Category Archives: Offseason Moves

25 Men I Haven’t Seen Naked

Giants pitchers and catchers report on February 18th, and the position players follow five days later on the 23rd. Danny and I will be reporting some time around March 12th, notepads in hand. Many things will be playing out before our eyes. Roster spots will be won and lost. Guys will take their last professional hacks, groove their last slider. We’ll eat a lot of fried food. But before spring gets fully underway, here is a preview of how I think the roster looks coming out of Spring Training.

Rotation:

Lincecum
Cain
Bumgarner (L)
Vogelsong
Zito/Surkamp (L)

Zito has the spot Opening Day, but he and Surkamp could carousel in and out if Zito can’t stay healthy, effective, or a combination of both. By effective I mean not light the rosin bag on fire and throw it at the umpire.

Bullpen:

Wilson
Romo
Lopez (L)
Affeldt (L)
Casilla
Mota
Hensley

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The Giants Don’t Need Brian Wilson

People who throw things for a living (quarterbacks, pitchers, Russell Crowe) don’t check under their beds for the boogeyman- they look for Dr. James Andrews, whose very mention conjures images of torn ligaments and career-ending injuries. Giants closer Brian Wilson has crossed paths with The Good Doctor twice- once for Tommy John surgery at LSU and once last August for elbow inflammation. Though the prognosis wasn’t serious and no surgery was required, The Bearded One faced just five batters in the remaining six weeks of the season. The Chronicle reported last month that Wilson’s rehab will have him ready for most of spring training, but questions remain about how effective and healthy the three-time All-Star will be. The answer to these questions, in my mind, is one of dismissal: the Giants don’t need Brian Wilson.

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Lucky Lefties, and Less is More: An Analysis of the Giants Offseason

Ned Flanders is a crafty lefty.

It should surprise no one familiar with this site when I say that we haven’t been blogging much; not counting writing done for other sites, I haven’t written an original article for over seven months. To break my blogging fast, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to recap the offseason, or analyze the contracts to Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez.

I started to do the latter, but five minutes in, I realized they were pretty much the same because, really, there wasn’t much else. A few trades, minor hopeful improvements to the offense, some weight loss, nothing big. What was more surprising were the contracts to lefty relievers Affeldt ($5 million) and Lopez (2 years, $8.5 million).

After the Giants front office had publicly claimed poverty when it came to bolstering the offense, the contracts to the two certainly seemed excessive. But assuming that Brian Sabean doesn’t act completely randomly in a drug-induced vacuum, it’s worth taking a look at the factors that went into this decision.

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