Giants are off to a good start, 3-0. Top of the division. Zito looked good, that adds a third arm and mitigates the need for "Lincecum, Cain and pray for rain..". We'll see if Sanchez can continue the beat and how effective Wellemeyer is as the fifth starter this weekend.
So far, all the bats are .250 or better. Bowker winning the RF job over Schierholtz was the only mild surprise, not really if Bowker's spring stats hold over into the season.
If the veterans up the middle, Molina, Renteria and Rowand have good bounce back years and Freddie Sanchez can return to form, this could be a just-good-enough lineup. Uribe is good insurance policy for either Sanchez or Renteria slumping. We need to see more than 650 runs from this lineup. Between 700 and 800 should be the range, closer to 700 decrease the odds of the divisional crown, with 800 in the cross-hairs, this team should be dancing into October.
On the Farm:
AAA - Fresno Grizzlies will feature Madison Bumgarnber, Kevin Pucetas, Joe Martinez and Alex Hinshaw starting and Henry Sosa in the bullpen. Buster Posey is a late-May phone call away. The extra year of service time gained by the Giants may cost Posey the ROY award (which may have gone to the Braves Heyward or Cubs Colvin anyway).
AA - Richmond Flying Squirrels will feature the best minor league team name this side of the Lansing Lugnuts. After that, Clayton Tanner and Daniel Turpen are the pitchers to keep an eye on. Tony Pena, Jr. continues to transition to the bullpen.
The Giants potential IF and OF of the future is located here. Nick Noonan 2B, Brandon Crawford SS, and Conor Gillaspie 3B combine with an OF lineup of Thomas Neal, Darren Ford and Roger Kieshcnick to provide a true "fantasy team" for prospect watchers.
GO SQUIRRELS?!?
A - San Jose which last year was prospect laden goes to being virtually prospect barren this year. LHP's Aaron King and Eric Surkamp are the arms to watch. SS Ehire Adrianza and CF Francisco Peguero are the everyday players generating the most buzz. 3B Chris Dominguez may end up here, although Augusta would not be a huge surprise either.
A - Augusta is the likely landing spot for RHP Zach Wheeler, last years first rounder. C's Tommy Joseph and Hector Sanchez could share duties here initially, with both seeing some
time at 1B or DH as well. Joseph has generated buzz with his power, Sanchez has shown ability to hit as well, minus the prodigious power.
"Sport, properly directed, develops character, makes a man courageous, a generous loser, and a gracious victor; it refines the senses, gives intellectual penetration, and steels the will to endurance. It is not merely a physical development then. Sport, rightly understood, is an occupation of the whole man, and while perfecting the body as an instrument of the mind, it also makes the mind itself a more refined instrument for the search and communication of truth and helps man to achieve that end to which all others must be subservient, the service and praise of his Creator." (Pope Pius XII, "Sport at the Service of the Spirit," July 29, 1945)
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