Spring Training Update: Game Wrap BrewCrew 7 Giants 4

The Giants finally played their final Cactus League game today. Although they lost, there was plenty to comment on, both good and bad. Key Lines:

Gregor Blanco- 0 for 5. BA= .333
Emmanuel Burriss- 0 for 5. BA= .310. Top 2 batters in the lineup went 0 for 10. Yikes! Pretty tough to score when that happens.

Aubrey Huff- 2 for 4. BA= .304. Huff started in LF again. He's had a quiet, but reasonably effective spring. The fact that he has started the last 2 games in LF would seem to indicate the Giants are seriously considering keeping Brandon Belt on the active roster.

Nate Schierholtz- 2 for 4. BA= .220. Nate had been just 4 for his last 31 before today's game.

Joaquin Arias- 2 for 4. BA= .304. Arias played 3B in this one. I didn't see it, but he reportedly had a rough time on D.

Brandon Crawford- 2 for 4, HR(3), SB(1). BA= .340. I am really trying to temper my enthusiasm for Brandon Crawford right now. Am I crazy for thinking he could be a sleeper of sleepers and actually end up with some fantasy value this year? Recommend reading Baggs article in CSN Bay Area about Brandon and his boyhood idol/role model Royce Clayton. Royce Clayton? I like it! It seems Crawford's agent is also Clayton's agent and arranged for them to talk before Brandon was even drafted by the Giants. Clayton passed on to Brandon the same advice Robby Thompson gave Royce: "Your job is to solidify this infield!" By that, he meant play solid D from the SS position. I think Crawford has a chance to be a lot better than Royce Clayton, but having him as a role model and his advice as his mission, I think it will help him play within himself and persevere when the inevitable slumps come at the plate. I am excited about Brandon Crawford!

Tim LIncecum- 2 for 2. BA= .667. Timmy may have had a rough day on the mound, but he's obviously ready to start the season at the plate!

Tim Lincecum- 4.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 5.70. Timmy said he was happy with the fastball and feels ready to start the season. Let's hope so!

Brett Bochy- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00. Melonhead Jr. makes his MLB debut, albeit in an exhibition game. He made the old man proud in this one. He's jumping over San Jose and going to AA Richmond which is huge.

Dan Otero- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 0.82. Gotta think Otero has the inside track for the temporary last spot in the bullpen.

The Giants start the Bay Bridge Series tomorrow evening in AT&T Park with Madison Bumgarner taking the mound.

Around the League:

Ubaldo Jimenez apparently carries some hard feelings towards the Rockies for trading him last year and has had some things to say about it. Troy Tulowitzki has had some things to say about Jimenez chirping about the Rockies. Today, it all boiled over on the field. Jimenez hit Tulo hard in the elbow. Tulo had some more things to say and Jimenez came off the mound pounding his chest and challenging Tulo, which seems pretty bush league under the circumstances. Tulowitzki had X-rays that did not show a fracture, but has a very sore elbow. The Rockies will ask the commish to suspend Jimenez which seems justified based on everything I've read. Of course, Ubaldo says the HBP was unintentional.

Desmond Jennings hit 3 dingers in a Grapefruit League game today. Eesh! Maybe I should have bid up on him in my fantasy draft?

Spring Training Update: Game Wrap Padres 8 Giants 7

The Giants scored all 7 of their runs in the 5'th inning to overcome a horrendous start by Barry Zito only to lose it late as Sergio Romo had another rough outing. Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 1 for 3, 3B, 2 BB, SB(3), OF assist(Hundley at 3B). BA= .194. Pagan seems to be coming out of his slump just in time. Nice game for a leadoff hitter.

Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 5, HR(4). BA= .258. Pablo seems to be rounding into shape just as spring training is winding down. I guess he's a pretty good argument for ST lasting as long as it does. Gotta think he's poised for a huge season.

