Place, Chicago White Sox Lineup: LF Juan Pierre SS Alexei Ramirez 2B Gordon Beckham RF Carlos Quentin 1B Paul Konerko CF Alex Rios C A.J. Pierzynski DH Andruw Jones 3B Mark Teahan Pitching: RHP Jake Peavy LHP Mark Buerhle RHP Gavin Floyd LHP John Danks RHP Freddy Garcia SU: J.J. Putz CL: Bobby Jenks The veteran-heavy White Sox should win the Central, especially with the Twins missing Joe Nathan for the year. They have a strong offensive lineup with Juan Pierre and Alex Rios bringing in some much needed speed. All hitters in that lineup after their leadoff guy are capable of hitting 15+ home runs per year as well, so they have the proper mix of speed and power. They also have a nice mix of effective vets and productive youngsters in their rotation and bullpen. If they can keep Peavy and Buerhle healthy, and their lineup ...

As we do towards the end of every March here at the Giants Baseball Blog, with the regular season quickly approaching, we're going to start the division-by-division preview and standing predictions for the upcoming 2010 season. Starting as always in the AL East, and finishing up in the NL West, so here we go: 1st Place, New York Yankees Lineup: SS Derek Jeter DH Nick Johnson 1B Mark Teixiera 3B Alex Rodriguez C Jorge Posada 2B Robinson Cano LF Curtis Granderson RF Nick Swisher CF Brett Gardner Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia RHP AJ Burnett RHP Javier Vazquez LHP Andy Pettite RHP Phil Hughes SU: Joba Chamberlain CL: Mariano Riveria The reigning world champs have again improved themselves over the offseason, bringing Nick Johnson back to the Bronx and trading for the versatile Curtis Granderson. Those two offset the loss of Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui, so the offense should once again be one of the league's best. With Damon out and Brett Gardner in, their outfield defense improves ...

After the Giants most recent victory on Monday vs. Texas, they have bumped their record up to 15-6 this spring after totaling just 9 wins during the 2009's Cactus League. Again, these numbers and wins during March don't mean much, but I do like a lot of what I'm seeing go on with this Giants club, spring training or not. Giants fans have to be pleased with what they've seen out of the Giants' top two offensive free-agent signe es so far, with Aubrey Huff leading the team with 3 homers, second with 9 RBI and is carrying a .380 batting average. DeRosa missed the first half of the spring schedule, but has looked solid in his seven games played since, hitting .300 with a pair of RBI's. Also, Edgar Renteria has looked moderately better than he was last year, and apparently looks like he's a little bit quicker in the field. They don't really have an everyday player, minus Freddy Sanchez who is still out with that shoulder recovery, who is having a bad spring. ...

Like we do here around the middle of every spring, I wanted to give my thoughts as to how the Giants roster will look come opening day, and give my best estimate as to what their players will do in the 2010 season (Keep in mind I reserve the right to change these a bit before opening day). So here we go: 2010 Giants Projected Roster Lineup: 1. CF Aaron Rowand ( .272 avg, 13 hr, 68 RBI, 79 runs, 7 sb .756 OPS) 2. 2B Freddy Sanchez* ( .295, 10 hr, 57 RBI, 75 runs, 2 sb, .751 OPS) 3. 3B Pablo Sandoval ( .315, 28 hr, 102 RBI, 84 runs, 6 sb, .975 OPS) 4. 1B Aubrey Huff ( .261, 21 hr, 82 RBI, 65 runs, 1 sb, .790 OPS) 5. LF Mark DeRosa ( .279, 18 hr, 80 RBI, 72 runs, 2 sb, .794 OPS) 6. RF Nate Schierholtz (.285, 12 hr, 52 RBI, 52 runs, 8 sb, .747 OPS) 7. Bengie Molina ( .272, 13 hr, 65 RBI, 40 runs, 0 sb, .729 OPS) 8. Edgar Renteria (.269, 8 hr, 53 RBI, 58 runs, 9 sb, .710 OPS) Bench: C/1B Buster Posey ( .287 avg., 10 hr, 48 rbi, 41 runs, 11 sb, .773 OPS) IF Juan Uribe ( .272, 17 hr, 66 rbi, ...