Good-bye to Arizona

The Giants

The weather was spectacular, restaurants fabulous, crowds enormous, prices like home, the Orange and Black games scary with so many bombings but Giant fans had a ball in the land of the sun.  Now its time for the real games.

The Giants stole my thunder by announcing their opening 25 man roster early but I still have a few comments by position.

Infield

Belt at first was best described by Shawn Estes this spring when he said he was the streakiest hitter he had ever seen.  One week he hits homers the next week he strikes out.  Don't look for him to ever change.

Panic at second looks as stable as ever.  Back problem has been cured.  Just a solid player who knows how to play the game. 

Duffy is under pressure to continue to perform at a high level and if the  spring is any indication he will.

Crawford was an All Star last year at short.  Can he repeat?  It really depends on his health.  Nagging injuries in the past has hurt his production

Adrianza and Tomilson kept their jobs over some impressive non roster invites.

Arroyo the high touted rookie is the real thing.  If any of the three infielders falter look for him to be with the Giants in August.

Outfield

Pagan had a surprising good spring to win the left field job.  Can he keep it up?

The centerfielder Span did not impress me

Pence in right looked great most of the spring until his last at bat in Arizona when swung at a pitch that only went 40 feet and struck out. 

Blanco is the fourth outfielder although he was not overly impressive in the spring.

Parker, Hernandez and Mac Williamson will provide the Sacramento River Cats with a very solid outfield.  It won't be long before one will be up with the Giants.  Parker hit a couple of homers in the spring but disappointed me by striking out too much.  Hernandez may be a better player then Blanco and Williamson looks like he could be the power hitting left fielder of the near future.

Posey and Brown will be the catchers with Suzac in the wings hoping his wrist heals allowing him to show his power that will be his ticket back to AT&T.

Pitchers

As we mentioned in an earlier post the Giants would start Bumgarner, Cueto, Samardzija, Peavy and Cain  regardless of their efforts in the spring which for the most part left a lot to be desired.  There was marked improvement in the final games in Arizona but will it be enough to prevent from getting the roof blown off with Brewer bombs at Miller field in their first three games of the season.  Don't look for rookie Blackburn to be the savior.  He's a nibbler. Won't throw a strike when things get tough.

Relief staff looks adequate not great. Osich is too wild and shows me nothing.  Casilla is still the closer.  Can he last?

Overall

This is an even year so the Giants are a cinch to win the World Series.  Don't we all wish.  If they do they will have to be wild card team like they have been in the past. (Thank you, Bud!) If spring training means anything, the D'Backs look like a runaway winner in the NL West. 

Pitcher Batting 8th

You can never be wrong in figuring out a Giants lineup.  Bochy has averaged over 125 different lineups every year. This year he plans to bat the pitcher 8th on some occasions.   In the A's game last night at AT&T Duffy had hit into a double play leaving a runner at third with two outs.  Crawford the number 7 hitter got a single to knock in a run. Then the pitcher Samardzija batting 8th struck out. If Melvin  the A's manager understood NL baseball he would have walked Crawford and the Giants most likely would not have scored.  See the problem of batting the pitcher 8th?

Other Observations

The Giants are still hoping they will get some return from Cain's $20 million a year contract.  In the last two years he has four wins meaning that each win costs the Giants $10 million.  However things could be worse.  Remember they offered Sandoval $95 million and Pablo is now a  bench warmer for the Red Sox.  Oh yes, then there is Tim Lincecum.  They wanted him to sign for five years but Timmy decided he would sign for two and then make a  big killing later.  We're still waiting for Tim to showcase major league scouts which was originally scheduled for January and its now April.  Remember that's the plan Brian Wilson used successfully to take millions from the Dodgers.  Speaking of beards Romo has grown a beard almost the size of Wilson's  and would  somebody in San Francisco please tell him its ugly!

Box Score Trash

Last night AT&T must had felt like Candlestick although that swear word was never mentioned.  The pitchers looked  great because the batter were too cold to swing the bats.  At the wrap up after the game Kuiper mentioned that Pagan and Duffy were the hitting heroes with two hits a piece.  Baloney!  Pagan got two hits alright but he grounded out with two outs and two men in scoring position.  Duffy batted sixth last night and with two on and none out ruined a rally by hitting into a double play.  Duffy hits too many potential double play grounders to bat sixth.  Duffy and Pagan were the goats not the heroes.

The Warriors

The future San Francisco team continues to amaze just about everyone.  I really thought they would lose to the Jazz the other night.  Arriving at 3 am after a game in Oakland they beat a hot Utah team  in overtime.   As Joe Lacob the owner says they are light years ahead of teams in the NBA.  Who is to argue?  As far ahead as the Warriors are in  the NBA the 49ers are light years behind other teams in the NFL.

March Madness

On the morning of the tournament I turned on my computer and the first thing I saw was that Yale had upset Baylor killing my bracket.  However my final prediction of North Carolina State beating Oklahoma in the finals is still possible.  I never understood why a second bracket with the "Sweet 16" isn't started after the end of first weekend to keep interest alive in the tournament.

Surprise of the Summer  --- Sharks win the Stanley Cup Playoffs!

The NFL

The NFL is always looking for new horizons and with their current  philosophy I have a suggestion for them.   Play a game in hell which would  break all attendance records and also provide  a realistic picture of their future. 

Breaking News

April 1, 2016.  The Giants just announced that they signed Tim Lincecum to a two year $25 million  contract.  Tim will start the season in Sacramento but is expected to be called up by early May.