Buster Posey- 2 for 5. BA= .324. Buster caught the whole game. Baggs had a pretty good argument for keeping 3 catchers. If the Giants were to find themselves leading(or trailing) by 8 runs in the 7'th inning, do you really want Buster finishing the game because you only have one backup catcher?

Aubrey Huff- 2 for 4. BA= .288. Baggs and Alex seem to think Huff starting out in LF has the tea leaves pointing to Belt staying up as the starting 1B.

Brandon Belt- 1 for 4. BA= .397. Belt gets the start at 1B.

Barry Zito- 3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 7.91. I hope Larry Baer was sitting on the front row for this one and got a good whiff of the malodor emanating from the mound.

Dan Otero- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 5/0. ERA= 0.90. Otero may have won himself at least a temporary roster spot with this appearance.

Clay Hensley- Hensley threw 4 pitches and came out of the game with "calf tightness." Is he headed for the DL and does that open another spot in the pen to start the season?

Javier Lopez- 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K. ERA= 4.22.

Sergio Romo- 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 6.97. Romo serves up the game winning dinger to Hermida. This is why Bochy tends to use him as a ROOGY and he'll probably never be the closer. I doubt he would have faced Hermida in a regular season game. Gotta also wonder if Romo is completely healthy.

The Giants plan to use the bullpen from the start of today's game against the Reds in Scottsdale.

The roster situation got only slightly less muddy with the release of Mike Fontenot. His Cajun buddy, Theriot, survived the veteran cut day so he's on the team because the Giants now owe him his full contract of a little over $1 M. Dan Runzler, Eric Surkamp, Ryan Vogelsong and Freddy Sanchez were all placed on the DL. Brandon Belt, Brett Pill, Joaguin Arias, Hector Sanchez, Chris Stewart and Eli Whiteside all remain in the running for 4 remaining roster spots.

Around the League:

Josh Collmenter(RHP, Arizona), got lit up by the Angels for 8 runs in 4 IP, and now sports a spring ERA of 11.81

Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer continue to rake for the KC Royals with 2 hits apiece. Gordon hit his 4'th spring HR and Hosmer added his 8'th double. Gordon is hitting .410 and Hosmer .429. both are candidates for breakouts although Gordon sort of broke out last year.

Michael Pineda(RHP, Yankees)- got shelled once again and complained of shoulder soreness. He'll have an MRI. I had PIneda on my fantasy team last year when he was with the Mariners. He was great, but not as good in the second half. I'd be leery of him this year moving from the pitcher paradise of Safeco Field to the launching pad of Yankee Stadium even if he didn't have arm issues.

Juan Pierre(OF, Phillies)- 4 for 5, BA= .358. They're starting to talk about Pierre being the starting LF and leadoff hitter in Philly. That would push my sleeper Mayberry to a bench role. Pierre may not be a bad fantasy option for those chasing SB's.

With Howard and Utley starting the season on the DL, possibly for extended periods, there's talk of Jimmy Rollins hitting cleanup there.

Watch out for Chris Capuano(LHP, LAD)- 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K's. Hate to say it , but he's on my Savvy Vets fantasy team. It's been a long road back for him, but he's an example of how you can find good pitching relatively inexpensively on the market. Another reason I like him: he married a girl who is working on her PhD at Duke. Good for him! He has a rep for being a bit of a bookworm himself.

Matt Moore(LHP, Rays)- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.50. Moore is a breakout candidate to watch. I missed out on him in my fantasy draft.

Cody Ross hit his 5'th and 6'th HR's of the spring for Boston. We all know Ross is streaky and can get incredibly hot at times. We'll see if this carries over into the season.

Spring Training Update: Game Wrap Giants 6 Rangers 2

Matt Cain allowed a pair of solo HR's in 7 innings and the Giants offense put together some run support. Key Lines:

Gregor Blanco- 2 for 5. BA= .348. Blanco has sustained his success over the full spring. He would seem to be a lock for a roster spot.

Ryan Theriot- 1 for 4. BA= .182. Theriot has had a terrible spring. Will his RH bat and Veteran Savvy save him?

Joaquin Arias- 1 for 1, HR(1). BA= .275. Arias is, by far the best fielding option for reserve SS. His bat seems to have gotten stronger as the spring went on. Tough to see how Theriot is a better option right now.

Brandon Belt- 3 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .407. Man oh man! I understand the concerns about Belt's setup at the plate, but do you really mess with something this good? Sending him to Fresno is going to be a tough, tough sell, even for me. All I can say is if they do, then the Giants better get off to a blazing start, or the clamor is going to be deafening.

Matt Cain- 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 1.74. Cainer was solid. If you don't let runners on base, the dingers don't hurt you that much. I still think we're going to get an announcement on a Cain contract by opening day.

Matt Harrison(Tex)- 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 1.69. Harrison is a vastly undervalued pitcher in fantasy drafts. I picked him up off the FA market after my draft. I'm expecting big things from him this year with the Savvy Vets fantasy baseball team.

Barry Zito takes the mound against the Padres in Peoria tomorrow. I guess the Giants don't care if the Pads see Zito before the season. Maybe that tells you something about how the Giants view the Padres, or about how they view Zito.

It's getting down to crunch time for the roster. The Giants have to decide by 9:00 AM tomorrow whether to keep The Cajuns. If they keep them beyond that moment, they owe each their full season's salary. If they release them prior, they only have to pay them about 1/3. I think it's pretty safe to assume if they make it past 9 tomorrow, they are on the team to stay.

Bochy indicated that the Giants will carry 12 pitchers despite Vogey starting the season on the DL. Wow! THAT is interesting! with 8 position starters, that leaves 5 position reserves. They have to keep at least 1 reserve catcher and Blanco has the team made, so we're down to 3. The candidates are Belt, Theriot, Fontenot, Arias, Pill and The Hector. I would think Pill is close to a lock for his RH bat. That leaves two. The Giants have all but said Belt is going to Fresno and I think The Hector needs regular AB's more than the Giants need a third catcher on the bench. That gets it down to The Cajuns and Arias for those last 2 spots. I have no idea how it will turn out. Personally, I'd keep Arias' D over Theriot's RH bat. It's not like Arias' stick is anything to apologize for compared to The Riot anyway. Of course, I'm sure the Giants could find an injury in either of the Cajuns, but do they want to pay one of them $1 M to be stashed? Or maybe, just maybe Belts's 3 hits today were enough to change a mind or two? Stay tuned.

Around the League:

Get a load of Anthony Gose's boxscore line today: 0 for 3, BB, 4 SB, 2 R. Toronto beat the BoSox 3-2 and Gose dominated the game with nothing more than his speed. He's going to start the season in the minors, but when he gets called up, fantasy owners who need SB's better be quick on the trigger!

Spring Training Update: Game Wrap White Sox 5 Giants 2

The Giants sent mostly bench players and players fighting for a roster spot to play the White Sox in Glendale, AZ today so it's not surprising they didn't show much of a offense. Also not surprising was the beating the White Sox laid on Barry Zito in a scene not at all unfamiliar to Giants fans. Key Lines:

Chris Dominguez- 1 for 1. BA= .250. Dominguez played RF subbing for Nate. Now THERE's a RF arm for you, Bacci! Not sure how much ground Chris D can cover out there, though.

Melky Cabrera- 0 for 2, BB, Assist(Dunn at 3B). BA= .383. Melky has an arm too. Not sure what Dunn was doing trying to take an extra base. Ah, spring!

Barry Zito- 2.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 3 K. ERA= 6.61! Dismal, just dismal. Back-to-backs from AJP and Alex Rios to boot.

Matt Yourkin- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 1.80. I"m quite sure I'd feel more comfortable with Yourkin as the #5 starter than Zito.

If it's true, as Baggs implies, that ownership has mandated no more eating of contracts, that is just too unfortunate for words. Are they really going to insist on continuing to run Zito out there every 5'th day just to get bombed into oblivion and essentially forfeit 30 games? Do they understand the concept of sunk cost? I really hope Zito has more QS than these stinkers and it doesn't come to that, but I'm not very confident he will.

Ryan Vogelsong makes his spring debut tomorrow against the Royals in Scottsdale. Brian WIlson is scheduled to pitch too.

Around the League:

Freddie Freeman hit two dingers and is now 6 for his last 13 for Atlanta. Savvy Vets is looking good!

Spring Training Update: Game Wrap Rangers 4 Giants 1

This was another disappointing day for the offense and I have to say I'm starting to get a little worried. Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 0 for 4. BA= .205. At least he didn't strike out. Let's hope this slump gets it all out of his system before the games start to count!

Brett Pill- 1 for 1, HR(3). BA= .283. I'm guessing Pill has made the team as the Giants desperately need his RH bat.

Brandon Belt- 2 for 3, BB. BA= .348. Gotta think Belt has made the team too, even if it means Nate has to go.

Brandon Crawford- 1 for 3. BA= .333. Crawford keeps plugging away at the plate. Once again, any offense from him is a plus.

Emmanuel Burriss- 2 for 3. CS(3). BA= .436. I think Burriss should be the starting 2B, but he should not be getting thrown out this much.

Madison Bumgarner- 5.2 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.21. That WHIP is not going to help my fantasy team, but it was an effective, if not quite quality start.

Giants play split squad games today. Matt Cain goes against the Reds on the road and Travis Blackley takes on the Rockies in Scottsdale. Now THAT could be ugly! Cain would ordinarily pitch the home game, but it's against a division rival.

Around the League:

Jeff Samardzija's bid to become a starter may have gone up in flames with a horrendous start for the Cubs.

Joba Chamberlain's star-crossed career and life suffered another big blow when he almost amputated his foot while jumping on a trampoline with is son. A trampoline? Really? Guys! Do not, and I mean do not, ever jump on a trampoline! Anyway, he dislocated the ankle and broke the skin. He reportedly suffered a life threatening amount of blood loss and underwent emergency surgery. Yikes!!

Spring Training Update: Game Wrap Padres 5 Giants 1

Madison Bumgarner benefitted from the Giants remarkable defense, but the offense sputtered while the Padres pulled ahead in the later innings as the Giants spring record went to 11-5. Key Lines:

Emmanuel Burriss- 2 for 2, 3B, BB, SB(5). BA= .441. We know Burriss is not going to hit .400 in the season, but I think he is finally capable of posting a solid OBP and using his speed on the bases. He also has developed into a superior fielding second baseman and can play multiple positions. He should definitely win a roster spot and I think he should be the starter at 2B in the increasingly likely event that Franchez isn't able to answer the bell on opening day.

Madison Bumgarner- 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.45. Bumgarner didn't seem that sharp. Maybe he was practicing pitching to contact a la Timmy. He greatly benefitted from a couple of DP's and a pickoff by CStew of a runner at 3B. With this Giants wonderful defense, why not pitch to contact more, as long as you can keep it in the ballpark.

The Giants have tomorrow off.

Around the league:

Eric Hosmer went 3 for 3 with a HR for KC. He's now hitting in the high .300's. Hope his fantasy stock isn't rising too much.

Alex Gordon continues to have a hot bat for KC also.

Francisco Liriano pitched 5 no-hit innings for the Twins with 6 K's and just 1 Walk.

Matt Moore got roughed up today by Boston.

Clay Bucholz is having a strong spring. He allowed just 1 run in 5 IP with 4 K's and 0 Walks against the Rays.

Mike Minor pitched 5 shutout innings today against Baltimore. His ERA is 0.00 on the spring so far.